Parliamentary Speeches

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to join in and ask for more with respect to the answer I received back in the previous session on affordability. I know my colleague from Whitby is going to respond to the question I am going to ask him. We have had a lot of good, partisan sparring back and forth over the years, for a long time. I am going to bring this down to a constituent level because I just received an email from a senior lady in my riding at 2:03 p.m. this afternoon. I am going to read this and talk about the affordability issues people are facing so we can have a conversation, on a real constituent basis, about what is going on in people's daily lives. It says, “I'm 74. My husband is 75. We get nothing extra from the federal government. When I say 'we', I mean the seniors who have paid income taxes on all the money we've scrimped and saved over our working years while paying for our children's child care and food. This money was to see us through our retirement years. All that hard work so we can enjoy our golden years was for what? We still have to scrimp and save so we can afford food and shelter. “The Liberals keep going on about how much they've done for everyone, including the seniors, so they can afford to pay for food. This is a lot of poppycock. They say, ‘Look at how many are registered for the seniors dental program.’ That is all fine and dandy, but how many of those registered actually qualify? This is the number that really matters. My husband and I are registered, but our combined income means we don't qualify. If it was not for investments we saved for over 40 years, we would not be able to afford to retire. To make matters worse, the investment income is all taxable. “Sorry for the long rant. I just get so frustrated when the Liberals keep saying that they're helping us but everything keeps going up and our income stays the same. Keep up the good work. Janet.” What I am wondering for Janet is—

There is heckling from the other side, which is interesting. Mr. Speaker, she said they do not qualify for the dental program, if the Liberal members would listen to what I say. This is what the Liberals do. They dismiss what everyday Canadians are talking about and the issues they are facing. I want to ask this of my friend from Whitby, who I think is here for the right reasons, though we have different opinions. Every day in question period, the Liberals get up and say, “Oh, but there's a dental program.” For seniors like Janet and her husband, because of their retirement income, they do not qualify, so they do not get anything. They are frustrated seniors who are not really seeing any of the benefit of these programs, but their income is being taxed, and that is going to pay for programs for other people. They are in a really tough situation. What would Ryan say to Janet right now?

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate some of the member's responses. He and I will debate another day how many times he voted in favour of the consumer carbon tax and how he was one of the main cheerleaders for the consumer carbon tax until he found it not to be beneficial to his election options. He realized that it was very unpopular, so then instead of being for it, he was against it. I also agree with the cutting of the gas tax. We talked about that for years and years, but last session, the member voted four or five times against cutting the gas tax, when the Conservatives brought a motion forward that resembles Bill C-38, which the Liberals just brought forward, so he also voted against that not so long ago. The member is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. I do like to have this debate back and forth because he did talk about a whole suite of programs. How much would it cost the Liberals to cut taxes so people had more money in their pockets and not have some of those programs?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals said for months and months that their gas tax was not creating an affordability crisis. We brought forward motion after motion, and every Liberal member voted against getting rid of the gas tax. Can my colleague explain what he thinks of the change of heart the Liberals had. Why are they now admitting that they were wrong after all these months, when Canadians could have had a tax decrease on groceries for months? Now they are bringing it in a little bit late. Why has there been a change of heart from our Liberals colleagues?

Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North just talked about commitments. Well, we cannot eat commitments. Let us ask the people in Ingersoll about Stellantis and those commitments, which all left our country because of the Liberals' failed policies. Every Conservative here is here to save money for Canadians. How much money would Canadians have saved if the Liberals had actually taken our policy months and months and years ago to take the tax off gas so they would be able to drive to their work and actually take their kids to school and put food on the table?

Madam Speaker, the member went through all the programs that Canadians have, including the new grocery rebate. Is that really an admission that their policies are failing? The fact that they have to give Canadians more money back in programs means they cannot afford food on their own. The member has been in the House for a while. Why did she vote against our motion to take the tax off gas four or five times last spring?

Madam Speaker, they say that imitation is the finest form of flattery. We are flattered that the government is finally taking some of our policies to save Canadians money. That is why Conservatives came here: to make sure that Canadians have more money in their pockets. This is my question, and the previous Liberal speaker did not answer it: I am wondering why the member voted against our motion to remove the tax on gas four or five times last session. Canadians could have been saving money for almost a year, rather than bringing this forward now. Why did he vote against his constituents' having more money in their pockets when we brought this exact motion forward last session?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said affordability is the best it has been in decades, but in reality, 38% of Canadians face food insecurity. One in five say all food in the home has been eaten and there is no money left to buy more. It is no wonder Food Banks Canada gave the Liberal government an F on food insecurity. Will the Prime Minister reverse his costly policies, which caused this crisis, so Canadians can afford to once again live?

