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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 283

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 283 - Feb/15/24
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)
  • Feb/15/24 6:59:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I quote: Canadians turn to GoFundMe to tackle cost-of-living challenges. Record-high inflation and affordable housing shortages have profoundly impacted Canadians, who have been turning to the GoFundMe platform to rally support. Since early 2020, GoFundMe has recorded a 274% increase in Canadian campaigns that mention “cost of living”. This is a text taken directly from the GoFundMe website, which now has a record number of Canadians, hard-working Canadians, who cannot make ends meet in spite of working multiple jobs and now feel that their only recourse is to resort to digital begging. On this particular page there is the story of Claude. Social worker Leigh Adamson set up this GoFundMe campaign to support her friend, who was forced to live in his car due to the soaring cost of living. There are so many stories about this. Also, if members go to different mom Facebook pages, instead of seeing stories about sharing vacation photos or recipes, they will see people asking for support to buy groceries. That is because, as GoFundMe said, of soaring inflation. One of the key drivers of this cost-of-living crisis is unnecessary taxes like the carbon tax. In fact, the carbon tax is set to rise as much as 17% in April of this year. Despite pleas from people across the country to axe this tax, which does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and does not work, the Liberals are just keeping it, and it is costing people. It is making them digitally beg to deal with the cost of living. Instead of axing the tax, what the Liberals are doing is spending money on consultants to rebrand the tax. I really feel the Liberals should have some compassion for people, not make them resort to digital begging on platforms like GoFundMe. They should be looking at affordability measures. There is no way to make the carbon tax affordable. It increases the cost of everything. The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Parliament's top watchdog on public spending, said that as the carbon price is expected to increase over time, “most households will see a net loss”. People cannot afford that. They cannot afford to put a roof over their head. They cannot afford to buy food. They certainly cannot afford to pay a tax that does nothing to protect the environment but only goes to make their lives more unaffordable. Will the Liberals have some compassion and axe the tax?
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Context: House Hansard - 283 - Feb/15/24
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner
  • Feb/15/24 7:05:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is so expensive to live in Vancouver that people are buying flights twice a week to commute from Calgary to Vancouver, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and costing them so much money. It is unbelievable that the Liberal government has created a cost-of-living crisis that is so profound that people feel they have to fly back and forth from Calgary to Vancouver twice a week just to make ends meet. That is insane. That does not help greenhouse gas emissions, and it does not help people make ends meet. When will the Liberals axe unnecessary taxes and help people make ends meet?
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