44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/5/23 3:59:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, once again, it is disappointing to hear Conservatives' stance on climate change, which is, “Don't worry about it.”
The hon. member's province is on fire. There are fires raging out of control across the country, and the Conservatives are heckling. They are not serious about this. They are completely unserious about climate change as an existential threat.
I want to ask the hon. member a question. When residents of his own province, and other provinces across the country, are evacuating, why does he raise a point to make pollution free in this country?
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- Jun/5/23 4:06:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order, because he did it to me, I believe if you seek it, you would find unanimous consent to wish the member for Kingston and the Islands a very happy birthday today.
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- Jun/5/23 7:28:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member talks almost exclusively in bumper sticker slogans that the Conservative Party recycles. Recycling slogans is the only environmental plan it has.
Why does he not mention anything about climate change, in terms of affordability, and its impact on food prices and impact on Canadians? However, I will not ask him that.
My question is this: Before standing up in this House and ignoring climate change, did he even go outside today to see the smoke in the air in the nation's capital from forest fires elsewhere, or is he just going to put his head in the sand and continue with the old ways of the Conservative Party?
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- Jun/5/23 7:34:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I am the wrong person to look to for a Tupac quote. However, in the rest of my speech, I will try to educate, enlighten and entertain members of this chamber.
I asked about this in my question. It was troubling this morning when I got a warning on my phone. I think we all would have if we looked at the weather. It was an air quality advisory in Ottawa, which was related to forest fires elsewhere. It is shocking to me that members of the Conservative Party could go outside this building, see it with their own eyes, and then go to their ridings. They stand from Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. They see these forest fires; they see the impacts of climate change so directly. It is impacting lives. I know they are passionate about their constituents. They get up, talk and ask what the government is doing, but they do not talk about the impacts of climate change on their residents.
The Conservatives do not put two and two together, despite scientists across the country, Nobel laureates and every credible scientist saying that these things are connected. However, the Conservatives stick their heads in the sand, even though they all, every single one, ran on a price on pollution during the last election. They can see it. We can see it with our own eyes. The hon. members can see, with their own eyes, the impacts of that.
What will these forest fires and floods cost Canadians? What do droughts cost farmers? The members talk about the impacts on Canadians, and that is the right thing to be talking about. What are the long-term impacts? What are the impacts going to be on our kids? If it is tens of billions of dollars now, what is it going to be for our kids? My kids are about to turn seven and five. What is it going to be like in 20 years?
We are seeing the planet get warmer. The Conservative Party of Canada is going to throw its hands up in the air and say, “We've tried nothing, but we're all out of ideas.” I do not know how they can look their kids and their grandkids in the eye.
There is a lot more work that we have to do. That is fair enough; there is not necessarily one way to get to a particular path, but the Conservatives are offering no solutions. We can see smoke in the sky outside. What do the Conservatives have? They have absolutely nothing but bumper sticker slogans. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the only part of the Conservative environmental plan is recycling their slogans. That is all they have.
When it comes to actually working for Canadians, the Conservatives talk a good game. All these slogans sound great; they are going to do this or that, all these things straight off the bumper sticker. However, where have they been in the last seven and a half years? The Liberal government and other parliamentarians have worked hard to help lift Canadians out of poverty. There are 2.7 million fewer Canadians living in poverty, than there were in 2015, when the Conservatives were in power.
Where were they when the Canada child benefit was discussed? They voted against it. They were against increases to the guaranteed income supplement and increases to old age security. The Conservative leader is fervently against day care, which means thousands of dollars in the pockets of families who are having a difficult time. The Conservatives were against the Canada worker benefit and the rental benefit. Time after time, Conservatives talk a good game, but that is all they have.
There is no policy plan, only cuts. We have seen this story before. They say, “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The government will not be there for you.” There would not be anything that the Conservative party would do to help Canadians, except make it free to pollute.
The cornerstone of their policy is that those who pollute the most will get the biggest tax break. They will cut the benefits to Canadians, cut the green rebate to Canadians, the climate action incentive, and transfer that money to the biggest polluters in this country. That is unbelievably shocking.
