44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/6/24 10:02:49 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as always, it is an honour to stand in this place and to present petitions brought forward by Canadians. Today, I have a petition that brings forward a number of issues, but specifically it is signed by Canadians who are opposed to the bringing back, like the Liberals promised in their 2021 election platform, of a values test for charitable organizations. To summarize, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis.
It is an honour to present this petition in the House here today.
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- Feb/6/24 1:38:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask specifically whether the hon. member could comment on what seems to be the rapid increase in not being able to effectively catch vehicles in the process of being stolen. I know there have been high-profile cases. I have heard that it has been the case in Alberta as well that somebody will put an air tag in the vehicle and be able to follow it, yet law enforcement does not seem to either have the resources or be able to get the vehicle before it is shipped overseas.
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- Feb/6/24 4:49:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Nunavut, who is entitled to the same rights and privileges we all have in this place was just insulted by the previous speaker, a parliamentary secretary for the Liberal Party. I believe that the member should apologize for demeaning her and her right to intervene in this place.
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- Feb/6/24 5:29:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would request a recorded vote.
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- Feb/6/24 7:20:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as always, this is such an important debate, and I am glad we have the chance to discuss food affordability in this place. I am thankful for the opportunity to engage in this discussion.
I am wondering if the member could talk about how the increased cost of food is a feature of the Liberal carbon tax. It is designed to make things unaffordable for Canadians. I wonder if my friend from Kenora could opine on that.
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- Feb/6/24 7:34:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to engage in this debate. I know that the agriculture committee had very valuable conversations when it heard from a host of witnesses.
I specifically want to ask my friend from Regina—Lewvan about his interactions with farmers and others within the food supply chain. We have endeavoured to explain that rising costs are a feature, not a flaw, of the Liberal-NDP coalition's carbon tax, and the carbon tax affects every stage of the process. Take a loaf of bread. From the farmer who grows the grain, to the trucker who ships it, to the baker who bakes it, to the grocery store that sells it and to the person who buys it, through every step of the process of that slice of bread getting on somebody's plate, the carbon tax is being paid.
I wonder if my friend from Regina could share the conversations he has had with farmers and those at every other stage of the supply chain about the impact that the carbon tax has on what Canadians ultimately pay for the food they buy at the grocery store.
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- Feb/6/24 7:38:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to enter into debate on such an important subject: food security and the price Canadians pay for food.
I appreciated the amendment that my friend from Regina moved, which I had the opportunity to second. It gives very clear instructions to ensure that this concurrence motion not be concurred in and that it be sent back to committee so we can really get to the root cause of what is forcing Canadians to pay more.
I asked a question earlier about the entire food supply chain, because a lot of people in our country, I think, take for granted the fact that we do have a secure food supply chain. We go to the grocery store, and there is food on the shelves. We have rules and regulations in place that ensure Canadians can trust the food they buy. There is an ingredient list on there that they can count on to ensure there is trust in the process. When meat is brought through the supply chain, it is safe, and we do not have to worry about diseases and things that, throughout human history, have been detrimental to the longevity of people.
I am proud to be the fifth generation to farm in Alberta's special areas and for five generations, I have been proud to help steward that land. I will get to that discussion in a moment. When it comes to where food starts, it starts with the farmers and the ranchers, those who grow and raise the food we eat.
Then, there is the food supply chain, from the farmers and ranchers who start the process, whether it is a grain operation, like my family is proud to be a part of, whether it is a rancher, and I am proud to represent so many of them, or whether it is more modern techniques like greenhouses.
Then there is a stage that one would call the entire food supply chain. I will get to the specific relevance of the carbon tax in just a moment, but when the carbon tax is applied at the first stage of the process, and when the Liberals increase the carbon tax to the degree they are planning to, it will cost an average farmer $150,000 a year, and those costs have to go somewhere.
However, in every step of the food supply chain, there are increased costs. From the farmer to the trucker who moves it from the farm to a storage facility, there are increased costs.
I will use the example of a loaf a bread. The carbon tax is on every step of the process, from the transportation of the raw commodities to be ground into flour, to the flour going to the baker and then into the ovens. It sounds like the Liberals now want to have a special tax for wood-burning stoves, which is quite something. Let us talk about ludicrous and ridiculous.
Then, there is the cost of packaging that food for the supply chain and the cost of its transportation to the grocery store. There is a carbon tax on the cost of heating that grocery store. There is a carbon tax on the cost associated with somebody driving to the grocery store to get their groceries. There are costs at every step of the process. That is the consequence of the carbon tax. Rising costs are a feature, not a flaw, of the Liberal carbon plan.
