44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 1, 2023 02:00PM
- Nov/1/23 2:15:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, scarcely a year ago, in the House, we Conservatives asked the government to cancel the carbon tax on home heating. All parties in the House voted against us, including the Bloc. It is costly to vote for the Bloc.
Last Thursday, because he is plummeting in the polls, the Prime Minister announced a temporary pause for home heating oil. He did this only with his Atlantic members. Why? The Minister of Rural Economic Development explained it: The other regions just have to vote Liberal.
Where are the members from Quebec when it comes to protecting taxpayers’ money? Are they with the Bloc, which wants to radically increase the carbon tax?
Not only is this measure unfair to 97% of Canadians, it is also divisive. Even the Liberal carbon tax’s architect, Catherine McKenna, said she was heartbroken over this Liberal flip-flop. The current Minister of Environment said that if saw another one, he would slam the door. Things are not going well with the Liberals.
For us, Conservatives, it is clear. Eliminating the carbon tax is just common sense.
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- Nov/1/23 2:31:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that carbon tax question was for the Prime Minister on Prime Minister's question period day. I know I do not have my glasses on, but that guy does not look like the Prime Minister.
I have a very simple motion, which says, “That, given that the government has announced a ‘temporary, three-year pause’ to the federal carbon tax on home heating oil, the House call on the government to extend that pause to all forms of home heating.”
Will the Prime Minister have the courage to stand up and indicate whether the vote on this motion will be a free vote for his members?
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- Nov/1/23 2:37:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have another question for the Prime Minister. The lone Liberal MP in Edmonton was asked, “Western Canada is being left out of this whole home heating oil and the exemption for home heat from the carbon price. Should natural gas be added to that?” He said that he is not concerned at all. He then went on to say that if Albertans want to have the exemption, they can switch their furnaces over to oil. Does the Prime Minister agree with the member from Edmonton Centre that Albertans should spend thousands of dollars putting in a more emitting source of energy just to avoid paying the carbon tax?
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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 2:57:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can understand that as the Liberal members watch their Prime Minister in a panicked huddle, in the fetal position, shaking and trembling, they are losing control of themselves. The last few days of carbon tax chaos have been very hard on them, and now their leader is defending them.
The minister says we should let Canadians decide, so why do we not pause the carbon tax on all home heat until the vote, when Canadians will decide whether they want the Prime Minister's plan to hike the 61¢ a litre or my common-sense plan to axe the tax for everyone forever?
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- Nov/1/23 3:12:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change said that he will not grant any more carbon tax exemptions while he is minister. He seems to think that people in the Atlantic provinces are the only ones suffering as a result of these taxes. Meanwhile, what is the Bloc doing? The Bloc is asking the government to drastically increase the Liberal taxes. It seems as though the Conservatives are the only ones who care about Quebec's interests.
I have a question for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Will he get out of the way so that we can cancel the carbon tax across the country?
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- Nov/1/23 3:13:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I repeat that there is no federal carbon tax in Quebec.
Not only do the Conservatives still not have a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent climate change, but they also have no vision on how to adapt to the effects of climate change. That is not just irresponsible; it is incompetent.
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- Nov/1/23 3:13:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, a desperate Prime Minister admitted his punishing carbon tax is making life more expensive for all Canadians. He also said that if re-elected, the NDP-Liberal government will quadruple the carbon tax on home heating, gas and groceries. After eight years, the Prime Minister is now admitting he is just not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister stop the gimmicks, stop the temporary measures, stop the bogus claims and axe the carbon tax for all Canadians for good?
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- Nov/1/23 3:15:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the panicking Prime Minister is plummeting in the polls and the nervous Nellie Atlantic Liberal MPs are whining to please help save them. The NDP-Liberal government's solution is to put the carbon tax up 61¢ after the next election. In other words, people should vote Liberal to quadruple the carbon tax after the next election or vote Conservative to axe the tax. The flip-flopping Prime Minister now admits he is not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister come clean and tell Atlantic Canadians how much the carbon tax will cost after the next election?
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- Nov/1/23 3:20:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now, Quebeckers know that voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
The Bloc Québécois voted in favour of the second carbon tax. The Liberal government decided to create two classes of Canadians: people from Atlantic Canada and everyone else. Quebeckers and other Canadians will not get the temporary carbon tax rebate. The Prime Minister says that it will not make any other exceptions. It is outrageous.
After eight years, this government has lost control and Canadians are getting poorer. Can it regroup and cancel the carbon tax for all Canadians?
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- Nov/1/23 3:21:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rather shocked by the participation of my colleagues from Quebec who are in the Conservative Party.
I would like my colleague across the way to ask his colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent why, when he was at the National Assembly of Quebec, he said he was so happy with the carbon exchange. He said:
[We are] glad...that there will be a greenhouse gas emissions registry, and the fact that this information will be made public confirms to us the desire for transparency that unites us all here in this chamber.
It is truly shameful to speak out of both sides of one's mouth.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Nov/1/23 4:50:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are many reasons to be debating this concurrence motion. We have a government that was very slow to act in helping any of our allies when war first broke out in Ukraine.
