​This week, the Trudeau Liberal government presented the 2023 federal budget.

Before I continue, let's recap last year's budget.

They called the budget 2022 the "return to fiscal responsibility" budget.

Why? Although it had a deficit of $53 billion, the Liberals said it was "affordable."

They based this on their claim that they would restrain spending to less than GDP growth.

As I pointed out last year, Prime Minister Trudeau always spends more than planned, increasing our federal deficit.

The 2023 budget follows this pattern of excess spending, as I warned about last year.

Last fall, the Liberals predicted a fiscal plan that would balance in 2027.

However, the new budget has a revised $14 billion deficit in 2027.

The budget promises five more years of deficits, all larger than it promised last fall.

This year, the deficit will hit $43 billion. Over the next three years, Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to increase.

The budget proposes about $43 billion in net new spending over the next six years, which includes a one-time grocery rebate, a 40% increase in Canada student grants, a $13-billion plan to expand dental care to families earning less than $90,000 a year, a new 15% refundable tax credit for clean electricity investments, and a refundable 30% tax credit for investments in clean tech manufacturing. 

The NDP Finance critic took credit for many of these new spending measures yesterday, citing they stemmed from an agreement between the Trudeau Government and the NDP to support the government on confidence matters.

The Liberals also said they would cut some discretionary spending. Still, it's unclear if this will make a big enough difference to their finances. Things will be even more tricky if they don't get enough money from cutting discretionary spending or if revenues drop.

The problem with ongoing deficit spending is that Canada's interest charges on the debt will hit $43.9 billion this year, an 80% increase from pre-pandemic 2020 levels.

Debt servicing is now higher than our annual budget for the military. By fiscal 2027/2028, interest charges on our debt will exceed $50 billion annually.

Considering these interest costs, the Federal Canada Health Transfer to the provinces will be $49.4 billion this year.

From my perspective, there is a pattern emerging.

In 2015, the Trudeau Liberals promised three years of "modest" deficit spending before a "cast in stone" promise to return to a balanced budget in 2019. They didn't deliver on this promise.

Last year, the Liberals submitted a "return to fiscal responsibility" budget with a balanced budget promised. One year later, they abandoned this promise.

My question for you this week:

Do you think the Liberal government, supported by the NDP, is doing a good job with the country's finances?

Contact me at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.

​The headlines on inflation this week were; “inflation rate drops to 5.2% in February”.

However, a closer inspection reveals that; “Prices for food purchased from stores in February were up 10.6 percent compared with a year ago, the seventh consecutive month of double-digit increases.”

Anyone buying groceries will know that food prices continue to increase.

This can be even more significant for those who live in rural communities where there may be less local grocery store competition. 

Recently a local business owner, who manufactures food products found in many local grocery stores, brought to my attention one of the reasons why this occurs.

As we all know, trucking of goods is significant in our grocery store food chain.

The business owner I met mentioned shipping charges have increased dramatically due to the rising fuel cost. Now, the shipping company adds a surcharge solely for the carbon tax. 

Given that the carbon tax in BC is set to increase on April 1st to $65/tonne, this small business owner is very concerned that his company will again have to raise prices, as these costs must be passed along.

Unfortunately, this is all part of made-in-Canada food inflation and does not end there.

Also occurring on April 1st, the Trudeau Liberal Government is set to raise the excise tax on wine, beer and spirits by over 6%.

Remember that increased trucking costs apply to these industries as well.

For Canadian consumers, you will be asked to pay more when many can no longer afford to pay all their bills at the end of the month.

There is also the compounding effect.

For the business owner I mentioned, who is facing higher costs due to the carbon tax surcharge for the raw goods that his company receives; resulting in higher prices, those finished goods are shipped again to local grocery stores.

These carbon tax surcharges must be passed to consumers at local grocery stores, particularly those in rural areas with higher shipping costs. 

For more wealthy citizens, higher grocery prices are not a problem.

However, this is a massive financial burden for many families with variable rate mortgages who may now pay $1000 more monthly just in added interest charges.

