44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 7, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/7/22 12:05:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the motion simply says “eliminating tariffs on fertilizer”. The member for Winnipeg North is right to point out that tariffs were imposed on fertilizer coming from Russia as part of our effort to punish Vladimir Putin.
The legitimate issue here is that there are farmers who signed contracts to buy fertilizer as part of their pricing for the year before the invasion of Ukraine, so there is a real question of fairness in retroactively imposing a tariff on farmers who had already signed contracts to get that fertilizer and who had built it into their pricing structure for the year.
We are not hearing that kind of conversation from the Conservatives. They are not trying to build a parliamentary consensus. They are trying to build a fundraising list. That comes across very clearly in the motion.
An hon. member: That is wrong.
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- Jun/7/22 12:34:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a very specific question for the member, for clarification purposes. Clause (c) says that the Conservative Party is now proposing to eliminate tariffs on fertilizer. In other words, one could actually purchase fertilizer from Russia and not have to pay a tariff.
Is that really what the Conservatives are saying in this motion?
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- Jun/7/22 1:36:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, they were going to find those new resources only because of the tariff put on Russian fertilizer by the Liberal government. Again, we are not arguing that there should not be sanctions on Russia, but they should be sanctions that actually impact Russia and its economy. This tariff is only punishing Canadian farmers. If we have realized anything through COVID, it is that we must diversify our trade agreements and be much more self-sufficient.
The tariff that the Liberals put on Russian fertilizer is the only reason farmers are paying higher costs. I might add too that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance did not even realize that Canada purchased fertilizer from Russia before putting on that tariff.
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- Jun/7/22 1:40:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in this chamber to talk about the Conservative opposition day motion on a very important issue affecting Canadians: affordability and the cost of living.
Before I talk about the motion, I would just like to set some context for individuals who are here. Food prices have increased 9.7%; in many cases fuel is up, depending on what time it is measured, almost 65% to 70%; in some cases diesel has doubled in about 12 months; and retail prices, the prices paid for clothing and other goods, are also significantly higher.
It is also important to recognize that we were on an incredibly high trajectory of inflation before the war in Ukraine started. Inflation was at a 25-year high of 5.5% in February, before the Russian Federation's invasion in Ukraine. To suggest that it is all explained by the war misses the point that we were on a quite high inflation trajectory before that war started.
For full disclosure, I will concede to the members across the way that there are multiple reasons for inflation. Of course there are supply chain issues and of course there is the war. However, there are also serious structural issues that are leading to inflation. By its definition, a consumption tax is inflationary. The Bank of Canada even says this. At least half a percentage point of inflation can be attributed to the carbon tax, according to the Bank of Canada.
The challenge that I have, or perhaps some of the members on this side of the House have, is that every time questions about inflation or costs of living or affordability have been raised, they are waved away and explained away by referring to these external factors that are out of the government's control. I do not believe that to be true. Yes, there are things that are outside of the government's control, and I just mentioned a few of them, but there are simple things that the government could do to provide immediate relief to Canadians.
The challenge is about not acknowledging that inflation is perhaps not transitory. If we take a long enough view, everything is transitory. Even life is transitory, if we take a long enough view. The challenge is that the facts are changing on the ground. The government is now out of step with the rest of the world because it has yet to acknowledge the challenge of inflation and the tools that it has to deal with it.
In fact, just last week President Biden wrote an op-ed to the American people. In it he vowed to take action on inflation immediately and provided a three-point plan on how the federal government in the United States was going to deal with it, acknowledging that of course the central banks have a role to play.
Secretary Yellen said last week in an interview that she was wrong about inflation, that inflation was persisting longer than they had thought. We have also heard this from the Federal Reserve chair in the U.S. We have also heard it from Bank of Canada officials, who admitted that they had all underestimated inflation, but we have not heard it from the Liberal government. The government refuses to even acknowledge that it might be behind the curve.
I think Canadians would appreciate a little bit of humility in hearing, “Look, we were a little slow on the inflation front, but we have tools that we can use to combat inflation.” The question I have every day is this: How long does inflation need to persist or how high does inflation need to get before the government realizes that it must act?
We have put forward an opposition day motion, which I think some would even call an omnibus motion, with some interesting ideas. In the interest of constructive discussion in this House, there may be some ideas that individuals feel strongly opposed to, but they are ideas. The government could feel free to take any of these ideas it might like and act on them. We do not need to pass this entire motion. It does not sound as if we will have support from some other parties, but certainly there are some reasonable ideas. I would like to highlight a couple that speak to me.
With respect to suspending the GST on fuel, both regular gasoline and diesel, the price for diesel has doubled in 12 to 16 months. That also means that the HST the government receives on diesel has doubled. The revenue the government is making has doubled because the price has doubled, and it is applied right before people pay the final price. In fact, the government has never made as much money as it is making right now. That is why I have significant concerns about the idea that the answer to inflation is for the government to tax companies more so it can take that money and do something with it. The government does not need that money. It has never made as much money as it is making right now.
