Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, sent the following letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney inviting him to give a speech during an emergency debate in Parliament on Canada’s full-blown recession:

Prime Minister,

On Friday, you became the only leader in the G7 to have taken your country into a recession. Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economy shrank in two consecutive quarters, the definition of a recession. 

You promised you would deliver the fastest-growing economy in the G7. You delivered the only recession in the G7. 

Excuses about tariffs and the war in Iran do not work either. All the other G7 countries contend with tariffs and the war. None of them – not one – is in recession. Just Canada. Under your watch. 

Before you dismiss it as a technicality, there are many other facts surfacing this month alone pointing to a recession:

  1. 112,300 job losses in the first three months of this year alone, with 45,800 more Canadians unemployed since you became Prime Minister.  
  2. The second-highest unemployment rate in the G7, a third higher than in the U.S.
  3. The economy shrank in three of the four quarters you have been in power. No other G7 country has had that happen. 
  4. Business investment fell another 0.7%, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline.
  5. Over $20 billion of net investment has fled our economy ($109.3 billion has left and only $88.4 billion has returned).
  6. Equifax reported that insolvency volumes increased to levels not seen since 2009, up nearly 19 per cent year-over-year. 1.5 million Canadians missed a debt payment in the first three months of this year alone, with mortgage delinquency rates climbing 32 per cent year-over-year.
  7. Canada has the highest household debt in the G7 by far. 
  8. The CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto said this week that one-tenth of Greater Toronto Area residents are now using a food bank. Last year saw a record 4.1 million visits, a 340 per cent increase from 2019. 

As you can see, the two back-to-back quarters of declining GDP are not a fluke, anomaly or technicality. It is one of an avalanche of proof showing a collapsing economy with fast-rising costs. 

The recession is real. It means moms with empty stomachs, grocery baskets and bank accounts. It means homeowners tossing and turning in bed at night, wondering how they will make the next mortgage payment. It means parents telling their kids, “We have to sell our house. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Speeches, fake MOUs, discussion papers, announcements, paid media coverage and other illusions will not reverse the damage or stop the economic hemorrhaging. You need to reverse course. Now. Before it is too late.  

You love to give speeches. I am inviting you to give one. 

I am calling for an emergency Parliamentary debate, so that you – and the Liberal government you lead – can tell Canadians your plan is to reverse this recession and inflation you have caused. It will allow Conservatives to share plans for an economic turnaround.

There is time to reverse the damage you have done. But it is running out. See you in Parliament.