44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 14, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, farmers work tirelessly to feed Canada and the world with some of the highest quality produce available, yet the NDP-Liberal government continues to punish them at every turn.
Instead of giving them a much-needed break on the carbon tax through common-sense measures like Bill C-234, the Prime Minister is quadrupling the carbon tax, hurting the livelihoods of the very farmers who are putting food on the tables of Canadians. One farmer in the regional municipality of Estevan is paying over $150,000 in carbon taxes a year. Once quadrupled, this will go up to over $600,000 annually for his 15,000-acre farm. How does the Prime Minister expect him to cover this cost: by raising prices on Canadians, cutting back his acreage or bringing in more costly food from polluting foreign farms?
Conservatives know that if we tax the farmer who grows the food and tax the trucker who ships the food, Canadians have to pay more to buy the food. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians know that the Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost.
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- Dec/14/23 2:15:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the Conservatives showed that they oppose funding the Economic Development Agency for the Regions of Quebec. They oppose the aerospace regional recovery initiative. They oppose providing assistance to help communities rebuild after hurricane Fiona. They oppose support for festivals and for tourism businesses.
The Conservatives will always put big polluters ahead of Quebec's economic well-being. Our government knows that, to support job creation in Quebec, we have to invest in Quebec businesses.
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- Dec/14/23 2:15:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, national dental care is finally becoming a reality. This is the biggest investment in public health care in 60 years, and New Democrats made it happen.
In 2019 and 2021, we went door to door to ask people what they wanted from their politicians. Again and again, I heard from young mothers who could not pay to get their kids' teeth fixed. I talked to senior citizens who could not pay their dental bills. They gave us this mandate in Parliament, and we delivered. This year, children and senior citizens will be able to apply; by the end of next year, over nine million people will be eligible.
Let us compare this record of success with the Conservatives' record. This past week, the Conservatives tried to block a national suicide hotline and funding for clean water on reserves. They did their best to block badly needed support for the people of Ukraine. They would cut dental care in a second if they could, but that is not going to happen on our watch. New Democrats are in Parliament to fight for the people of Canada.
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- Dec/14/23 2:16:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, members of Parliament and all of the staff of the House are preparing to finally leave Parliament Hill for the holidays. However, for many Quebeckers, this will not be a time to rest and celebrate. Instead, they will be working hard, far from their families, just because their employer cannot do without them.
In addition to these nurses, truckers and service workers, there are also essential volunteers. I am talking about hundreds of designated drivers for Operation Red Nose, people who volunteer at our food banks and soup kitchens, and all those who give of their time so that seniors will have a nice Christmas or so that the most disadvantaged members of our society can at least have a Christmas. It is the dedication of all of these Christmas angels that enables all of us to have a happy holiday season.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to sincerely thank them. I hope that they all have the merriest Christmas possible under the circumstances and a very happy new year filled with good health and prosperity.
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Mr. Speaker, sadly, the Prime Minister wants to punish farmers for being incredible optimists and doing the fantastic work they do every day on our behalf. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, farm input costs are ballooning out of control. Bill C-234, a common-sense Conservative bill, would reduce the cost of food for Canadians by removing the carbon tax on farmers. I spoke to farmers in my backyard, who said that any of those major inputs have just been skyrocketing in price, with almost double the fuel bills, as well as fertilizer that has doubled, if not tripled, in price.
On annual expenses of $2 million, almost 20% or $400,000 is due to the punishing carbon tax. That will mean $1.6 million when the Prime Minister quadruples the tax. The other concern is that the tax is so hidden that this estimate is probably low.
Does the Prime Minister think that farmers need to raise prices on Canadians, or should Alex cut back production so that Canadians are forced to import food from polluting foreign farms?
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- Dec/14/23 2:19:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ukraine is running out of ammunition. President Zelenskyy was in the United States this past week, pleading for more military assistance. However, he was blocked by politicians on the American far right. It is important to realize that Russia did not just attack another country; it launched a full-scale assault on the international legal order. That is because the heart of that order and the UN Charter is the principle of non-intervention. One country cannot just attack another country.
Russia must not and will not win anything, as any such victory moves us dangerously closer to the world as it was prior to World War II: a world where, basically, “might is right”. Voting against assistance for Ukraine, as a certain party in the House has done repeatedly over the last week, shows not only a lack of empathy for the suffering of the Ukrainian people but also a disregard for the principles that have basically kept our world safe since 1945.
This Christmas, let us unite in support of Ukraine. Merry Christmas.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Dec/14/23 2:20:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told us he doubled the national debt so that Canadians would not need to increase their debt. Now we find out that after eight years of this Prime Minister, Canadian families are spending a bigger portion of their budget on servicing their personal debt. It is at a record high in Canada. In fact, Canadians are spending more on their household debt than Americans did before the 2008 financial crisis.
