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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 287

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 28, 2024 02:00PM
  • Feb/28/24 2:24:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while common-sense Conservatives fight to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost or corruption. We have just learned that the RCMP is investigating arrive scam. The RCMP commissioner revealed that the Prime Minister blocked them from obtaining documents in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Will he lift PMO confidentiality so the RCMP can get all the facts in this criminal investigation?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:25:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that non-answer proves once again that this Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the corruption. The question was whether he would let the RCMP see cabinet documents. We know that in another criminal investigation into this Prime Minister's scandals, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, he blocked the police from seeing all the documents. Once again, if he has nothing to hide, will he hand over all the documents, including PMO documents, to the police?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:27:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while common-sense Conservatives fight to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost or corruption. We found yesterday that his government is under RCMP investigation again, this time for arrive scam. The commissioner of the RCMP revealed, however, that the last time they were investigating him for criminal activity, in the SNC-Lavalin affair, he blocked them from getting cabinet documents. Will he lift cabinet confidentiality and hand over all the documents to the police so they can investigate any of his potential crimes?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:28:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is not the way the system has worked since he took office eight years ago. According to the RCMP commissioner, not only did he refuse to be questioned in the SNC-Lavalin criminal investigation and in the Aga Khan billionaire island investigation, but he blocked key cabinet documents from being included in those investigations. We now know that an app that was supposed to cost $80,000 went up to $60 million after the NDP helpfully voted for those extra funds. We do not know who criminally benefited from that, so once again, will the Prime Minister waive cabinet confidentiality and turn over all the documents, yes or no?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:29:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that answer proves again that he is not worth the cost or the corruption. We know that after eight years of the Prime Minister, the cost of everything has gone up, in part because he has given away money for nothing. Arrive scam, an app that was supposed to cost $80,000, was actually $60 million at least, and counting, because the Auditor General said she does not have the documentation to do the full calculation today. We have a common-sense Conservative motion that requires the Prime Minister to release the full cost of the app and recover the money for Canadians within the next hundred days. Will he vote for that common-sense motion, yes or no?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:35:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, common-sense Conservatives want to axe the tax. The Prime Minister wants to hike the tax. First of all, he wants to quadruple it between now and 2030, and on April 1 he plans to hike it by 23% with the support of the NDP. The tax hike will be bigger than increases in the rebate, and therefore the average families in all the provinces will be bigger net losers under the tax than they were before. With Canadians unable to eat, to heat, and to house themselves, will the Prime Minister cancel his plan to hike the tax on April 1?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:36:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad he mentioned his phony rebates, because $1,800 in Alberta is the rebate. That is what he said; we heard him. Here is the gross cost: $2,943. Therefore he is going to take away $2,943 but give back $1,800 and then ask them to be thankful for it. Is that not just proof that the carbon tax is just like him: not worth the cost?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:38:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report is in my hands. The information is on page 3 of “A Distributional Analysis of the Federal Fuel Charge under the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan”. Google it. Look it up. It is on the Parliamentary Budget Officer's website. Members do not have to believe me, and they certainly do not want to believe him; they can go look for themselves. The average Ontario family will pay $1,674 in carbon taxes next year. That is $630 more than they get back in the rebate. Why does the Prime Minister not google it, look up the report, check the facts and axe the tax?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:39:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is doing neither at the same time. I should catch what he said: “on the face of it”, the carbon tax is terrific. While the Parliamentary Budget Officer actually did the calculation of the full fiscal and economic cost for the average family, he found that every family in the middle class is worse off under the carbon tax. For example, in Ontario, the net cost for the average family, above and beyond rebates, is $627 this year. How are they going to pay for that—
