As interest rates rose again Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre vowed to tie up the House of Commons with a prolonged speech to prevent the government from passing a budget he says will drive Canada into “a full scale financial crisis.”
“This is on the verge of becoming a crisis,” Poilievre told his caucus Wednesday. “Justin Trudeau, you and your spending, out of control debt and taxation are leading us head-on into a full scale financial crisis and I will not let you do it.”
After the Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday to 4.75 per cent, the Conservative leader said the federal budget’s $40.1 billion deficit was driving inflation and he would “block this disastrous, risky and inflationary budget from passing.”
“I will be on my feet at roughly 7 p.m. to stand up against this budget and I will keep speaking and keep speaking, and keep blocking this inflationary trainwreck, until the prime minister rises with a plan to balance the budget and bring down inflation and interest rates,” Poilievre said.
The Conservative leader pointed to the International Monetary Fund stating last month that of 38 mostly advanced economies, Canada was the one at the highest risk of mortgage defaults because of high levels of household debt compared to similar economies.
Poilievre explains how he’ll try to block the Liberal budget
Speaking before a meeting of the Conservative caucus, Leader of the Official Opposition Pierre Poilievre says that tonight he ‘will keep speaking and keep speaking and keep blocking this inflationary trainwreck until the prime minister rises with a plan to balance the budget.’
An official from the Speaker’s office said that because the House of Commons on Tuesday passed a time allocation motion — which limits debate at third reading of the budget bill to one day — debate will end shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
The official said that the House will be adjourned at that point and a vote on the budget bill will be called in the House Thursday afternoon after question period.
On Monday, the Conservatives introduced more than 900 amendments to the budget. They promised to do whatever it takes to halt its passage through Parliament unless the government presents a plan to balance the budget and promises no new carbon tax hikes.
“If the government does not meet these demands, we will use all procedural tools at our disposal to block the budget from passing, including 900 amendments, lengthy speeches and other procedural tools that are in our toolkit,” Poilievre said Monday.
The Bank of Canada’s interest rate hike this week was its first since January, when the bank said it would conditionally pause its aggressive campaign of rate hikes to see whether it had served to bring down inflation.
Inflation reached a high of 8.1 per cent in July of last year and has declined steadily since, hitting 4.3 per cent in March. But the bank was prompted to act when inflation bounced back up to 4.4 per cent in April.
The bank said Wednesday it expects to see inflation level off at about three per cent in the summer.
Jobs will save economy: Freeland
Poilievre said the rise in inflation in April was a direct result of the Liberal government’s decision to continue running deficits, which he said pumps more money into the economy, causing prices to rise.
“It’s clear, we know, that if there’s more money to buy less goods and services, those products and services will cost more,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland responded to the rate hike by trying to reassure Canadians about the state of the economy.
She said that last year, Canada had the highest economic growth in the G7, that the OECD said Canada will see the fastest average rate of growth in the coming year, that Canada’s credit rating is AAA and the country’s deficit-to-GDP ratio is the lowest in the G7.
“Most important of all, there are 900,000 more Canadians working today than there were working before COVID first hit,” she said.
“Having a good job is the key to the wellbeing of every single Canadian and their family. And that is the strength we have and Canadians can count on.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
