Report From Parliament Hill

Eric Melillo, MP, Kenora—Kiiwetinoong

Dear Constituents

The new Liberal budget was a great opportunity to address the biggest concerns facing Canadians from coast to coast: the cost of everyday goods, building affordable housing, securing good-paying jobs, and the need for more investment and growth in our economy. Instead, Mark Carney’s new budget is centered around more spending, more borrowing, and more debt. 
Conservatives were clear when asking the Prime Minister to take aim at the things making life unaffordable for Canadians. By taking all federal taxes off gasoline and diesel, Canadians could save approximately 20 cents per litre and over one thousand dollars per family. The Liberals failed to do this—and instead of meaningful relief at the pumps, Canadians are now facing another fuel tax increase early next year. Those higher transportation costs will be transferred over to us, the consumers, and will ultimately lead to higher prices for groceries and everyday necessities. 
Conservatives also called on the government to cut wasteful spending. Instead, Mr. Carney’s new budget continues to spend billions more, and the government’s borrowing continues to grow. The Liberal budget already forecasts a staggering series of deficits of $289 billion over the next five years, but conveniently fails to include non-budgetary transactions over the same period:  a whopping $476 billion. This means that the government will borrow $765 billion over that five-year time period, of which two-thirds are hidden from the budget books. This addition of $765 billion to our national debt is the single biggest borrowing binge in Canadian history. It is more than Trudeau, and more borrowing than during COVID, or more than any other government in the history of this country.
Just because the Liberals have found different ways to package and describe their government spending, labelling expenditures separately does not make the colossal debt they are taking on disappear. Whatever the government calls it, this will lead to high inflation, high taxes, and high interest in the future. That interest is already getting out of hand: this year, the fastest-growing pressure on the federal budget is the cost of servicing our debt. The government’s own budget forecasts over $85 billion in interest charges by 2030-31: $85 billion that could be going towards healthcare improvements, infrastructure, or government services. 
Carney’s budget should’ve saved Canadians money, saved jobs, and put Canada first, but instead, this budget will have direct consequences for all of us. We are being asked yet again to pay more at the pump, pay more for everyday necessities, and ultimately, pay more for less. That’s why Conservatives will continue to fight for a different approach: cut wasteful spending, remove expensive gas taxes that make life more unaffordable, provide opportunities for investment and growth for Canadian businesses, and save Canada’s future by reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio as the Prime Minister has promised but failed to deliver.
Working for You
If you’re visiting Ottawa and would like to take a tour of Parliament, please get in touch. My office would be happy to help you reserve tour tickets.
As always, if there is anything my office can assist you with, please call me at 807-223-2182 (Dryden) or 807-468-2170 (Kenora) or email me at 
[email protected].
Sincerely, 
Eric Melillo 
Member of Parliament 
Kenora—Kiiwetinoong