44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 13, 2024 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I wonder why the Prime Minister's priority is higher taxes and not food affordability. He can find $60 million for his ArriveCAN app, but he needs to quadruple the carbon tax on farmers and food. We are hearing the plea from Canadian families who want to axe the tax to make food affordable. I was in Sudbury this week meeting with organizers of food banks that are at a breaking point as demand has doubled and is rising. There is a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, which would give a carbon tax carve-out for farmers and lower the price of food. This Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Will he cancel his plans to increase the carbon tax on April 1 so Canadians can feed themselves?
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- Feb/13/24 3:00:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Conservatives are finally asking a question about the economy because it gives me the chance to share some good news. In January, thanks to the hard work of Canadians, Canada created 37,000 new jobs; wages in Canada have been outpacing inflation for the past 12 months; and unemployment fell to 5.7%, lower than it was at any time that Stephen Harper was prime minister. The only thing Conservatives know how to do is kill jobs.
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Mr. Speaker, here is a number that most Canadians care about: two million Canadians are going to a food bank every single month. However, today is Canada's Agriculture Day, and how do the Liberals celebrate? By increasing the carbon tax by 23% on April 1, but it gets worse. We now know that the amendments to Bill C-234, pushed through by Liberal-appointed senators, would increase costs on farmers by $200 million. This Conservative common-sense bill in its original form would save farmers a billion dollars by 2030.
For Canada's Agriculture Day, will the Prime Minister celebrate with me and axe this tax on farmers to make food more affordable?
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- Feb/13/24 3:01:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, being a farmer on Canada's Agriculture Day and being part of a government that has an environmental plan make me very proud. It is so important, and farmers understand, that we have to take care of the land, and we must have an environmental plan. As far as the price on food goes, in the agriculture committee, Tyler McCann of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute indicated to the committee members that there was no data to support the idea that carbon pricing is resulting in an increase in food prices.
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- Feb/13/24 3:02:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister wasted $60 million on his corrupt ArriveCAN app. Now he is asking Canadians for even more money through the carbon tax, which the Bloc wants to radically increase.
After eight years under this government, everything is more expensive. Worse still, the Bloc is supporting Liberal policies.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that he will scrap the carbon tax in order to give Canadians a little more breathing room?
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- Feb/13/24 3:03:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that, the last time I checked, the St. Lawrence fjord was still part of Quebec. The Quebec system applies in Quebec, not the federal system.
Quebec's cap-and-trade system was established long before the federal carbon pricing system. Quebec's system works very well to help reduce emissions. It was not the Bloc Québécois or the federal government that put it in place, but rather the Quebec government. A number of Conservative Party members voted in favour of the Quebec system.
He should direct his questions to them. They sit on the same side of the House as he does.
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- Feb/13/24 3:03:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that sexual and reproductive health care encompasses mental health care, which is always important, but especially so for women during their reproductive lives. Knowing what an exciting, but also stressful, time it can be for a new mother and how a mother's well-being affects not only her but also her newborn and other family members, could the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health explain how our government is supporting women who choose motherhood by addressing perinatal mental health?
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- Feb/13/24 3:04:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill to be a strong advocate for women's health. My message to new parents who might be struggling is this: They do not have to carry this burden alone. I want to thank the Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative and all of our partners working to develop national standards for a perinatal mental health strategy. We are supporting families by creating guidance materials and advice for health care professionals and individuals who may face poor mental health during the perinatal period. We are with them and will do everything we can to ensure families have access to quality mental health care when they need it and where they need it.
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- Feb/13/24 3:05:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost of the suffering he is causing. The Payne family operates Asphodel Sheep Company. They were recognized as farm family of the year in Peterborough County. The carbon tax is set to increase by 23% on April 1, and it is truly hurting them. The kids do not know what is going to happen to their family farm.
Katie, who is 15; Jolene, who is 13; and Lucy, who is nine, asked me to ask the Prime Minister this: Why is the Canadian government making it so difficult for the agriculture industry to do its job of feeding the country?
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- Feb/13/24 3:05:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a quote from Glenn Wright, who is the former vice-president of the National Farmers Union:
Farmers will be among the hardest hit if we don’t act fast to slash greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize the climate. For this reason—to protect farmers—the NFU supports pollution pricing; it is an important policy tool to reduce the harmful emissions fueling the climate crisis and threatening farms and food supplies.
