44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/7/23 10:49:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, of course we are under siege with the climate crisis. In British Columbia we experience extreme weather from fires to floods. Lives were lost and there have been damages of untold millions of dollars. What is needed is not the solution the Conservatives are proposing, to not address the climate crisis through carbon pricing.
What we need is for the government to take on big oil. The minister supposedly came from the environmental sector. Why is he not taking this on and imposing a windfall tax on big oil? It made a record profit last year of $147 billion. Why are we not taxing big oil to address the climate crisis?
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- Feb/7/23 11:21:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would just like to remind my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie that I mentioned this in my speech. Indeed, when they are putting forward measures to fight greenhouse gases but are also increasing oil production in the oil sands or natural gas and investing in fossil fuels, there is something wrong. They are saying one thing and doing the complete opposite.
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- Feb/7/23 11:35:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I would like to circle back to a point that I find particularly relevant, and that is the Liberals' fear or reluctance to go after big oil's profits. There is a double standard towards ordinary Canadians.
We have pointed out that the oil companies have doubled their profits, that the government continues to hand them subsidies and that it does not dare tax them more, despite pleas from the UN Secretary-General.
In my colleague's opinion, why do the Liberals not dare go there, when it is a pretty easy and obvious answer?
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- Feb/7/23 1:49:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in my last question for the Conservatives, I called out their failure to tax the big oil companies. They share that with the current Liberal government. I am wondering why the Liberal government continues to let big oil off the hook while families are struggling. Instead of making big oil and gas pay, why are the Liberals making families and individuals pay what big corporations and big companies owe?
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- Feb/7/23 2:32:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservative politicians are making a lot of misleading claims about the price on pollution. The facts are that 70% of gas price increase is due to crude oil prices going up, largely because of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Another 25% of the price is the result of provincial taxes and refining margins—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/7/23 2:32:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative politicians are making a lot of misleading claims about the price on pollution. The facts are that about 70% of gas price increase is due to crude oil prices going up, largely because of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, and another 25% of the price is the result of provincial taxes and refining margins that have gone up by 113% in the last two years.
That means that 95% of the gas price has nothing to do with the price on pollution. The price on pollution puts more money back in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians and it remains one of the best ways to fight climate change.
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- Feb/7/23 3:32:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to start by noting that the member for Kingston and the Islands was the only member of the governing party who supported an opposition motion calling for the end of subsidies to the oil and gas sector just a few months ago, which included the false climate solution of carbon capture and storage. His voice on this is one of the most credible in the House. I wonder if he can share more about the importance of ending all subsidies to the oil and gas sector.
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- Feb/7/23 3:47:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member seems to not understand that oil and gas companies pay enormous amounts of taxes and they fund social programs and other things across the country.
Is the member saying that when they have a good year we should tax them more? Is he saying that in a bad year the government should be paying those companies some money?
If those companies have a good year, they pay a lot of taxes. If they have a bad year, they do not. That is how the system works. If he does not like it, maybe he should come up with a better system.
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- Feb/7/23 4:35:39 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I had the pleasure of meeting with the Canadian Labour Congress today, which told me its workers are experiencing challenges because of the rising cost of inflation and wages not increasing. Meanwhile, we know of businesses like Imperial Oil, which is making huge profits. It made $2.4 billion in the last quarter, which was a sixfold increase compared to the same quarter last year.
I wonder if the hon. member can explain why the Liberals will not put a windfall profits tax on big oil and gas companies.
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- Feb/7/23 4:47:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a number of questions for the hon. member, like why are the people of Newfoundland not burning Newfoundland natural gas? Why are they sticking with oil?
Second, why have we not heard anything from the Conservatives about the fact that big oil is jacking up the price, and its profits, while big oil countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia get together to limit production so the price for everybody goes up? I say, the sooner we get these bandits out of our pockets, the better for everybody. What does the member have to say about that?
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- Feb/7/23 4:48:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank my colleague, the hon. member from British Columbia, a fellow member of the FOPO committee. I always like to work with him.
Since 2015, there has been an attack on the oil and gas industry in Canada by the hon. member's party. I am sure he is ashamed of it. We have oil and gas to produce here that could bring down inflation.
We need to produce more of what money buys, including oil. That would take on these dictators all over the world. If we were to compete with them in their own market, that would be how we bring them to their knees and help our own people at the same time.
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- Feb/7/23 5:23:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is not really my area of expertise, but I do know that the Bloc Québécois proposed a transitional period for oil industry workers.
What we are saying is that, one way or another, fossil fuel production will have to cease. However, we know the industry creates a lot of jobs, and we know that matters. These are moms and dads who work in an industry, who have jobs, kids, hobbies, a house and bills to pay, just like everyone else.
We are concerned about this, and we are ready to sit down for some level-headed negotiations to figure out how to make this transition, which needs to happen now, as painless as possible for these people.
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