QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Agreement with New Democratic Party
March 22, 2022
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate. Government leader, this morning we saw the Prime Minister of Canada go before the people of Canada to try to defend the indefensible. Late last night, we saw that there was a deal negotiated by Prime Minister Trudeau and the NDP in order to essentially create a majority government, which is, without a doubt, an unprecedented power grab.
We know full well that in the last election the NDP received 17% of the vote. We also clearly know that this is not the agenda that the people of Canada have embraced. How can the Prime Minister justify this?
Over the next three and a half years, the NDP has agreed to unequivocally support four budgets, and we already have a government in place that has been spending money like a drunken sailor. Now we have a clear indication that they will continue down that path and more.
Today, while the Prime Minister stood before the Canadian public trying to justify this majority coalition government — which the people of Canada clearly did not choose only six months ago in a general election — there was not a single figure attached to how much this deal between the NDP, the Liberals and Prime Minister Trudeau will cost taxpayers. Can you explain to us what the exact number is — the cost to taxpayers — for this power grab coalition between the NDP and the Liberals?
Thank you for your question. This is not a coalition arrangement, as the Prime Minister made clear. I cannot answer your question because it remains to be seen what the government will bring forward in terms of its budget and what programs it will introduce. I would simply say that, as the Prime Minister announced, it’s the position of this government that this introduces a degree of stability and allows Canadians to benefit from a degree of coherence and stability in their government going forward.
The only one to benefit from this is the Liberal government that got a minority mandate and are trying, through negotiation and deals with the socialist NDP, to turn it into a majority government. The only one to benefit here, let’s be clear, is the Liberal government.
I have previously raised the affordability crisis impacting Canadian families in this place. Inflation, as you know, government leader, is at a three-year high, and it will remain sky‑high under an NDP-Liberal coalition government. The NDP‑Liberal coalition government will be a high-spending, high-tax government with no regard whatsoever for the deficit or the cost of living.
Government leader, let’s be clear, we have a 30-year high in inflation. We have challenges for single mothers and middle‑class families to be able to feed their children due to just inflation. We see these difficulties every time a Canadian goes to the pump in order to fill their car or truck to go to work. We see the cost for young Canadians when they go out there to try to become first-time home buyers and the difficulty they are having in this country.
This NDP-Liberal coalition will further impact the daily lives of these Canadians because the NDP has given you a blank cheque until 2025, yet, the government leader in the Senate can’t tell us the exact figure of costs and how much this coalition is going to cost Canadian taxpayers.
Thank you for your question. The issues of affordability that you raise are serious ones. We are all concerned about it, the government and I’m sure all opposition parties. It’s a serious question. However, it does not assist in dealing with serious questions by continuing to misrepresent the nature of the understanding that has been reached by the government and the NDP.
Honourable colleague, you have used the term “coalition government” on many occasions. It’s simply not the case. Talking points aside, it’s not helping Canadians understand what needs to be done to address the serious issues of affordability that you quite properly mention.
