44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 3, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/3/23 11:08:00 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I proudly grew up at the Chautauqua Co-op. It was a vibrant community built with federal funding from Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal housing strategy back in the eighties.
We do not have enough public non-market housing in Canada, and that is a real problem, so I am proud of the government for investing over $1.5 billion in non-market housing solutions going forward. However, this week I was disgusted to hear the Conservative leader refer to co-op housing as “Soviet-style” housing. My mom's family escaped Soviet Hungary and she has been building co-ops in this country for the last 30 years. To hear that from a guy who has never had a job outside of government and lives in government-subsidized housing was tremendously disturbing.
Stigmatizing low-income Canadians will not build housing, and neither will the Conservatives' risky, irresponsible plan. It is time that we end this stigmatization of people on the lower-income scale and get them the housing they need and deserve.
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- Nov/3/23 11:31:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, fighting climate change while helping families with their affordability challenges is a dual priority, and a serious plan needs to have both. Our government is standing up to take action on the environment in a way that directly helps Canadians.
The recent changes are about home-heating oil, the dirtiest way to heat one's home. As a rural member of Parliament, a lot of my neighbours use home-heating oil and I want to help them get off that, and this plan does just that. There are more people who use home-heating oil in Ontario than there are in Nova Scotia. This is a pan-Canadian solution to getting off home-heating oil just like we are trying to get off coal.
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- Nov/3/23 11:32:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think it is important to point out, since the question came from a member from British Columbia, that British Columbia does not have a federal carbon tax, it uses its own, and it is actually a leading province on fighting climate change.
Conservatives keep claiming that pollution pricing is driving up inflation, and that is just false. This is about moving away from the dirtiest way to heat a home, the least healthy way to heat a home, and lowering emissions at the same time.
It would great that if in this place we discussed not whether we should fight climate change but how we fight climate change. It would be great to hear from the Conservatives if they have a plan.
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- Nov/3/23 11:33:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, all of the Conservatives, including that member, ran on a platform that included a plan to price carbon. They also ran on a plan with a clean fuel standard almost identical to what was proposed by our government.
Now, that member has many constituents who use home-heating oil, and that is bad for our air quality, it raises emissions, it is the dirtiest and it is the most expensive way to heat one's home. We are providing free heat pumps for any Canadian whose province wants to work with our government to get them off home-heating oil.
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- Nov/3/23 11:35:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my friend and colleague, the hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes knows that he ran on a platform to price carbon in the last election. He promised his constituents that he cared about climate change.
As I said before, it would be great if we could spend some time in this House debating how we fight climate change, not if we fight climate change. Not only is this hypocritical of the Conservatives, but it also shows that they cannot be trusted. Their plans are risky; no, if they had a plan, it would be risky. It is irresponsible and reckless.
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- Nov/3/23 11:43:11 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, there are Canadians in every province and territory who use home heating oil to heat their homes. It is the most expensive way to heat one's home, and it is the dirtiest way to heat one's home. It is the most emissions-intensive way to heat a home, and it is also the least healthy way to heat a home.
Our Canada-wide program will get Canadians off home heating oil and using a heat pump. This is a program that is for every province and territory in the country. It is all about lowering our emissions. Former Liberal governments phased out coal. We are going to continue to phase out coal, and we are going to continue to work toward an emissions-free Canada.
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- Nov/3/23 11:44:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will accept that the member for Calgary Centre probably has zero constituents who use home heating oil. That is not true across the whole province. There are Albertans who use home heating oil and are not on propane or natural gas. The difference between propane and natural gas and home heating oil is that home heating oil is way more expensive, way more emissions-intensive and less healthy. We need to get Canadians off that product and using a heat pump.
We already know that the Conservative Party of Canada is here for the oil and gas sector. Let us see if the Conservatives are here to fight climate change and help Canadians get to using a heat pump.
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- Nov/3/23 11:45:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, pricing carbon is a market-based solution. I know the member for Calgary Centre is an economist, and he is a smart guy. We have spent some time in the House debating such issues, but a market-based instrument is not a controversial one.
We are talking about the most expensive, the dirtiest and the most emissions-intensive way to heat a home. We need to get Canadians off that product and using an efficient heat pump to heat their homes, lower our emissions and make sure we are driving toward a net-zero future for Canada.
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- Nov/3/23 11:58:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, after a year in which Canadians have experienced record hurricanes and destruction from other natural disasters such as wild fires, the Conservatives still cannot say the words “climate change”. They cannot acknowledge that climate change is impacting our economy, our livelihoods and, in many cases, our very lives.
We need to step up and fight climate change. It is time we stopped debating whether we fight climate change and start debating how we fight climate change. I would urge the members opposite, particularly those from Atlantic Canada whose livelihoods are impacted by climate change every single season, to consider this.
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- Nov/3/23 12:00:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our vision is to move Canadians who currently use home heating oil, which is the most carbon-intensive, the least healthy and the most expensive way to heat a home, onto an efficient heat pump. I know for a fact that there are a lot of constituents in New Brunswick who still use home heating oil, but the premier of New Brunswick still has not signed on to our heat pump program.
I am going to spend the next couple of weeks talking to Conservative provincial members to try to convince the premier of Ontario to sign on, so that my neighbours in Milton who use home heating oil could have access to a high-efficiency heat pump and get off that expensive, dirty way to heat their home.
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- Nov/3/23 12:03:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to reinforce the fact that it is a Canada-wide program, and it is about getting Canadians off home heating oil, not in one region but in all regions, because heating a home with home heating oil is expensive, dirty, unhealthy and the most emissions-intensive way to heat a home. A home heat pump would provide relief economically and on the environmental side as we lower our emissions, phasing out coal and dirty fuels like home heating oil right across Canada.
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- Nov/3/23 12:06:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is important. Unfortunately, I have to repeat, myself yet again: There is no federal carbon tax in Quebec, but members from Quebec can contribute to the fight against climate change. Fighting climate change while helping families make ends meet is a winning solution for everyone.
A price on pollution is the most effective and affordable approach for Canadians.
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