44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/1/24 11:07:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wish we had started the year the same way you did, with a new look and new priorities. I wish the Conservatives would do the same and let us move on to something other than the carbon tax. That said, it is the topic of the day, and we will respect that.
In his speech, my colleague said something about the energy transition that I find very interesting. He talked about the Stellantis investments and the spin-offs for Ontario.
Not only is the government spending billions of dollars to shift one of Quebec's flagship economic sectors, transport electrification, to Ontario, but it is doing so by trying to one-up the U.S. with investments and subsidies. That is what it is doing instead of developing the industry from the mine up and building up the entire supply chain for our mines, our regions. The government should be thinking about how it can ensure that economic development and a green economy are created at each stage. If it had done that, it could have saved money and jump-started a sustainable energy transition.
Right now, the government is subsidizing the top without building the base, and it is buying Chinese lithium. This is the result. What are this government's priorities when it comes to transport electrification? Electrification is the way to avoid the carbon tax.
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- Feb/1/24 11:24:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the incomparable member for Mirabel.
Today I would like to address a serious problem. Canadians are being legally robbed of their savings as they struggle to make ends meet, pay all their bills and find housing. This legalized robbery in the context of the soaring cost of living and the affordability crisis involves the price of energy, the main cause of inflation.
We have to face the fact that carbon use is expensive. While exhausted and financially strapped Canadians are paying high prices, an elite group out of touch with the people is reaping the benefits and enjoying a privileged life. As citizens struggle to make ends meet, the oil and gas sector is making record profits. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, they raked in several billion dollars in profits, half of it in 2022 alone. Profits for 2022 are estimated at $270 billion. We should think about what this figure means.
These $270 billion went into the pockets of major companies, 70% of whose shareholders are foreign. Of course, these companies need the oil monarchy in Ottawa to provide them with lavish guarantees and hefty direct and indirect subsidies, which they could easily do without.
Of course, the Conservatives do not talk about this, since they have an incestuous relationship with the oil companies, which are awash in profits. Despite their rhetoric of common sense, the Conservatives, who have no plan to end our dependence on fossil fuels, prefer to blather on for the umpteenth time about the carbon tax, which does not apply in Quebec.
Let us be serious for a moment. If we want to talk about the real problem, we can talk about the six tax credits, worth a total of $83 billion by 2025, granted in the last two Liberal-NDP government budgets. In particular, two of these tax credits stand out. First, there is the clean technology investment tax credit, which, despite its name, will encourage increased bitumen extraction and gas exports. Then there is the carbon capture, utilization and storage investment tax credit, which helps oil companies pump out every last drop of oil by supporting an experimental technique that shows all the signs of being a greenwashing scheme.
This is not to mention the fact that the federal government nationalized the Trans Mountain pipeline, whose expansion will cost $30.9 billion, most of which will be paid for by taxpayers. This is nothing new. According to a report by Equiterre, in April 2019, Finance Canada and Environment Canada failed to keep their promise to cancel subsidies for fossil energies. According to Equiterre, they gave the oil companies $1.6 billion. In November 2018, the same group estimated that, between 2012 and 2017, Export Development Canada gave 12 times more money to fossil fuels than to clean energies.
Some people believe that Equiterre is an environmental group. Let us see what the International Monetary Fund has to say. In 2019, the IMF estimated that direct subsidies and indirect support to fossil fuels in Canada amounted to $54 billion in 2017. The problem is clear. It should jump out at anyone who has eyes to see.
While our fellow citizens are suffering from rampant inflation, wealthy oil and gas companies are benefiting, with the aid of the Liberals and Conservatives. All this is happening while scientists are saying that, if we want to be serious about it, if we want to be responsible, we should be leaving 80% of our oil underground. Moreover, more than 95% of Canadian oil comes from the tar sands, one of the most polluting oils on earth.
Climate change, which the Conservatives never speak of, is costing everyone. In 2025, it could cost Canada's and Quebec's economies $25 billion. In addition to being unfair and ecocidal, Canada's “everything for oil” religion is not even a good economic choice. It hampers the diversification of the Canadian economy. The exploitation of natural resources is closely linked to the decline in the manufacturing sector. Members might remember that there were hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in Quebec, jobs related to the increase in the value of the Canadian dollar, which was itself linked to the increase in bitumen exports.
The question that arises is, how can we ease the financial burden on our fellow citizens?
Of course, we can listen to the Conservatives propose eliminating the so-called carbon tax in a motion that does not even define what that means. Let us not forget that the carbon tax does not apply to Quebec, which has its own carbon exchange system. In 2013, Quebec partnered with California, with which it shares a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system, and there has been no negative impact so far. The measure was adopted under Jean Charest, aspiring leader of the Conservative Party. Because of this system, Quebec is not affected by the tax.
The other carbon policy, which some on that side of the House call a second tax on carbon, is not a tax at all because none of it goes to the government. Not a penny from the clean fuel regulations finds its way into government coffers. These regulations are nothing more than an update of the regulations adopted in 2010 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, under whom the current Conservative leader served as a parliamentary secretary.
There is only one difference between the two versions of the regulations. Instead of imposing an average, namely, the 5% ethanol content of the gasoline prescribed in the former Conservative version, the government is imposing an outcome. In practical terms, the new regulations require that each litre of gasoline produced in 2030 must generate 15% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than in 2019. That is all.
Unlike the previous version adopted under the Conservatives, the government is not telling the oil companies how to reduce their emissions. They can reduce the emissions they generate during their crude oil extraction or refining activities, use a cleaner type of oil that generates less pollution than oil sands during the refinery process, or mix more biofuels, like ethanol, in with the gasoline to reduce its oil content. All options are on the table. The choice is up to them.