Mr. Speaker, this member from northern Saskatchewan is the biggest embarrassment to come out of Saskatchewan since the Riders lost the Grey Cup for having too many men on the field. Let me make a list of what this guy has actually delivered. He cancelled the Snowbirds. He shuttered two agriculture research stations. He never delivered money for the RCMP museum in Regina. If the Liberal government is doing so great, why are Canadians struggling so much?

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition signed by members of my community on Commissionaires, which remains the largest employer of veterans in Canada. Commissionaires had an agreement with the federal government that gives Commissionaires the first right of refusal for security at federal buildings for government departments. The government decided that policy will end in April 2027, with a clear lack of justification for doing so. The abolition of this agreement would cost Commissionaires up to $330 million and put the employment of thousands of our veterans in jeopardy. The undersigned citizens of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to revoke its decision to end Commissionaires' 80-year preferential contract entitlement on federal security guard contracts. This is important for veterans across the country. I so submit.

Mr. Speaker, the member for Yorkton—Melville has been a great colleague. She really embodies the three things we talk about as Conservatives: faith, family and freedom. She always asks about people's families. I am a big family guy, and the fact that she is resigning to spend more time with her husband, their beautiful kids and grandkids really is a testament to her leaving on a high note and at the appropriate time. I wish her and Marty the best in their retirement. I thank her for always being there, for talking about family and for making sure her colleagues' families were always top of mind. It is something I have always appreciated about her. I send her love and wish her a great retirement.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to join in this debate on Government Business No. 12 on the spring economic update. A lot has changed since the spring economic update. The most recent PBO report says the government has slowing growth, a larger than promised deficit, a weakening fiscal outlook and a 1% chance of meeting the government's own fiscal anchor. That has all happened since the last spring economic update. We are debating Government Business No. 12, and it feels like Groundhog Day. Every time the Liberals bring a closure motion forward, the member for Winnipeg North gets up and says the Conservatives are blocking and filibustering. It is an example of the far-left ideology over there. It is always someone else's fault. There is always a reason why they did not get the job done. If Liberal legislation did not get passed, it is the Conservatives' fault. If the Liberals cannot meet any of their economic targets, it is Donald Trump's fault. If the Liberals cannot get trade deals done, its the fault of the global crisis. There is always something to blame for why the Liberals never follow through on their promises. If they cannot get houses built, it is the municipalities' fault. If they cannot get more trade deals, perhaps it is the Easter bunny's fault. I do not know. The Liberals always have someone to blame, and that is the far left in a nutshell. It is never, ever their fault. One thing I want to talk about when it comes to ideology is child care in Saskatchewan. This is the Liberals' flagship. This is their baby. They thought it would change the lives of parents. I want to talk about the latest report on child care in Saskatchewan, which says 92% of people in Saskatchewan say it is difficult to find child care. Families are being told that child care is more affordable, but affordability does not matter if there is no availability. The report goes on to say that so many communities in my home province of Saskatchewan are being called child care deserts. There are simply not enough day care spaces. Get this. It further says the people the Liberals pretend to care about and want to help are the ones who are hurt the hardest. It is often the parents who need flexibility the most. The nurses, first responders, retail workers and anyone working evenings, weekends or shift work are left without options. This is what the Conservatives talked about all along when the Liberals brought forward their child care program. We said parents need choice. Make it the parent's choice. Allow private day cares to stay open. Allow parents to have the choice of where they want their children to go. Supplement public day care with private day care so that there are more spaces. The Liberals promised to build 255,000 day care spaces, and they have only made 65% of that target. Shame on them for over-promising once again and leaving parents holding the bag. There are a few other things I want to talk about that were in the spring economic update but never materialized in Saskatchewan. When the people in Saskatchewan look at the spring economic update, what do they not see? They do not see funding for the Snowbirds. It took the Liberals only 10 years to ground the Snowbirds program in Saskatchewan. The iconic Snowbirds are housed in Moose Jaw. The aerial acrobat team is the pride of Canada, and it took the Liberals only 10 years to ground it. They are going to over-promise and over-commit once again. They promised to have the Snowbirds flying by 2030. I do not think that is going to happen, and I do not think anyone on these benches thinks the Snowbirds are going to be flying any time soon. A lack of preparation and planning by the Liberals caused that. Let us talk about what else is not in the spring economic update for Saskatchewan. There is no money for the RCMP Heritage Centre. It is in my home riding of Regina—Lewvan. The Liberals have promised money since 2015 to help the RCMP Heritage Centre become a national museum. They promised it in the 2015 campaign, the 2019 campaign, the 2021 campaign and the 2025 campaign. It was in their platform, and they still have not followed through on the commitment to make the RCMP Heritage Centre a national museum. That is a shame, because it does wonderful work and tells the stories of our brave men and women in uniform. That is something that should be done sooner rather than later. I hope they follow through on that commitment, because they promised it time and time again and they have never delivered. Another thing in the spring economic update that would not help Saskatchewan is the closing of agriculture research stations in Scott and Indian Head. I do not know when the Liberals became the anti-science party. I do not know why they do not want to believe in the science of agriculture across our communities. The research stations are so important because there are four different types of soil in Saskatchewan. That is why there is one in Scott, one in Indian Head and a federal research station in Swift Current. They do different experiments on these different soil types. If the Liberals close two of these research stations, they are going to throw away decades of research that has been done to help the soil become more fertile and to help us make sure we have better crop varieties. They do not say much about the fact they have cut funding to research stations. They do not talk about the cuts they have made, and there are so many more places where the Liberals have wasted billions of dollars. Then they decide to cut the Snowbirds and the agriculture research stations, and not fund their commitments to the RCMP heritage museum that they have promised time and again. The last thing I would say, and this has been really quiet on the Liberal front, is that the government is talking about the potential of selling airports, which I find is a very interesting strategy coming from the Liberal side. The Regina airport is located in Regina—Lewvan. I do not know what the Liberals do not like about Regina—Lewvan, but I hope they will come visit. We would give them a tour so they could see a lot more of this beautiful part of the city in Regina, Saskatchewan. I invite them all to come out. They could see—

