44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 1, 2023 02:00PM
- Nov/1/23 2:39:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can understand why the Prime Minister did not want to stand up and defend that comment from the Liberal member.
This comment is similar to what we heard from Paul McLauchlin. He is the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. He said, “If I have an understanding that I can buy heating oil—which is effectively kerosene—and I can buy it with no carbon levy, I would change all my grain drying and my barn heating to heating oil.... I'll tell you right now, there are folks doing the math.”
Therefore, the government is now incentivizing farms to spend money shifting from natural gas drying and heating to oil heating, which has higher emissions. This makes no sense. Why will the Prime Minister not just shake off this lunacy and axe the tax?
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- Nov/1/23 2:40:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps the hon. member does not understand this: Heating oil is two to four times as expensive as natural gas. It is a particularly acute issue with respect to heating and affordability. He should also be aware that the exemption is for three years, during which time, people are expected to implement heat pumps to ensure that they actually have an affordable way to address this issue, but in a manner that is consistent with fighting climate change. This is certainly something that the hon. leader either does not believe in or does not think is important.
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- Nov/1/23 2:41:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the question was for the Prime Minister, I am glad the member answered, because he reminded Atlantic Canadians that it is just a pause. If they re-elect the Prime Minister, they will get a massive tax increase on their home heating oil.
Where is all the money going? We now know that 60% of Canadians pay more in carbon taxes than they get back in rebates. The difference is funding the wasteful government. We now know that a senior member of the Liberal government's bureaucracy compared their billion-dollar green fund to the sponsorship scandal, saying that it was massive “incompetence”.
Who got rich, and who will have to pay?
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- Nov/1/23 2:42:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry welcomes the decision of the Auditor General to conduct an audit. He also welcomes the invitation he received to committee next week, where he will be answering Conservative questions with respect to this entire issue. I would also note that the organization has agreed to co-operate fully and is enabling all documents and information to be provided to the Auditor General.
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- Nov/1/23 2:42:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now the carbon tax chaos continues. The incoming leader of the Liberal Party, Mark Carney, has weighed in and said, “I would have looked for other ways to provide ... support than the route chosen, not least because what is important is that clarity in terms of the overall plan, the overall direction.” Now we have an incoming Liberal leader taking potshots at an outgoing Liberal Prime Minister who is in hiding.
How much longer can Canadians deal with this carbon tax chaos before we get an election and choose a common-sense Conservative plan?
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- Nov/1/23 2:43:12 p.m.
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Colleagues, before I give the floor to the parliamentary secretary to answer the question, I would like to remind all members, out of profound respect for the position and office of Leader of the Opposition, to please take a look at the statement I made regarding decorum in the House, in terms of understanding what all members have to do in their work.
The parliamentary secretary has the floor.
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- Nov/1/23 2:44:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is 2023, and if someone does not have a plan to fight climate change and protect the environment, then they do not have a plan for the economy or for affordability either. It is very clear that the Conservative plan is just to cut funding for social services, such as the Canada child benefit, seniors funding and the dental benefit, which has just recently surpassed helping 200,000 children. The Conservative plan to fix global inflation by cutting people's services is not going to work. It is risky, irresponsible and absolutely reckless, as is the Conservative leader.
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- Nov/1/23 2:44:38 p.m.
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Again, I would like to remind all members, in their questions and answers, to make sure they are not impugning individual members. On matters regarding their courage, intelligence or even their presence in the House, I ask members to exercise restraint and decorum. We can have passionate debates in the House and do so within the rules that have been established by this place.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- Nov/1/23 2:45:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of answering my questions and engaging me in debate, the Prime Minister forces yet another random Liberal to read off PMO talking points about the carbon tax payoff that is unfolding in this country. He has one province threatening lawsuits and another not collecting the tax at all. He has NDP provincial governments and parties turning against him even though he is in coalition with that same party.
Will the Prime Minister end the carbon tax chaos and agree to my motion to simply treat every single Canadian equally and take the tax off so Canadians can keep the heat on?
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- Nov/1/23 2:46:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure whether the hon. member is actually listening to the responses, but at the end of the day, heating oil is two to four times as expensive as natural gas. It is a particularly acute issue with respect to affordability. We have come up with a program that will enable folks to put in place something that will save them significant money while being consistent with the fight against climate change.
It is, I would say, appalling that in this day and age we still have a party in the chamber, the Conservative Party of Canada, that has no policy on and not even any belief in the reality of climate change. It is time that changed, and Canadians will make that happen in the next election.