If we consider the budget of 2021 and what we believe the government will be making in revenues over the next five years and compare it to budget 2022 and the revenue it is going to be receiving now, it has found an extra $170 billion. The question is this: What is it doing with it? Why is it not returning that money to Canadians? It is coming from Canadians in the first place.
I think we have to be a little more realistic and pragmatic, because increasing taxes on companies is not going to all of a sudden solve our inflation problem. We have a bunch of extra revenue now and we still have inflation, so making the government bigger is not the answer to our worries.
The hon. colleague from Foothills talked about fertilizer, and because of the significant farming community in Simcoe North, I will mention it just for a moment.
I have phone calls every day, and I visit farms to talk to farmers in my riding. They are all saying they want to help Ukraine and do their part and that they do not mind paying a fertilizer tariff on fertilizer that is purchased after March 2. However, they prepaid for fertilizer in December and are still being hit with this tariff. The government did not even understand the impacts of that tariff before it brought it in, nor did it have very clear and defined rules, which shows a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to understand the farming community.
There is an element of this motion that talks about money laundering. Some members will wonder why we are talking about money laundering and will think it is incredible to be talking about money laundering when it is such a long-term problem. Well, the best time to plant a tree, if not yesterday, is today. The Cullen commission is coming out with an 1,800-page report, which I hope becomes public very soon, about the challenges of money laundering in British Columbia, but it is going to expose a significant challenge nationally that we must take head-on. We have to understand the impact of money laundering, especially on our real estate sector, because it distorts our real estate markets.
In Orillia, which is in Simcoe North, we have seen a 300% increase in the price of housing in six years. That is unsustainable. I believe some of that is due to the distorting effects of money laundering in our big cities, because people are now moving out and looking at other places.
It is in this context that I think most of the ideas in our motion are quite reasonable. We may not expect the motion to pass, but I hope we have a great debate and I would welcome the government to take any of these ideas as its own.
In closing, I will make a brief comment about leadership. True leadership is recognizing that perhaps one's original plan needs to change when the facts on the ground change. True leadership is showing a level of humility by acknowledging that humans can sometimes get things wrong. There are some interesting examples from the previous government, but I will only mention three: It decided to change its mind and tax income trusts in the face of different facts changing on the ground; it reversed its decision on interest income deductibility; and when the global financial crisis hit, it reversed its ideological position on running deficits and saved Canada from significant financial ruin.
I am thankful to have been afforded this opportunity today.
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- Jun/7/22 4:41:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to our Conservative motion and, most importantly, to advocate for the interests of my constituents and all Canadians.
This country is on the brink of disaster, yet the Prime Minister and his government continue to make decisions that are hurting Canadian families. The Prime Minister is quick to blame COVID‑19 and the war in Ukraine, but does he ever look in the mirror? Does he wonder how many of his decisions have made life harder for Canadians? Most of the problems we are dealing with today are problems that were made worse by the Prime Minister.
I want to start by talking about the carbon tax and about how it punishes hard-working Canadians.
The Prime Minister keeps blaming Mr. Putin and his war machine for the rising cost of gas. In reality, the taxes imposed by this government are the main cause behind the rising prices. The cost of gas in my riding is above $2.23 a litre today. That is unacceptable.
This Prime Minister has a trust fund and has probably never gone to a gas station. I am therefore not surprised that he does not understand the impact this can have on the wallets of ordinary Canadians. He and his ministers have drivers who pick them up and drop them off everywhere. He also has a private jet that can take him wherever he wants, whenever he wants, all at taxpayers' expense.
Beauce is in a rural part of Quebec. The men and women in my riding work very hard and do not have the luxury of being driven by professional drivers. They do not even have access to public transit because our towns are far apart from one another. These men and women have to get up every morning, pull on their boots and then work very hard to pay their bills, but the government continues to reach deeper and deeper into their pockets. People now have to choose between paying their mortgages to avoid losing their homes and skipping a meal, because they cannot afford to do both.
Our party tried to get similar motions adopted over the past few months, but the new love story between the NDP and the Liberals has put the brakes on every attempt we have made to make life more affordable for all Canadians. I have to say it is shameful.
Last week, in the House, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance and member for Outremont suggested that the Conservatives just wanted to give Canadians a tax break and that would not help them in the long run. Does the government not understand that Canadian families are having serious problems right now?
Families need a break from these inflated prices, and they need it now. My office continues to be inundated with calls from new parents, seniors and persons with disabilities who are unable to put food on the table because of this government's punitive taxes and its refusal to work with the opposition. Our party understands that inflation is currently a global phenomenon, but does the government not see that by adding self-inflicted policies, it has placed an added burden on the country?
