SoVote

Feb/6/24 12:04:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have read the amendment the NDP is trying to put forward to a motion to make sure we address crime in this country. It seems to be putting the onus of the crimes onto the car companies and their workers. We reject that wholeheartedly. We ask the NDP to stop hiding behind the government and stop supporting it in everything it does. It is a preposterous amendment. We ask that—

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Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24

Mr. Greg McLean

Feb/6/24 12:05:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is pretty clear that the words the New Democrats are putting in here are a deflection to try to continue to cover up what the government is doing here, as they have finally become aware of it. We reject the amendment.

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Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24

Mr. Greg McLean (Calgary Centre, CPC)

Feb/6/24 8:01:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in October of this past year, I asked the government about its selective reversal of the carbon tax for Atlantic Canadians who heat their homes with fuel oil. Incidentally, about 25% of Atlantic Canadians heat their homes with fuel oil, as opposed to 6% in the rest of the country and about 0% in my province of Alberta. However, there is no reduction offered elsewhere in Canada, just in Atlantic Canada. The rationale was explained by the government's Newfoundland regional minister, who said that perhaps people need to elect more Liberals in the Prairies. It is a rare moment of frank honesty from a Liberal minister on how to get financial advantage in Canada. It is easy. Just get on the Liberal gravy train. However, I am sure it gutted the two Liberal members from Alberta. Respectfully, both of these members have proven good at one thing in particular in Parliament, which is mindlessly reading out clearly ridiculous Liberal talking points on a number of issues. The member for Edmonton Centre, the one who responded to my question, is a minister. He just obfuscated in response to my question. I do not blame him. His colleague the minister from Newfoundland's public assessment about his lack of engagement on this file for his constituents must have stung for quite a while. Let us get some real perspective on this. The carbon tax on clean-burning natural gas rose this past April by about 27%, to $3.33 per gigajoule. It is going up again this April Fool's Day to $4.21 per gigajoule. It is interesting that this tax on clean-burning natural gas is more than the cost basis of the commodity itself. The average in 2023 was only $2.50. Incidentally, people pay GST on top of the carbon tax, a tax on a tax that is also increasing. On January 13 this year, residents in the riding of Edmonton Centre felt temperatures drop to -45°C. The average home was using about twice as much natural gas as usual to keep residents safe and warm. Here is the outcome. It gets cold in the Prairies every winter, and the government benefits by collecting more taxes. Cold weather in the Prairies is a gift that keeps on giving to the government, but it is not free. It is an increasing transfer from the pockets of constituents of Edmonton Centre and other Canadians on the Prairies to the Liberal government. Therefore, the member for Edmonton Centre should feel the sting when his colleague announced his ineffectiveness in representing his constituents to all Canadians. I know the response to my question is going to include one or a few Liberal bromides, such as we should not worry and the government is spending this money to make all things better, neither of which have proven effective. I am going to hear about the virtues of heat pumps and that oil heat in Atlantic Canada costs more than natural gas, so it is only fair, but whatever is said, it will not excuse the Alberta Liberal members of the House for failing to speak for their constituents and the regionally disproportionate share of the carbon tax the government collects from Canadians who live on the Prairies. I am asking again if the government's exemption from carbon taxes by region, for political purposes, should properly be reduced for all Canadians, regardless of how they stay safe and warm in the winter.

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Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24

Mr. Greg McLean

Feb/6/24 8:09:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I predicted, there were Liberal bromides in there by the dozen. I am not sure, but there was confusion in the talking points that came back at us here. However, we heard a whole bunch in there. We heard “climate change is real”. We heard “let the planet burn,” as she stated in her speech. I do not think anybody has ever said that. The question was about fairness of the applicability of the carbon tax and how it is not being applied fairly. It is being applied politically at this point in time, as opposed to judiciously across the country. I did not hear one response in that jumble that actually told us why it costs less for Atlantic Canadians than people on the Prairies are being charged. That is a mindless approach rather than how we actually need to address the way we tax Canadians. This is a tax on Canadians, and nothing but. It is a regionally specific, very targeted tax on people who do not have as much political representation as that member would like them to have in her party.

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