There is no ambition. There is no fear for our children on that side of the House, and there is no desire to do anything better for our kids. There is no view in terms of what the long-term costs are going to be on this because, again, they will do nothing. Let the fires burn. Let the floods happen. The Conservative Party of Canada will do absolutely nothing on climate change. We have heard from economists, from the insurance industry and from national security experts, who have said the greatest threat to this country is the impacts of climate change. The Conservatives do not care. It is really that simple. If they cared, there would be some kind of plan. They talk about having technology. Where is this magic box that the Conservative leader has that is going to solve this crisis? There is no plan.
They talk a lot about food banks, again, rightfully so. There are a lot of Canadians who are having a difficult time, despite the supports.
Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan: I wonder why.
Mr. Chris Bittle: The hon. member who is heckling me talked about food banks, but I am not hearing from my food bank that we should cut the price on pollution. That is not what they are talking about.
Conservatives are laughing. They think it is hilarious that there are 30,000 Canadians who have been evacuated from their homes. They do not care. They are laughing.
Mr. Damien Kurek: How shameful.
Mr. Chris Bittle: That is right. It is shameful, as the hon. member said.
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- Jun/5/23 7:41:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I wonder if those members will go to food banks in their ridings and tell them that they will cut affordable day care. What would that do to parents, single parents especially? They will cut GIS perhaps, cut day care and cut the CCB. There would not be a rental benefit. They would not have stood by Canadians during the pandemic.
Those seem to be the talking points from the Conservative Party. I do not think that is what they are going to hear or that they will gain much support from food banks across the country with a message of “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It is the Conservative way.” Again, as droughts, fires and floods ravage agricultural areas of our country and those of our allies, what is the cost of that? They are silent on that, consistently silent.
The final thing I would like to discuss, and the one that is the most shocking of all they are opposed to, is dental care. Each one of us, every member of this chamber, has taxpayer-funded dental care for themselves, for their family, for their spouse. What are we hearing the Conservatives tell their constituents? They say, “You don't need that. You don't want that. We will cut it. That is the Conservative way.”
They can talk a great game about balancing the budget, but that is going to be the cornerstone of it. We do not hear the other side of what the Conservative Party is talking about: “We will balance the budget, but it will be on the backs of Canadians and, by the way, we'll give a tax break to the largest polluters in this country.”
If pollution is made free again, the one thing that I think we can all guarantee is that there will be a lot more pollution. There will be more fires. There will be more floods. There will be more drought. That is the one guarantee. It is very sad, again, that Conservatives can go outside, see the smoke in the air and say they do not care.
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- Jun/5/23 7:45:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member goes outside and sees the smoke in the air and talks about 1995. I think I was in grade 11. Let us get real. Let us get real about today. Let us get real about the future.
If he wants to talk about history, let us talk about history. Let us talk about Brian Mulroney, a Conservative prime minister who put a price on pollution. Guess what? It worked. It helped solve the acid rain problem that was endemic during the 1980s. It was a Conservative idea. If it worked then, why will Conservatives not at least embrace something?
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- Jun/5/23 7:46:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we said it at the time. It is about transitioning the economy. Oil is still going to be produced. Energy is still going to be relied on. I know that when the leader of the Bloc Québécois was minister in the provincial government, he was seeking to engage in oil exploration in Quebec.
Again, this is about transitioning. It is an existing pipeline that is going to be doubled to get the same amount of oil to different markets.
Let us talk about climate change while the Conservatives are doing nothing.
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- Jun/5/23 7:48:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have been advocating for dental care since before my election in 2015, as the chair of a community health centre in St. Catharines that established a volunteer dental clinic.
To see the look in people's eyes when they can smile is monumental. It is monumental in their lives. The Conservatives may say that they are not going to do it because it is right. Maybe it will appeal to them as an economic plan. One cannot get a job if one cannot smile at a job interview. To see someone be able to go into life without pain is significant.
Again, it is shameful that they would look away and not support that. They will have to tell their constituents why they want to take away dental care from them.
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