The regulations have minimal, if any effect in Quebec. The Quebec government has already passed its Regulation respecting the integration of low-carbon-intensity fuel content into gasoline and diesel fuel, which already stipulates that fuel sold in Quebec must contain 15% biofuels. Just as they seem to do every single day, the Conservatives are once again proposing a measure that will increase pollution. This measure offers a bonus to those who heat with dirty fuels and offers nothing to those who do not pollute, such as people who heat with electricity or renewable sources.
That is unfair, because, on some level, it is primarily lower-income households that benefit from the carbon tax. The government has committed to returning fuel charge proceeds directly to individuals and families through climate action incentive payments. This fuel charge therefore benefits low-income households, since they get back more than they pay. In other words, suspending the carbon tax does not serve the most vulnerable.
Making up problems is not going to solve anything. Quebeckers have been relatively spared from the high cost of heating not because the federal carbon tax does not apply in Quebec, but because they chose renewable energy, including for heating, a long time ago.
Canadian taxes are not the problem. It is the billions of dollars of taxpayer money that Ottawa is giving in direct or indirect subsidies to the oil and gas companies in western Canada that is the problem. Let us put an end to that. Let us come up with a serious energy transition plan. The economy and our planet will benefit from that. We will all come out ahead. That is what real common sense looks like.
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- Feb/1/24 11:36:44 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to be careful. I have repeatedly talked about the impact on the Canadian economy. It goes without saying that climate change is a global and therefore international issue, and that can pose a problem when one country's decisions impact all the others. That goes without saying.
I spent a lot of my speech explaining that the system does not work. The problem I have with this carbon tax is that it is a small measure with little or no impact. If there is an impact, it is not particularly negative. There is not much to it. In fact, the crux of the problem is the billions of dollars in funding that go to the oil and gas companies, which are raking in the profits. That is the problem. There are no real programs or real plans for energy transition. That is the crux of the problem.
The system does not work. Of course, for some it works very well. It is a system that favours only the wealthiest, an elite group. Unfortunately, the Conservatives do not challenge that.
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, we are in a cost of living crisis. Inflation, tax hikes and rising prices are emptying people's pockets. Seniors' pensions are quickly losing their purchasing power. People are drowning in debt and barely staying afloat. What has the Prime Minister done? He has thrown them an anvil with this heartless plan to hike the carbon tax once again on April 1.
I should mention that I will be sharing my time with the great member for Peterborough—Kawartha.
Families and seniors are struggling to put food on the table. Everybody who goes to a grocery store knows exactly what I am talking about, and there is simply no end in sight. The latest food price report is deeply troubling. It shows that food costs will continue to climb, with the prices of meat and vegetables being the highest.
We only have to look at the skyrocketing numbers of people visiting food banks to get a clear picture of what is happening in our great country. Almost two million people are now using a food bank at least once a month. This is not just a statistic. We are talking about our fellow Canadians, many of whom have full-time jobs, who still cannot afford groceries. The problem is that their paycheques can no longer pay the bills and feed their families. It pains me to know that parents are cutting back on healthy foods for their kids because they simply cannot afford it.
My amazing wife Cailey and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl just a few weeks ago, and it has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to be responsible for and to care for others. My heart goes out to the families who are feeling the weight of the unpaid bills and their maxed-out credit cards. I know that moms and dads are having to make incredibly difficult decisions about how to feed their kids and how to give them the best lives possible. That should not include watering down baby formula just to be able to afford it. Even if they do that, many can still barely pay to heat their home or keep a roof over their head.
The cost to rent a place in Canada has hit another record high, going up another 8.6% in the last 12 months alone. For those looking to purchase a home, under the Prime Minister, we have now become a country where millions, particularly young people, will forever be shut out of the housing market. This is so disappointing to millions of Canadians. In the province of Manitoba, the average price of a home shot up 6.7% in the last three months alone. To make matters worse, the number of homes on the market plummeted 71% in the last couple of months, and the total properties sold is down 35%.
The one thing about the Liberal government that boggles my mind is that it always blames its communications for why people do not like its policies. In interview after interview, Liberal MPs say that, if they just found better words to explain their carbon tax, they could convince families living off their lines of credit that they are actually better off. If they could just hire a new wordsmith in the Prime Minister's Office, preferably one who does not use incredibly crude language on Twitter, they would figure out a better way to gaslight Canadians. At this rate, it will not be too long until there is a ministry of truth, where war is peace, ignorance is strength and the carbon tax is good for people's wallets.
When the carbon tax is applied to almost every aspect of our economy, it does not matter how many millions of tax dollars are spent on fancy commercials promoting it, people will still not buy it. Of course, the latest plan is to rebrand the Liberals' climate change incentive payments. This rebranding exercise explains a lot about how the government thinks and responds to issues. It is not about getting results or solving problems. Liberals think their words and wonderful symbolism will somehow fix people's problems.
The Liberal insiders and their consultant buddies are not going to like this, but I can save the government some time, effort and money that will be spent on rebranding the carbon tax. It will not work, so do not do it. Stop it. It is time to axe the tax.
It is a tax plan. It drives up the price of everything. It contributes to inflation, and it is making life harder for families to make ends meet. It does not matter what we call it. People cannot afford it. Families cannot pay their rent or mortgages using Liberal talking points. Houses do not get built at the photo ops of announcements, and press conferences threatening tax hikes on our grocery stores has not reduced food prices one bit.
