44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent on his excellent speech. It was quite interesting and very intellectually stimulating. It is a pleasure to listen to that kind of speech.
I would like to go back to the issue of the net benefit analysis. I think my colleague mentioned this in his speech. In the Investment Canada Act, there is a review threshold that seems to go up almost like clockwork each year, sometimes even faster than inflation.
For example, in 2015, the review threshold was $369 million. If we look at this year's figures, we see that the review threshold for countries with which we do not have an economic agreement, to use the lowest figure, hit $1.3 billion. This means that the government does not even look at the file when a company is purchased for less than $1.3 billion. These transactions are just rubber-stamped.
Let me name a few companies that are in this situation. Héroux-Devtek has a market value of $560 million. Lassonde Industries has a market value of $800 million, which means it still passes under the radar. Cascades has a market value of $909 million, and TC Transcontinental has a market value of $1.3 billion, which puts it right on the edge of passing under the radar. No one knows for sure. Resolute Forest Products, which has a market value of $1.6 billion, would fall below the second threshold, which is $1.9 billion for countries with which there is a trade agreement.
I would like to know if my colleague from Louis-Hébert thinks it is acceptable that the thresholds are so high, and that companies that are so important to our economy are not even subject to a review in the event of an acquisition.
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- Feb/6/23 2:20:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it has been eight years of the Prime Minister's out-of-control spending that even Liberals are starting to notice, Liberals like Bill Morneau, who said that the federal government ”lost the agenda”; and Mark Carney, who called inflation homegrown. These are not just random Liberals, as the Prime Minister says. They were some of the Prime Minister's biggest defenders.
They want to know, and Canadians want to know, when will the Prime Minister show some humility, admit responsibility and end his reckless inflationary spending?
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- Feb/6/23 2:21:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals can talk about the billions they spent all they want, but never in our country has so much money brought so few results.
After eight years, the facts speak for themselves: the highest inflation in 40 years, the highest interest rates in a generation, the highest home prices ever. New polls suggest that 45% of Canadians with variable mortgage rates will have to sell their homes in under nine months.
The Liberals can say it, but Canadians know that everything is not okay. Again, will the Prime Minister show some humility and admit responsibility?
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- Feb/6/23 3:57:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a comment. We know that Canadians are really struggling right now because of inflation and the cost of living. Day after day, life is becoming increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, they are once again seeing the Liberal government lining the pockets of its friends and contacts with taxpayers' money.
What does my colleague think about this injustice when many Canadians are facing hard times?
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- Feb/6/23 3:58:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. That is exactly what I said at the beginning of my speech. These are hard times. People are working hard for their money, and many of them do not have enough to live on because inflation is making everything more expensive.
We have here a government that is freely squandering taxpayers' money. These questions deserve answers. That is why, today, we are asking that the Auditor General of Canada investigate the contracts awarded to McKinsey.
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- Feb/6/23 4:45:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is touching on something interesting. When I walk around Trois-Rivières on the weekend people stop me in the street. They are aware of my experience as an ethicist and they ask me how is it that there is such a group of.... I will let my colleagues fill in the blanks.
People are very worried about what is going on because of inflation and everything else. They do not know what to do and they are begging us to do something.
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- Feb/6/23 6:54:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on November 22, 2022, I rose in the House and asked a question of the government linking taxes, carbon taxes in particular, with the rate of inflation we are experiencing in Canada. I used the example of Japan and the decisions they are making to address inflation in Japan versus the ones we are making here.
I got a response from the Associate Minister of Finance, the member for Edmonton Centre, which was more of a song and a dance than a reply. I hope I get a better response from the government tonight.
Let us address this. In November, Japan was experiencing 4.2% inflation. Canada, on the other hand, was experiencing 6.8% inflation. As a result of the inflation Japan was experiencing, it cancelled its increase to the carbon tax, which was expected to take effect in April of this year, but that has been cancelled. Canada, on the other hand, is increasing its carbon tax by 30%. Notably, Canada's carbon tax right now is $50 per tonne, and it will rise to $65 if the government continues on the path its on. Japan's carbon tax is about $3 Canadian per tonne of carbon, so there is a significant difference between what we are doing here. We can see why inflation is much more of a problem in Canada.
Carbon tax this year is expected to bring in $8.27 billion into Canada. Not to be outdone, when pressed on the issue, the governor of the Bank of Canada actually admitted, after some study, that the carbon tax itself was contributing 0.4% to the inflation rate in Canada. Instead of 6.8%, without the carbon tax, we would have an inflation rate of 6.4%. That amount is going to increase by about 1.3 times, so about 0.52% of our inflation rate is going to be part and parcel of the carbon tax.
Let me bring home what that means. This summer we had oil prices rise. West Texas Intermediate, the grade we measure our oil by, was about $110 per barrel in the world. That equated to about $2.10 per litre filling up in Calgary. Think about the last time oil was that high. It was actually $1.40 per litre, so it has gone up an extra 70¢ per litre. Part of that is inflation, and part of that is the price inflation. Apples to apples, it should be about $1.72 per litre versus $2.10. Where is the extra 40¢? I will tell colleagues. It is in the form of taxes on gas. It is excise taxes. It is carbon taxes. It is clean fuel taxes.
I know the narrative on the other side is going to tell me that x per cent of the economists around the world believe that a carbon tax is the most effective way of pricing carbon and reducing carbon emissions. I could agree.
Let me ask this: If this is so, why are so many other taxation mechanisms required? There is the clean fuels standard; the clean electricity standard, which is on its way; emissions caps, some targeted at specific industries; vehicle mandates; and massive subsidization of chosen paths forward. This is billions of dollars that the government is spending needlessly, and all of them are, by design, inflationary. This is inflation built upon inflation.
The savings of Canadians are at risk. The energy security of Canadians is at risk. Will the government come clean and provide Canadians clarity on what the future looks like in the designed inflationary spiral that it is designing here?
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- Feb/6/23 7:02:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I said the member was going to talk about the price on pollution and how everybody agrees that is the way to go forward here, except when we are addressing inflation. There are certain mechanisms that the government has tools to address. It is going to have to choose which path it is going to take, but inflation is a real concern for all Canadians.
I will also point out to the member that inflation is measured differently in different jurisdictions. If people believe that our inflation rate is lower in Canada than the United States, they should look at the way we measure it versus the way it is measured in the United States. They will find that housing deflation is the difference between the two. There actually is lower inflation in the United States. However, we do measure it, and I appreciate him reading the statistics that say we are lower. In fact, we are not, though.
The member did talk about the Parliamentary Budget Officer. If he is going to talk about the Parliamentary Budget Officer, he is going to have to pay attention to his other report that says the carbon tax is costing Canadians a lot more than he is giving it credit for. This is a problem that needs to be considered in his inflation adjustments and we have to address it going forward.
I do not want more narrative. Let us address the—
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- Feb/6/23 7:03:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our support is targeted and fiscally responsible. Our government wants to help Canadians get through this challenging economic time marked by high inflation. That is why we are continuing to provide inflation relief, through our affordability plan and other targeted measures, to Canadians who need it the most: the most vulnerable. Canadians can count on us to continue supporting those who need it while also carefully managing our finances and protecting our environment. That is what Liberals do best.
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