Likewise, higher grocery prices have created significant additional hardship for those on a fixed income.

In every region of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, I have spoken with staff or volunteers at local food banks who have told me the uptick of demand, coupled with record-high inflation, is incredibly challenging for their operations.

While most of those now receiving support at food banks are seniors, many are also families where, despite the parents working one or more jobs, higher housing and rising grocery bills are forcing these families to rely on food banks to supplement their budgets. 

My question this week:

How does food inflation personally impact you or your family?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free at 1-800-665-8711.

Why does Canada have such runaway food inflation when we grow so much food?

A common question.

There are a couple of main reasons: rising fuel costs increase farmers' production costs, and transportation.

As we import many different foods, exchange rates also matter.

A weaker Canadian dollar means imported goods cost more for consumers.

Sylvain Charlebois, a food researcher from Dalhousie, has said that a lack of competition in the grocery space also contributes to higher food costs, saying:

"All these discount stores are connected to just a handful of grocers controlling the Canadian market – they are essentially co-operative arms of the mainstream supermarkets, rather than competitors." 

Speaking of mainstream supermarkets, at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food (AGRI) last week, Parliamentarians questioned the CEOs of some of Canada's largest grocery store chains around food inflation.

At one point, Galen Weston, CEO of Canadian grocery store giant Loblaws, was asked, "How much profit is too much profit?". 

The reply from Mr. Weston was, "We're a big company, and the numbers are very large, but it still translates right down to the bottom line at one dollar [of profit] per 25 dollars of groceries."

There is no question that companies such as Loblaws have always been profitable and continue to see increased revenue as inflation and population rise. 

In February 2023, Loblaws reported a fourth quarter profit of $529 million. This fourth quarter profit was roughly ten percent higher than last year's fourth quarter. 

While on the topic of Loblaws, in 2019 the Trudeau Liberal government gave this extremely profitable company $12 million to purchase new, more energy-efficient, refrigerators.

I will continue to follow this subject closely and look forward to reading the final report on this crucial topic from the AGRI committee.

The Trudeau Liberal government recently announced that Volkswagen would build a "gigafactory" to produce electric vehicle batteries in St. Thomas, Ontario.

While undeniably goods news on many levels, it raises the critical question of how much this new Volkswagen battery factory will cost Canadian taxpayers.

The answer to that is that we don't know. 

The Trudeau Liberal government has refused to disclose how much taxpayers must pay Volkswagen to build this factory.

Volkswagen, like Loblaws, is also a highly profitable company.

The same can be said for tire manufacturer Michelin.

This week, PM Trudeau announced that Michelin would receive $44.3 million in federal funding to modernize a tire manufacturing plant in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. 

Selective taxpayer-financed subsidies to wealthy corporations are not a new topic here in Canada -- provincially or federally. 

​What is new is that the amounts are becoming staggeringly high.

This most recent announcement regarding the Volkswagen gigafactory sets a new standard for secrecy.

My question this week:

Are you concerned by the lack of disclosure on taxpayer funds by the Trudeau Government with corporate subsidies like this?

​I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.

​From my experience as a Member of Parliament, one of the most rewarding roles is the great honour of attending a citizenship ceremony.

Participating in a ceremony where new Canadians take their oath of citizenship is a very special moment and a reminder of how truly fortunate we all are to call Canada home.

The oath of citizenship ceremonies has been a proud Canadian tradition since 1947. I suspect the vast majority who have had the opportunity to participate in or observe such a ceremony would all agree what a heartwarming and unforgettable event these ceremonies are.

I mention these things as it was with great sadness; I have recently discovered that the Trudeau Liberal government may soon provide an option for new Canadians to skip the Citizenship ceremony and instead click a box online over the internet, potentially without the presence of a citizenship judge, family members, elected officials, guests or anyone else.

Why?

According to the same Trudeau Liberal government, the answer is speed. For reasons unknown, the immigration process has become so backlogged under this Liberal government that there is now a backlog of 358,000 citizenship applications waiting over two years or more.

Eliminating the Citizenship ceremony could potentially increase the speed of an application by as much as ninety days (according to the government).

