Liberal spending crushing young Canadians
By Lethbridge Herald on November 1, 2025.
Rachael Thomas
Lethbridge Member of Parliament
Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney stood before a room of young Canadians at the University of Ottawa and told them their “future will not be the same as [his] past,” which, he said, “was a time of optimism, of hope, and of promise.”
How demoralizing.
Carney went on to declare that his upcoming budget would demand “sacrifices” from Canada’s young people.
Sacrifices? After ten years of failed Liberal policies, young Canadians have already sacrificed enough.
While Mark Carney tells young Canadians they must make “sacrifices,” the government is quietly funneling billions to Liberal insiders. Under Carney, spending on consultants and Liberal-affiliated organizations has surged to over $25 billion.
It is shameful to ask young Canadians to tighten their belts while well-connected insiders continue to feast at the trough of the government.
This generation is facing a storm of high prices, stagnant wages, and dwindling opportunity. They are working hard, studying harder, and still falling behind. Here in Lethbridge, this reality is impossible to ignore.
This past summer, the unemployment rate for returning full-time students hit 17.9 per cent — the highest since the Great Recession. The owner of a local restaurant, the Duke Pub and Grill, reported that 20 students a week were walking in, desperately asking for work, but none was available.
Most of these young people are doing everything right: getting an education, showing initiative, looking for opportunity. Yet the opportunity simply isn’t there.
Those who do find work are often juggling multiple part-time jobs just to pay for rent and tuition. The University of Lethbridge even launched a Resident Emergency Food Fund to help students who can’t afford to eat. The student’s union says affordability is now its number one concern.
Mark Carney told Canadians to judge his government by the price of food. Well, the results are in, and he is failing.
Grocery prices rose four percent over the past year, which is double the Bank of Canada’s target.
A record number of Canadians are now turning to food banks, with a record 2.1 million visits per month. Nearly one-third of those visits were made by children.
Even people with full-time jobs are lining up because their paycheques simply don’t go far enough. The report found that “employment is no longer a reliable buffer against poverty,” and warned that hunger is becoming normal in Canada.
And the affordability crisis applies to rent as well. Nearly half of young renters between 18 and 24 now spend more than half their income on housing.
Even in Lethbridge, one of the most affordable cities in Canada, young people are struggling to make rent. Many are forced to choose between paying for groceries or keeping a roof over their heads.
Young Canadians make up the first generation that can’t afford homeownership. 88 percent of renters believe owning a home is out of reach. Half of millennials and two-thirds of Gen Z have considered delaying starting a family because they can’t afford a suitable home.
Home prices have risen 32 percent faster than incomes since the Liberals took office, turning Canada into the most unaffordable housing market in the G7.
Meanwhile, the government keeps spending money it doesn’t have. When Justin Trudeau left office, Canada was already facing a $42.2 billion deficit — the largest in our history. Now, Mark Carney is planning to go even further, with a massive $62.3 billion shortfall.
That kind of reckless spending doesn’t come without consequences. It drives up inflation, forces the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates, and makes everything, from mortgages to groceries, more expensive. In the end, it’s young people who pay the price.
It’s time for the government to work for Canadians, not the other way around.
Conservatives are calling for an affordable budget that puts people first. We’re calling on the Liberals to:
• Scrap hidden taxes on food by eliminating the industrial carbon tax and food packaging tax, which drive up grocery prices.
• Cut taxes on homebuilding, investment, and energy so life costs less and workers make more.
• Stop the inflation tax and keep the deficit under $42 billion by cutting wasteful spending, consultants, corporate welfare, and foreign aid.
• Unleash the economy by unlocking resource development.
Every Canadian deserves a government that lives within its means and puts people first. By taking these steps, we can lower the cost of living, create more opportunities, and build a stronger, more prosperous country.
Asking young Canadians to make more “sacrifices” while the government keeps wasting their hard-earned money is absurd. They’ve already sacrificed enough.
Conservatives know that young Canadians are our future — and that future is worth fighting for.
31-30
Oh sure Rachel blame the Libs are all that ails Canada. Your continuing attack rhetoric may work for your acolytes following the Poilivre playbook, but most people realize that the current quagmire Canada is in, is because of the lying, autocratic idiot down south.
A little bit of bipartisanship is in order to keep Canada afloat and yet you and your colleagues are not even prepared to attempt a bridge.
Frankly, you , Poilivre and even some premiers are an unwelcome distraction and have shown nothing but contempt for this nation.
(As usual , your rhetoric included no mention of the environment , climate change and yet arrogantly suggest Conservatives are the “future”.)