Food inflation alone is at 9.7%. Economists agree that this number is the result of several factors, many of which could be addressed right here on our doorstep. There is no question that the carbon tax is having the greatest effect on pricing across the country. Companies are trying to offset their extra costs by passing them on to the consumer. Have Canadians not suffered enough during this pandemic? Then there is the fact that we are the only country in the world to impose the infamous 35% tariff on fertilizer from Russia.
Many questions have been asked here in the House and elsewhere about why the government is still imposing this tariff on our hard-working farm families. The only thing the minister has to say is that farmers can borrow more.
Let us think about this logically for a minute. These tariffs have a minimal impact on Russia. They have a much greater negative impact on hard-working Canadian farmers. We see the impact every time we walk into a grocery store. The price of food has gone up because of the carbon tax, and now the same thing is happening because of these draconian fertilizer tariffs. Farmers can borrow money to pay sky-high prices for fertilizer, but, once again, they have to pass that cost on to consumers sooner or later to hit the break-even point.
I would like to talk about our tourism sector and federal public employees. The government is refusing to say when it will change federal COVID‑19 requirements both at the border and in government offices. All we want is a plan. Canada's tourism sector is wasting away. This summer should have been the perfect time to visit the whole country and help our economy prosper. Instead, many other nations consider our country to be a joke. Pearson airport and many other international airports are in such disarray that nobody wants to visit our great country. Many people are deciding to take their money elsewhere. As a proud Canadian, I find that very upsetting.
Our federal public servants, who just want to get back to work, are not being allowed to do so because of vaccination and masking policies that are dividing Canadians. With the backlogs we are seeing at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the passport offices, would it not be a good idea to have all public servants back at work, in order to get our country back on track?
In closing, I can only hope that my speech today will encourage this government to reconsider its positions, because Canadians deserve better than what they are currently getting from their government. We are all here to serve our constituents, and it pains me to see the repercussions this is having in my riding.
We feel a bit powerless when a minority government can push whatever it wants through Parliament, without being held accountable. The NDP is largely responsible for this, so I hope that party will finally see the light and stop supporting this Liberal government on everything.
I urge all my colleagues to support this motion. We must help Canadians now, before it is too late. The Prime Minister will have to live with the legacy of this deliberate failure for the rest of his life.
I will be happy to respond to my colleagues' questions and comments.
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- Jun/7/22 4:51:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his speech. Yesterday, he asked Ukrainian MP Yulia Klymenko if she supported the 35% tariff on fertilizer. She very clearly stated that we should do everything in our power to avoid supporting Russia.
For the past few weeks, the Conservatives have been saying we should support Ukraine, so why are they asking for rebates instead of calling for the tariff to be maintained to deter imports from Russia?
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- Jun/7/22 5:09:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will state a few facts before answering the question. The Conservatives' current position is that the 35% tariff on fertilizer imported from Russia should be eliminated.
In the case of farmers who purchased their fertilizer before the start of the war, that is the right thing to do, and I hope that the government will consider giving them a rebate.
However, they must change their supply chain and look for other markets. I believe that buying fertilizer that costs less is a fair solution. I am of the opinion that after the war, however, we will have to keep the tariff and find other solutions for affordable imports.
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- Jun/7/22 5:51:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am the proud chair of the agriculture committee, and yesterday we had the member for Beauce ask a question of Yulia Klymenko, who is a member of parliament from Ukraine. The question was asked of whether she was in support of the 35% tariff that has been placed on Russian and Belarusian products. She was absolutely clear this is an important policy because we do not want to support Russia at all. In fact, many of the Conservatives have called for that policy, and they have said that the government should be working to try to help support Ukraine.
I asked the member for Beauce earlier what his position was. He said that the government should be indemnifying farmers who made the purchase before March 2. I actually agree with that, and I will continue to work with the government to see if there is something that can be done, but why would the policy be changing? The motion says right here that the Conservatives want to get rid the tariff altogether.
What is the Conservative position?
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- Jun/7/22 6:28:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be brief in my two minutes of what was hopefully going to be a 10-minute speech to reiterate something I have been hearing from farmers and businesses in my riding pertaining to fertilizer.
I want to go on the record in the House and thank Duncan Ferguson, the president of the Glengarry Federation of Agriculture; Doug MacPherson, the general manager and president of Munro Agromart; and Jackie Kelly-Pemberton of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture for raising awareness of the unfairness happening to our Canadian farmers when it comes to the 35% tariff imposed on fertilizer.
Our House and our country are united and pushing back against the evil and illegal acts of Russia, but the actions taken by the government of imposing a 35% tariff on fertilizer pre-March 2 only hurts Canadian farmers and consumers. The opposition day motion we are voting on tonight is very clear. It calls for an exemption of those tariffs pre-March 2. Our farmers and local businesses ordered fertilizer last fall, before we knew these actions were going to take place. We are putting on the record that we are standing up for farmers and those local voices to say this is a tangible way can provide relief to help with the high cost of living facing our country and the global community today.
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