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House Hansard - 273

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 273 - Feb/1/24
Mr. Philip Lawrence (Northumberland—Peterborough South, CPC)
  • Feb/1/24 4:43:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, before I begin I would like to recognize that I will be splitting my time with someone I think is one of the greatest MPs in the House of Commons, the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup. I want to do some carbon tax math to begin. This is carbon tax 101. I would actually suggest that the members opposite grab their calculators, follow along with me and do this math. Two years ago we had the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, at the finance committee. I asked him how much the carbon tax is responsible for inflation. He said 0.5%. He came back in a subsequent meeting two years later and said it is actually 0.6%, and he had underestimated a bit. We got that. We are clear on that. This is from the Governor of the Bank of Canada. I do not think he is going to make up these numbers. Then, he was actually at the finance committee today, and I asked him about the increase on April 1. I said it would probably be 0.1%, and he said I had once again underestimated and it would actually be 0.15%, so that gives us 0.75%. We can put this in our calculator if we want. Currently, the inflation rate is 3.4%. If we divide 0.75 by 3.4, that gives us a percentage. My 10-year-old is learning that in school right now. That gives us 22%. I am sorry. I actually underestimated, and I apologize to the House. I said it was 20%. I underestimated again, as I did with the governor as well. It is 22%. We could bring down inflation by 22% today if we eliminated the carbon tax, and that would almost bring us in range. Of course, the Bank of Canada has a range of inflation that it is trying to get to. It is trying to get to 2%. We would almost be there if we took just one action and eliminated the carbon tax. That is carbon tax math. Once again, it is 0.75 divided by 3.4. My 10-year-old is learning this— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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