Local MP Blake Richards is troubled by the crushing financial realities for Canadians in 2023 and blames it on the federal government's excessive spending and poor decisions.
Noting it's hardly a highlight, Richards says the Trudeau government has added another $100 billion onto the country's debt load and will post a $40 billion deficit in 2023 alone.
Our nation's debt has doubled from $619.3 billion in 2015-16, the first year of Trudeau's government, to $1.2 trillion last year. It's expected to climb to $1.4 trillion by 2028-29, according to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's fall economic statement.
"The most notable thing of the year is the government is spending money like it's going out of style and causing pain and hardship."
"The impact on people's day-to-day lives is incredibly significant," says Richards. "The interest payments alone on the debt is $44 billion. That's more than we spend on our armed forces, it's more than we spend on many of our key social programs. It's fuelling inflation and it fuels increases in our interest rate."
"Canadians are worried about how they are going to make their mortgage payment or their rent payment, and how they are going to feed their families."
He says one way the government could help is by getting rid of the carbon tax, something his Conservative party wants to see.
He says the Conservatives will continue to make Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's life as miserable as possible until he understands what he's doing to Canadians.
"Ultimately, at the end of the day, we are working to replace them in the next election so we can scrap the carbon tax and make life a little more affordable for Canadians."
Richards is the shadow minister for Veterans Affairs and says his party is helping to take small steps towards showing them more respect and appreciation. He says they pushed for park passes to national parks for veterans and their families.
"It's a good thing, but we've got a long way to go because there are many veterans in this country who are looking for basic services that they deserve to help deal with injuries they have suffered as a result of serving this country, and they can't get them. They're facing not weeks, not months, but years of wait times to get these services. We have to make a lot of changes so they aren't being denied or delayed in getting these services."
A huge part of any MP's job is to assist constituents with problems with federal government agencies.
"We look back over the year and we were able to help 3,000 constituents deal with a problem they were facing as a result of something within the federal government bureaucracy. That's something we take pride in."
On the brighter side, he is proud of how local charities and local organizations step up to make the season a little brighter for those less fortunate.
He takes pride in some of the initiatives that have come to fruition this year, like the Korean War Memorial in Airdrie. He has also been assisting in advocating for the completion of a Trans Canada Trail connection between Calgary and Cochrane.
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