SoVote

Mr. Francis Drouin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.)

Jun/7/22 1:35:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have noticed that the motion calls for eliminating tariffs on fertilizer. Some Canadian companies have reorganized their supply chains, have said they agree with Canada and do not want to buy Russian fertilizer or Belarusian fertilizer, and have gone somewhere else and paid a higher price. Does the member not believe that they too should get a break from high fertilizer costs?

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.)

Jun/7/22 1:55:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Scarborough—Guildwood. We are speaking today on the opposition motion, and the first point of the motion is that “high inflation rates are driving the cost of living up for all Canadians”. Well, of course, that is what inflation is. However, I would argue that it is driving up the cost for everyone living across the world, and I want to put this into context. Let us look at the Czech Republic. What is its rate of inflation? It is 14.2%. Let us see what Poland's rate of inflation is—

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin

Jun/7/22 1:56:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to reiterate what the rates of inflation are for different countries across the world. The Czech Republic is dealing with a rate of inflation of 14.2%. Poland is dealing with a rate of inflation of 13.9%. Romania is dealing with a rate of inflation of 13.8%. Greece is dealing with a rate of inflation of 10.2%. The Netherlands is dealing with a rate of inflation of 9.6%. Hungary is dealing with a rate of inflation of 9.5%. The United Kingdom is dealing with a rate of inflation of 9%. Belgium has an inflation rate of 9% as well. Germany has an inflation rate of 8.7%. The United States has an inflation rate of 8.3%. Portugal has an inflation rate of 8%. Austria is dealing with a rate of inflation of 7.9%. Italy is dealing with a rate of inflation of 6.9%. Finally, Canada is dealing with a rate of inflation of 6.8%. This is a world problem. Obviously, we are all suffering the consequences of the illegal war of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, but that particular motion does not offer many solutions. Let us talk about the fertilizer prices: “eliminating tariffs on fertilizer”. The hon. members offer that as a simple solution that will cause a great relief for all farmers. Do they not realize that fertilizer went up by 70% to 100% before the Ukraine war? Yes, now there is a 35% tariff on fertilizer, but do they not realize that there are Canadian companies that realigned their supply chains to ensure that they are not going to be penalized by that 35% tariff? Yes, they are paying higher prices, but I believe we should be advocating for a solution that offers all farmers a reduction on prices, not just those who have paid that 35%. Obviously, for next year, the point of a tariff is for Canadian companies to stop dealing with the Russian government and Russian companies. We heard loud and clear from a Ukrainian MP yesterday that Canada should be doing everything to stop doing business with Russia. I believe that question was asked by the member for Beauce, who heard it loud and clear from that Ukrainian MP, and I thank her for her testimony at the agriculture committee. The motion talks about the solution to address housing affordability being, let me get this straight, to launch a public inquiry. I just do not understand how that is going to provide immediate relief to Canadians. I am surprised that this actually came from the Conservatives, because the Conservatives are usually about smaller government. Now they are proposing a bureaucracy to look into how we could make sure that housing affordability is available through a public inquiry. Come on—

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.)

Jun/7/22 4:00:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today we are debating an opposition motion that is supposed to offer solutions to address the impact of inflation. I want to point out to my hon. colleagues that what they are asking for is that the House call on the government to provide immediate assistance. They therefore believe that providing immediate assistance to address the housing problem is to immediately launch a national public inquiry into money laundering. How is that going to provide immediate assistance to Canadians looking for housing? I do not understand how a national public inquiry into money laundering is going to provide immediate assistance to Canadians. It does not make sense. I cannot believe that anyone even took the time to write this motion. I see no reason whatsoever to support this motion. I will not be able to support it because it makes no sense. Today we are talking about inflation, and I know that two Conservative members have switched sides. Two Conservative MPs, on the day the Conservatives presented a motion to come to solutions to fight inflation, decided to jump camp to a specific member of Parliament running for the highest office. His solution to fight inflation is to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada. I do not see how that is going to help, but that was the big policy idea that this particular member of Parliament came up with. He also suggested that we opt out of inflation by joining the big cryptocurrency movement. I am not sure if my hon. colleagues on the other side of the House actually watch cryptocurrencies. Let us take Terra Luna, for instance. In April, it was worth $135.

