We are living in a gov’t imposed affordability crisis
By Lethbridge Herald on October 7, 2023.
FROM THE HILL
Rachael Thomas – Conservative MP for Lethbridge:
I recently had a conversation with an elderly woman whose only source of income is CPP. With this small allotment of money, she is struggling to pay her rent, put food on her table, heat her home, pay for her bus pass, and cover the cost of her prescription. Her expenses have skyrocketed, but her income has remained the same.
Sadly, this is only one of many similar stories shared with me.
The first few weeks in parliament have flown by, and while there is no shortage of noteworthy topics to discuss, affordability tops the list for those in Lethbridge.
This crisis has escalated and spilled into Thanksgiving, making this year more challenging for many Canadians.
While this would usually be a time for feasting and celebrating the bounty of this land and those who work on it, this year is marked by a backdrop of anxiety and frustration.
Whether it is farmers experiencing higher input costs, truckers paying more for fuel, families struggling to buy school supplies for their kids, or seniors being forced to choose between filling their prescription or putting healthy food on their table, everyone is feeling the pinch.
The frustrating truth is that this higher cost of living is not happenstance or a simple by-product of global conditions. This is a government-imposed affordability crisis. Mr. Trudeau and his government have caused record inflation through their tax and spending measures. In fact, Mr. Trudeau has accumulated more debt than all 22 Prime Ministers preceding him. Is it any wonder we are struggling?
The carbon tax is top of mind for many.
They feel it does more harm than good. The Liberals tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who transports it, and the stores who sell it. This accumulation of carbon tax ultimately gets passed to the families who simply want to put food on their tables.
With no evidence, the government has argued the carbon tax is necessary to protect the environment. Still, Canadians do not see evidence of this claim. In eight years of governing, the Liberals have not met a single environmental target. The financial burden is causing more problems than it will ever solve.
As if the cost of necessities like food and fuel is not overwhelming enough, many are also struggling to find or keep a home they can afford.
Many young people are resigned to the fact they may never own a home. For those who took out mortgages trusting the government when they said interest rates would remain low, government inflationary spending has thrown a massive wrench in their long-term plans and caused their monthly payments to skyrocket.
What happened to the Liberals’ 2015 election promise to make housing more affordable?
Rather than punishing Canadians with high taxes and inflationary measures, the government should rein in spending, cut taxes, and unleash the power and potential of the Canadian people.
Serving as a Member of Parliament has afforded me the extraordinary opportunity to speak with many Canadians about the Canada they wish to live in.
I have heard countless stories from visionaries who want to build businesses, invent new technologies, help those who are suffering get ahead, and improve our society in areas where we are falling short. I am encouraged by the growing number of Canadians who are dreaming of a better future.
A future that only freedom can deliver.
Imagine what Canada would look like if hard-working people were free to earn powerful paycheques that buy affordable food, gas, and homes.
This is the type of Canada we can create by generating opportunity for each and every person to reach their greatest potential.
21-20
I’m sure the ‘Blame the Tax’ mantra is good politics. But vacuous.
Not sure how our free-riding on the environment is going to lead to anything positive – but, then again, we must nurture our ‘freedom’ to exploit and waste as much as we can, as quickly as we can. No room for ethics in an ungoverned economy.
It must be nice to be insulated from the Enlightenment project.
Lame , blame game once again! And once again, not a mention of the environment or the global climate catastrophe. Typically, she uses buzz words like “freedom”, a mantra of the convoy that descended and held hostage Ottawa and major border points.
Please get out and travel to countries where places like Canada can only be dreamed of – try North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, Hungary , Iran and God knows how many others where a free press, free expression , equality of all genders simply are non existent. As with Ms Smith who cannot see beyond her own back yard, the ability to actually work with the opposition is beyond her comprehension and as with US, we are descending down into a dark place.
A bit of bipartisanship is what is needed by all parties and Thomas’s repetitive banter is not helping, in fact it is making matters worse.
