February 2019 Column

We are well into the new year and time and again Foothills residents are telling me how crucial 2019 is for Alberta and for Canada.

Over the last three years Canadians have gotten to know Justin Trudeau and they don’t like what they’ve seen. They’re tired of his mistakes.

Mistakes including damaged relationships with key allies and trading partners, backing down to Donald Trump on NAFTA and refusing to get serious about the threat posed by China.

A Liberal government hell-bent on phasing out Canada’s oil and gas industry, deliberately wiping out pipeline projects costing hundreds of thousands of Albertans their jobs.

A Liberal government has destroyed confidence in the immigration system and the border by making those who obey the law wait in line while others jump the queue and enter illegally.

Finally, the Liberal’s runaway spending and permanent deficits threaten to hit Canadians hard at a time when they can least afford it.

Each of these failures has come to define Justin Trudeau’s time as Prime Minister.

Albertans are worried about making ends meet. There is anxiety out there. And it’s real. For the first time in my lifetime there is a sense future generations will be worse off than those who came before them.

As a father of three, this concerns me a great deal because as parents our legacy is to leave our country in a better place than what we found.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said it best, “I believe Canada should be a place where no dream is out of reach. Where no ambition is too big for anybody.”

I agree, isn’t that what Canada should be?

Unfortunately, under Justin Trudeau, two thirds of Canadians either feel they can’t pay their bills or feel they have nothing left over after they do. Under Justin Trudeau, almost half of all Canadians report being overwhelmed by their debts.

Foothills families, farmers and business owners know we cannot afford more deficits.

If things continue as status quo, everything from the gasoline you put in your car, to the food you put on your table, to the taxes you pay to Ottawa will cost you more.

We know this because he has already raised taxes.
More than 80% of middle-income families are paying $800 more in taxes every year since he came to power.

He’s hiked taxes on small business owners and he’s ended tax credits that made things like dance lessons, university text books and bus passes more affordable.

He’s brought in a carbon tax costing roughly $1,100 a family through increases to household essentials, but that’s only at current rates.

Internal government documents show the government is planning for a carbon tax of $300 a tonne – that’s 15 times more expensive than the current $20/tonne.

Based on the government’s own numbers, the carbon tax would cost an average family $5,000 per year.

That is his plan. To give you a small carbon tax “rebate” before the election and a massive carbon tax bill after the election.

We’ve caught him trying to raise other taxes as well.

For example, he tried to tax health and dental benefits and even tried to tax employee discounts. He tried to scrap the Disability Tax Credit for diabetics and he pushed to hike taxes by 73% on small business investment and family farms.

Thankfully, Conservatives caught him trying to do all of this and we were able to stop him.

Make no mistake. He’ll bring them back if he’s re-elected – when he won’t need people’s votes, but he will still need our money.

The biggest reason we know Justin Trudeau will raise taxes is because his never-ending deficits will force him to reach into our pockets.

Do not forget, he was elected on a promise to balance the budget.

Three small deficits followed by a balanced budget in 2019. That’s what Canadians thought they were going to get because that’s what he promised.

That promise is in tatters. The Liberal deficit is $19 billion this year, it has exceeded $60 billion in total over three years and there is no plan to balance the budget – ever.

Clearly, budgets don’t balance themselves despite Trudeau’s naïve assurances it does.

Albertans know you can’t borrow your way out of debt and you can’t spend money you don’t have.

Canadians cannot afford to pay for this Government’s failures.