44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2023 02:00PM
- Dec/13/23 2:36:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people in Halifax are having to live in fishing tents this winter because of the lack of affordable homes.
Just last week, the cut-and-gut Conservatives voted no to funding community housing, and the out-of-touch Liberals keep delaying critical funding to build affordable homes. The housing minister says he wants to draw inspiration from what Canada did in wartime to fix the housing crisis. A catalogue is not going to cut it.
Part of the effort involves a national rent control initiative. Will the Prime Minister bring forward rent control to curb sky-high rent?
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- Dec/13/23 2:37:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have shown a consistent willingness and desire to work with the provinces in areas of their jurisdiction, in co-operative ways, and we are going to continue to, including on the issue of rent control.
However, there is not just one way to approach the housing crisis; it is something we are doing on many fronts. It is not just the catalogue; indeed, we are building more apartments and co-ops by removing the GST on construction, and we are eliminating barriers to get more homes built faster by working directly with cities. We are helping Canadians save up for a home with the first home savings account.
I know there is more to do, and we are going to continue to work with all governments to take bold action to tackle housing affordability.
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- Dec/13/23 2:37:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did not answer my question about the Carleton Mushroom Farms, which faces a $400,000 carbon tax bill when the Prime Minister is done quadrupling the tax.
When we spoke about this on November 29, he said that he looked forward to hearing about the sustainable practices that the farm has put in place. I can tell him that I helped the farm actually get natural gas in order to power some of its operations, which is a lower-emitting form of energy. However, they are still going to face a massive tax increase.
How would the Prime Minister advise the farm to pay it: by raising prices on Canadians or by shutting down production and bringing in more foreign food?
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- Dec/13/23 2:38:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for farms across this country that are shifting towards natural gas and lower-emitting ways of heating and using their various machinery, we have put in place significant programs to help them with that.
That is something we are going to continue to do, because it is part of our plan to both fight climate change and build a net-zero economy of the future. We have a plan. The Conservative Party of Canada has no plan to fight climate change. Indeed, it thinks we should be backing off on all the things we are doing instead of continuing to fight climate change and grow a strong economy.
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- Dec/13/23 2:39:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is backing off the things he is doing. Ironically, he is the one who brought in a temporary pause because his caucus was revolting regarding home heating oil.
However, my question was about the Medeiros's Carleton Mushroom Farms. The Prime Minister claims he has government programs to help farmers use more natural gas, at the same time as he is quadrupling the tax on natural gas, which is perhaps the reason why Canada ranks 58th out of 64 when it comes to climate index performance. The Prime Minister does not have a climate plan; he has a tax plan.
How will the Prime Minister advise the Medeiros farm to pay the $400,000 bill he is sending it?
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- Dec/13/23 2:40:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that climate change is a reality. We recognize that we need to help families and businesses across this country reduce their emissions and continue to prosper and grow in a world where the cost of inaction on climate change is increasingly exponentially.
That is why we have put in place programs to support farms, programs to support Canadians and, indeed, to get off home heating oil, for example, and transition to heat pumps. These are things that we are doing as part of our plan. The Conservatives have no plan.
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- Dec/13/23 2:40:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our plan is to bring home production, back to Canadian farms.
The Prime Minister's plan raises the carbon tax on a greenhouse in my riding, which means that its produce is more expensive in the village of Manotick than a Mexican tomato is in the village of Manotick, sending a price signal for consumers to buy the tomato that had to be transported by truck and train, burning fossil fuels, right across the continent.
Why does the Prime Minister not axe the tax so we can bring down the cost of farm production and bring home more clean, green Canadian produce?
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- Dec/13/23 2:41:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price on pollution is simple: Activities that cause pollution cost a bit more. However, most Canadians get more money back than what they pay, with cheques being sent to Canadians every few months. Big industry pays more than the regular Canadian pays because industry pollutes more, and, as a result, industries have an incentive to reduce their pollution. The ideologically driven MAGA Conservatives are calling for pollution to be free again and for the government to take those regular cheques to Canadians away from them.
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- Dec/13/23 2:42:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everything the Prime Minister just said is factually wrong. First, industry does not pay the carbon tax; it has a carbon tax carve-out. As for his claim that people get more back in rebates, the Carleton Mushroom Farms owner will pay $100,000 this year, rising to $400,000 over the carbon tax increase the Prime Minister proposes, and he is sending them tiny rebate cheques to their household mailbox.
