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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 164

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 6, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 164 - Mar/6/23
Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)
  • Mar/6/23 2:12:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government says it wants to triple the carbon tax up to $170 a tonne. Thanks to British Columbia's recently tabled budget, we know how much economic harm tripling the carbon tax may cause. On April 1, the carbon tax goes up to $65 a tonne and may cost British Columbians an extra $600 million a year. It is estimated that with the Liberal plan to triple the cost, the cost may be as high as a staggering $5 billion in British Columbia by 2030. Even the province has said in its own budget that “rural communities may have higher indirect carbon tax burdens (e.g. through higher shipping costs resulting in a higher price for goods) and colder regions of the province may have higher carbon tax costs for home heating.” However, we should hold British Columbia's beer, because the Prime Minister is not done yet. On April 1, this government is also hiking the excise tax on beer, wine and spirits by another 6.3%. This is all made-in-Canada inflation from a Liberal government that is out of touch and does not care. After eight years of the Liberal government, many Canadians can no longer afford to pay their bills. They need leadership that helps keep life affordable, and under the Conservative leader, they will get it.
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Context: House Hansard - 164 - Mar/6/23
Mr. Scott Reid
  • Mar/6/23 7:11:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the fundamental problem is this: if the cost to produce and sell legal product is higher than the cost to produce and sell illegal product, then the illegal product will have the ability to drive out the legal product. This is exactly what is happening in the market today in Canada. There is some high-end product, which, I grant, the legal sector predominates in, but the fact is that, right now, it is a lot worse than a 70-30 split. I have heard 60-40 and in some parts of the cannabis production industry, I would say it is 50-50 or worse. One cannot impose massive regulatory compliance costs on the legal sector, which do not exist for the illegal sector, without having the effect of driving these producers out of business. If there was some way of making the illegal producers stop, we would not have a problem, but that was never possible. I ask again: what is the government doing to ensure that regulatory compliance costs are brought down and taxes are kept reasonable for legal producers? Remember, illegal producers do not pay tax—
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