I get that governing is difficult, and when one is out of ideas and out of touch, it gets a lot harder, so maybe it is time for that carbon tax election the Prime Minister clearly wants so badly. Everyone knows the hardships being caused by the ever-increasing carbon tax. Even the Prime Minister acknowledged that fact when, under heavy political pressure from his Atlantic Canadian members of Parliament, he gave one group of Canadians a carbon tax exemption. To quell his internal caucus revolt, he gave 3% of Canadians a temporary carbon tax exemption on their heating bills, lasting just past the next election to hopefully get their votes, but he left 97% of Canadians out in the cold.
The one lesson we did learn from the Prime Minister is that he has no shame in giving special treatment to one group of Canadians he thinks might vote for him. Here is my advice to the Prime Minister: Give all Canadians the same deal. Stop dividing Canadians. Stop pitting one region against one another and stop picking winners and losers. Heating one's home in this country is not a luxury. It is a necessity.
Not only should the Prime Minister exempt all home heating for all Canadians, but he should immediately cancel the upcoming tax hike on April 1.
I represent a rural riding made up of small towns and small cities, and the reality is that people must drive long distances to get where they are going. It seems like every hockey game or baseball game we play is about an hour away, each way. This is part of our way of life and our quality of life, and it is how we live our lives.
Some folks commute to the next town over for work. They could be commuting 50, 60, 80 or 100 kilometres each way to work to pay to put food on the table and a roof over the head for their families.
Portage—Lisgar is not unique in this sense, and many of my colleagues on this side of the House represent rural constituencies. What we all have in common is that there are no LRTs. There are no subways and no busses to take us from one town to the next. There are no bike lanes on our highways, and even if there were, it would not be very pleasant riding for six months on snow-packed roads with cold, wintery weather.
While the Minister of Finance can proudly claim she does need to own a car in her constituency, in my riding, we do not have a limo service that can shuttle us around from town to town.
A good example of how widely out of touch the Liberal government has become is how it has mishandled Bill C-234. Almost every single Liberal MP, including the Minister of Agriculture, voted against this common-sense legislation. The bill would have finally exempted farmers from the carbon tax on drying their grain or heating and cooling their livestock barns.
As someone who grew up on a farm, has worked for farmers and now represents the voices of farmers, I find it a bit rich when I hear Liberal and NDP MPs who have never stepped onto farm have the audacity to tell farmers they should just be quiet, shut up and take the carbon tax. It is offensive to farmers, and I am not surprised at how angry they are with this tax, but now they are going to have to brace for the upcoming increase on April 1, too.
Where does that leave the rest of my constituents, who live and work and play on the land? As it stands, the carbon tax is about $65 a tonne, and for every litre of gas they put in their car or truck, they are paying 14¢ a litre more. If someone is one of the countless people who drives a pickup truck and has a 90-litre gas tank, that is close to $12.60 every time one fills it up. The average rural person who is driving a pickup truck is paying at least $360 a year more in carbon taxes. That does not include the carbon tax on their home heating or that is baked into the cost of everything they buy in their day-to-day lives. Imagine when that $65 a tonne will go up to $170 a tonne in just six years.
In closing, I would urge Liberal MPs across the way to stand up for their constituents who cannot afford to pay their bills and put food on their tables. I urge them to vote in favour of the Conservative motion to scrap the carbon tax by April 1 to stop the unnecessary suffering people in this country are facing right now. I urge them to be honest with themselves and acknowledge the last thing people can afford right now is another tax.
It is time to axe the tax. It is time to build the homes. It is time to fix the budget, and it is time to stop the crime. To my colleagues across the way, they should give their constituents hope that their MP will stop making their lives more unaffordable because it is never too late to do the right thing.
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- Feb/1/24 1:02:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will bring facts to the table. BCBC is a very reputable industry representative and it has been very concerned about where CleanBC is going. I will get to my question, but this is from BCBC's article, entitled “BCBC warns CleanBC will lead to ‘serious job losses’ on path to 2030”. The article states, “That data suggested that B.C.’s economy would be $28.1 billion smaller in 2030 due to the impact of CleanBC policies.”
The member across the way swears that everything is going to be grand in B.C. Our economy is going to contract by almost $30 billion because of policies like this. Could the member please explain that?
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- Feb/1/24 1:03:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think I said it all in my speech, but I will reiterate it. BC Stats and Statistics Canada say that the B.C. economy rose by 12.4% when other economies in Canada were going down. They said that 300 new companies, since the tax took effect, are now moving into B.C. to work in green technology. We are looking at about 130,000 new jobs in B.C. and about $90,000 per capita.
I have no idea what the member is talking about. The statistics prove it.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this most esteemed House and to see many of my colleagues here this afternoon.
On this opposition day, and in reference to the opposition motion, I have much to say. First off, as I stated yesterday in the House, the IMF has put out its economic forecasts for the year, for 2024-25. With our economic policies in 2024, we will be the top quartile for economic growth in the G7 and, for 2025, we will actually lead the G7 in the economic growth rate, in real GDP.
As a very competitive person, whether it is through sports, working on Bay Street or Wall Street, or in all my experiences, I like to win. When we compete globally, with our economy, we need to win. Canada is winning.
Through the many economic policies and pillars that we have put forward, we will continue to win. We will continue to grow a strong economy from the middle out and from the bottom up, not from the top down. We will grow an economy that works for all Canadians, with inclusive economic growth.
It is February 1. February is my favourite month in many ways, although I prefer summer over winter. We know that, as of today, the Canadian dental program is going to be hitting another milestone. Seniors aged 72 to 76 in this country will be able to enrol in the Canadian dental program. Amazingly, 400,000 seniors had already signed up. Now we will get several hundred thousand more signing up.
