44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2023 02:00PM
- 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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- Dec/13/23 2:49:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Innovation has already accepted the resignation of the CEO and chair. When allegations are made and issues arise, it is both appropriate and necessary for there to be a review of the matter. Those investigations and reviews are currently under way. We look forward to the results of those investigations.
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- Dec/13/23 2:49:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, well, it is going to be more in depth than the whitewashed investigation that the Prime Minister and his minister put forward.
They are under investigation by the Auditor General, there are two Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner investigations and their board chair, his hand-picked chair, resigned in disgrace along with the CEO. The Prime Minister was handing out millions after his minister knew that his insiders had their hand in the cookie jar, taking 150 million taxpayer dollars.
The Prime Minister is not worth the cost after eight years and his NDP-Liberal government could not be more out of touch. Who got rich and where did the missing millions go?
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- Dec/13/23 2:50:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are making cheap political points. The Conservative Party of Canada cannot take yes for an answer.
The independent officers of Parliament are investigating. A third party review of the allegations is under way. We are committed to ensuring organizations that receive federal funding adhere to the highest standards of governance.
When it comes to fighting climate change and drawing in investments from around the world, we have a plan and we have a focus on doing it in the right ways to grow the economy and support Canadians. The Conservatives have no plan whatsoever. All they can do is try to play partisan political games.
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- Dec/13/23 2:51:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry has been for 35 months the minister on this file, and the Prime Minister's hand-picked chair of the green slush fund admitted last night that she tried to get $2.2 million in taxpayer money funnelled to the Verschuren Centre vanity project from the fund she chairs. Then she got the employees of the slush fund to get another $10 million for the Verschuren Centre vanity project from Liberal ministers. She took the money and ran. Verschuren claimed this was being an entrepreneur; we are calling it grifting.
Why did the Prime Minister let his green slush fund chair abuse the taxpayer for personal gain?
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- Dec/13/23 2:51:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has already addressed this question and investigations are under way.
The work we are doing on fighting climate change is already cutting pollution while building a strong and competitive economy. While we work to advance our ambitious climate action, the Conservative Party has no plan because fighting climate change simply does not matter to it. The Conservative leader is turning his back on future generations on both the environment and the economy by refusing to commit to Canada's targets, like his mentor Stephen Harper did when he withdrew from the Kyoto accord.
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- Dec/13/23 2:52:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Prime Minister, his Liberal cronies keep lining their pockets. The $1-billion Liberal green fund scandal has been confirmed in scathing testimony by a brave whistle-blower.
Do members recall the Loto-Québec ad “Bye bye boss”, where a lottery winner quits his job with pockets full of cash? The former president of the board of the Liberal green fund, appointed by this Prime Minister, did just that when she literally ran away in the middle of her testimony, her pockets full of $10 million in subsidies that she paid to herself.
When will the Prime Minister demand a refund of Canadians' money?
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- Dec/13/23 2:53:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has already addressed this issue and an investigation is under way.
When it comes to the environment, we are about to surpass the Harper government's 2030 target. The most recent greenhouse gas emissions forecasts show that Canada is on track to meet our government's 2030 climate target, a new, ambitious and achievable target. Our plan is working.
The Conservative Party leader's platform encourages emissions and benefits no one but large corporations that keep parroting the same slogans as him and that have been hurting us for decades.
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- Dec/13/23 2:53:56 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, adequate housing for indigenous peoples has been neglected by Conservatives and Liberals. Thanks to the NDP, a for indigenous, by indigenous housing strategy will now help first nations, Métis and Inuit find adequate homes away from their home communities. However, there is still work do. Territorial governments like Nunavut are still waiting on the government to deliver funding for homes for their residents.
Why are the Liberals always delaying critical funding for housing in the territories?
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- Dec/13/23 2:54:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have demonstrated time and time again how committed we are to addressing housing gaps in indigenous communities swiftly, effectively and in equal partnership. Since 2016, we have supported the construction and renovation of over 30,000 homes in first nations communities. We launched the $4-billion urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy despite the Conservative Party voting to cut this essential funding.
We will continue working with partners to codevelop and implement community-based housing solutions.
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