44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/21/23 11:27:48 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to maintaining a fair level of competition in the airline industry. This industry supports Canada's economy, trade and tourism. It is essential to connecting Canadians and communities in a country as large as ours.
Our government will always do everything in its power to ensure that carriers provide flights to Canadians across the country, especially to remote or northern communities that often rely exclusively on the airline industry for travel and to receive essential goods and services.
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- Apr/21/23 11:28:27 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, commitments also require action. For competition to exist, there must be more than one player. The federal government needs to guarantee accessible and reliable air transportation in the regions, but it is doing exactly the opposite with this budget. It is raising airport taxes to cover security. In other words, not only is it doing absolutely nothing to ensure the reliability of Air Canada flights, it is putting upward pressure on the price of regional flights. Ottawa is going to charge us more for increasingly unreliable flights.
Rather than laughing from their seats, will the Liberals back down, stop making matters worse and start coming up with solutions for air travel in the regions?
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- Apr/21/23 11:29:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her important question.
We will continue to ensure that airports across the country have the resources they need and that Canadians have access to an efficient air sector. We remain committed to continuing our conversations with all airlines to come up with better solutions for all Canadians.
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- Apr/21/23 11:29:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today the government announced $13 billion for a new Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plant. It has $13 billion for a private company, but it is dragging its heels for a fair contract for government workers. This deal is about accountability, and it is imperative that we put workers at the heart of any agreement. The government needs to ensure good-paying union jobs, or at least a commitment from Volkswagen that it will be allowed to be a union shop, in writing.
What will the government do to make sure that it is Canadian workers, not Volkswagen CEOs and shareholders, who will benefit from this deal?
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- Apr/21/23 11:30:18 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government has been very successful in bringing investments to Canada that are creating jobs and growing economic activity across the country.
That Volkswagen has chosen Canada for its very first battery factory in North America is proof of that success, and we are very proud of it. Volkswagen's historic investment of $7 billion is a major vote of confidence in our workers and in our growing battery ecosystem, and it shows that Canada's work to become the world's green supplier of choice is working.
I welcome the member to get on board.
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- Apr/21/23 11:30:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are fed up. The Liberals keep saying one thing about protecting our planet, but then they do the opposite. Yesterday, we learned that the minister has dropped the ball on the Liberals' own promise for two billion trees, is not protecting vital species and is not on track to meet Canada's emissions targets. Canada cannot wait any longer for the environment minister to actually do his job, instead of cozying up to oil and gas executives.
When is the environment minister going to stop working to protect the profits of Canada's biggest polluters and start protecting our planet?
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- Apr/21/23 11:31:30 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am really happy that the member opposite has asked me a question about the work we are doing on the environment, because it allows me the opportunity to share some goods news, which is that our national inventory report on emissions, which we put out last week to the UN, shows that we are bending the curve on emissions. In fact, our emissions are below prepandemic levels. They are below 2005 levels.
We are doing the hard work, and we are getting it done.
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- Apr/21/23 11:31:59 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of government is driving up the cost of living. After years of inflationary spending by the government, Canadians cannot afford to put food on the table or to heat their homes, yet the Prime Minister was off jet-setting to Jamaica on yet another luxury vacation. This is just another example of a prime minister who cannot or will not try to understand the realities of hard-working Canadians.
When Canadians are choosing between heating and eating, the Prime Minister is choosing between Jamaica and the Bahamas. When will the out-of-touch Prime Minister realize that money does not grow on trees, not that his government is competent enough to plant any?
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- Apr/21/23 11:32:43 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to affordability, no Canadian should be forced to make the decision between buying groceries and going to the dentist, but budget 2023 actually takes care of both. We are delivering a grocery benefit, which the member supported, and I thank him for it. It is going to help 11 million Canadians, and over 50% of our seniors are going to benefit. There is also a dental benefit, which has already benefited over 250,000 children. As we expand it through this budget process, millions of Canadians will benefit. That is something that even the Conservatives can smile about.
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- Apr/21/23 11:33:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are struggling with the rising cost of living, particularly with the impact of the carbon tax, which is making it more expensive for Canadians to heat their homes or simply go to work. Canadian families and businesses cannot afford the tripling of the carbon tax, and now the environment minister is musing about $265 a tonne. Canadians already cannot afford $65 a tonne. It is not an environment plan; it is a tax plan. Enough is enough.
When will the government stop punishing hard-working Canadians and axe its cruel carbon tax?
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- Apr/21/23 11:33:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight that pricing carbon pollution works. I mentioned earlier that we are seeing our emissions go down. At the very same time as we are bringing down emissions, which is a market mechanism, by the way, which is something I would think the Conservatives would support, but beyond that matter, I would also point out that individual Canadians in the federal backstop provinces are receiving a climate action incentive. In fact, they would have received one just last week. That helps to offset the cost of carbon pricing.