This will deliver real savings to seniors, both in the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and across this country. It is a very exciting thing that we are implementing, the way that it is being implemented, with the provider, Sun Life, working with the Canadian Dental Association. Day in and day out, Canadians expect us to do this: to work for them, strengthen our economy, make sure life is affordable and deal with the issues at hand.
Another issue I would like to raise is that I was really happy to see that the European Union has reached a unanimous agreement to provide Ukraine, the brave Ukrainian people fighting for freedom and democracy, with a €50-billion package as they fight against the tyranny of Russia, the unjustified invasion by Russia into Ukraine's sovereignty.
I would hope that, when this House again addresses the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, the opposition party stands with the brave Ukrainian soldiers and the brave Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom and democracy. This would be much like what our allies, our friends and our NATO partners in the European Union are doing. It would be a real shame if the Conservative Party of Canada voted against the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement.
Another measure that we have introduced is the first home savings account. Over 500,000 Canadians have opened an account. This combines the great features of a TFSA and an RRSP. Making a contribution is tax deductible. It grows tax-free. When one pulls it out to buy one's first home in the years down the road, the withdrawals are tax-free. Again, this is another major measure that we have put in place.
I could talk about the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. I could talk about two middle-class income tax cuts that are literally providing nearly $10 billion of annual tax savings to Canadians.
I could talk about a national early learning and child care plan. By September 2025, here in the province of Ontario, on average, day care fees will be $10 per day. My family is quite blessed in many ways, and our little one, Leia, goes to day care. The annual amount a family was paying at Leia's day care went from nearly $1,600 to $1,700 a month to, now, just a couple hundred bucks. This is in after-tax funds, so we can think about the before-tax calculation. Those are real savings.
This is in collaboration with the Province of Ontario. Ontario's minister of education, who is my neighbour and a good friend, touts this plan and how great it is probably every other day. That is what Canadians expect.
When I turn to pure economic policy, we have a AAA credit rating, of course. We have the lowest deficit-to-GDP ratio. We will have the strongest economic growth. What does that translate into for Canadians? It means strong and real wage growth, strong incomes and strong job growth. This is where we are going. We are going to the economy of tomorrow, and it is happening today. This is what we need to embrace.
This is what climate change is pushing countries to do. It is leading countries to do this, not only here in Canada but also in the United States. Countries like China, Australia and the European Union are all going in that direction. When one thinks about climate change, one thinks about artificial intelligence. Canada is a leader. We are leading and will continue to do so.
We have a great country filled with over 40 million wonderful people; every morning, whether in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge or across the country, these folks get up and want the best for their families and their kids. They want to make sure we keep this country on a track where inclusivity and economic growth are paramount, where every child has an opportunity to succeed and put the best foot forward in life.
The following is with regard to the motion and so forth.
Yes, I am pleased to take part in today's debate. My opposition colleagues want us to once again make it free to pollute in Canada. I wonder, though, how allowing people to pollute without cost would really make life more affordable for Canadians.
How are we helping Canadians? With the carbon rebate, we know that eight out of 10 Canadians are better off. We know that businesses continue to grow and 84% of the electricity generated in Canada is carbon-free. We know we are putting forward investment tax credits that will boost economic growth and generate clean electricity.
I see some of my colleagues here from the east coast on the opposite side. There is Bill C-49 for such measures, which the Premier of Nova Scotia and the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador want to see put into law, that would generate economic activity. As I have said many times in this place, I love capitalism, growth and wealth creation. That is how one lifts all boats. I love free trade. Canada is a signatory to so many trade agreements.
Up to a point in time, members opposite were in favour of free trade agreements, such as CETA, CUSMA and CPTPP. Now the world is dealing with climate change. In reality, I am not sure most of the members opposite believe in climate change or even in science anymore, unfortunately. Vaccines for polio and measles—
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/1/24 4:46:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that, and I apologize. I get passionate as well.
However, the reality is that the rebate is taken into consideration. The Governor of the Bank of Canada looked at the entire picture, including the rebate, and said that if we eliminated the carbon tax today, we would reduce inflation by 22%.
We have had some fun about the math and stuff like that, but that has real impacts. I am sure members in their ridings have heard from people, because I certainly have heard, in mine, from the ones who are about to lose their homes. Why? It is because interest rates are high, as the Governor of the Bank of Canada must do the work that the government is unwilling to do.
The government is blindly pushing people into losing their houses and losing their jobs, as well as sending two million people to food banks. They laugh at this, but it is math. It is 22%. All they would have to do is eliminate that carbon tax. If they believe in that carbon tax like they say they do, let us have a carbon tax election, and let us do it today, because I know who will win that election.
Then we will hear them cast aspersions like, “They're climate deniers, they're this, they're that.” The reality is that the carbon tax has failed. If anyone is a climate change denier, they are on that side of the aisle. The Liberals are failing to achieve their climate targets. Their own climate change commissioner said that they will not achieve their 2030 targets. They have yet to achieve one single target, so if we want to talk about climate change denial, it is on that side of the aisle.
Let us talk a bit about the economy and why it is so important to get a new direction.
The member from the other side said that there has been a recent uptake in investments, which is true. I am glad for that, but let us look at the overall picture. Since 2014, we have had some of the weakest foreign investment in the world, and we are forecasted by the IMF to actually have the worst foreign investment over the next 40 years. Our GDP per capita over the last 10 years is 4%, which is the total growth for GDP per capita. Do we know what it is in the United States? It is 47%, or 10 times ours.