Mr. Speaker, we hear them cheering that, yes, they would. They tricked one of the Conservatives by promising to fund something in their riding. That is how the member for Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong got tricked into moving over to the Liberal side. She was promised money from the housing minister. I find it very interesting that the Liberals are willing to try to buy people. I will tell my friend across the way a little story. My daughter saw some of the comments with respect to floor crossing, and she asked me if I would ever cross the floor. I told her that I would not in a million years. She said, “Good. I'll still be proud of you.” There is the saying “from the mouths of babes”. Even 11-year-olds know that we should really keep our word all the time. I think sometimes we get the most truth when we talk to young people across the country. That is what the Liberals have lost in the economic update as well: the fact that young people are struggling more each and every day. The fact that the vast majority of young people in Canada do not believe they are ever going to afford a home is not good enough for our country. We need to do better for young people. The fact that 2.2 million people go to food banks in this country, which is the breadbasket of the world, is not good enough. A vast majority of those people going to food banks are children, young people and students. The fact that people are languishing on wait-lists for years in the health care system is unacceptable. The fact that we gave $1.6 billion to failed asylum claimants for health care benefits but we do not look after seniors who need hip and knee replacements is unacceptable. One thing I want to get to before I wrap up is the fact that when we say that Canada can be better, and when we question if the Liberals are doing good enough for Canadians, they call us unpatriotic. That is unacceptable. The Liberal government is not Canada. Every member of the chamber loves our country, but we think our country can do a heck of a lot better than it is doing right now. We are the only G7 country in a recession, and the blame lies at the Prime Minister's feet. He promised the world he could deal with Donald Trump. There is a video that says this. That was an absolute crock. The Prime Minister has failed at every promise he has made. He promised to build at speeds not seen in generations. That is not true. He said he would deal with Donald Trump. That is not true. He said he would make sure that the budget was balanced. That is not true. Do members remember when Stephen Harper said that budgets are like potato chips and that one cannot not have just one? It has been 11 years of straight deficit budgets that keep getting bigger, and Canadians are left holding the bag.

Mr. Speaker, I would love to debate back and forth with my colleague, because, as I said, we helped the Liberals pass Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act. We needed it. We co-operated. They needed it to make the economy stronger, but they have not used the bill once. Even when we are trying to help them grow the economy, they fail. I will take no lessons from the colleague across the way. We will do our job and study legislation, but when we do help, they still cannot get the job done.

Mr. Speaker, there are so many ways the Liberals have wasted money. I can talk about the $300 million in PrescribeIT. I can talk about the tens of billions of dollars given to third party consultants and about the growing size of bureaucracy. If they hire more consultants, they should not have to have a larger bureaucracy. We can talk about the millions, even billions, of dollars sent out of the country in international aid, which is probably on an ideological basis not on a humanitarian basis. There are a lot of areas where there is money wasted by the government. I want to make sure that those are cut and that the provinces remain full.