Trudope and his crimmal thugs will be gone soon enough Rachael. The PP freight train is rolling down the tracks! Its going to take more than a Trudope/Jagmeet love affair to derail him with double digit approval ratings. And yes I want front row seats when he defunds the state funded black hole CBC!
You’ll be shoveling snow in Hell first.
The only black hole is between your ears.
A triggerd Liberal! lol
An obnoxious Con!
Is that how y’all hillbillies spell triggered? lol
NO but unlike you Left Wing Nuts we spell moron-MORON and that illustrates you perfectly!
No, but you did anyways.
Bozo.
Ms. Thomas
Thank you for another accurate factual, articulate and objective article regarding the state (fate) of current Canadian politics. A brother sent this article to me some time ago. I don’t know he got it from. I thought it was relevant to what you said. Although it represents mainly American agricultural economics. Our farmers share many of the same identified issues as the Americans farmer. I would dare add we do so with a higher price tag associated than the American’s.
Perhaps our local Agricultural producers can relate, maybe even City Administration Officials. As Agricultural production is and always has been the economic engine of Southern Alberta.
“He farms over 10,000 acres (15.625 sections) of corn in the Midwest.”
“The property is spread out over 3 counties.”
“His operation is a “partnership farm” with John Deere.”
“They use the larger farm operations as demonstration projects for the promotion and development of new equipment.”
“He recently received a phone call from his John Deere representative, and they want the farm to go to electric tractors and combines in 2023.”
“He currently has 5 diesel combines that cost $900,000 each that are traded in every 3 years.”
“And more than 10 really BIG tractors.”
“JD wants him to go all-electric soon.”
“He said: “Ok, I have some questions. How do I charge these combines when they are 3 counties away from the shop in the middle of a cornfield, in the middle of nowhere?”
“How do I run them 24 hours a day for 10 or 12 days straight when the harvest is ready, and the weather is coming in?”
“How do I get a 50,000+ lb. combine that takes up the width of an entire road back to the shop 20 miles away when the battery goes dead?”
“There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.”
“When the corn is ready to harvest, it has to have the proper sugar and moisture content.”
“If it is too wet, it has to be put in giant dryers that burn natural or propane gas, and lots of it.”
“Harvest time is critical because if it degrades in sugar content or quality, it can drop the value of his crop by half a million dollars or more.”
“It is analyzed at the time of sale.”
“It is standard procedure to run these machines 10 to 12 days straight, 24 hours a day at peak harvest time.”
“When they need fuel, a tanker truck delivers it, and the machines keep going.”
“John Deere’s only answer is “we’re working on it.”
“They are being pushed by the government to force these electric machines on American farmers.”
“These people are out of control”.
“They are messing with the production of food crops that feed people and livestock… all in the name of their “green dream.”
“Look for the cost of your box of cornflakes to triple in the next 24 months…..”
Hey, Les. I was communicating with my friend in Ohio, David, and he shared a story you might be interested in.
“The steel plow, for instance, represented not only the ingenuity of John Deere, but also an emerging but seldom acknowledged agro-industrial paradigm of total human domination of nature that spanned commodity markets, banks, federal crop insurance, grain elevators, long-distance transport, fossil-fuel dependence, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, crop subsidies, overproduction, mass obesity, soil erosion, polluted groundwater, loss of biological diversity, dead zones, and the concentrated political power of the farm lobby, which in turn represents oil companies, equipment manufacturers, chemical and seed companies, the U.S. Farm Bureau, commodity brokers, giant food companies, advertisers, and so forth. The upshot is a high-output, ecologically destructive, fossil-fuel-dependent, unsustainable, and brittle food system that wreaks havoc on the health of land, waters, and people alike. Farmers did not just buy John Deere plows; they bought into a system, and the resilience of that system had nothing to do with their choices.”
My, what a complex world we live in.
snap! awesome!