This is also what I find troubling. If one is in a two-year lineup and can shorten the wait by ninety days, many would likely elect to do so.

The bigger question is why this backlog has become so severe under this Liberal Government?

The COVID pandemic is partly to blame; however, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) recently investigated the “Express Entry Immigration Process.”

The PBO, who released this report earlier this week, revealed some eyebrow-raising information.

While governments often cite lack of staffing as a common reason for failures in program delivery, the PBO determined that in the case of this specific immigration program, the current staffing is “more than sufficient to meet the processing time” requirements of this program.

The PBO stated that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is, and I quote directly, “estimated to have 65% more staff than would be required to meet the goal. 

When the PBO asked further questions of IRCC, the department, and again I quote directly, “declined to provide information about the resources that would have been required to meet processing time goals in past years, citing that this information represents Cabinet confidences.”

In other words, the department is hiding behind cabinet confidentiality, which suggests that the cabinet ultimately has the information and does not want it released publicly so that it cannot be held accountable for these severe delays in immigration processing times.

In my view, this is a case where instead of fixing the problem at the top and firing the Minister to appoint a new Minister, the proposed fix is to undercut, if not potentially eliminate, citizenship ceremonies.

I say potentially as it is unknown how many would still opt for an in-person citizenship ceremony if they were told that could increase the wait time by up to another three months.

As a counterpoint, perhaps some may view a traditional, in-person citizenship ceremony in today’s environment as a waste of time and would support an online oath process done over the internet.

My question to you this week: 

Do you believe an in-person citizenship ceremony is still essential?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.

​Back in late November, I did an MP report that covered several issues that constituents raised with me.

One of the concerns was the high cost of home heating.

A resident had sent me their home heating bills and shared that they had to go on the “equal payment plan” to afford the cold winter months.

For the individual in question, that worked out to 12 equal payments of $170 monthly for $2,040 for the year.

It was also pointed out that nearly a quarter of that bill, $473 (23%), was solely paying for the carbon tax.

As is often the case, the individual in question is not eligible for the provincial  BC Climate Action Tax Credit'. (In BC, individuals earning $79,376 or more do not qualify for this credit).

This led to the question about the BC carbon tax, and would the province fall in line with Prime Minister Trudeau’s mandate and raise it beyond the previously agreed $50 a tonne?

Back at the end of November, we did not know the answer to this question.

Previously B.C. signed onto the federal Pan-Canadian Climate Strategy.

This agreement, dictated by PM Trudeau, called for the carbon tax in BC to rise to $50 per tonne as of April 1, 2022, which it did.

With the agreement now being concluded, up until yesterday we did not know what the BC NDP government would do on April 1st of, 2023.

Now we have the answer.

In yesterday’s BC budget, the BC NDP announced it is increasing the carbon tax ($ CAD/tonne CO2e) on April 1st to $65/tonne.

The BC NDP further revealed that they intend to increase the carbon tax every year until it reaches $170/tonne by 2030.

How does this impact you?
 
Based on the NDP’s budget forecast this year, citizens in B.C. will pay an extra $600 million. By 2030 this could be as much as $5 billion a year in total carbon tax paid.

One thing that did surprise me in the provincial budget documents was a note in the supplementary tax information that pointed out, “rural communities may have higher indirect carbon tax burdens (e.g. through higher shipping costs resulting in a higher price for goods) and colder regions of the province may have higher carbon tax costs for home heating.”

This surprised me as governments, both provincially and federally, who support carbon taxes rarely admit so candidly that it does adversely impact those who live in rural communities.

Federally we also know that the Bank of Canada has confirmed that the carbon tax does increase inflation here in Canada.

Yet heating and shipping costs aside, rural areas will attest that their residents don’t have publicly funded public transit as an alternative to the carbon tax. To get to work, medical appointments, kids to school require transportation. 

My question this week is not about if you support the carbon tax but rather the inequality in how rural residents end up paying more of it.

Do you believe that provincial and federal governments should make more effort to offset the impact of the carbon tax on those who live in rural areas?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.