Canada's NDP

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May 18th, 2022

Liberals and Conservatives protect the profits of big oil companies instead of Canadians

OTTAWA – Today, Liberal and Conservatives teamed up to vote down an NDP proposal to stop giving billions of tax payer dollars to profitable oil and gas companies and instead reinvest that money in Canadians struggling to make ends meet. The government’s rejection of the NDP plan to help Canadians comes on the same day that inflation reached its highest rate since 1991.

“Canadians have been getting crushed by the soaring cost of living. The price of food and gas is so high that people struggling to take care of themselves and their families,” said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. “What we proposed today is a way to get money back into people’s pockets to give them a little extra help to cover their growing costs. Its unthinkable that the Liberal government and the Conservatives teamed up to defeat our motion. They think public money should go to the oil and gas companies who are already making record profits instead of helping Canadian families. New Democrats know that’s wrong and we’re going to keep fighting to get people the help they desperately need.”

The NDP’s motion called on the government to cancel all fossil fuel subsidies by the end of this year – including the new Carbon Capture Tax Credit – and reinvest this money to help Canadians struggling with the extremely high cost of living and in renewable energy.

New Democrats also urged the Liberal government to double the GST tax credit and increase the Canada Child Benefit for all recipients by $500. This would mean middle-class and low-income Canadians would get between $500 and $1000 to help them pay their bills. With these NDP proposals, at least 40 per cent of Canadians would get money back in their pockets to help with their growing expenses.

“Canadians have been through so much in the last two years of the pandemic. And now they’re seeing the price of groceries and gas skyrocket,” said Singh. “The cost of goods is increasing faster than people’s wages. Instead of showing leadership and defending hardworking Canadians, Liberals and Conservatives have decided to protect the huge profits of oil and gas companies. New Democrats know Canadians deserve better and we’ll keep working for them to have the support they need to make ends meet.”