From Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada

Transcript below:

What we’re seeing is the Government of Canada spiralling out of control right before our eyes and at the very worst time.

Today, mere hours before Trudeau’s Finance Minister was to deliver a Fall Economic Statement that was expected to smash through her already massive deficit targets, she announced she no longer has confidence in the Prime Minister. Canadians were already anxious about the reckless $40 billion deficit the government had announced last spring. But today, in mere hours, they were expected to learn that it was much higher than that, threatening our social programs and our fiscal stability, right in the middle of a potential trade war.

The Prime Minister, with the help and instigation of Carbon Tax Carney, pushed Ms. Freeland to bring on massive, unsustainable, irresponsible spending increases that blew through her self-imposed guardrail. He thought that he would simply push her through that guardrail and off the cliff so that she, and not Trudeau and Mr. Carney, would take the blame for the crisis that he and they caused. To continue the chaos, the moment the Finance Minister resigned, the government’s published order of precedent meant that Francois-Philippe Champagne instantaneously became the finance minister. But now, he tells us he doesn’t have the job and doesn’t want the job.

So it goes to the next minister who’s on the published order of precedent, and that is Randy Boissonnault, more commonly known as the ‘Two Randys; the gentleman who had to resign because he falsely claimed he was Indigenous, falsely claimed that there was more than one Randy when it was all him and all in his head. And he is now technically our Finance Minister as we speak. We don’t know for sure though if he’ll still be Finance Minister in three and a half hours when the scheduled Fall Economic Statement is expected to land.

That update, by the way, is currently covered by a black blanket underneath the table. No one is allowed to look at it, even though journalists and parliamentarians showed up to read it in briefing rooms earlier today.

So here we are. Everything is spiralling out of control. Out-of-control spending and bureaucracy has doubled housing costs, with 1,400 homeless encampments in Ontario alone. Out-of-control immigration has led to refugee camps opening in suburban Canada, and then we have 500,000 people in the country illegally, according to government estimates. Out-of-control crime overtakes our once-tranquil streets, with gun crime having doubled. Out-of-control drugs and disorder add to the chaos, with 47,000 of our people dying of overdoses since Trudeau legalized drug laws, stopped enforcing them, and allowed limitless sums of fentanyl ingredients into our country. Out-of-control inflation has followed -of-control money printing, which has sent out-of-control demand to our food banks, which are running out of food altogether. Out-of-control spending has doubled our national debt, boosted interest rates, and threatened our social programs. And it’s not just Freeland who thinks this Prime Minister is out of control. Now, housing Minister Sean Fraser has resigned in the middle of a housing crisis.

The Finance Minister is resigning in the middle of an economic crisis, and a fifth of his liberal caucus has lost confidence in him. Justin Trudeau has lost control and yet he clings to power. We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division and weakness while we’re staring down the barrel of a 25 percent tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally, which by the way, is headed by a newly elected president with a strong and fresh mandate; a man who can spot weakness from a mile away.

Ms. Freeland has been Mr. Trudeau’s most trusted minister now for a decade. She knows him better than anyone, and she knows that he’s out of control. She said this, “Our country today faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of a 25 percent tariffs. We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can Ill afford, and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”

“I know Canadians would recognize and respect such an approach. They know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are working for ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end.” And it is coming to an end because we simply cannot go on like this.

It is up to Jagmeet Singh now to make that realization. Mr. Trudeau is being held in office by one man, Jagmeet Singh. A fifth of Liberal MPs have written a letter for him to resign. His Deputy Prime Minister has walked out on him. His housing minister has quit, that on top of numerous other female ministers who stormed out after his appalling mistreatment and abuse and dishonesty towards them. 80 percent of Canadians have lost confidence in this Prime Minister.

So why is Jagmeet Singh making the entire country wait for him to get his pension? That is the question today. To patriotic Liberals across the country, my message is this: you supported this government in good faith because you thought it was the right thing for the country, and you are good and decent patriotic people who have been let down by the Prime Minister and his top advisor, Mr. Carney, who have betrayed Ms. Freeland and you. Carney and Trudeau, the backroom boys, have taken the Liberal Party away from anything it used to stand for.

Let’s bring home the common sense consensus of Liberals who believed in liberty and Conservatives who believed in conserving it. Fiscal responsibility, compassion for our neighbours. These are the shared common values that will bind up our nation’s wounds and bring us back together. Now is the time for a carbon tax election to turn the decision away from me or Mr. Trudeau or Mr. Singh or Mr. Carney and put it in the hands of the people. I know that they will make the right decision.