Mr. Speaker, it is truly heartbreaking that, under the Liberals, the Snowbirds are going to be grounded. I remember, as a young kid, our driving to Moose Jaw from our farm in Rush Lake and watching air shows for the Snowbirds. Seeing those planes in the sky was a special moment. In Barrie, 150,000 people got to see that for the last time. The fact that the Liberals did not have a plan to make sure that the Snowbirds could keep flying and had proper jets to keep flying is a damnation on their record. They had 11 years to make a plan, and they failed. That is why we are not going to have the Snowbirds for the foreseeable future. We would do whatever we could and help them in any way to make sure we could get planes so the Snowbirds could keep flying. It is just really sad for our Canadian identity and our Canadian heritage.

Mr. Speaker, the member from northern Saskatchewan can beak all he wants, but this is a serious question about a serious bill. There has been such a rise in hate over the last 10 years, and who has been in government? Why are people so much more angry? Is it the fact that the Liberal government trampled rights and freedoms when it froze people's bank accounts? Was it the fact that it brought police into Ottawa to tamp down a peaceful protest of people wanting their own choice on vaccines? The government has been the most divisive government in the history of Canada. It divided east versus west and rural versus urban, and people have had enough. That is the frustration. Should the government not take a bit of responsibility for what is happening on the streets under its watch? It has brought this to the point where people are so frustrated with how they have been treated, and they want answers.

Madam Speaker, I listened to one of the Minister of Housing's answers, and he said, “We are in a housing crisis”. The simple question is “Why?” The Liberals have been in government for 11 years, and they are acting like this housing crisis came out of nowhere. The policies that they have put in place caused this housing crisis with red tape. We talked to municipalities. The fact that the Liberals are blaming this housing crisis on anyone other than themselves is confusing, because the Liberals have been in government for 10 years. Who created this housing crisis?

Mr. Speaker, here is what really confuses me about this. I was part of a government in Saskatchewan that had a housing plan. It actually had numbers in it. This plan in 2011 by the Saskatchewan government said head start on a home would build 1,000 homes, the affordable home ownership program would build 600 homes, the rental construction incentive would build 2,900 homes, with $35 million for rental housing, and Habitat for Humanity would build 30 homes. When someone actually has a plan, they put numbers in it. This plan promised to build 4,690 homes in five years. Why does the Liberal government not have the number of homes in its plan and the kinds of homes it would build?

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to join this debate on Bill C‑20, Build Canada Homes, which was a promise the Liberals made in the 2025 campaign. I cannot remember the name of the Liberal guy I ran against, but he was very excited about this, saying that he was going to get these homes built and that this was going to be a great policy. I remember thinking, from a Saskatchewan point of view, that we are home to many Crown corporations. I know how Crown corporations work. I have been in government in Saskatchewan. I cannot recall a lot of situations when Crown corporations were involved and became more streamlined or development happened faster and things got done more quickly. That was not really the case when Crown corporations get involved with development on a local scale. However, I do have a couple of points I want to make during this speech. I will read testimony from actual experts in homebuilding. Mike Moffatt, from the Missing Middle Initiative, said, “BCH lacks a clear goal, lacks targets and lacks key performance indicators and accountability measures. The public has not been told how many homes the program will complete, what types of homes, what the rents and prices will be, or over what time frame.” At HUMA, David Wilkes, Building Industry and Land Development Association, said, “To put that [housing] crisis into perspective, in 2025 just over 5,000 new homes were sold in the GTA, the lowest level since we began tracking in 1981. That is an 80% decline from the 10‑year average and follows similarly weak years in 2024 and 2023.” He also said, “It is important to note that 95% of the housing in Canada, both ownership and rental, is delivered through the private market.” At HUMA, Scott Andison, Ontario Home Builders' Association, said, “When new home construction slows, the impact extends beyond the housing industry alone. Communities lose jobs, government loses revenue and fewer homes are being built for families to create memories.” He also said, “As the industry association representing home builders across Ontario, we know that builders are the experts and the ones who are best suited to construct the homes we need, not the government.” I will be honoured to share my time with my colleague, the member for Calgary Centre. That got me thinking back to when I was in government with the Saskatchewan Party in Saskatchewan. In 2011, we brought forward the Saskatchewan advantage housing plan. Most Liberals will not believe this, but we actually put numbers and targets in this housing plan so that people knew what we wanted to accomplish. We had five programs during that housing initiative called head start on a home, affordable home ownership, rental construction incentive, $35 million for rental housing, and habitat for humanity partnership. The numbers actually coalesced with the programs. We wanted 1,100 units for head start on a home, 600 units for affordable home ownership, 2,900 units for rental construction, 160 for rental housing and 30 for habitat for humanity, so a total of 4,690 homes. Can colleagues imagine a government bringing forward a program with the actual targets of what it wanted to build so that citizens knew what they were voting for? That is my problem with the Build Canada Homes program. My problem is that the government threw $13 billion into a pot to create a whole new bureaucracy. I would love it if one of my Liberal colleagues would tell me how much of that $13 million is going to go into bonuses for executives. How much is going to go into actually paying bureaucrats to sit in Ottawa and not put shovels in the ground? We did just get a lot of numbers related to bonuses for Crown executives this past year. What was the total payment for Crown executives? I think millions and millions of dollars went to executives of Crown companies who did not provide any results. My fear with Bill C‑20 is that there are going to be a lot of bonuses for executives and hardly any homes for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I do not have to be very bold. I think the provincial governments do need some federal funding. I do not think the federal government needs to have another bureaucracy in order to listen to municipalities and provinces and get them the funding they need to build homes. It does not have to be in the business of homebuilding. It can actually help the provinces when it comes to funding. The government does not have to pick winners and losers, which I know Liberals like to do. After Build Canada Homes comes to fruition, I am very sure that Brookfield will be building a lot of homes in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we know that the value of the Canadian dollar has gone down. Actually, it has just gone down again over the last couple of days, so our dollar is not going as far as it did in years prior. When it comes to interest rates, what has happened to the Canadian dollar and our purchasing power is that the more the government spends, the greater the deficits are. The PBO just said that the deficit is actually going to be $50 billion higher than first projected only a couple of months ago. When the government continues to have a reckless spending problem, it leaves Canadians with less money in their pockets, and inflation goes up. Government members talk about procuring wood to build homes in Canada, but having 36 mill closures over the last couple of years in B.C. and Quebec is also going to make homebuilding less affordable. They cannot get a softwood tariff deal done with the United States, which they promised to do.