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- Feb/13/24 3:07:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we had devastating news today out of Bay of Quinte. Cascades, a company that has been operating a plant that has been in existence in Quinte West for 100 years, is closing its doors and axing 230 jobs because of high inflation and interest rates under eight years of the Liberal-NDP government.
Now, Canadians who already face high costs to eat and heat their homes have to worry about a paycheque. People in Belleville who are still reeling from a major overdose epidemic now have to worry about unemployment.
When will the government fix the budget, cut inflation and cut interest rates, so companies do not have to close and employees do not have to lose their jobs?
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- Feb/13/24 3:07:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the most important thing to every Canadian family is having a job, and every time someone loses their job, it is a disaster for that family. That is why we were so glad to see the strong job recovery across Canada, 1.1 million more jobs since before COVID. It is also why we have support in place, like early learning and child care, and like a social safety net, that the Conservatives would cut.
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- Feb/13/24 3:07:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that tone-deaf answer will give little comfort to the residents of Quinte West who have just lost their jobs.
Let us look at the reality of what is happening in Canada right now. Over the last four months, TD has slashed 3,000 jobs; Canadian Tire has slashed 3% of its workforce; Enbridge has slashed 650 jobs; Rona has slashed 300 jobs; and Manulife has slashed 250 jobs. After eight years of this high-spending Liberal-NDP government, the only job Canadians want to see slashed is that of the Prime Minister.
When will the government fix the budget, cut inflation and cut interest rates so Canadians can keep their jobs?
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- Feb/13/24 3:08:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to supporting the most vulnerable among us. Since we have formed government, 2.3 million Canadians are out of poverty. Poverty in Canada was at 14.5% when the Conservatives left office. Today, it is down to 7.4%.
We know there is a lot more work to do. That is why we are pointing out to Canadians that all the Conservatives want is to cut the programs the most vulnerable need the most.
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- Feb/13/24 3:09:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the high cost of living, it is a struggle for many women to buy menstrual products. This government recognizes this problem and recently launched the menstrual equity fund pilot to provide free menstrual products to those who need them most through Food Banks Canada.
During this Sexual and Reproductive Health Week, can the minister provide an update on the progress of the pilot in my province and throughout Canada?
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- Feb/13/24 3:09:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her advocacy and hard work, and for the chance to give an update on this. Menstrual products are a basic need, but not everyone has access to them. Since launching the menstrual equity fund pilot last September, almost 400 locations, including 14 in that member's province of Nova Scotia, have helped pull more than a million Canadians out of period poverty. That is 35 million products out the door in six months.
We are providing real solutions to real challenges: menstrual products for those who need them, when they need them, period.
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- Feb/13/24 3:10:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in a three-bedroom apartment near the Verdun metro station, there is a leak in the bathroom, the balconies are about to fall off the building, the ceilings are full of holes and there is mould everywhere. That is where Isabelle Gagnon and Maxime Pilon live with their new baby. That is the result of decades of Conservative and Liberal cuts to social housing. Rather than proposing solutions, the Conservative leader would rather insult mayors in Quebec, and the Liberals are dragging their feet on the housing crisis.
Why are the Liberals abandoning people like Ms. Gagnon and Mr. Pilon?
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- Feb/13/24 3:11:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his concern for the quality of accommodations that families are living through in this country. He is right to point out that, for several decades, governments, both Liberal and Conservative, failed to invest in affordable housing, but that changed with the introduction of the national housing strategy in 2017.
We have been investing to help build or retrofit several hundred thousand homes that people are living in today. In the fall economic statement, we have recapitalized the affordable housing fund with an addition billion dollars and another $300 million toward co-operative housing. We are going to continue to make the investments necessary to ensure that every Canadian has a roof over their head.
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- Feb/13/24 3:11:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as Netanyahu bombed Rafah, the supposed safe zone, over 75 Palestinians were killed overnight. We are witnessing a crime of unproportionate horror in Gaza every day. Children are left orphaned as entire families are wiped out in this onslaught. Meanwhile, the Liberals continue to arm Netanyahu with over 28 million dollars' worth of military exports since October alone.
How many more Palestinian children have to be killed before the government ends arms exports to Israel?
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- Feb/13/24 3:12:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an important question.
What is happening in Gaza is a complete tragedy. Netanyahu's military operation in Rafah is devastating Palestinians and others who are seeking shelter. Gazans have nowhere else to go, and as the minister said, asking them to move again is totally unacceptable.
This violence must stop. We must have a sustainable peace. Hostages must be returned, and we must find a way forward to get humanitarian assistance to the people who need it the most.
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