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin

Jun/7/22 4:03:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just to make sure my colleagues heard me properly, I note that on the day the Conservatives are proposing a motion to fight inflation, with solutions that have no immediate impact on Canadians, two members of Parliament have decided to jump ship to support the member for Carleton, who came up with two policy ideas. Those two grandiose ideas are to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada and opt out of inflation by investing in cryptocurrency. With respect to cryptocurrency, I am sure the Conservatives have been following the trajectory of Terra Luna. Terra Luna, about a month and a half ago, was worth $135 on the market. Today it is worth barely a penny. It is worth $0.0003. I have not checked out the latest number, but it is not even worth a Canadian penny, and we do not even have pennies. I do not see how this motion would help Canadians fight inflation. We have put some solutions forward. Obviously, the Canada child benefit is helping families. It is geared toward the cost of inflation, so that is a potential solution. I represent a big farming community. We have talked about how we can help farmers lower their costs, and fertilizer is certainly in debate. I do not necessarily support simply giving a direct exemption to companies that have decided to continue to do deals with Russia and Belarus, because other companies have changed their supply chains and have made the decision not to continue doing business with them. If I were advocating for a potential solution, it would be to provide aid to farmers directly, as opposed to giving it to companies that continue to do deals with Russian and Belarusian companies. Many companies signed contracts with farmers last summer, telling them they would pay a certain price. Some of those companies are now telling them that even though they signed a contract, they are going to charge them extra fees. When an individual and a company sign a contract in Canada, they are creating a bond of trust. It is a binding contract. I am fortunate that in my riding this is not happening, but I have heard many, many stories like this in other parts of the country. Companies are not honouring the contracts, and I would hope that they continue honouring them. It is a binding agreement they have signed with farmers and they owe it to our farmers to honour those contracts. I do not support this motion because it does not include any solutions that will help Canadians immediately.

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin

Jun/7/22 4:07:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government is not intentionally increasing the price of food. Everyone is concerned with the price of food around the world. I would invite the hon. member to come to the agriculture committee on Thursday and hear from the agriculture minister from Ukraine, who will explain what the issue is. When Russia is bombing grain terminals, the Government of Canada is not intentionally raising the price of food. Ukraine is a major contributor on wheat, corn and canola. Canada can play a major role on canola because we have amazing growers out west who grow canola. We can increase the role— An hon. member: It is not “can play”. We do play. Mr. Francis Drouin: Yes, we do, Madam Speaker. We export 40% of our canola, and we will continue to do so. We have always supported our farmers in Canada.

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin

Jun/7/22 4:08:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if we want to create government programs we need to generate revenues. That is a simple fact. Government does not own any dollars. It needs to generate revenues. One way to generate revenues is to unleash the power of entrepreneurship, which is a great idea, and we have great entrepreneurs. Farmers are playing a huge role in this country. However, we simply cannot create money. Money does not grow on trees. We need to generate wealth, and to do so, we need to ensure our entrepreneurs and private sector are healthy. I believe the economy has been growing. Obviously, we are concerned about inflation, but the solutions provided by the current opposition is not something that is realistic and will not provide any immediate relief.

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Mr. Francis Drouin

Jun/7/22 4:10:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as my good Liberal friends Lowell Green and Rob Snow have reminded me, there is always one taxpayer in this country, and he knows the gas tax helps municipalities pay for the costs of operations. I would argue we should be using those dollars to help municipalities pay off some of the operational costs that gas pressures are creating on their own budgets. If they do not have that help, they will need to increase their taxes in return. He knows, because he was part of that government, that they were transferring that gas tax to help municipalities. We have continued that program and we believe in it, but cutting the GST will not help consumers at the pump.

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