A motion calling on Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to appear before the House of Commons finance committee has passed unanimously.
Spearheaded by Conservative MP Jasraj Hallan, the motion passed with nobody voting against it and featured only one amendment. The amendment changed the initial motion that said, “for no less than two hours,” removing the time limit set on Freeland’s appearance altogether.
“Common Sense Conservatives are calling the Minister of Finance to appear to outline why the government has let it get this bad and what their plan is on fixing this. How and when will they fix the budget, and what is the plan to balance budgets so inflation and interest rates come down and Canadians don’t have to worry about losing their homes?” said Hallan.
The documents and testimony that result from the meeting will be included as part of the finance committee’s study on the impact of inflation and interest rates on mortgages in Canada.
While presenting the motion to the finance committee, Hallan highlighted various statistics. One of the studies he mentioned was Equifax Canada’s March 5 report, showing that mortgage delinquency rates have increased 52.3% in the last year.
“The rise in mortgage and credit card delinquencies are significantly affecting younger Canadians. We know that nine out of ten young people in this country have given up on the dream of homeownership,” said the Conservative MP.
Hallan said that anyone who talks to Canadians today hears the pain that they are feeling.
“Canada feels more broken than ever before. The Canadian dream, whether you’re an immigrant to this country or you’ve lived here your whole life, has turned into a nightmare,” he said.
This dream once consisted of homeownership. However, Hallan argued that eight years of failed economic policies by the Liberals and out-of-control deficit spending had given Canadians 40-year highs in inflation and the fastest interest rate hikes in the country’s history.
“Because this government put more debt on Canadians’ heads than every single government before them combined,” he said.
The Conservative MP also mentioned that Desjardins recently found that Freeland would miss her deficit targets.
Previously speaking in the finance committee, the governor of the Bank of Canada said that interest rates would have to stay higher for longer.
“On two separate occasions, the governor of the Bank of Canada confirmed that this government’s fiscal policy and his monetary policy to tame inflation are rowing in opposite directions. And, it’s because this government continues to spend money recklessly, and it’s making interest rates stay higher for longer,” said Hallan.
He added that Canada’s GDP per capita is contracting, meaning Canadians are getting poorer.
Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz raised some counterpoints during the committee hearing. She is also the MP who proposed the amendment, which was accepted.
Dzerowicz said that Canada is still trying to recover from “the massive global heart attack to our economies” caused by the pandemic. “We are doing better from an inflationary perspective than other countries,” she said.
True North previously reported that Canada is the only one of eight advanced countries with lower real GDP per capita than before the pandemic.
Hallan echoed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s concerns that 70% of provincial premiers and Canadian citizens now publicly oppose the carbon tax.
“One of those premiers is Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador [Andrew Furey]. Even he is calling on this Liberal government to not hike the tax,” said Hallan.
He added that the governor of the Bank of Canada confirmed that axing the carbon tax would put a huge dent in inflation.
True North previously reported that both Manitoba and Saskatchewan saw quicker inflation drops than expected after cutting the carbon tax.
“[The carbon tax] hasn’t helped the government meet any of its emission reduction targets but only made life more expensive for Canadians,” said Hallan.
The cost of living crisis, augmented by the carbon tax, has led to over two million Canadians visiting a food bank in a single month, said the Conservative MP.
He added that an estimated additional one million Canadians will be forced to visit a food bank this year, according to Second Harvest.
The Conservative Party issued a news release following the motion’s unanimous acceptance.
“Minister Freeland must explain to Canadians why she and the Liberal government continue to double down on their policies that caused this crisis and are leading to families losing their homes,” said the party.
