Trudeau’s failures have real consequences for Canadians

For three years now, we the Conservative Official Opposition, have worked hard to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accountable for his long list of failures; a list that sadly continues to grow. These failures range from the economy to crime to small business and have real-life consequences for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

Prime Minister Trudeau has failed on the economy, raising taxes and creating new regulations at the precise time other countries are lowering theirs. This has driven billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs out of the country. Due to the Prime Minister's failures, Canadian entrepreneurs are struggling. Justin Trudeau's never-ending tax hikes and new regulations are making it harder to grow and operate local businesses. This includes: his job-killing carbon tax; increased CPP and EI premiums; increased personal income tax rates for entrepreneurs; and changes to the small business tax rate that will disqualify thousands of local businesses.

We also can't forget the Liberals' attack on local businesses to pay for their out-of-control spending. Despite a massive uprising by mom and pop shops across the country, Prime Minister Trudeau and Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, steamrolled ahead for months, claiming that business owners were just rich tax cheats. The Liberals' complex tax grab would have forced business owners to pay a 73 per cent tax on savings income, penalized family businesses for sharing earnings and work with family members, and doubled the tax on the sale of a farm from parents to children, forcing them to sell instead to multinational corporations. While mounting pressure and a pending election eventually forced them to back off from the worst parts of their proposal, they did implement tax increases and complicated compliance rules that will hurt many small businesses.

Prime Minister Trudeau has failed on border security by refusing to fix the mess he created at the border while thousands of asylum seekers cross into Canada illegally. It is long past time that the Trudeau Liberals come up with a plan to fix this mess. However, instead of taking meaningful action to fix the crisis he created, Prime Minister Trudeau and his ministers responded by calling anyone who dare criticize his policies – or lack thereof – names. He has completely mismanaged our immigration system and has failed to offer a pathway to Canada for the world's most vulnerable.

Prime Minister Trudeau has failed on trade, failing to secure new trade deals while capitulating to President Donald Trump on the new USMCA and exposing our economy to his unpredictable whims.

Prime Minister Trudeau has failed to protect victims of crime, allowing Tori Stafford's killer to remain in a healing lodge instead of putting her back behind bars and allowing a cop-killer, who has not served a day in the military, to keep receiving benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada. He's also failed to crack down on crime, passing weak legislation that reduces penalties for gang crime and does nothing to stop the flow of illegal firearms into our cities.

Prime Minister Trudeau has also failed to follow the rules and he is the first sitting Prime Minister to be found guilty of breaking ethics laws. It's no wonder that other Liberal Ministers have been placed under federal investigation over the past three years; clearly they were just following in the Prime Minister's footsteps.

All of these failures and many more continue to have real-life, every day consequences for Canadians. His failures are: making life more expensive for Canadians; making Canadians less safe; making it harder for Canadians to find opportunities; and making Canadians have less confidence in their government.

The consequences of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's failures from the past three years are real and they matter. We, the Conservative Official Opposition, will work hard to demonstrate these consequences and give Canadians a strong alternative to four more years of Justin Trudeau's failures.