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- Nov/1/23 2:47:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he would have Wednesday Prime Minister's question period, that he would show up for work and answer questions, but here we are less than a week after he had to back down and pause his signature policy, the massive new carbon tax. His plan now is to quadruple that tax to 61¢ a litre, forcing seniors everywhere to choose between eating and heating.
If that is really the right thing to do, then why does he not have the guts to stand up and defend that policy before Canadians here and now?
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- Nov/1/23 2:47:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price on pollution is one part of a comprehensive approach to addressing the climate issue. It is implemented in a manner that is affordable. The majority of Canadians get more money back than they pay on the price on pollution.
Having a thoughtful approach to climate change is an important part of being a real and realistic political party in this country. We cannot actually have an environmental policy without a climate policy. We cannot actually have an effective economic plan for the future without recognizing the reality of climate change. It is time the Conservatives entered the modern era.
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- Nov/1/23 2:48:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois motion that the minister will be supporting later today is about successful immigration.
Immigration cannot be successful when thresholds do not take integration capacity into consideration. Indeed, the Conference Board of Canada indicated yesterday that the number of disappointed immigrants who end up leaving Canada has skyrocketed. In 2017 alone, 60,000 immigrants left; two years later, it was 67,000. Problems with access to housing and economic integration were among the reasons cited.
Will the minister get back to work and consult Quebec instead of announcing immigration thresholds that are completely disconnected from our integration capacity?
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- Nov/1/23 2:49:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, we have to keep increasing our efforts to integrate newcomers.
The flip side of those numbers is the unprecedented volume of people who want to come to Canada. I do not blame them, but the reality is that so many people want to come here because Canada is a welcoming country.
I think that criticizing Canada and Quebec by saying that we do not have the integration capacity shows bad faith and is essentially a refusal to listen to what is going on in the country.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Nov/1/23 2:49:41 p.m.
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I would encourage members who have not been recognized by the Speaker to allow the ones who have to ask and answer questions.
The hon. member for Saint-Jean.
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- Nov/1/23 2:49:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec has confirmed that it was not consulted.
This means that the immigration thresholds that the minister will unveil shortly do not take into account the availability of health care. They do not take into account space in our schools. They do not take into account child care spaces. They do not take into account capacity for French-language training. They do not take into account the housing crisis. They do not take into account the infrastructure that needs to be built to support population growth.
Did the the minister consult his astrologist to come up with the thresholds he will be announcing shortly?
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- Nov/1/23 2:50:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to talk about astrology. The member opposite was in the House when I gave my speech yesterday but she must not have been paying attention or she would have heard the details of what we are doing with Quebec to ensure that there is co-operation and coordination.
We have disagreements, of course, but what she does not understand—and this is odd because the agreement has been in place for as long as the Bloc Québécois has existed, since 1991—is that this falls under Quebec jurisdiction.
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- Nov/1/23 2:51:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the irony is, and this question is, for the Prime Minister, that the carbon tax chaos is unfolding within the Liberal tent itself. We saw last week, just as I was about to hold a thunderous rally with a thousand common-sense Nova Scotians to axe the tax, the Prime Minister was in a sweaty ball on the ground. He had to flip-flop and hold a hastily called and humiliating press conference.
Now, Mark Carney has come out against his flip-flop, and Percy Downe, a loyal Liberal senator, has called for the Prime Minister to resign because of his fiscal irresponsibility. Is that why he is hiding under his desk and refusing to answer questions today?
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- Nov/1/23 2:51:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, other than trying to find ways to do indirectly what he is not actually allowed to do directly, the one thing that is consistent about the Leader of the Opposition is that he loves to pat himself on the back continuously.
At the end of the day, what we are interested in on this side of the House is good public policy. We have put into place a plan that will assure affordability for Canadians, that applies across the country and that does so in a manner that actually addresses the reality of climate change.
Once again, it is appalling and a shame that the Conservative Party does not believe in climate change and has no plan to do anything about it.
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- Nov/1/23 2:52:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Senator, Mr. Percy Downe wrote:
The opportunity for a [Conservative] government was created by a lack of fiscal responsibility [by the Liberal] government, and the damage it caused our economy is now showing up in the opinion poll numbers. Within the Liberal Party, many members who are in favour of fiscal responsibility...have given up on this current iteration of the [Liberal] party.
Hence, the leader should resign. However, he will not stand and answer questions, even though his itinerary shows that he was in this building today.
If the Prime Minister will not show up and do his job, which I will, why will he not get out of the way?
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