Working to lower food costs for Christmas

“I have it on good authority that the Prime Minister’s favourite Christmas movie is The Grinch,” quipped my seat mate in the House of Commons, MP Glen Motz. “In fact, it may be where the Prime Minister came up with the idea for his carbon tax: Just like the Grinch took the food off the plates of the Whos in Whoville, the Prime Minister is also a fan of taking food off the plates of Canadians.”

Conservatives have spent the weeks leading up to Christmas working around the clock to pass Bill C-234 to exempt farmers from Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax. Farmers pay exponentially high Carbon Tax bills for heating their barns and drying grain and those expenses are passed along to consumers in higher food costs at the grocery store—something a growing number of Canadians cannot afford.

Canadians have been walloped the past three years, first with COVID then inflation and the cost-of-living crisis—a direct result of Justin Trudeau’s “COVID spending”.

I don’t need to tell you how the cost of living has shot up the past year and a half. I also don’t need to tell Canadians the Liberal Government’s attempts to blame domestic inflation on the war in Ukraine are less than accurate.  

Liberal policies have made life more expensive for Canadians, full stop, and at Christmastime those cost increases are being felt all the more acutely.

For many families this Christmas it’s not finding the perfect gift or that last minute item that has them stressed. For millions of Canadians, it’s desperately trying to keep a roof over their heads and feeding their kids.

A 2022 StatsCan study shows under Liberal policies some seven million Canadians were already experiencing food insecurity—1.8 million of whom were children. That’s pre-inflation.

Food bank use has gone up exponentially in 2023.

In many cases, Canadians with decent jobs, people who used to donate to food banks, are now forced to use them. A survey from Food Banks Canada shows in March alone nearly two million Canadians visited a food bank, and 1 in 3 of those food bank users were children.

In a country as blessed and wealthy as Canada, nobody should ever go hungry.

In 2023, the average annual grocery expenditure for a family of four was a whopping $15,595.40. The Food Price Report projects that in 2024 the cost of food will go up again by an additional 2.5% to 4.5%.

Conservatives recognize the challenges families are facing this Christmas. Despite what the Trudeau boosting pundits in the national media will tell you, Conservatives have been working hard every day (and at times through the night) to try to make this Christmas more affordable for struggling families.

We have done so with numerous commonsense pieces of legislation, like Bill C-234 to remove the carbon tax from farmers so those costs are no longer being passed on to consumers. We have put forward motion after motion calling for the Carbon Tax to be removed from home heating and others for it to be axed altogether. We’ve called consistently for the government to stop its inflationary spending and forced 136 confidence votes. We have opposed every piece of inflationary Liberal legislation to try to bring down the cost of living for Canadians.

Just before the break, C-234 passed the Senate, but not before this Prime Minster and his Liberal senators gutted the bill.  It will now come back to the House of Commons for further debate.

What we had hoped would be a gift to Canadians this Christmas was ruined by the Liberals who are more interested in power and imposing their radical climate agenda than helping ease the cost of feeding families.

After eight years of this Prime Minister and this Liberal Government, it is clear to Canadians where his priorities lie.

As Conservatives continue to work to bring down prices, I encourage all who are able to give generously to your local food bank or soup kitchen this holiday season. Share what you have and practice generosity and hospitality to those in need.

Most of all, hold on to hope. Canada wasn’t like this before Justin Trudeau, and it won’t be after he’s gone.

I also encourage folks to remember that real hope isn’t found in an ideology or political party. It’s found in a person. Not in a politician but in the Prince of Peace. God who came to earth in human flesh to be the Saviour of all people.

I want wish all of my constituents a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and hopeful New Year.