The federal Conservatives are ramping up their attacks on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s economic record, pointing to new data that they say shows Canada has entered a recession alone among major global economies.
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Shannon Stubbs, the Conservative shadow minister for energy and natural resources, criticized the Liberal government in the House of Commons and during committee hearings following the release of recent Statistics Canada data.
Stubbs, the Member of Parliament for Lakeland, stated that Canada is currently the only G7 and G20 nation experiencing an economic contraction, despite facing the same global economic headwinds and international tariffs as its peers.
“The prime minister has made Canada the only G7 country in a recession,” Stubbs said in the House of Commons. “Canada’s economy shrunk 75 per cent of his term, with the lowest investment per worker in the G20. That is less opportunity and more stress for Canadians who cannot afford it.”
According to the Conservatives, approximately 46,000 Canadians have lost their jobs over the past year, while household savings have hit historic lows and food bank usage continues to climb. Stubbs attributed the downturn to federal deficits, carbon pricing and regulatory uncertainty.
The opposition’s criticism extended beyond macroeconomic indicators to federal spending habits. Stubbs highlighted reports that Carney spent $195,000 on in-flight catering during three official trips to Europe over the past year.
“The price of groceries has outpaced overall inflation for every single month that Carney’s been prime minister,” Stubbs said, calling the travel expenses “outrageously reckless” at a time when Canadian families are struggling with the cost of living.
The Conservatives also used the parliamentary session to target the government’s regulatory approach to major resource and infrastructure projects. Stubbs presented a dissenting opinion from the special joint committee on the Exercise of Powers Under the Building Canada Act, raising concerns over transparency and national security in Bill C-5.
The opposition expressed concern over potential conflicts of interest regarding private sector employees seconded to government roles, and questioned whether the federal government considers a Pacific pipeline to be in the national interest.
Stubbs urged the government to reform or repeal 12 laws and seven regulations that the Conservatives argue stall private sector investment. She also criticized the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) proposed plan to increase the online streaming tax under Bill C-11, which the government recently directed the regulator to pause.
In response to the economic downturn, the Conservatives introduced opposition day motions calling for the elimination of the federal industrial carbon tax, the fuel excise tax, and the streaming tax, alongside demands for a formal government strategy to reverse the economic contraction.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Statistics Canada data or the opposition’s remarks.
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