Mr. Speaker, my NDP colleague's comments go to the heart of my argument. The federal government should not be picking winners and losers. The provincial government and municipalities can put programs forward to make sure that the people who most need homes can get them. The government can supply some of the funding, but the people on the ground doing the building should be able to get that money and help build those homes. I was proud to be part of the Saskatchewan government that brought forward the Saskatchewan assured income for disability program. We have to look after the most vulnerable people in our society.

Madam Speaker, what we always hear from these Liberals is that Canadians have never had it so good. Now that we have been talking about how Canada was on the wrong track and we are in a full-fledged recession because of these Liberal policies, they think this side is giddy. No, we are just disappointed. We have been bringing up stories about how everyday Canadians are finding it hard to make ends meet for years, and how taxes and the carbon tax are burdening mothers and fathers. Do members remember the consumer carbon tax? Well, the Liberals want all the credit for taking it away. They put it in there in the first place. They took thousands of dollars out of families' budgets every year, and now they want to think that Canadians are giddy that we are in a recession. No. It is such a difficult time right now for people around the country, and the Prime Minister is so out of touch. He will not answer a question about the recession. When he did talk about it, about three weeks ago, he said, on affordability, that Canadians have never had it so good. Could my colleague please respond to how out of touch the Prime Minister actually is?

Madam Speaker, the question we were just asked by the only Liberal in Saskatchewan was about the qualifications of a member of Parliament. Our qualifications are that we work hard, we get voted in by the people and we bring their voices to the House. My big problem with this member is that he represents northern Saskatchewan and has voted against every common-sense motion we have had. He voted to add taxes to streaming services. He voted to not scrap the industrial carbon tax. He voted to keep the gun confiscation plan in place. Everything his constituents sent him here to support, he has voted against. I would like some comments from my colleague on that. Do not forget the Snowbirds.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, it was announced Canada had entered a recession and it is no coincidence that shortly thereafter, Food Banks Canada brought out its poverty report. Perhaps Liberals will not believe what we are saying about their reckless policies that are harming Canadians. The Food Bank report gave Canada an overall grade of a D+, an F for employment rate and an F for food security. Right now, one in four or 25% of Canadians are food-insecure. Can the leader talk about Conservative policies that will bring back a Canada that will work for all Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way talked a lot about investment in research, so I am going to ask a straightforward question. When it comes to investment in research in Saskatchewan, we are losing two research farms in the agriculture industry because the Liberals have cut the funding for agriculture research. Also, at Environment Canada, they have cut funding for radar research, which is going to hamper our ability to give warnings when heavy snow, rainfall and blizzards happen. If he is going to brag about the research funding the Liberals have done, what about the people they are leaving behind in Saskatchewan with the agricultural research cuts and the radar research cut at Environment Canada?