GDP per capita, by the way, is not just any number. GDP per capita is the number one way of measuring the economic impact on the individual. The reality is that the split has not been even. Who has been hurt the most? It is the most vulnerable; those who are in an economically weak position are hurting. That is why there are two million people going to the food banks.
I hope everyone understands the carbon tax math. Hopefully, over there, they will understand this too. GDP per capita is the economic measure of the welfare of the individual in a given state. In the U.S., in the last 10 years, it has grown by 47%. In Canada, it has grown by 4%, which is 0.8% per year. We need change, and we need it fast.
Underpinning that weak per capita GDP number is a lack of productivity. I will be candid: Our weak productivity numbers date back decades, but it has taken on an exponential weakness in the last decade. Our productivity numbers put us near the bottom of the OECD. Quite frankly, I do not mean to be an alarmist, but it is just the reality: On the trajectory that we are on with our productivity numbers, we will not even be an advanced economy in the next 20 years. It is wild.
If we look at the GDP per hour, which is a measurement of how much a worker in Canada contributes, in the U.S. it is $75, in Switzerland it is around $95, and Canada it is $55. Why do we look at this? Productivity has three pillars that underpin it. One is capital investment, and as I said, over the last 10 years we are among the weakest in the OECD. The second is our workforce. We actually have a really strong and great workforce and the best workers, I believe, in Canada.
The other part of it is innovation, and that is where we are falling down. We have great minds here who produce great ideas, but we are not making it intellectual property. What is happening is that many of the best minds are going to Silicon Valley or other places in the world, and we need to make sure that Canadians feel comfortable and that they win.
There is one area where our productivity is among the highest in the world. I said that Canada's GDP is, on average, $55 per hour. In the energy sector, it is $500 per hour. What is the government doing in that sector, one of the few bright lights of our otherwise dim economy? It is crushing it. It is trying to kill the energy sector in Canada. Members over there will say that we have to, for the sake of the planet. In reality, we are shutting down Canadian energy and it is just going to other parts of the world. Instead of having manufacturing in great places like Cobourg, Port Hope or Hamilton in Ontario, or in many of the great towns and cities out west, it is being transported across the world.
The reality is that it could be powered by hydroelectric power in Winnipeg, Quebec or Niagara Falls, or by clean, emission-free nuclear power in parts of Ontario, or we could ship those jobs, as is going on right now, to Guangdong province, where it is powered by coal. The carbon tax plays into and affects this, because it is pushing jobs there.
The reality is there is no carbon tax in West Virginia; there is no carbon tax in Guangdong province, and there is a very small carbon tax in Mexico. As we increase costs here, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. We are making emissions in the world higher, because, to a certain extent, it matters what Canada's emissions are only in terms of how we are affecting global emissions. Pollution knows no borders. Our focus really has to be on how we reduce global emissions.
What is happening now and what has happened over the last 10 years is that we have made the cost of doing business so difficult in Canada, not least through the carbon tax, that we are pushing manufacturing and natural gas exploration outside of our borders. We actually increase emissions while at the same time decreasing our economic welfare. This is not a recipe for success.
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moved that Bill C-365, an act respecting the implementation of a consumer-led banking system for Canadians, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
He said: Madam Speaker, when I was a young boy, growing up, like many Canadians, I fondly remember playing the game Monopoly. I loved owning all the utilities, collecting Park Place and Boardwalk, then putting hotels on them and bankrupting all my brothers, sisters and family members. It was really great.
The game, of course, was developed in the early 1900s by Lizzie Magie. She wanted it to be an educational tool. It was meant to show the negative aspect of property held in the hands of a very few. One hundred years later, Canadians see that Canada has a monopoly problem. Canadians pay the highest cellphone bills on the whole planet. When it comes to groceries, we only have three Canadian grocery chains and two American chains that are driving prices up. When it comes to a lot of industries, like the Internet, we have a monopoly in the sky overhead. We have satellite, which is the only accessible Internet a lot of our six million rural Canadians can get from Elon Musk's Starlink.
Then we look at the main one, which is banking. We only have five Canadian banks that control 87% of all the mortgages. Excuse me, but it was five. Two weeks ago, the finance minister approved the merger of HSBC and RBC. The number one bank bought the number seven bank, which means that five banks now control 90% of all the mortgages in Canada.
Talking about how bad it is with monopolies, we can go back to 1776. Adam Smith talked about monopolies in The Wealth of Nations. He talked about the invisible hand and the many buyers and sellers who negotiate and dictate prices. If we remove that invisible hand, and if we take away sellers and keep it to a very few, then prices go up and wages go down. We are seeing that across Canada. Canada is the country that has the most monopolies per industry sector.
Oligopoly was a word created in 1930, and it means “few sellers”. It actually comes from the word “oligarch”. When we talk about an oligopoly, that is what we are talking about in the banking sector. When we have few sellers, prices go up, services go down, wages go down, start-ups go down and innovation goes down.
We only have a month to look back at what happened, with RBC announcing it was going to buy HSBC, and to see exactly what happened from that. Before the announcement, HSBC had interest rates of 6.4% versus RBC at 7.15%. After the announcement, those rates went up 6.55%. That meant if someone had a mortgage of $500,000 in Vancouver, they just paid $750 more a year. Monopolies benefit only the very few. The shareholders and the owners are the only ones who benefit, while Canadians lose. We certainly have that problem.
When it comes to the banking sector, we do have major problems because of this oligopoly. One-third of Canadians are upset with their financial institutions. Canadians pay some of the highest banking fees in the world. Because of economic conditions, J.D. Power stated that 50% of banking customers are “financially vulnerable or stressed”. That is an increase of 6% from only a year ago.
