Fall Economic Statement Debate in May?
Yes you read that right. The Liberal-NDP Government – which controls the agenda of the House of Commons – scheduled a debate of their Fall Economic Statement on May 10th. Not only is that six months after the FES, but it is fully three weeks after the 2024 Budget was dropped.
When we say that everything feels broken, we’re not kidding!
While life has gotten worse for Canadians, the Liberal government is spending more than ever before. This year’s budget will include $61 billion in new inflationary spending, adding almost $40 billion to our accumulating $1.3 trillion debt.
Struggling families can’t afford higher taxes and more inflationary spending that drives up the cost of everything and keeps interest rates high.
Real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per person has declined. Our debt to GDP ratio is 62%, but the government pretends it is 42% (higher than the 40% threshold they said they would never cross). They get to the 42% number by including the assets of Canadians’ pension plans (CPP & QPP). Those aren’t government assets. They are liabilities – money owed to Canadians when they retire. They should not be part of the Debt to GDP calculation.
After nine years of the Liberal-NDP Government, the cost of living has become unaffordable. The Liberal spending and inflationary taxes have driven up the cost of everything, forcing the Bank of Canada to slam on the brakes with the fastest increase in interest rates in Canada’s history.
Bad news from Bank of Canada
Yesterday, the Bank of Canada confirmed that Canadians will see a steep jump in payments as millions of Canadians renew their mortgages over the next few years. In fact, the median monthly payment may increase by more than 60 percent for Canadians who have a variable rate mortgage.
Mortgage payments will rise significantly even for Canadians who have a fixed-rate mortgage. Median mortgage payments for fixed-rate mortgages will increase by 20 percent in 2026. No wonder that the Governor of the Bank of Canada has said that the spending is “not helpful” in bringing inflation down and lowering interest rates.
On top of this, as the cost of everything increases, the Bank of Canada has reported that more and more Canadians are going into credit card debt. Already, Canadians have significantly higher household debt than other similar economies. Over the past year, the share of Canadians who carry a credit card balance of at least 80 percent of their credit limit has continued to climb.
Trudeau was warned that his spending was making it harder to bring down interest rates. But in the most recent budget, the Liberal Government added $61 billion in new inflationary spending, costing the average Canadian family an extra $3,687.
Only Common Sense Conservatives will cap the spending, axe the tax and fix the budget to bring home lower interest rates for Canadians.
Related Material
The official Hansard transcript of Greg’s speech.