As I wrap up my discussion, I would say it is time to stop punishing those who are best equipped to lower food prices. It is time to start celebrating and rewarding them and to make sure they are well-equipped to be the champions of the environment and of lower prices. That means axing the tax so that Canadian farmers and the entire Canadian food supply chain can bring down the price of food so that Canadians can afford to eat.
Let us bring it home for Canadians in a way that ensures we do not send Canadians to food banks for the bare necessities. Let us bring prosperity back to this country and lower prices. That is what the Conservative plan will do when we axe the tax and bring home lower prices for everybody.
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- Feb/6/24 7:44:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is exactly the important point that it seems like every other political entity in this place forgets. At every stage of the food supply chain or when it comes to transportation, whether that is a mom taking her kids to hockey practice, a school bus taking kids to school, trains carrying the goods from our ports, ships taking our goods overseas or bringing in goods from other places, increased cost is the design of the carbon tax. That is not serving the best interests of Canadians.
What is so unfortunate about this entire conversation is that for the last eight-plus years that this has been a debate, the Liberals have claimed one thing on the carbon tax but, truly, it is meant to punish Canadians at every step of the process, to change their behaviour. That is the way that they describe it.
It is time to axe the tax so that we can bring down the price of everything for Canadians and ultimately empower Canadians to make sure that they are best equipped to make decisions that work for them. It is freedom and it is time to bring home that freedom, whether it is at the grocery store or every other aspect of Canadian society.
It is time to bring it home.
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- Feb/6/24 7:46:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think of some quotes of some famous Conservative politicians throughout history.
Ronald Reagan said that the most terrifying words in the English language are “I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.”
The late, great Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of the United Kingdom, said, “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
The evidence is clear. We see the evidence today in the heartbreaking stories that my Conservative colleagues and I hear on a daily basis. When the government does well, Canadians are hurting.
It is time to make sure that we bring some common sense back to the agenda and objectives of government, to make sure that when it comes to the carbon tax, we take those billions of dollars out of the hands of bureaucrats and politicians in our nation's capital and make sure that we bring down the price of food.
I recently heard a heartbreaking story of a senior at a grocery store who had to put items back because her bill was too expensive. She knew she could not afford it.
When the government is doing well, it means that the people of that country are suffering. It is time to bring home some common sense and remember that the government should be the servant, not the master, of the people. That has been forgotten in our country.
Conservatives will right that ship and ensure that, once again, the government serves the people of this country.
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- Feb/6/24 7:49:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, sometimes they just make it way too easy. We have a Liberal member bragging about giving Canadians back the money that they took from them. Forgive me if I disagree with Liberal logic on this.
When Conservatives say we want to axe the tax, we simply want to empower Canadians, who are in the best position to make choices when it comes to the food they eat and the vehicles they drive, and not raise costs only to then send it back to a few people based on a formula, which they certainly did not consult with the people of Alberta on.
In fact, the majority of provinces in this country have actually elected governments that do not support the carbon tax. That is something the member should not forget when trying to impose that left-leaning ideology that has been so destructive on the people of my province, as an example.
It is time to bring some common sense back to the conversation. The member talks about the so-called rural top-up. It is 10% more, yet there are devastating impacts. The Parliamentary Budget Officer himself made it very clear that 60% of Canadians end up paying more in direct and indirect costs, because every stage of the food supply chain, the transportation sector, etc. ends up paying the carbon tax.
It was dishonest of the Liberals to claim it was a revenue-neutral tax, because it is not; it costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year to administer. Then they say that Canadians get more back than they pay into it. That was dishonest as well. At every step of the process, it is time to axe the tax, so that we can empower Canadians to make the decisions that are best for them.
In this case, they so flippantly suggest that they are somehow solving the problem by intentionally raising prices. No. Let us lower the price of food for Canadians, so that Canadians can afford to eat, heat their homes and live the Canadian dream that the Prime Minister and the Liberals have taken away from them.
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- Feb/6/24 7:52:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that, because my colleague from Regina—Lewvan is absolutely right. He mentioned the socialist extremes that Saskatchewan faced throughout some of its history and how that ideology held that province back.
I know that for the four years during which the accidental NDP ruled over Alberta, there was pain and suffering. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, and taxes were imposed that certainly the people of Alberta did not vote for. I know now, across this country, we are seeing the devastating consequences of a government that thinks it is, and this comes back to the comments I made before, the master and the king, that it has the right to impose upon the people.
It is time to reorient the priorities of government. It is time for a Conservative government, which will make sure its people are the masters, not the government, and respect Canadians' decisions and their hard-earned dollars. We will axe the tax and bring home lower prices for everybody.
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