Is the Prime Minister committing today that he is going to send a $400,000 rebate to this family farm?
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- Dec/13/23 2:42:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are there to support families, but multi-million-dollar farms that are successful will continue to be encouraged to look for ways to use their machinery and to heat their produce in ways that are lower emitting. That is what fighting climate change is all about. It is encouraging successful farms, like the Medeiros family farm, to continue to be successful but to do so in ways that reduce their emissions. We know it cannot ever be free to pollute again, despite what the Conservative Party wants.
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- Dec/13/23 2:43:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, ironically, it is almost free for Mexican producers. They have a tiny little carbon tax that is not even comparable to the $400,000 tax bill that the Prime Minister is proposing.
What he is saying is that there should be a price signal for Canadians to buy more expensive, polluting foreign food while we, with the fifth-biggest supply of arable land on Planet Earth, shut our farmers down. How does that make any sense?
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- Dec/13/23 2:44:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more than just about anyone else in this country, farmers understand how important it is to protect the land for future generations and to pass on the bounty to their children and grandchildren of a great, important job that feeds the rest of us. That is why farmers are so focused on the future, and that is why we are there to support them with a plan and investments that help them reduce their emissions while they continue to put food on all our tables. We have a plan for that. The Conservatives refuse to even admit that there needs to be work done to reduce emissions. That is not the way to build a future, not in Carleton and not anywhere—
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- Dec/13/23 2:44:51 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- Dec/13/23 2:44:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister stated correctly that farmers are working hard to protect the environment, which is why it is so strange that he wants to punish them with a tax that, on one farm alone, costs $100,000 and will rise to $400,000 for the crime of using the only sources of energy that are available to that farm.
I will ask the same question I have asked the Prime Minister now about a half a dozen times: When he finally gets around to talking to Carleton Mushroom Farms' owner, how will he advise them to pay their forthcoming $400,000 carbon tax bill? Will it be by raising prices on Canadians or by cutting back and bringing in more dirty foreign food?
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- Dec/13/23 2:45:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 97% of farm fuel emissions are exempt from the price on pollution. The average farm across this country pays a little less than $1,000 on natural gas emissions through the price on pollution. Therefore, one can only imagine how much natural gas this successful mushroom farm must be using for their cost of the price on pollution to be that large. We will happily work with the farmer to switch toward a lower-emitting approach to doing their business well and protecting future generations.
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- Dec/13/23 2:46:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government needed a feel-good announcement after its disastrous performance in the fall. Wanting to please its centralizing NDP allies, it chose dental care, a health care service that already exists in Quebec. It chose an area of jurisdiction that falls to Quebec and the provinces. It chose to interfere instead of support. It chose encroachment instead of collaboration.
How does the Prime Minister justify making a half-baked announcement on dental care before reaching an agreement with Quebec?
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- Dec/13/23 2:47:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we recently launched an historic program that will provide dental care to children under 12 across the country. We have now extended the program to seniors across the country. We are ensuring that seniors do not have to choose between taking care of their teeth and paying their bills.
We will continue to work with the provinces and territories, including Quebec, to ensure that Canadians who need it can have access to proper dental care without having to worry about the bill and to improve the oral health of all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
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- Dec/13/23 2:47:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since the 1970s, dental care for young people has been covered by Quebec's health insurance plan, or RAMQ. The Quebec government was open to an agreement to improve the plan. All of the transferred funds would have been used for dental care. The Liberals knew that, but they win more votes by diving head first into Quebec's areas of jurisdiction than by transferring money.
Quebec has the expertise, but the Liberals and the NDP chose Sun Life Canada. Why choose a private company over the RAMQ?
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- Dec/13/23 2:48:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are having very good conversations with our counterparts in Quebec, as we always do, about how we are going to help Quebeckers and provide them with the care and services they need. We are here to work with them, and we are going to continue those discussions with the Quebec government, not with the second opposition party in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
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- Dec/13/23 2:48:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last night at committee, the hand-picked Liberal chair of the Prime Minister's billion-dollar green slush fund was exposed as having new staff at the fund to round up $10 million for her project, which had been deemed ineligible. Then she literally ran out of the committee, shutting off the cameras, because she did not want to answer any more questions.
The NDP-Liberal government failed to protect taxpayers from embezzlers and swindlers to the tune of $150 million. After eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. When will Canadians get back their missing millions?
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