In anticipation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s economic statement later on Thursday, opposition parties have been outlining their expectations for the coming months over the past few days.
• Also read: Freeland is not allowed to give a lot of candy
• Also read: A tax and spending freeze demanded by Poilievre
• Also read: Freeland’s economic update is due next Thursday
Recently Minister Freeland hinted that Canada faces “difficult times” as the specter of a recession continues to fuel discussions among experts.
“Stop it,” says Poilievre
For Conservatives, the demand is simple and can be summed up in a few words: “stop taxes” and “stop spending”.
Those words come from a letter sent by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to Ms Freeland on Sunday.
In it, Mr Poilievre returns to the subject that has animated almost all of his speeches in the House since his arrival at the helm of the party in September.
It paints a bleak picture of the family’s economic situation. “The bubble is finally bursting and the bill is due. For years, my warnings about runaway spending that would push up inflation and then interest rates were ignored.”
According to Mr Poilievre, government spending is adding fuel to the inflationary fire. So the best way to help people is to ban all new spending and scrap planned carbon tax hikes.
Three Block Claims
“The government must stop dispersing itself into further interference to maintain its alliance with the NDP [Nouveau Parti démocratique]and avoid the austerity measures that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre calls for in the slogans that take the place of economic policies,” said Bloc Québécois finance spokesman Gabriel Ste-Marie.
“We advocate a reorientation of the federal government: that it concentrates on its own tasks and carries them out appropriately.”
With that, Bloc members are returning to demands they’ve been making for some time, beginning with the perennial question of health transfers, which Ottawa flatly denies.
The bloc, like the NDP, is calling for reform of labor insurance to make it more accessible in a post-pandemic context.
Finally, the party wants an increase in pensions from the age of 65.
The NDP against “séraphinflartion”
For its part, the NDP has been hammering for months that the government is giving way to “seraph inflation” — inflation “caused by the greed and greed of big business” — by not imposing an extraordinary tax on big oil profits collects companies.
The same applies to the large grocery chains, “which make massive profits [alors que] People are struggling to get groceries,” Chief Jagmeet Singh said at a news conference Thursday morning.
“With fuel and energy costs soaring, this winter is going to be tough. Nothing in this economic update shows a willingness to back people up for this winter,” he said.