(Ottawa) Fearing a financial crisis within two years due to the high indebtedness of Canadians and the unprecedented rise in interest rates over the past 12 months decreed by the Bank of Canada, the leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre urges the Trudeau government to present a new budget containing a plan to restore balance.
Mr Poilievre, who delivered a four-hour speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday night hoping to block passage of the budget, said Tory MPs are ready to sit all summer if need be to produce a new budget that would help reduce inflationary pressures.
In principle, the House of Commons is due to vote Thursday afternoon on Bill C-47 to implement the budget presented on March 28 by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. This bill has reached third and final reading.
Mr. Poilievre said he had not said his last word to prevent the passage of the budget. He indicated that the conservative senators in the Senate will in turn use all the means at their disposal to block the passage of the budget.
“Since Mr. Trudeau presented his budget, we have new very, very serious information,” said Mr. Poilievre at a press conference Thursday morning.
“First, the International Monetary Fund has said that Canada is the country most at risk for a mortgage default crisis. Secondly, inflation is still on the rise and thirdly, there has been an increase in interest rates,” he pointed out.
According to him, these are factors that lead directly to a financial crisis.
“The Prime Minister should recognize that there is a real crisis coming for people who have mortgages. He must admit that the budget that adds another $60 billion to inflation, or $4,200 for each Canadian family, does not make good sense. It risks a financial crisis.”
“Today I say to Mr. Trudeau: withdraw your budget, cancel your summer vacation and put Parliament to work over the summer to rewrite the budget. We need a budget that will eliminate deficits in order to reduce inflation and interest rates. We must cancel all the tax increases that you promise to put on the shoulders of Canadians”.
Everything indicates that the federal budget will be adopted at third and final reading Thursday afternoon in the House of Commons. The minority Liberal government should get the support of the NDP.