Mr. Speaker, do members know what was amazing about the chief government whip's speech? He did not mention Canadians once. He did not talk about the 2.2 million people at a food bank. He did not talk about the food bank survey, which just came out, that gave them an F in food security, an F in employment and a D +in legislation. He did not talk about the things that real Canadians are talking about, which we bring to the floor of the House of Commons each and every day, talking about how Canadians are struggling under their policies. He made it about himself. He made it about the Liberals. He even talked about our leader answering questions from the media. It is amazing that he brought that up because his leader is in the witness protection program; he will not talk about the recession he created.

Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that I join the debate today on Bill C-31, part of the budget implementation act. This budget is from November 4, 2025, so it seems a bit weird talking about a budget when we are in a different year already. Nevertheless, there are some comments I would like to get on the record about the budget. Obviously, we cannot talk about the budget implementation act without discussing the current economic situation we have in Canada. Canada is the only G7 nation that is in a full-fledged, Liberal-led recession. How did we get here? Over the last 10 years, and I have been in the House since 2019, time and again I have seen the Liberal government bring in legislation and regulations that curtail growth and development in our energy sector. Whether it was Bill C-69 or the shipping ban off the west coast, all of these have led to less investment and development in our country. This is the actual end result of an anti-growth, antidevelopment Liberal agenda. We see that our country has shed 112,000 jobs in the first three months of this year. That is 112,000 people who had to go home to their families and talk about how they were going to pay the bills that month. These are not just numbers but Canadians' lives we are talking about. The Liberals have an obsession with not admitting there is a problem. The first step to addressing any crisis or issue is to admit there is an issue. That has not happened with the Liberal government. It tries to keep the grand illusion time and again. The Liberal Prime Minister is just another Liberal. He is an illusionist. It is all an illusion about what the economy looks like to him and how he wants to continue to make it appear to Canadians. As he said himself a couple of weeks ago, affordability has never been better in Canada. I have not heard from one single constituent of mine in Regina—Lewvan over the last couple of years that affordability is on the right track. The Prime Minister keeps trying to mislead Canadians by saying that. When we go to the grocery store, which I know the Prime Minister does not, we see people grabbing things off the shelf, looking at the price and then putting them back. We see people rolling their shopping cart past the meat counters, looking at the price of meat and not buying it because they cannot afford it. That is a literal everyday occurrence for people who are trying to get by in Regina—Lewvan right now. I want to talk about some things that are not in this budget implementation act that we now see the Liberals bringing forward. The new streaming tax was not in this budget. They did not tell Canadians they were going to tax their streaming services in the budget of November 4, 2025. Also, the sovereign debt fund was not in the budget we are talking about. I do not know where the Liberals are going to find the billions and billions of dollars to put into the debt fund, which would put Canadians even more in debt, with larger deficits, which would then cause inflation to be even worse, especially food inflation. Selling airports was also not in the budget last year. There was a conversation around selling off airports across Canada to keep giving out more money. I do not know who would want to purchase the airports, but I bet it is probably someone the Prime Minister knows, maybe even a company he knows quite well, possibly Brookfield. Are Brookfield airports all across Canada a possibility that the Liberals did not talk about in the budget last year? One thing that is very close to our hearts in Saskatchewan that was definitely not in this budget is that the Snowbirds are going to be grounded. The fact that the Liberals had someone from Saskatchewan at the cabinet table who did not fight to keep the Snowbirds in the air is absolutely appalling. They are an iconic symbol to this country and have been around for 60 years, but under the Liberals, the Snowbirds are going to be grounded until, they say, 2030. The government has never met a deadline, so I am very scared as to how long the Snowbirds will be grounded. That is something that each and every member should listen to their constituents about. I know people are reaching out and saying that this is something that should never be done. Our Snowbirds should be in the air, flying, because they are a national symbol of hope and an iconic symbol. I hope this wrong-headed decision will be reversed and we will keep our Snowbirds in the air. I am going on to some of the other things that we have seen in the last couple of days. I just saw this, a new food bank report. After 11 years of the Prime Minister's Liberals, life has become completely unaffordable. Food Banks Canada released its latest poverty report card, warning that “Something fundamental has shifted in Canada”, after finding that one quarter of Canadians are food-insecure. Can members believe that in our country, with all of our farmland and all of our agriculture, 25% of Canadians are food-insecure? We have the Liberals standing up here in question period. I would submit that question period is probably my most frustrating hour of the day, every day. We sit here and we ask questions about how Canadians are going to be able to afford their next meal, how Canadians are going to be able to pay for rent. Some people are employed, yet they spend 120% of their income on food and rent. Day after day, we sit here and ask questions on behalf of Canadians, and the Liberals get up and tell Canadians they have never had it so good. That is actually what they say every day.