The banks will not share people's financial information. If people want the freedom to deal with another bank or institution, the banks feel that they own that information and will not share it with whom people want it shared. Canadians are nickel-and-dimed by the big banks for basic financial services, which Brits, Australians and Americans get for free.
The answer to our monopoly and oligopoly problem is right in front of us. A robust, open banking framework or consumer-led banking would allow the industry to overhaul its outdated systems and to modernize payment infrastructure, and would allow a platform for fintechs to fill the gaps left by Canada's oligopoly with one simple method. The banks would have to share one's financial data with one's consent.
Consumer-led banking makes the banks have to use an API, application program interface, so that companies could bank with people, and Canadians would get financial freedom. It is just common sense. It is freedom to decide who to bank with, which apps people want to use, how long their data is going to be used for and for what purposes.
It would mean that hundreds of financial institution applications and even new banks would be able to ply for Canadians' business, and Canadians would have the freedom of choice to decide who gets their banking business.
However, consumer-led banking, open banking, has already been delayed by this Liberal government for six years. My bill, Bill C-365, would end this six-year delay, and there is not a moment to lose. Other countries get it. South Korea implemented this in 2019, India in 2011, Australia in 2020, Japan in 2017, New Zealand in 2018 and the U.K. in 2018. Through consumer-led banking, we have seen countries other than Canada empower their consumers by allowing them, through security access, to share their own financial data. Other countries have reaped the rewards that Canada has lost out on.
In the U.K., with consumer-led banking implemented, with only 14% market share, consumers pay zero dollars for monthly transactional fees or for overdraft fees. Consumers in the U.K. pay zero dollars to their bank in general. The savings per year for the people in the U.K. is 12 billion pounds, and for small businesses, it is eight billion pounds. There have been over 250 companies created and over 4,000 jobs.
The reality, much like the industrial policy that Canada has lost out on, is that the most competitive and forward-looking leaders are based in other countries. Canada has some really great financial tech companies ready to lead the world, but if this is not implemented, they are going to leave Canada. This government has stalled, and the industry is losing patience, but let us walk through what has happened with this.
The government announced in 2018 that consumer-led and open banking would be in place by 2023. It is way past 2023.
The government hired an expert panel. Does that sound familiar? It hired an expert panel to weigh in back in the summer of 2021, which had a comprehensive recommendation of how to set up the system, including an 18-month implementation schedule.
The government hired a new expert to then come up with the framework in 2021. The expert reported back to the government in early 2023, but the report was never made public. In fact, it sits on the finance minister's desk. The minister sat on this report for six months and stalled this legislation, and now promises that it will be implemented. Strangely enough, after my private member's bill, Bill C-365, to get the government to implement consumer-led banking, it was tabled. However, this patient fintech industry is losing its patience, and we risk losing these companies, potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars to this economy, at time when we need it the most.
For Canadians out there who are asking what “fintech” is, it stands for financial technology companies, and more Canadians have used a fintech app than they might even know. If a person cannot qualify for a loan because they do not have a Canadian credit history, they can share their monthly rent payments information with Borrowell's Rent Advantage to build their credit store. QuickBooks uses a person's transaction data to automate their bookkeeping, and there are one million small businesses using this app. Wealthica tracks a person's investment accounts at different banks while Wealthsimple is a Canadian online investment management service. Shakepay allows people to pay friends, buy Bitcoin and send money. KOHO is a no-fee spending and savings account with the perks of a credit card. Wise allows people to send cross-border currency quickly and efficiently.
The fintech industry in Canada is worth $9.4 billion with 169 investments in 2021 worth $1.75 billion, but it is despite this government, not because of it. Companies exist, but is almost in a black market.
Nine million Canadians have been simply giving away their online banking usernames and passwords, or what we call “screen scraping”, because the banks will not pass that information on. Screen scraping is illegal in most countries. Can members imagine having to share their safe word with another company because the banks just will not share their information? It is incredibly dangerous. As part of the U.K.'s open-banking reforms, the U.K. scrapped it, banned it and made it so that it could not happen. However, for nine million Canadians, it is happening each and every day.
Consumers need laws that force the banks to allow them to, on request, transfer their data from a bank to a financial tech organization, or to move it from bank to bank in order to give them financial freedom. It defines how the consent should be obtained, as well as the cybersecurity requirements that banks and apps must meet. Perhaps most importantly, open banking also helps customers hold their banks or fintechs liable if and when they are unreliable with their data.
Canada's reluctance to embrace open banking has recklessly allowed Canadians' private data to be at risk or compromised. Competition would help fix fraud. It makes companies sharper and makes them invest in better technologies. Currently, with fraud increasing, there has been a decrease in satisfaction with how banks handle fraud-related problem resolution. With competition, we would solve that.
The financial institutions that rank the highest in J.D. Power are those that effectively communicate about fees, fraud and savings; provide tools and information about budgeting and debt reduction; and address security and fraud problems in a timely manner. members can imagine that competition would also fix fraud. It is the lack of competition that is making Canadians have to put their data at risk, and this is compromising Canadians and Canadian businesses.
Let us be clear. Canadians want this. It is not just the cost savings, but the service. When we look at what Canadians want out of their banks, they want to be able to have the tools they want, when they want them. They want a bank that looks after their needs, and one that gets back to them. A lot of these fintechs are open during the weekends. We have seen other industries explode when they have competition. We see the service go up. We see wages go up. We make sure that we create good jobs that stay in Canada at a time when we need them.
Here are some comments we received when I put this bill forward. We have had a lot of good, positive feedback from fintechs that are desperately trying to get this legislation through. They have been asking for it for six years.
