On Parliament Hill

At a time when inflation is on the rise and Canadians are struggling to make ends meet most responsible governments would conclude this is not the right time to raise taxes on essential items.

Not so in the case of the Trudeau Liberals.

Later this week, the Liberal government will, once again, hike the price of such essentials as food, gas, and home heating with their latest increase to the federal Carbon Tax.

On April 1st the Liberal Carbon Tax will rise to 11 cents on the dollar for gasoline for a total of 34 cents tax on every dollar spent for gasoline in Manitoba.

At today’s price, the tax component equals just under 60 cents per liter in Manitoba.

The increase in the Carbon Tax will also see already inflated food, heating and new home prices go up. Why? Because the Liberal Carbon Tax is a tax on everything.

Last week, Conservatives put forward a motion in the House of Commons for the Government to give Canadians a break by temporarily removing the GST from fuel purchases. Sadly, the Liberals backed by the NDP voted down this simple, commonsense measure.

Canadians can’t afford more taxes. In fact, 53% of Canadians are already struggling to pay their bills and service their debt.

Canadians need meaningful tax relief to help offset the skyrocketing cost of living. Instead, the Liberal-NDP government continue to tax and spend with no thought to how it’s affecting every-day Canadians.

To make matters worse, with Bill C-8, currently being debated in the House of Commons, the Liberal Government plans to spend an additional $70 billion in new deficit spending.

As Director of Fiscal and Provincial Economics with Scotiabank, Rebekah Young, recently stated:

“With the Canadian economy already at capacity and price pressures mounting, incremental spending – even if merited – could complicate efforts to keep inflation expectations moored.”

In other words, by keeping the gravy train going, the Federal Government will likely end up doing more harm, than good.

Every time the government borrows or prints money and injects it into the economy the value of that money decreases – because there’s more of it. The result is, Canadians trying to pay for gas or groceries with more dollars chasing fewer goods.

As Robert Asselin, Senior Vice President of the Business Council of Canada says:

“The right path is to grow the economy to pay for new spending measures – not the other way around.”

More taxes are not the answer. More spending is not the answer. More regulation and government interference in the market is not the answer.

The root issue here is not the cost of food, or fuel or housing. It’s the cost of this government.

If the Liberals really want to help Canadians, they should stop flooding the market with inflated currency, get their deficit spending under control, stop trying to control everything and just let Canadians live their lives.