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- Apr/21/23 11:34:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian problems require Canadian solutions. The cost of living crisis is hurting Canadians. The price of gas in Moose Jaw has risen to over $1.60 after the government tripled its inflationary carbon tax. Let us be honest: This is not an environmental plan; it is a tax plan. The Prime Minister has said that he has put a price on pollution. The fact is that he has put a price on people.
Here is a Canadian problem: the Prime Minister. Here is a Canadian solution: When will the government get out of the way so Canadians can elect a strong Conservative government?
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- Apr/21/23 11:35:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, beyond the fact that carbon pricing absolutely works to reduce emissions, which I mentioned earlier, let us talk about why that is important. If we do not take action against climate change, every single Canadian will pay the cost of the natural disasters that come as part of it, including in provinces like the member opposite's province.
We are making sure that we support Canadians. In fact, there is the grocery rebate, dental benefits, child care agreements. All of those are ways we are supporting Canadians, and at the same time we are fighting climate change.
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- Apr/21/23 11:35:49 a.m.
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TGIF, Mr. Speaker. Thank goodness it is Friday. Canadians have survived another week of unrelenting stress due to the Prime Minister's attack on their livelihoods, while he is living it up himself. Most Canadians could not dream of nine days at a luxury Jamaican estate with wealthy friends. One in four says there is no way they can even afford a vacation of any kind this summer.
The Liberal carbon tax will cost them up to $850 more after the rebate this year. Record numbers have turned to food banks and, for the first time, there are people diving into dumpsters who have never done that before.
The Prime Minister's curtain is about to fall when he gets the hook. Will he regret not listening to Canadians then, when they cancel his tax and him?
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- Apr/21/23 11:36:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no question that there are Canadians across this country who have been having a hard time with the cost of living, but we should put this into perspective. Over the course of the economic recovery from COVID-19, we have now seen more than 850,000 people with a job today who did not have one before the pandemic. However, to help those people who are still struggling, we are making investments to offset the cost of groceries with a new grocery rebate. We are making investments on the issues Canadians raised with us as being important, to make sure they have access to a family doctor. We are making investments so that they can continue to have access to good jobs.
When it comes to putting a price on pollution, we have found a way to put more money in the pockets of households. The Conservatives want to take it from them so that they can make it free to pollute.
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- Apr/21/23 11:37:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there has been plenty of debate in this House on what the impact of the carbon tax is on Canadians. However, I want to put that debate to rest once and for all. I am going to read right from the Prime Minister's own parliamentary watchdog: “Most households in provinces under the backstop will see a net loss resulting from...carbon pricing.” If members do not believe me, it continues: “household carbon costs will exceed the [rebate]”. The Liberals have hit zero targets. It is clear that not only does the carbon tax fail to fight emissions, but it is also costing Canadians $1,500 on average.
When will the government finally just axe the tax?
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- Apr/21/23 11:38:02 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would point out that the exact same report from the PBO confirms that eight out of 10 Canadian households will receive more from the climate action dividend than they pay out in any fuel charge. What is fascinating is that if the hon. member actually considers the analysis behind the report, the only expenditure he is referring to assumes that the alternative is taking no further action on climate change.
This is par for the course for the Conservatives. We have been defending this policy for three election cycles. If they want to triple down on a losing strategy, I invite them to remain in opposition as long as they would like.
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- Apr/21/23 11:38:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about a losing strategy, they have hit zero emissions targets. That is a victory rate of 0%. That is just how out of touch they are. However, that is not surprising given that we have an out-of-touch government with an out-of-touch Prime Minister. He gets on a plane, goes to Jamaica and takes an $81,000 free vacation from a donor to the Trudeau Foundation. Moreover, we know that he will not pay that back because we know who he is. Maybe he will pay the carbon tax on the jet fuel. The jet fuel alone would add a carbon tax of $13,750.
Will the government finally admit it is a carbon scam and axe the tax?
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- Apr/21/23 11:39:22 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, talking about targets, when it comes to our emissions, I would remind the hon. member that the target we have set is for the year 2030. I would remind all members of this House that 2030 is seven years from now. We are going to continue to work to hit that target, as we have projected we would. However, it is telling that when the Conservatives are confronted with an analysis that they do not want to accept, they turn their guns onto the Prime Minister as a person.
The reality is that the more they are going to focus on him as an individual, the more we are going to focus on the Canadians who live in our communities. We will make sure they have access to good jobs, income support for families that need it and health care for those who deserve it. We are also going to continue to advance environmental policies to protect pocketbooks and reduce emissions.
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- Apr/21/23 11:40:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner has stepped down following the controversy regarding her family ties to the Liberal minister.
I would like to reiterate that we never questioned the integrity and competence of Ms. Richard, who is doing the right thing. The Liberal ministers should never have put her in this untenable position. Now, these same ministers have to appoint someone else. They have demonstrated several times that they do not have a good grasp of ethics, so this disqualifies them from moving forward on their own. Unfortunately, I am not available.
Will they finally propose a candidate that all parties can agree on?
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