We have Sherri-Lee Mathers, an automation-obsessed accounting technologist, which are her words, in craft brewing technology. She writes, “Open Banking will bring improved Data-driven insights, and cashflow planning so desperately needed by Canadian Small Businesses. Especially, as they weather the challenges in the financial climate especially those industries that are still trying to recover from the pandemic!!...I SAY YES to OPEN BANKING!
Tanya Hilts is a CPB whose business name is Rev Up Your Business with Tanya: The Cloud-Savvy Bookkeeper & Efficiency Evangelist! These are great names. They are obviously entrepreneurs. Tanya writes, “Thank you...for your support....This is a game-changer for Canadian businesses, offering unparalleled transparency and control over financial data.”
Almost everyone I have met with supports this initiative and wants to make sure we get this right, get it through and get it going.
The other part right now is that start-ups in Canada are at a 20-year low. We have 100,000 fewer start-ups from entrepreneurs in Canada than we did 20 years ago, and this is at a time when we are seeing massive layoffs in the Canadian economy. We had announcements even in the last couple of weeks of thousands of jobs that are coming to an end and workers being laid off. We need this industry to grow. We need it to prosper. We certainly need it to excel with the right framework from the government, but we need that to happen right now.
The solution to Canada's monopoly problem is a Canadian consumer-led banking initiative and legislation that we want before the House within six months of this bill passing. In the United Kingdom, consumer-led banking has saved individuals 12 billion pounds per year and businesses over 6 billion pounds per year, with improved access to financial services, lower fees and greater control of their financial data.
Canadians know what a monopoly is, but they hardly know what a free market is. I talked about the board game Monopoly, and there is another board game called Anti-Monopoly, which is supposed to talk about the free-market system. It was supposed to teach our kids and families about a free market and what it is.
After 100 years of monopolies in Canada, it is time we open the free market. Today, Bill C-365 is calling for the government to reaffirm a promise to enact consumer-led banking and introduce legislation within six months so Canadians can have a free market in the banking sector and, with it, financial freedom and better prices, because Canadians and the Canadian fintech industry deserve more.
As the Conservative Party, we want to bring home savings and freedom to consumers. Let us bring home open banking to Canadians and the Canadian public.
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- Feb/1/24 7:14:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me begin by thanking my good friend, the member for Bay of Quinte, for bringing this private member's bill forward that is going to help Canadians.
The fast and furious finance minister speeds through the streets of Alberta but is as slow as a snail when it comes to legislation that actually matters. I thank my good friend from the Bay of Quinte for waking up the Liberals and hopefully waking up the finance minister to pass this legislation to help many Canadians and hopefully get our economy back on track.
Canada has a problem. Our country is getting poorer and so are our people. Since September 2022, the GDP per person has been declining. In fact, the real GDP per person was lower in the third quarter of 2023 than it was in the second quarter of 2018. That means five years of Canadians' wealth has been completely wiped out and the economy is less productive. Why is this important to the debate this evening? Because, fundamentally, getting GDP per person back on track relies on getting Liberal red tape and regulations out of the way and making the economy more competitive.
Philip Cross, the former chief economic analyst of Statistics Canada, has raised concerns about Canada's lagging productivity growth, pointing out that Canada's GDP per person growth rate is the worst since the Great Depression. In the past decade, productivity has only grown 4.3%, as opposed to the U.S., which saw a 47.4% growth rate. In fact, according to the OECD, Canada is last among developed countries for GDP per person growth, a statistic that the Liberal government even included in budget 2022.
William Robson, CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute said just this past December that business investment in Canada has not been this bad since the Great Depression. He pointed out that since 2015, capital per worker has been dropping while our population continues to climb, a situation that will lead to an even less productive and less wealthy economy.
Compared to the U.S., from 2014 to 2021, the Fraser Institute found that business investment per worker in Canada declined by 20%, while in the same period, U.S. investment per worker increased almost 15%. This context is important to this debate because it once again highlights the desperate need Canada has for more competition in all sectors of the economy.
According to the competition commissioner, Canada's already concentrated industries, such as banking, airlines, railways, telecommunications and groceries are only getting more concentrated. He noted that the barriers to entry are too high and too expensive. The red tape, the gatekeepers and Liberal anti-competition, anti-innovation, anti-modernization policies have shut down companies from around the world coming to Canada and from the private sector restarting growth in the economy.
Ninety-three per cent of all banking assets in Canada are controlled by the six biggest banks: RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC and National Bank, as well as HSBC, which is being bought out by RBC. This has resulted in cookie-cutter services being offered at virtually the same price at all major financial institutions. Businesses and people want financial services that are tailor-made to their needs and that are accessible, easy to use and affordable.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business recently published a study that shows that overall satisfaction by businesses in banks varies by size. Smaller businesses tend to trust credit unions and smaller financial institutions more as there is better customer services and more connection to their own communities, while medium and bigger businesses rely on larger financial institutions for access to larger amounts of financing. The options that these businesses have in finding the right institutions with the best services are shrinking.
Compared to the U.S., Canada has 34 domestic banks versus roughly 4,844 domestic American banks. That means there are roughly 121,000 Canadians for every bank, compared to just 66,000 Americans for every bank in the U.S.. In the U.S., there are almost 4,800 credit unions, while in Canada there are only 200.
Competition in any sector is vital to lowering the cost of the goods we buy and the services we use as consumers. More importantly, it also leads to innovation and modernization that will allow Canada's industries to compete globally. That is why consumer-led banking is key to the success of innovation in Canada's financial sector and for bringing home affordable banking solutions for all Canadians.
