SoVote

Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)

Feb/7/23 1:07:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals in the debate, all day long, keep saying that Canadians have never had it so good. They seem exacerbated as, again, we fight against their punishing carbon tax. We are going to keep fighting against the carbon tax so that Canadians can keep their heat on, can drive to work and can afford nutritious food. We will never apologize for that. We have heard today some version of what they call an environmental plan, but make no mistake. The Liberals gave us an environmental plan, or they gave us a tax plan that was disguised as an environmental plan, and it was directly cited for the higher prices. In fact, their tax is working so well that we have already seen it raised three times. We are still no closer to meeting any sort of environmental goal. In fact, Canada is the only G7 country, if we want to play the facts game, that has raised fuel taxes during a period of record-high inflation. That should tell us everything we need to know about where we are in this. We are in the depths of winter and home heating costs are, in some cases, up 100%. Heating one's home in Canada is not a luxury. I do not know why we have to say it, but it is a necessity in this country. All one has to do is go outside for 30 minutes. There is no denying that the government and its NDP coalition partners who vote with it every single time, although they get up in the House and scream at the government that nothing is going right and then continue to support it, are making prices higher for families. They make this necessity more expensive with a plan to triple the tax, no matter what they say outside of this place. No matter what motion they bring forward, they are the ones who support the government in making things more expensive for every single Canadian. It is a plan that disproportionately punishes people in rural areas who have no choice but to rely on heating oil or other heat sources made more expensive by the carbon tax. It is a plan that disproportionately punishes families, including parents who are struggling to feed their kids, who are struggling to get to work and who are struggling to drive their kids to activities and school. I know they do not like to hear it, and they certainly do not want to talk about it. We would be here for an eternity if they had to admit it. However, for more Canadians, things have never been so bad, and a little humility and an admission of responsibility would go a long way for the people across the aisle. The Liberals laugh, and they say that the stories that we tell in the House are not real. They must not speak to the same people we speak to. They must not listen to the same people we listen to. They must not go to the places we go. If they did, they would know that these stories are very real. They are painfully real for millions of Canadians, and they are growing in number. The most out-of-touch thing that anybody can do, while serving others in this place, is to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is fine, because it is not. It is far from it. Here in Canada, the Liberals have given us the highest inflation in 40 years, some of the highest interest rates in the G7, the highest in a generation, and the highest home prices ever. Add a carbon tax on top of that. We will continue to speak against that tax in the House until we have the opportunity, as a government, to remove it. If the government was in touch at all with the economic reality, it would know that one cannot tax one's way to prosperity. It does not work. It never has. With respect to our farmers, the hon. member for Foothills speaks with farmers, and I will be splitting my time with him. On everything that we eat, on everything that we buy and on everything that we use, the Liberals have imposed a tax. It started at $30 a tonne, then it went to $40 a tonne and now it is at $50 a tonne. They promised Canadians, before the last election, that it would never go up. Never is a really long time, but it did. We should have known better. We should have known that $30 was going to be $40, then it was going to be $50 and now it is $170. That might not mean a lot in terms of tonnage, but it makes everything that we buy, that we eat, that we use and where we go more expensive. It has an effect throughout the economy. They will tell us that Canadians get back more than they pay. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said the opposite. Tripling the price, without even making a dent in emissions, and presenting it as if they are returning that money to Canadians is the only misinformation that we have heard in the House today. Why, after all of this evidence, are they still saying that over and over again? All they have to do is open the report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the Liberals appointed. There are 20% of Canadians skipping meals just to make ends meet, because the cost of groceries has gone up 11%. They have not gone up because I have said they have gone up, but they have actually gone up. People are not angry because I said that they are angry. They are angry because they are hungry and the price of groceries has gone up 11%. It is a direct result of the carbon tax, because it costs more to grow, more to harvest, more to transport and more to buy. The Liberals blame someone else, something else or somewhere else for that failure, but it is their fault. It is squarely their fault and they could show some humility in this House and take responsibility for it. It would go a long way. We have the lowest projected GDP per capita growth of any advanced economy. This is not just in the G7, but of any advanced economy. The time to add taxes to the mix is not right now. It is actually never, when it comes to this tax that does not work. Two years ago, the Leader of the Opposition, when he sat here as the member for Carleton, warned that if a government had unchecked and unrestrained out-of-control spending, it would lead to higher inflation and higher interest rates. The cost of government would drive up the cost of living, and that is exactly what we have seen happen. The Liberals told us the only way to save ourselves on the environmental front is a carbon tax, but, again, that does not match reality. It turns out, once again, that our trust was misplaced in a Liberal government that said it would not raise the carbon tax. It has now raised the carbon tax, and it is about to triple it. All one needs to do to verify the claim is just look around. Do we not have the highest inflation in 40 years? Do we not have the highest interest rates in a generation? Is home ownership not out of reach for Canadians? Are people not paying more for the cost of energy to heat their homes, to drive their cars and to buy their food? We know the answer, and it seems the Liberals know it too. We bring this up every single day in the House. We quote testimony from experts and testimony from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whom the Liberals appointed. We bring stories of the people who are hurting in this country, and the Liberals laugh it off or call it fake. The response from the government is another program, another inflationary spending measure, a plan to triple the carbon tax, more platitudes and empty words and a few Instagram posts. Then they pat themselves on the back and clap for each other. The Liberals can talk about the billions of dollars they have spent, and they can talk about it all they want, but that comes from the taxpayer. Never has so much money been spent to bring so few results to so few people in this country. That is a fact. More of the same ideas that got us here in the first place are just not good enough. We have a different approach. Instead of giving more power to the government, instead of the central planning that we see from them, let us give more power to Canadians and let them spend more of their own money. Let us put that money back into their pockets and help them live with dignity and help them survive. Let us help them pay to heat their homes, to drive their cars and to buy nutritious food for their families. Instead of raising taxes, leave workers with more money in their pockets, because they know how to spend their wages. There is only one taxpayer in this country, and the Liberals ought to recognize that. The Liberals ought to show some humility, take some responsibility for the inflation crisis they have caused and not add yet another tax. Instead of throwing more money at the problem, let us invest in solutions that work. Let us reduce greenhouse gases. Let us get housing built. Let us build more transit. In short, instead of telling Canadians that everything is fine and that they have never had it so good, let us have the government show some humility and take responsibility for the crisis that they have created.

