QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Cost of Living
November 21, 2024
Leader, a recent survey from the Salvation Army found that 58% of parents are facing food-related challenges. One in four parents reported that they eat less so that their children can eat, period.
Of these parents, 90% said they were spending less on groceries so they can pay their bills, 86% report buying less nutritious food because it’s cheaper and 84% of these parents reduce the size of their meals or skip meals entirely because groceries are unaffordable. These are not just statistics or Conservative talking points, leader. They are parents struggling to feed their children. Why should so many Canadians have to live like this?
It’s both terrible and unacceptable that Canadians and Canadian families are struggling with the cost of food and have to make the trade-offs that you mentioned. The only objection that I could possibly have to your comment, because I think all of us in this chamber would feel the same way, is some of the implicit assumptions that either this government is not doing what it can in that area — and you are entitled to believe that it should be doing more — but it is also the case that the rising cost of food prices — despite talking points, rhyming and otherwise — is a function of global issues, including wars, climate change and supply-chain issues, to say nothing of the regulation of private businesses, which are not within federal jurisdiction.
Colleagues, all of us want to see Canadians be properly fed and nourished and bemoan the fact that they still face so many challenges. This government is committed to doing its part to help Canadians.
Clearly, your government does not, leader. These are loving and responsible parents who are putting their children first. They’re doing the best they can in rough times. They need an end to the carbon tax that has made everything more expensive. There, leader, is your problem.
When will this NDP-Liberal government allow them to vote to axe the tax?
Well, you managed to start off with quite appropriate empathy towards Canadians and then instrumentalize them once again to make a false equation between the impact of carbon pricing on the cost of food and then pivot to an election.
This government — for so long as it remains the government — will continue to work for the benefit of Canadians, including addressing the challenges that they face with the cost of living.
