Mr. Speaker, I have been in this place now for over 20 years. I have never seen a situation like this before. Today is the day the government waited until to table the fall economic update where it would publish the true deficit numbers that Canadians will be on the hook for.

As the House knows, the former finance minister resigned this morning. Things are unclear; there are some media reports indicating that there may be a replacement now, but at the time of the writing of her letter, it was not even clear who the finance minister was.

All this is at a time when Canadians are facing an emergency situation. They are facing the fastest rate of inflation in over a generation with food inflation; food prices are rising 37% faster here in Canada than in the United States. They are facing a housing crisis that the Prime Minister caused by doubling housing costs with mortgage and rent payments. Two million Canadians are lining up at food banks. There is crime and chaos on our streets, and now the government is in shambles.

By waiting until the second-last day of the December sitting, the government was hoping to table the fall economic update and then run and hide for six weeks in the snow, depriving parliamentarians of holding the government to account, the very thing Parliament exists for: to oversee government spending.

Because of the situation, we find ourselves in an unprecedented case where some new person is going to table the fall economic update, we believe. It is still unclear, according to media reports. It is unclear how the economic update will be presented, and it is unclear whether or not any parliamentarians will be able to participate in any kind of questioning of whichever minister ends up delivering it or tabling it, if one actually does. Then the House will rise at the end of the day tomorrow for six weeks.

Because of this unprecedented and emergency situation, I believe that the best thing you, Mr. Speaker, can do to uphold the integrity of Parliament as an institution that exists to oversee, scrutinize and approve government taxation and spending is to grant an emergency debate. That is what my letter to you outlines.

When we look at the situation facing Canada, including threats from abroad; 25% tariffs; staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at us by a U.S. President-elect with a strong and fresh new mandate, who can smell weakness from a mile away; and a cabinet in chaos, with one-fifth of the government caucus demanding that the Prime Minister resign, we believe that it is now time for you, Mr. Speaker, to grant the House at least the opportunity to question the government for a few hours this evening on what should be its fall economic presentation.

The former finance minister herself said that going past the $40-billion guardrail would plunge the country into another round of nightmarish inflation and interest rate hikes. Media reports are speculating as to how high the deficit will go.

I know that there are precedents and guidelines you, Mr. Speaker, might look to as to whether you should approve an emergency debate. However, given the fact that there is really no other opportunity for parliamentarians to debate the issues, to scrutinize the economic update that is scheduled to happen this afternoon, I believe it is incumbent upon you now, Mr. Speaker to consider the rights of individual MPs and the House as a collective to be the representatives of Canadian taxpayers and to hold the government to account for its economic update later on today.

Andrew Scheer

$631,397.00