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All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 155 - Feb/7/23

Ms. Melissa Lantsman

Feb/7/23 1:17:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will actually correct the member. If he wants to open his own budget, on page 25 is the GDP growth per capita. We are the lowest in projected growth over the next 30 years, of not only the G7, but also every advanced economy. It is in the member's own budget, and he ought to read it.

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Context: House Hansard - 155 - Feb/7/23

Ms. Melissa Lantsman

Feb/7/23 1:18:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the member if this were actually an environment plan, but it is a tax plan. It has not reduced any emissions. It has not hit any targets, which the government itself has ever set. Therefore, if we want to talk about an environmental plan, I am happy to do that with the member, but a carbon tax is not it.

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Context: House Hansard - 155 - Feb/7/23

Ms. Melissa Lantsman

Feb/7/23 1:19:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite raises a very important issue, which frankly, has a lot to do with the economic crisis we are in. My hon. colleague should recognize that there are still 30-year-olds living in their parents' basements. We have a supply-side solution, and we have a plan to incentivize those who build housing to build more housing, which is something the government has not done.

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Context: House Hansard - 155 - Feb/7/23

Ms. Melissa Lantsman

Feb/7/23 1:21:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like my hon. colleague, members hear stories of this from our own ridings when we go home. This affects, particularly and disproportionately, those in vulnerable or, frankly, tragic situations, as the member has brought up, as well as those in rural communities. It affects the middle class. I have also asked constituents in my riding to send over their energy bills because I could not believe what I was seeing. They use less, yet they pay more, and we can fix a part of that today by voting for this motion.

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