Ottawa, ON – Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, released the following statement on life under the Carney Liberals:

“Last night, Carney’s team declared that ‘it’s a great time to be a Liberal,’ but for the millions of Canadians who cannot afford the rising costs of groceries, struggle to put gas in their tank and see their standard of living fall further behind, celebrating is the last thing they’re doing.

“Cost of living is now the top financial stressor for 63 per cent of Canadian workers as 35 per cent report being anxious about money and 28 per cent lack emergency savings to cover basic needs. For financially stressed parents, 68 per cent report feeling pressure to hide their financial worries from their kids and 36 per cent avoid talking about money at home altogether. 

“Canadians feeling that they are falling further behind was confirmed by a new report that found that the gap in GDP per person between Canada and the United States has doubled from $10,766 in 1999 to $23,757 in 2024. That’s no surprise, as business investment per worker has collapsed from nearly 90 cents in 2007 to just 54 cents in 2024.

“Less investment means less productivity, with labour productivity growing just 26.7 per cent in Canada compared to 67.9 per cent in the United States since 1999. Less productivity means smaller paycheques, fewer opportunities and a lower standard of living. 

“As Canadians are forced to focus on squeezing their paycheques, Carney is focused on building new bureaucracies and filling them with the same Liberal insiders. His latest pick is Dominic Barton, whose former firm, McKinsey, collected around $200 million in federal contracts under the Liberals from 2011-2023, with the Auditor General finding that the Liberals awarded 90 per cent of the contracts without following appropriate guidelines.

“We don’t need more tax dollars for insiders; we need real relief. That is why Conservatives are calling on Carney to cancel his Labour Day fuel tax increase that will hike prices 10 cents per litre, remove the GST from gas and diesel, and permanently scrap both the Clean Fuel Standard and industrial carbon tax. 

“That’s how we will deliver a country that is affordable at home, safe at home and strong at home.”