Madam Speaker, a Liberal is heckling across the way, but they do say that. They think that having a grocery benefit is a good thing, but it means they are failing. It means the economy is going down the dumpster, because they have to give food stamps to Canadians. The fact that they have to give out food stamps is not a measure of success. Those guys should wake up over there. It is actually a sign of how badly they have governed this country over the last 10 years. Another report came out, on child care. This is one of our Liberal friends' favourite comments, about child care. Do members know that a child care report came out about child care spaces in Saskatchewan? Ninety-two per cent of people say it is hard to find child care in Saskatchewan since these Liberals brought in their day care program. They promised to make 255,000 day care spaces. They have missed that. They have done only 65% of that. In the GTA, there are fewer child care spaces now than in 2019, and there are a lot more people. That is going backwards. Before this program, there was a 5% to 7% increase in child care spaces a year in the GTA. Now, for some years, it has actually gone backwards and there are fewer child care spaces. That is what happens when they make promises they cannot commit to fulfilling. Saskatchewan was actually called a “child care desert” because there are so few spaces right now. Saskatoon and Regina are bad, but if we go out to rural Canada, rural Saskatchewan or Alberta, there are hardly any child care spaces for anyone, especially the ones that are government-run, because they have very strict hours. The people who need child care the most, the people who work shift work, sometimes cannot find a day care because the government ones have kicked out all the private day cares that were open before and worked different hours. Now, even if people got on the list and waited two years to get into the child care program, it does not work the hours that people need it to work anyway. That is what happens when the government takes over where there are actual private sector solutions. Just to go back to our frustration on this side, I find it very funny that the Liberals always bring up day care in their answers in question period. They talk about programs. Parents would prefer to actually feed their own kids, if they were not taxed to death and could make enough money to feed their own kids, instead of having a government program do it. They talk about the grocery benefit. They brag about giving people food stamps. We should cut government waste, decrease taxes and let more economic engines run in this country in the energy sector. We lost $60 billion in investments in the energy sector this year. That is why this Prime Minister is an illusion. The fact is that he is the only leader in the G7 who has led his country into a recession. He cannot blame anyone but himself. If he wants to know what the problem is with Canada right now, why we cannot get anything done and why we cannot grow, he should look in the mirror.

Madam Speaker, I believe this is the House of Commons in Canada. However, I want to go back to the member's comments about day care. The member should be ashamed of himself for his day care program, because it has created very few spots. The Liberals have actually misled Canadians, which they do all the time. We brought forward solutions at committee, actually, to make the day care program better, where people could use a voucher and pay for private sector day care or government sector day care if it works. We believe in giving people choices and not forcing them into one thing. I would love for him to go to Hamilton and see how many people are actually looking for day care spaces and cannot get them because the Liberals' program caused private ones to shut down.

Madam Speaker, we have a steel mill in Regina as well, InterPro Pipe and Steel. It employs a lot of people, so steel is very important to us. The Prime Minister should have kept his word. He was the one who could deal with Donald Trump. He promised to get a deal done by July 1, 2025. He misled Canadians, and he cannot get the deal done, because he is all talk and no action. The biggest disappointment I have with the Liberal government is the fact that the Prime Minister misled Canadians. He said he would get a deal done with Donald Trump. He said he could handle him. He did not get any of that done.

Madam Speaker, that speaks for itself. The fact is that the Prime Minister is so out of touch that he refuses to recognize that there has been a recession in Canada. To the point, the Prime Minister has not talked to anyone about a recession since Friday. He has been in hiding. He is in the witness protection program. He will not let the media ask questions. They can take some pictures of him in some meetings, but that is about it. As I said at the outset of my comments, the first step to fixing a problem is recognizing that there is one. This Prime Minister is trying to bury his head in the sand and does not realize that he has taken Canada down the road to a recession. Among all G7 countries, Canada is the only country that is in an official recession now. The Prime Minister should open his eyes and realize that there is a problem in this country and that he has to get to work to fix the economy.

Mr. Speaker, while millions of Canadians struggle to put food on their table, the Liberal Prime Minister's luxury inflight catering costs soared to $195,000 for three trips, at a time when one in three employed Canadians is using debt to pay for their food. In my home province of Saskatchewan, people are talking about whether or not it is okay to steal groceries from grocery stores. How out of touch does the Prime Minister have to be to cater luxury meals for himself and his buddies while Canadians are struggling to put food on the table?