There are examples globally of this modernization actually working to bring home lower bank fees, better services and more economic growth. The prime example is the model of the U.K., where since 2017, the growth of consumer-led banking has been exceptional and, in fact, has saved businesses and individuals over 18 billion pounds, thanks to lower or no banking fees whatsoever.
The British government brought in consumer-led banking as a market-based fix for an overly uncompetitive financial sector, and between 2018 and 2023, the number of fintechs in the consumer-led banking space jumped from four to 295. There are more than seven million users of consumer-led banking in the U.K. and, as of 2022, they had made 68.2 million payments using this technology. For those users, banking and transaction fees are zero. This modernization has added billions of pounds to the U.K. economy, created thousands of jobs and created real competition in the financial sector.
Globally, the consumer-led banking market has grown to $128 billion as the U.K., most of the EU, Norway, India, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico bring consumer-led banking online. The U.S., Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan are joining Canada in reviewing or setting up a consumer-led banking system. The success that the U.K. has had with this modernization, and the fact that major economies and trading partners with Canada are bringing consumer-led banking online, should be an indication that Canada needs to get the ball rolling.
However, more importantly than that, we see the benefits that consumer-led banking can have for people and businesses: the savings, the access to financial services and the freedom of choice. Fintechs in Canada are already building up the customer base, the technology and the services that will be important to making a modern banking system work. Questrade, Wealthsimple, Neo Financial, EQ Bank, Borrowell, Intuit and others are already building the components to offer competition, choice, and low-fee, tailor-made banking options to all Canadians.
In fact, credit unions are wanting to partner with fintechs to offer better services and products to their customers, but fintechs and credit unions need the government to get out of the way and let consumer-led banking go ahead. There are more companies that want to come to Canada, like KOHO, which just applied to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy to be considered a schedule 1 domestic bank and have access to the Canadian market.
After the Liberal-NDP government rammed through the RBC-HSBC merger without actually thinking of the Canadians who would be impacted by the decision, it is good to see that there are still fintechs and financial companies out there that want to do business in Canada. As common-sense Conservatives look to the future without the Liberal government and the fast and furious finance minister, our side is working with Canadians and businesses to develop real solutions that will bring home competition and productivity growth.
We need to focus on these common-sense solutions for Canadians and all newcomers. It benefits not only the people living here but also the many who will come here looking for a better future. When they come here, they get hit with Liberal-NDP high inflation, high taxes and a high cost of living. At least we can do this for them so they will have the freedom to move around their data and have more competition, which would lead to better products in the future.
It is clear; the common-sense Conservative team is going to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Let us bring it home.
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- Feb/1/24 7:29:20 p.m.
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The opportunity before us for a clean economy offers us new ways to move forward with economic reconciliation. Economic reconciliation, whether in engaging with our indigenous partners, creating good jobs in indigenous communities or ensuring that indigenous communities share in the prosperity of major projects, is a key aspect of the federal government's work to build a strong and sustainable economy.
The Government of Canada is making its contribution. In budget 2022, Natural Resources Canada received $103.4 million to advance economic reconciliation in the natural resources sector, including $3.4 million to develop a national benefits-sharing framework. The Government of Canada is committed to renewing its relationship with indigenous peoples based on the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.
As we know, the world is facing the impact of climate change and we must invest in solutions to reduce emissions and foster prosperity. That is why we are investing in clean and renewable energy to reduce emissions and create jobs, including with our indigenous partners.
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- Feb/1/24 7:35:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is really a pleasure to take part in the debate here tonight.
Late last fall, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance presented the 2023 fall economic statement. With the fall economic statement, we are taking further action to support the middle class and to build more homes faster. I am proud to say that our economic plan to build a stronger economy is working for everyone, with more great jobs for Canadians that they can count on, and the plan is working. I will give a few facts.
Inflation is 3.4%, down from its peak of 8.1%, and wage growth has outpaced inflation for 11 months in a row. Also, the private sector economists now expect Canada to avoid the recession that many had predicted, and both the IMF and the OECD predict that Canada will have the strongest growth in the G7 in 2025. As well, Canada maintains both the lowest deficit-to-GDP and net debt-to-GDP rations in the G7. These are some facts.
Nevertheless, rapidly rising interest rates are having an impact everywhere in Canada, including here. Canadians are having a hard time making ends meet.
That is why our government is adopting better targeted measures to stabilize prices, make life more affordable and protect people with mortgages to pay.
Let me give a few examples. We are moving forward with the new Canadian mortgage charter, which details the relief that Canadians can expect from banks in these difficult times. Also, we see our government is moving forward with meaningful actions to make life in Canada more affordable.
With respect to the environment, we understand that climate change is a threat not only to Canadians' health and safety, but also to financial security and economic well-being. That is why we have to stay the course with the price on pollution, which experts say is one of the best ways to fight climate change.
However, we understand that it continues to be difficult for some low-income families to make ends meet, and that is why we made the decision to temporarily pause the application of the federal fuel charge on deliveries of heating oil. We do this, not because it is a source of home heating, but because heating oil is the most expensive form of home heating, and because home heating oil is more expensive, it means lower-income Canadians face particular hardship incurring these costs.
It is important to understand that many low-income earners and rural residents are currently trapped in a vicious cycle where they have to pay for the most expensive form of home heating, the cost of which actually prevents them from investing in cleaner, more affordable forms of home heating.
As we confirmed in this fall's economic statement, we are now looking to provide financial assistance to help Canadians switch from heating oil to better heating systems. Heat pumps are a cleaner heating option that offers long-term savings on energy bills. Reducing the use of highly polluting heating sources will help combat climate change, which will particularly benefit women, indigenous peoples and those living in targeted communities.
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