Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre vowed while addressing his party’s caucus that he will keep delaying the federal government’s omnibus budget bill from passing in the House of Commons until cabinet introduces a plan to cut deficits and bring down inflation.
“Today I am announcing that I will be on my feet at roughly 7 p.m. to stand up against this budget,” Poilievre told the Conservative Party caucus during an address in Ottawa on June 7.
Poilievre was referring to the House of Commons
vote scheduled for later in the day on
Bill C-47, the Liberal government’s Budget Implementation Act. The bill will be sent to the Senate for consideration if it passes in the House.
“I will keep speaking and keep speaking and keep blocking this inflationary trainwreck until the prime minister rises with a plan to balance the budget and bring down inflation and interest rates,” Poilievre said.
The Tory leader has been vocal about his party’s
filibuster of Bill C-47, which began in May when it was under committee consideration.
Poilievre
told reporters on June 5 that Conservatives were delaying the passage of the government’s budget act for as long as possible because the party believes it will lead to “$60 billion of inflationary deficits” at a time when inflation is high and interest rates are rising.
He focused on a recent Bank of Canada
report that said average mortgage-payment rates could spike by up to 40 percent by the 2025–26 fiscal year, at which time a large number of fixed-rate mortgage holders across Canada will be facing renewal with higher interest rates.
Interest Rates and Inflation
The central bank’s key interest rate now sits at 4.75 percent following its latest hike of a quarter-percentage point on June 7. The rate is now at its highest since 2001.
“Underlying inflation remains stubbornly high,” the Bank of Canada wrote in a news release on June 7, adding that Canada’s consumer price index inflation rose in April to 4.4 percent, representing the first increase in 10 months.
Poilievre has acknowledged that while the federal government is not responsible for increasing interest rates, it is responsible for outlining a
plan to set a fiscal environment in which the Bank of Canada can bring down the rate.
He has
called on Ottawa to stop all deficit spending and new carbon tax hikes as a condition of his party supporting the government’s budget bill.
Concerning the Conservatives’ delay of the budget’s passage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
accused Poilievre of “using parliamentary games to hurt Canadians who need help.”
“His partisan games are hurting Canadians,” Trudeau
sai
d during question period in the House on June 6. “When will he let the [Budget Implementation Act] pass?”
MPs are set to vote on Bill C-47 after question period on June 7.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
