SoVote

Feb/1/24 10:36:15 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, let us go through this point by point. She says that natural disasters would be stopped by a carbon tax. The carbon tax has now been in place for five years, and, as she points out, these events continue to happen. Clearly the carbon tax is not solving the problem; in fact, it has not even reduced emissions. The government has missed its own targets in all but one year, and that was when we were locked down for COVID. Its own environment commissioner says the government will not hit its targets by 2030. Second, she just revealed what she wants to spend money on: a national round table of a bunch of activists, lobbyists and bureaucrats in Ottawa. She refers to a food program she claims I want to cut; there is no food program. What the government has is a program to bring a bunch of bureaucrats and activists to Ottawa to talk about food. This is exactly the kind of waste and mismanagement we will get rid of so we can bring home affordable food.

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Context: House Hansard - 273 - Feb/1/24

Mr. Jean-Denis Garon

Feb/1/24 11:50:45 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader is obsessed with the carbon tax. I would not dare to speculate on how many times a day he thinks about it. He even blames the carbon tax for inflation. Now, it is true that studies have been done. The Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Bank of Canada have concluded that the carbon tax had very little effect. There are other factors in Quebec that are driving up prices, such as the housing crisis. During question period yesterday, the Liberals were bragging about having paid Quebec so much money, saying that they had matched Quebec's investment. We had to fight for the money that Ottawa owed Quebec. No housing has been built for years. Negotiations dragged on. When it comes to housing, the Liberals refuse to give Quebec City any money. They would rather squabble and see the Liberal logo in front of construction sites. It has an impact. I realize that the parliamentary secretary wants us to turn on the Conservatives and criticize them. Sooner or later, the Liberals will have to admit that they, too, have made mistakes and that they, too, often underestimate Quebeckers' intelligence by saying that they are building housing. As far as immigration targets are concerned, Quebec wants to be consulted. The Minister of Immigration is literally telling us that Ottawa is not an ATM, as though Quebeckers are no more than freeloaders who are not paying their fair share into the federal treasury. The parliamentary secretary can criticize the Conservatives if he wants to, but I think that the Liberal government has lot to account for too. I think he should reflect carefully on that.

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Context: House Hansard - 273 - Feb/1/24

