Mr. Speaker, last week I asked the Prime Minister in this House whether he would finally show some accountability to the Canadians who are losing their jobs, struggling to pay their mortgages and turning to food banks in record numbers. I asked whether he would do his job and table a budget.

What did we get in response? We got more recycled talking points, more deflection and no plan. Canadians deserve better.

Oxford Economics has sounded the alarm: Canada is heading into a recession. They project 200,000 more job losses this year alone, with unemployment expected to rise to 7.7%. That is not just a number; it is hundreds of thousands of families facing sleepless nights, wondering how they will make ends meet. It is young people putting their dreams on hold. It is seniors watching their savings evaporate. What is the government's response? It is a record half-trillion dollars in spending, with no clear direction, no measurable outcomes and no accountability. This is not stimulus. It is drift. It is economic mismanagement.

Let us be clear. Full-time workers, people who are doing everything right, are now lining up at food banks. Mortgage defaults are rising. Small businesses are closing their doors, yet the government continues to spend as if there were no consequences, as if the money were endless and as if Canadians would not be left to pick up the tab. This is not only about dollars and cents; it is about trust, it is about leadership and it is about the future of our country.

Let me point out that this is the first time in our lifetimes, except during the pandemic, when Parliament was not sitting, that Canadians have not seen a spring budget. Canadians are not asking for miracles. They are asking for a plan, a real plan, one that restores fiscal discipline, supports job creation and ensures that every dollar spent delivers results. The heart of the question is the need for the government to account for its intentions and to be measured by the outcomes, both financially and by delivery.

Spending other people's money seems to be quite easy for the government, but accountability, not so much. It is not as if the government members were new to the numbers. This is a legacy government, in power for a decade now. They presented a costed programming of their promises during the election, and $60-billion planned deficits seem to be the norm now. This means that Canadians will be, at minimum, a quarter-trillion dollars more in debt before the next election, and that will mean higher debt payments and taxes that could go to services but will be diverted to international bankers. There is nothing to see here, indeed.

It marks the end of any illusion Canadians may have had that the current Prime Minister will be any different from the last, who spent a decade diluting Canada's democratic norms and spending taxpayer dollars as if there were no consequences, no associated inflation, no reduced productivity, no strain on our trade relations and no recognition from our allies that Canada is becoming less reliable, with food costs and housing costs soaring. This is what is known in international finance as “managed decline”, where citizens' well-being is gradually withdrawn from them and their efforts become someone else's gains.

The Prime Minister must do his job. He must table a budget that reflects the seriousness of this moment. He must show Canadians that he understands the gravity of the situation and that he is willing to act, not just talk. If he will not do this, then Canadians will be left to conclude what many already suspect: that they were sold a bill of goods in the last election, that the Prime Minister has no plan and that, like his predecessor, he wants to spend taxpayer dollars with no accountability.

Canadians deserve to see the plan. When will the Prime Minister deliver?

Greg McLean

$598,041.00