Mr. Speaker, what an out-of-touch answer that was. How arrogant can the Liberals get? Seriously, the topic on Tuesday on the most listened-to radio show in Saskatchewan was whether it is okay to steal food from grocery stores. Is stealing and microlooting okay in the breadbasket of Canada? After one year of the Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians are struggling so much that they need to steal food to feed their family. The Prime Minister did tell young people that they would have to make sacrifices. Was becoming a criminal to feed their family one of those sacrifices?

Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned the child care program. The fact is that there are fewer child care spaces in Canada, across the country, now than there ever were before. The Liberals are committed to building 250,000 child care spaces. They are at 165 spaces. In the GTA, there were 5% fewer child care spaces. Their program is a failure. Every time government goes into a program, it becomes less of a program—

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to take to my feet today to ask for a more substantive answer to a question I asked in question period about a month ago. I asked the Liberal finance minister if he should be held to his own words. I remember back in 2023 that minister had said he would have grocery prices under control by Thanksgiving 2023. Those are not the only comments we have heard about grocery prices over the last few years from the Liberal government members. We also heard the Prime Minister tell all Canadians that he should be judged by the prices they see at the grocery store. I think it is fair to hold people accountable to their own words. Even my kids know they are responsible for the words that come out of their mouths. I would expect the same from these Liberals when they say something. I would also ask about the fact that this Prime Minister was elected on a promise to Canadians that he would have a trade deal done with Donald Trump in the United States by July 1, 2025. That has long since passed, so I would ask the Canadian public to hold the Liberals accountable to the words they have actually spoken and the promises they have committed to. We have seen these Liberals cheerlead and pat themselves on the back because they are giving out tariff relief. If they had kept their word and gotten a trade deal with the U.S.A. and handled Donald Trump, as the Prime Minister said on the campaign trail, they would not have to be handing out tariff relief to companies. They would be able to make their own money, trade, do what they do best and make great Canadian products and sell them from coast to coast, to our neighbours to the south and around the world. I would like an answer on why the Liberals keep cheering for themselves when they have failed at every measurable thing they have committed to. They committed to lowering grocery prices. They failed. They committed to getting a trade deal done with the United States. They failed. They committed to child care. I know there is going to be an answer on this from whoever is going to answer over there that they do have child care, but, right now, the child care program has failed miserably. They promised 250,000 new spaces by the end of March. They are at 155,000 spaces, which is 62% of what they promised. Once again, the promise was made, but the promise was not kept by these Liberals. It is really a lie of the left. They commit to things, but they never follow through. We see the Desjardins report, which says, “the share of respondents mentioning the lack of available childcare spaces or long waitlists rose sharply over this period, from 1 in 15 [in 2019] to...1 in 5 [now].” It is harder and harder for parents to find child care spaces because the private ones could not compete. We saw this in the GTA also. Before the child care program, child care spaces were rising from 5% to 7% a year. Now, during some years, we have seen decreases in child care spaces. It is an abject failure of a program that we had questions about from the start, and parents are being burdened by the failures of the government. Whether it be child care spaces or food prices, it is a fail. Trade deals with the U.S.A. are a fail. Is there anything the government has succeeded at? Can it show us any segment of the Canadian population that is better off now than before the Liberals' last 10 terrible years of government?

Mr. Speaker, if my kids gave me that answer when I asked them a question, I would be bitterly disappointed. It is always someone else's fault with these Liberals. It is never their fault. Regarding gasoline prices, they say, “It is not our fault. We took the tax off.” However, there is not a place in the country where the price of gas is lower than it was before. They only went a third of the way. They could have taken off all the tax on all the gas for the year, but they did not. With respect to home prices, they say, “We are going to build homes at speeds never seen before, generational speeds.” Fewer houses are being built in Canada this year than were built last year. You are failing at everything, and it is always someone else's fault. The parliamentary secretary could give me another answer, but I am guessing she will say the dog ate her homework.

Mr. Speaker, that is such a great point from my colleague from the Bloc. I did not get a chance to comment on that in my speech. We have no idea who is going to be the head of this debt fund. We have no idea who is going to be on the board and how those decisions are going to be made. There is such a lack of transparency. I would say to my hon. colleague that this is a case where the government is picking winners and losers once again and not letting the free market decide. That is where we get in trouble. That is why taxpayers are going to lose money.

Mr. Speaker, despite the member being super immature and saying “duh”, I would say the Canada Infrastructure Bank was supposed to distribute a $35‑billion capital envelope by 2027-28. However, as of July 2025, the PBO reported that it had disbursed only $14.9 billion, $21.1 billion short of the target. Only a Liberal would cheerlead a failed project that delivered 50% less than it was supposed to. Liberals applaud failure, and that is why they are in the position they are in. This is going to be another failed project, and something we will point to in the next election. Liberals continue to fail Canadians at each and every step.