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Feb/1/24 1:52:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are here today to talk about the opposition day motion that is being brought forward by the Conservative Party. Members know that I love to have the opportunity to speak to this and to have some good back and forth with my Conservative colleagues across the way, but I have a little work to do before I get there. This place is always an opportunity for us to bring together Canadians of great excellence and people who are doing extraordinary stuff. The hon. member for Waterloo and I, and indeed the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, were just in the Speaker's salon to celebrate U Sports' top eight athletes in the country, and those athletes may be here in Ottawa. I know we have rules around highlighting those individuals in the House, so I will not flirt too closely with that, but members should perhaps be observant of where there might be some young, athletic-looking individuals here in Ottawa who do tremendous things in sport. However, the hon. member for Waterloo and I want to do two things, specifically. We are proud of all our athletes, and as a former varsity athlete myself, I was named an Academic All-Canadian. I was told today that, on average, there are about 4,900 students out of approximately 20,000 in the country. Therefore, I am proud of that accomplishment, and I talk about it, but this is not about me. What I want to highlight is that we then take the top eight of those and celebrate them. I am very fortunate to have a constituent of mine here today. Haley McDonald from Port Williams was an excellent basketball player in her fifth year at Acadia, and she graduated last year. She is now giving back to the community in tremendous ways, not only through volunteering her time to coach the varsity team but also through community programs. She is here in Ottawa today, and I want to make sure her name is on the record. I am very proud of her. The second name that I agreed to say, and again, I would love to say all eight, but I do not have all the details, is Hannah Blair who is an athlete from Waterloo. She did not stray far from home. She went to the University of Waterloo to continue her education. She mastered in kinesiology, and she is a heptathlete, which means that she competes in multiple disciplines in track and field. As I look around at the potential athletic ability of the House, there are some great people who would be good at shot put and some skinny, athletic-looking MPs who I am sure would be good in the 100 metres. There are heftier people like me who might be good at the pole vault, or whatever. However, the beauty of a heptathlete is that they can do it all. They are the five-tool athlete in the sense of track and field. I know that Hannah is here in Ottawa, and my hon. colleague for Waterloo wanted to make sure that was put on the record, and I am happy to help her out and to assist her in that. Enough with the nice sentiment. We are very proud of athletes. I will now talk about the opposition day motion. The motion is about the Conservative opposition proposal to pause the carbon price altogether this year. Of course, this is one of the many opposition day motions we have seen from the Conservatives about either eliminating the carbon price altogether or pausing it and doing anything they can do denigrate a policy that is actually one of the most important we have in our fight against climate change. There are a variety of policies the government has brought forward. The Conservatives love to focus on carbon pricing. In the 15 minutes I have left and after question period as well, I will talk a little about that. I like to think I bring a certain level of credibility to this debate, because I have been both supportive of carbon pricing and calling for adjustments to the national program. I am proud to see that the government made adjustments before Christmas, which I think is going to create more equity across the country. Those are a higher rural rebate and exemptions in home heating oil, and they are making sure the policy fits for all Canadians. I know that I have drawn the ire of my Conservative colleagues, and I look forward to a time when we are able to have that conversation. I know the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan will stick around after QP, and I cannot wait until we have that back and forth. However, the opposition would ask: Why do we even have a carbon price? It is that climate change is real, and the science is real. We need to have policies that work to reduce GHG emissions. Might I remind members in the House that 2023 was the hottest year on record? Climate change is no longer some distant challenge and something we have to work toward as a collective society; it is on our doorsteps today. We saw it this past summer, and indeed we saw it in Kings—Hants with the worst forest fires in Nova Scotia's history and some of the worst flooding we have seen in decades. Sadly, it resulted in the deaths of four of my constituents in the terrible flooding we saw. We saw infrastructure impacted. We saw houses destroyed. This is no longer something we can just talk about as a future challenge; it is on our doorstep today. It is here. It is now. It is present. Members of Parliament in the House who want to see action in this regard also have to be realistic about how we talk about the policies. I have heard some members of Parliament, particularly in the opposition benches, ask question like these: How is a carbon price going to stop the next hurricane? How are environmental policies going to stop the next forest fire? They are not wrong to point that out, but they are missing the point that the carbon price today is not about stopping the hurricane next summer. It is about fighting for our kids and our grandkids years down the line. Therefore, it is an oversimplification where they try to suggest that environmental policy and affordability cannot go hand in hand. I look forward to talking about how we are doing just that. Let us also recognize that there are real affordability challenges today. Many of us who sit in the House are quite privileged. We have opportunities, and perhaps the affordability crisis is not hitting our shores in the same way it is for other Canadians. We have to remember that. Most Canadians, including many of my constituents, are thinking about getting through to the next day. They are thinking about getting to next week, in terms of their paycheques and in terms of their ability to pay rent. It is disappointing the way that the Conservative Party has positioned environmental action as contrary or somehow mutually exclusive to affordability. I do not see that as being the case. The Conservatives never talk about the fact that money is rebated to Canadians. They never talk about the fact that climate change itself has huge impacts. Whether it be insurance premiums or whether it be the way governments at all three levels have to step up and to help support and rebuild communities, it has a cost to all of us. The Conservatives never talk about the fact that there are 77 jurisdictions around the world that have a form of carbon pricing. They never talk about the fact that there is the ability to walk that line between environmental action and affordability. I cannot wait until the next part, and I look forward to engaging with my colleagues on this matter.

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Context: House Hansard - 273 - Feb/1/24

Mr. Kody Blois

Feb/1/24 3:37:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the good people of Saint John—Rothesay have a real champion here in Ottawa. He gave me a compliment, but let me say this: I believe the hon. member has indicated that he will not be re-offering in this place in the next election. That will be a great loss to Parliament, because he is one of the best constituency advocates in Ottawa for his people. When I watch him on social media, he never forgets where he comes from. He is always out on the go. I would say what I have said to other colleagues here today: For Conservatives, the entire conversation is about the price signal, but they never talk about the rebates that come back to Canadian families. In the member's riding, eight out of 10 families receive more money back. Conservatives are not talking about what it would mean for families in Saint John—Rothesay and, indeed, across the country if they were to cut that. I think it is important for him and all of us here to make sure we remind our colleagues about that.

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