At the natural resources committee, I even suggested that we get liquid natural gas and our oil products to our allies much quicker than even the minister when he went to Paris at that time. The government came out early and said it could not do that. Then it changed its mind, just as it has done on so many of these natural resource issues, particularly of late with the carbon tax issue in the Maritimes.
There are some situations with the recommendations in this report, and the Wagner Group is just one of them. I am wondering why the Liberal government is so hesitant to recognize them as a terrorist organization.
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Madam Speaker, Governor Macklem said there are two separate questions. The governor said, “...how much are the increases in the carbon tax adding to inflation each year? That number is about .15 percentage points of inflation. That's the direct impact on those three components.”
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Madam Speaker, Governor Macklem continued by responding to the second question, which was what the effect on inflation would be if the carbon tax were to be eliminated. He said that it would create a one-time drop in inflation of 0.6%.
If the carbon tax were eliminated, it would result in a drop in inflation of 0.6%. The overall inflation rate is currently at about 3.2%. At that rate, eliminating the carbon tax, by the Governor of the Bank of Canada's estimate, would reduce inflation by more than 18%.
The lead author of Canada's Food Price Report 2023, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, has pointed out that the carbon tax has made business expenses go up. Dr. Charlebois points to “the compounding effect” up and down the food chain, as the supply chain is exposed to increased costs from the carbon tax. Let us take a look at that supply chain and why food is costing more.
The carbon tax increases costs for heating greenhouses, as well as dairy, poultry and hog barns. It increases costs for running the machinery necessary for production operations, especially the cost of electricity. In fact, in 2020, according to Statistics Canada, production costs for greenhouses were up 31.8% above the 10-year average. In 2021, the latest year for which facts are available from Statistics Canada, greenhouse costs were up 9.3% over those of 2020. Electricity costs for greenhouses were up in 2021 by 8.2% over 2020. Other fuel costs were up 7.7% over those of 2020.
In case anybody does not see that this is a problem, Statistics Canada reports that, as of 2021—
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Madam Speaker, it impacts the bill because, every step along the way, families would not need a government program if they could afford to buy food. If it costs more to put inputs into food for farmers, it is going to cost more for families to buy food for their kids. Why are two million people going to a food bank in a month? They should not need to, and it is because of the policies of the government.
We would not need this kind of program if food inflation were not so high and if the carbon tax were not on everything. It is to the point where people cannot afford to live. Canadians cannot afford to buy food. If it costs overhead to heat greenhouses, and it costs farmers overhead to heat their barns, of course the price of food is going to go up. It is going to be hard for families to afford nutritious food because farmers need to make money too when they are trying to sell their crops. They have to pass that on to consumers.
If anybody does not see that the carbon tax increases the production cost of food, they are choosing not to see it. Again, if it costs the farmer more to grow food, and it costs truckers more to ship the food, then it costs families more to buy food. They should be able to buy food with the money in their pockets that they take home with their wages, but the government is making it unaffordable for families. We would not need this government program if families could afford to buy their food.
Families are seeing unaffordable price increases on the food they buy for their loved ones year over year. Almost daily I am hearing in my office from folks, young and old, who are having difficulty getting by. Many do not have enough to buy their groceries or pay their heating bill, their rent or their mortgages, and more families are visiting food banks. Food bank usage hit another record high in 2023 with two million people using a food bank in a single month. Two million people cannot eat and satisfy their hunger with fluff reports or studies.
Canadian consumers face inflation on food at 8% to 9% year over year. Again, 20% of Canadians report skipping a meal each day. What they need is lower grocery prices so they can afford to feed their families. Meanwhile, the government just wants to tax to the max with two carbon taxes plus HST. It is enough. Canadians deserve better than a Prime Minister and a government that just seems to be going through the motions.
The Prime Minister can deny all he wants, but Canadians know that inflation is real. The Governor of the Bank of Canada also said something last Monday at the finance committee about how government spending affects the ability of the Bank of Canada to bring inflation down. The Governor indicated that government spending makes it more difficult for the Bank of Canada to hold the line and bring the inflation rate down. As a result, monthly mortgage payments for Canadian families are rising when they renew their mortgages. Their mortgage interest rates are almost double or more to what the interest rate was to their previous renewal.
High taxes, increased red tape and bureaucracy have driven investment out of Canada, causing our economy to slide each year with a continued low Canadian dollar, making everything bought from our largest trading partner, the U.S., more expensive. Canada is on track to be one of the most unproductive and least prosperous countries in the OECD.
The International Monetary Fund listed Canada as having the sixth-worst misery index out of 35 industrialized countries. Simply put, the higher the score, the worst the economic situation. Canada scores the sixth highest, but the NDP and the Liberal Party do not want to talk about any of this. They want to make it appear as though they are helping, even though the NDP and the Liberals are the cause of unaffordable prices and people's misery.
That is why the Leader of the Opposition, along with those on this side of the House, have been holding the Prime Minister and his government to account for spending and inflation. Can there be any doubt? It is time for a real change from the inflationary, all-too-costly coalition of the NDP-Liberal government.
To sum up, Bill C-322 is better suited to be put forward in a provincial legislature than in the national Parliament. However, if the member for Acadie—Bathurst is truly serious about helping Canadian families afford nutritious food for their tables, he should persuade his colleagues to reduce food costs by axing the carbon tax.
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