SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 257

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 28, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 257 - Nov/28/23
Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)
  • Nov/28/23 6:39:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, three weeks ago, I asked the government if there would be a free vote for its backbench for the upcoming Conservative motion on removing the carbon tax from all forms of home heating for all Canadians. I had singled out the member for Calgary Skyview. The response I got from the parliamentary secretary was a justification rooted in concern about the cost and efficiency of oil furnaces and the tired pretense that the carbon tax carve-out was somehow not only for Atlantic Canadians. The parliamentary secretary apparently thought that Canadians would somehow believe that, since there are a few Canadians in remote areas of northern Ontario, and a few other places here and there that have oil furnaces, somehow Canadians would think that the carbon tax carve-out was not just for Atlantic Canadians, which is the only part of Canada where oil furnaces are commonly used. There are two problems with the parliamentary secretary's spin. The first is that the Minister of Rural Economic Development confirmed on national television that it was, in fact, a political position aimed at Atlantic Canadian voters in response to an Atlantic Canadian backbench revolt. She told Canadians that, if people in the Prairies wanted a carbon tax carve-out for their heating bills, their solution would be to vote for more Liberals. There it is. The policy is a regional exception, rooted in political desperation, and has nothing to do with the relative efficiency of various heating sources. How could it? The rest of their standard answer has always been that the carbon tax does not make life unaffordable. In one fell swoop, the government admitted that the carbon tax is crushing Canadians by inflating their heating bills and that the solution to fixing this is to remove the tax from home heating, but it is only willing to do it in one region of the country. The second problem with the response is what I want the government to address tonight. I asked whether the member for Calgary Skyview would be allowed to vote freely on the Conservative motion to remove the tax for all Canadians. I know the riding of Calgary Skyview pretty well. It is in my city, and I know that virtually everyone of his constituents has either a natural gas forced air furnace or a gas-fuelled central boiler. We know for a fact that Calgary is cold enough that everybody in the city needs a reliable source of heat to keep their homes at a safe temperature in the winter, so we are left to wonder. Atlantic MPs obviously fought for their constituents to get a break on the carbon tax, but what about the member for Calgary Skyview? Is he totally indifferent to the people in Calgary? Does he care if they cannot afford to heat their homes? Does he think that, since they have a natural gas furnace, they should have to pay the carbon tax? Does he think that all the people in his riding should be glad that the carbon tax is there and that the government's other anti-Alberta policies, which have killed investments and jobs, are a good thing? Does he think that they sent him to Ottawa to impose the carbon tax on them and to run interference for the government at the natural resources committee? If the member for Calgary Skyview had a free vote to keep the tax, then shame on him. If the member for Calgary Skyview said nothing, but was whipped into line, then shame on him and on the Liberal government. If the member for Calgary Skyview actually did demand the carbon tax carve-out for people in Calgary and he was ignored, then shame on the Prime Minister and the government for cynically playing region against region and forcing Canadians, who cannot afford rent, food and fuel, into paying a carbon tax when all they want is to not freeze during a cold Canadian winter. I will ask this again: Did the government allow the member for Calgary Skyview a free vote when he voted to punish his own community by voting against the Conservative motion for a carbon tax carve-out?
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Context: House Hansard - 257 - Nov/28/23
Mr. Pat Kelly
  • Nov/28/23 6:47:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, talk about who is out of touch here. Are people who cannot afford food and rent so angry that they put bumper stickers on their trucks? He is going to dismiss that as not being a reflection of deep problems that exist in Canada. On the point about the regional carve-out of this, a member of his government admitted that this was a regional carve-out. She told a national television audience that the reason for the carve-out was because Atlantic Liberal MPs asked for it, and that if Prairie Liberal MPs asked for it, maybe they would get a carve-out for their constituents who do not use oil furnaces. The Liberals admitted that it is a regional carve-out.
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