Liberals have no plan to return to balance 2018

The Liberal’s have tabled their Fall Economic Statement for 2018. The Finance Minister confirmed the Liberals are borrowing $18 billion this year, and almost $20 billion next year, to pay for their out-of-control spending and they have no plan to balance the budget. Ever.

The take away from this Liberal mini-budget is Trudeau’s deficits are massive, continuing indefinitely with no plan bring Canada’s budget back to balance. This year’s deficit is more than three times what Justin Trudeau said it would be and he has added $60 billion in debt in just three years. Next year, the deficit will be even higher while the Liberals plan is to continue to spend everyone else’s hard-earned money.

A responsible government would have paid down the debt when the economy was performing. Rather, we see Trudeau spending the cupboards bare and forcing Canadians to pay for his reckless spending through higher taxes. The average Canadian middle-class family is paying $800 more income tax today than when Justin Trudeau took office. That amount is before considering the cost of the Liberals’ carbon tax and their new payroll taxes. In other words, it is only going to get worse.

The government should be preparing for a rainy day, in case of a future economic downturn. For example, a $10 reduction in the price of a barrel of oil hits the budget by more than $2 billion. Last week Western Canadian Select was trading below $14 per barrel. Has this been taken into account in the Fall Economic Statement? No.

I was proud to see fellow Albertans flock to the streets in Calgary in support of Canada’s energy sector.

These were not paid activists and protesters but hard-working men and women who rely on the jobs our world class natural resource industry creates.

Canada is losing $80 million a day due to the crippling price differential between Canadian and global oil prices. This is money we could be using to build schools, hospitals, roads, affordable housing and support vital social programs.

Instead, it is going to fund those same projects in the United States.

The Liberal fiscal update does nothing to address the unprecedented crisis facing Canada’s oil and gas sector, a crisis where we see the ramifications especially here in Alberta. The Prime Minister cancelled two pipeline projects that would have carried Canadian oil to new markets in Europe and Asia. Rather than helping Canada’s energy sector, the Trudeau government has introduced new taxes, burdensome regulations and the “No Pipeline” Bill C-69 as their ‘solution’.

Not only have Liberal incompetence and bad policies chased away major pipeline projects that would have created thousands of jobs and helped eliminate the devastating price discount on Canadian oil, this failed fiscal update demonstrates there is no intention by the Liberal’s to increase Canada’s competitiveness on the global stage.

Trudeau should have lowered business tax rates to enhance our competitiveness and boost investment in the economy, mirroring changes south of the boarder.

An inability to attract investment is a demonstration of Canada’s lack of competitiveness. Foreign investment in Canada is down 50.7 per cent since the Liberals have taken office.
While Trudeau keeps asking Canadians to pay more, he leaves his family fortune untouched.

Conservatives will always be the voice of the taxpayer. You can count on us to continue fighting for hardworking Canadians every step of the way.