An out of control deficit is short-term pain followed by long-term pain. This is what you get when you have a self-absorbed Prime Minister who only cares about taking selfies with the beautiful people. All the budget mistakes made in Toronto are being repeated in Ottawa. There is no plan to create long-term, permanent, well-paying jobs.
Our job creators have spoken. Since the fall election there has been a flight of capital from Canada. After October 19th, over 122 billion dollars have fled the country. For the first time, according to Statistics Canada, total Canadian investment in the United States exceeds that of U.S. holdings in Canada. Investors are scared. That capital is no longer available for the private sector to create jobs. Unemployment is rising.
In the first five months since this government took office, they erased our surplus and burned through an additional 5.4 billion, adding 8.6 billion to the deficit. This budget is costly and dogmatic with no plan to balance the budget anytime in the future.
The liberals have broken their election promise by raising taxes on small business. By selectively raiding the Employment Insurance Account, payroll taxes are set to rise along with the changes to CPP that the government intends to make.
Our Conservative Party left the Federal Government with a 3.2 Billion surplus and had the best job creation record among G7 countries. As a result, we were able to keep taxes low for Canadian families and businesses. We reduced taxes to their lowest point in 50 years, with a typical family of four saving almost $7000 per year.
Energy poverty is now a fact of life in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. This budget does nothing to help people in need. In fact it makes the situation worse for everyone with more money for industrial wind turbines. Every time one is put up in Ontario, the price of electricity to consumers rises.
This budget cuts 3.7 billion out of defence. This is a bad day for Garrison Petawawa, soldiers and their families and the economy of the upper Ottawa Valley that relies on those jobs. Canada is returning to the ‘decade of darkness’. I worked hard to communicate to our NATO partners that our reputation as a NATO defence freeloader was over. Canada’s international reputation received a black eye today.
Interest on the national debt, which will grow by 100 billion to 732 billion in 4 years, will jump to 35 billion dollars, to be paid every year. That is 35 billion dollars in interest payments every year that will not be available for healthcare, pensions and education.