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  • Feb/28/24 2:41:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is a very simple way to measure it up, from the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report: The total gross cost of the carbon tax in Ontario is $1,674 for the coming year. How much is the rebate?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:42:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not need to get angry about it. I am just asking for some numbers here. He was very anxious to talk about these wonderful rebates up until a moment ago, and now he does not want to say a thing about them. He even gave them a fancy new name. I am going to say it again: In Ontario, the gross cost of the carbon tax is $1,674 for the average family. How much is the rebate?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:46:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost of food, as we were reminded by a tragic report by Second Harvest that came out this week showing that there will be another million extra visits to food banks above last year's record-breaking numbers. This is because of the collusion of the NDP and the Liberals on price fixing that is the carbon tax. Will the Prime Minister cancel his April 1, 23% carbon tax hike on food?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:48:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, this NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is just not worth the cost of food. It is not just that two million people a month cannot afford groceries and are forced to line up at food banks, but also that now those food banks are running out of food, and Canadians are diving into dumpsters, literally. There is an 8,000-member Facebook group called the “Dumpster Diving Network”. How can the Prime Minister look those people in the eyes and raise taxes on their food when they are eating out of garbage cans?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:49:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is the best answer he can come up with after eight years of record food price increases that has forced people not just to food banks, but to literally jump into dumpsters and to bring their phones so that they network on Facebook to share tips on how to eat out of garbage cans in Canada. Life was not like this before the Prime Minister, and it will not be like this after he is gone. In the meantime, will he at least have the humanity to cancel his April 1, 23% tax hike?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:50:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, according to Second Harvest, food banks can expect a million more visits this year because of the food inflation caused by this Prime Minister. Professor Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food expert, says the Prime Minister should at least freeze the carbon tax. The Bloc Québécois voted to drastically increase taxes on the farmers who produce our food. Will he ignore the Bloc Québécois for once, cancel the costly coalition and stop raising the taxes on our food?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:55:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our common-sense plan will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has doubled housing costs since he promised to bring them down. A National Bank report, out Thursday, revealed that in Victoria and Toronto, it now takes an astonishing 25 years for the average family to save for a down payment. In Vancouver, it would take 29 years. This is after he has created $80 billion of new housing spending that has been vaporized by bureaucracy. Will the Prime Minister finally follow our common-sense plan to cut the bureaucracy and build the homes?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:57:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister pretends he has not been in government for the last eight years. He acts like this is his first day on the job. The fact that he has to read off notes would suggest it is his first day on the job. The reality is that housing costs have doubled since he promised to lower them. Yes, he has created massive programs with wonderful new agreements and beautiful photo ops, where politicians pat each other on the backs and smile while they cut ribbons. The problem is that after eight years, nothing is getting built. Why will the Prime Minister not get out of the way and cut the bureaucracy so that we can build the homes?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:58:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister brags that there is a housing crisis after he has been in power for eight long years. He quotes the same failed Liberal academics who gave him the advice that helped him double the price in the first place. The Conservatives' common-sense plan will incentivize cities to speed up and to lower the cost of building by requiring that they permit 15% more homes as a condition of getting the money. The more they build, they more they get; the less they build, the less they get. We pay builders based on the number of homes they build and realtors for the number that they sell. We should pay municipalities based on the number they permit. Is that not common sense?
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  • Feb/28/24 2:59:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this just goes to show once again that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing. He says that housing will be built over the coming years. He has been the Prime Minister for eight years. What has happened? He has doubled the cost of housing. Housing prices in Montreal have actually tripled in eight years. My common-sense plan will incentivize municipalities to build more housing by giving them bonuses if they build more and penalties if they build less. That is just common sense. Will the Prime Minister finally follow through on a plan for more housing and less red tape?
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  • Feb/28/24 3:03:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to wonder what was going through the mind of the Bloc Québécois leader when the Prime Minister asked him to spend $24 million on an app that was supposed to cost $80,000. He said that he would vote yes, regardless of the cost. That is what the Bloc Québécois said. In fact, the Bloc Québécois House leader said that it is not the Bloc Québécois's job to scrutinize everything the government spends. Its members just tell the government, “Go ahead”. What is the point of the Bloc Québécois?
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