By KERRY DIOTTE
Member of Parliament
“Opportunity is coming. Growth is coming. Jobs are coming.”
Those were the upbeat and naive words used by Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in summing up the first budget her government has tabled in two long years.
I beg to differ with her optimistic summation.
Something is coming all right. But it’s a train — a runaway train of Liberal spending.
There’s more than $100 billion alone in brand new spending.
It details plans to tack on a half a trillion dollars in national debt.
As well, it will push our debt to GDP ratio to the stratosphere. That debt to GDP ration will soar to nearly 50% in five years.
Our deficit will be an obscene $354.2 billion.
That’s the amount of money the Liberals will spend that we don’t have.
The Liberals called this budget “A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience.”
But there’s no true plan.
As our Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole pointed out — this is not an economic recovery budget. This is an election budget.
There’s money offered like juicy carrots to just about everybody.
Here’s just SOME of the spending: $30 billion for national daycare, $8.9 billion for low-wage Canadians, $5.7 billion for youth, $12 billion for wage, rent and business subsidies,” “$18 billion to further narrow gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” “$2.2 billion to help end the national tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,” and “$5 billion over seven years, starting in 2021-22, in the Net Zero Accelerator.”
Yes, there are a half dozen references in the budget speech to the word “green.’’ Freeland boasted of “investing in Canada’s green transition and the green jobs that go with it.”
But you know two words that failed to get a mention in the budget speech?
There was not one mention of the word oil or gas.
It just goes to show you how out of touch these Liberals are with Alberta and the lifeblood energy industry that fuels this nation and pays the bills for the country.
While there was plenty of talk about green schemes there was no mention, for instance, of things such as promoting pipelines to get our ethical natural resources to world markets.
How on earth will we ever be able to afford this massive Liberal, election-style spending spree unless we champion our God-given natural resources and support them?
Taxing and spending is not the magic bullet. But that seems to be the bullet train Justin Trudeau and his Liberals love.
The Liberals should (but won’t) heed the words of the late, former British PM Margaret Thatcher who’s frequently quoted as saying: “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
So true. Woe Canada.
I’m often asked what Conservatives would have done differently than Justin Trudeau on the COVID pandemic front.
There are lots of things — but here are some key ones:
1) Unlike Trudeau we would have recognized earlier on that COVID was a worldwide pandemic.
2) We would have quickly closed our borders to people arriving from COVID hotspots instead of saying such an action was somehow racist.
3) We wouldn’t have depleted Canada’s supply of PPE by shipping 16 tonnes of it to China.
4) We wouldn’t have gambled by trying to partner with China to get a vaccine — a deal that fell flat and left us late to the game in purchasing vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer.
5) We’d have been quicker to produce a contact tracing app.
6) We’d have more rapidly produced and employed federal rapid testing.
These are several key things we would have done differently as we worked to support Canadians through the pandemic.
Trudeau’s failed COVID-19 response is making international headlines. Recently, CNN responded on how Trudeau has botched the vaccine.
Instead of accepting responsibility for his government’s failures, the prime minister doubled down. He bizarrely claimed Britain was facing a “very serious third wave.” This is despite the fact that Britain has far fewer active cases and are actually beginning to open up thanks to their successful vaccine program.
He then went on to claim the factual CNN report wasn’t actually factual. CNN journalist Jake Tapper was having none of the “Tru-Anon” talking points and conspiracies.
Canadians deserve better!
My friend and colleague Eric Duncan is right. The ban doesn’t make sense, prevents donors from donating and needlessly discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community. It’s time to end it.
The British governments refusal to uprate pensions for British-Canadians is an unfair policy that hurts thousands of Canadians — including several of my constituents.
These pensioners paid their dues, they deserve their full pensions.
Other countries have agreements, why not Canada?
In my last e-newsletter, I asked folks if they thought Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government has botched Canada’s vaccine procurement.
Folks universally agreed that the Liberals botched it.
A big thanks to everyone who took part. I always appreciate hearing from you.
In the recent Liberal budget the Liberals commit to billions of dollars of more debt in an endless spending spree. This is of course a government that came in promising to only run three small deficits, we all remember how that worked out.
Are you concerned about Canada’s record debt levels and the lack of a Liberal plan back to balance?
Have your say in my unofficial poll.
I’ll publish the results in next week’s e-newsletter.
You can find up-to-date information from Alberta Health Services or the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Alberta Health Services can also be reached by phone at 811.
There are programs available to help you and your family during this COVID pandemic.
You can share it here.
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I’m always eager to hear from you. Do you have beefs? Bouquets? Suggestions?
Drop me a note to my e-mail address.
Please note our local Edmonton constituency office is currently still open to serve you but it’s by appointment only. We simply ask that you call ahead to book an appointment.
Call or e-mail us and we’ll be happy to serve you.
Thanks so much. Stay healthy!
E-mail:
[email protected]
Phone:
(780) 495-3261
Mail (postage free):
Kerry Diotte, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6