Will the Prime Minister finally put a stop to his inflationary taxes and spending so that Canadians can buy food and housing instead of paying for their debt?
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- Dec/14/23 2:21:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives continue to denigrate the Canadian economy, I would like to take this opportunity to remind them of some of the results of our economic plan. For example, our GDP is currently at 4.1%, exceeding prepandemic levels. More than 1.1 million jobs have been created since the beginning of the pandemic.
These results cannot be achieved with slogans, not at all. Our economic plan is working and the results prove it.
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- Dec/14/23 2:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the economy has been shrinking per capita for five quarters now. Our economy is smaller per capita than it was five years ago. What is more, after eight years, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing. According to the Bank of Canada, housing costs are now the highest they have been in 41 years, and rents are rising faster than ever. It is an all-time record.
When will the Prime Minister stop driving up inflation and creating bloated bureaucracy to allow affordable housing to be built?
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- Dec/14/23 2:22:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition. However, for Canadians watching at home, one number the Leader of the Opposition forgot to mention is that, in 2023, Canada ranked third in the world for attracting foreign investment, behind the U.S. and Brazil. We are talking about record investments such as Northvolt in Quebec, Volkswagen in St. Thomas, Stellantis in Windsor, BHP in Saskatchewan and Dow in Fort Saskatchewan.
We have a plan for the green economy of the 21st century, and that is how we are going to create jobs for generations to come in this country.
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- Dec/14/23 2:23:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we already knew that the Prime Minister is not worth the price of food after eight years of inflation, but yesterday he could not answer how a mushroom farm in my riding is supposed to pay its $100,000 carbon tax bill.
He did send the farm a Christmas present: a new bill. This is the November 9 to December 6 bill: federal carbon tax, $16,050. That is for one month, and it is not even winter yet.
How would the Prime Minister like this farm to pay this $16,000 monthly bill? Should it raise food prices?
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- Dec/14/23 2:23:50 p.m.
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I have to warn people about using props in the House.
The hon. Minister of Environment.
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- Dec/14/23 2:23:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to be—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Dec/14/23 2:24:14 p.m.
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I am going to allow the hon. minister to start from scratch.
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- Dec/14/23 2:24:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was in Dubai at COP28, in good company with the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith; with the Premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe; with representatives from almost all the Canadian provinces; and with business leaders from all across the country, working to ensure that our kids and grandkids have a future, which is something that, unfortunately, the Conservatives fail to understand.
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- Dec/14/23 2:24:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is more high-flying, high-cost, high-tax hypocrisy from the minister of carbon taxes.
We learned that he spent $150,000 on one weekend of travel and charged it to taxpayers. Is it not interesting that it is exactly how much the government is charging the Carleton Mushroom Farms in carbon taxes for a year?
Can the minister please tell us this: The Carleton Mushroom Farms is going to spend this year, now, about $150,000 on carbon taxes; will that just pay for one of his junkets?
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- Dec/14/23 2:25:27 p.m.
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I remind members to use the proper names of ministers.
The hon. minister has the floor.
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- Dec/14/23 2:25:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to hypocrisy, I refer back to Neville Chamberlain when he referred to Czechoslovakia's invasion by Nazi Germany. He referred to Czechoslovakia as a “faraway” land. In reply to that, Sir Winston Churchill gave one of his greatest speeches, a speech of impunity that Roy Jenkins said was one of his greatest, in which he called Chamberlain an absolute coward, a capitulator. We should learn from such great men, not just about hypocrisy but also about keeping our solemn oaths to freedom and democracy in this world.
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- Dec/14/23 2:26:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the Prime Minister to pass himself off as Winston Churchill after he gave detonators for mines to the Russian military so it could use them against Ukrainians, and after he allowed the Iranian-linked IRGC to operate legally in Canada, 700 of its agents, by the way, who are also linked to Russia, operating in our country and terrorizing our people, is not Churchillian.
This is hypocritical, political grandstanding by a Prime Minister trying to distract from his failed carbon tax.
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- Dec/14/23 2:27:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is another great Englishman who would say to the Leader of the Opposition, “Thou dost protest too much, I believe.” I would ask whether any of the Conservative members have the courage of their conviction to stand up to the bullying the Leader of the Opposition is imposing on them.
In fact, there is one. The member for Lethbridge is the only Conservative MP who voted in favour of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement on Tuesday. I would ask whether there any other Conservative members who have the courage of their conviction to stand up for freedom and democracy, and against the bullying of the Conservative—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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