44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 28, 2024 02:00PM
- Feb/28/24 2:37:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer himself recognized that the $1,800 in rebate that we are sending, for example to a family of four in Alberta, is more than that family of four pays in the price on pollution. That is the calculation that is done right across the country that shows that eight out of 10 families are better off with the Canada carbon rebate than what they pay in the price on pollution in areas in which it is brought in.
We are both fighting climate change and delivering more money to households across the country, money that he wants to take away.
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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 2:38:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the first conclusion of the Parliamentary Budget Officer is, in the math, on the face of it, that eight out of 10 families get more back on the price on pollution through the Canada carbon rebate.
The reality is that if one wants to talk about longer-term and broader economic consequences of a price on pollution, they have to talk about the cost of inaction and about the benefits of investing and innovating in carbon reduction technologies. That is the full picture that the Leader of the Opposition does not want to look at because he does not think one can build a strong economy and fight climate change at the same time.
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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 2:40:19 p.m.
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The right hon. Prime Minister.
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- Feb/28/24 2:40:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, families in Ontario are going to be getting a Canada carbon rebate worth $1,120 this year for a family of four. A family in Nova Scotia will get $824, and a family in Saskatchewan will get $1,500 this coming year. That is more, for eight out of 10 families, than the price on pollution actually is.
We are fighting climate change. We are innovating and creating the jobs of tomorrow. We are putting more money in the pockets of Canadians through cheques that the Leader of the Opposition would take away.
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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 2:41:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with record-setting wildfires last year, with floods, with climate—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/28/24 2:41:46 p.m.
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The hon. Prime Minister has the floor, from the top.
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- Feb/28/24 2:41:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with record-setting wildfires across the country, with droughts and with floods, Canadians know the costs of the impacts of climate change. The Leader of the Opposition has no plan to fight climate change. He is not proposing anything except to pull away the price on pollution that forces polluters to pay right across the country and puts more money, through cheques that arrive four times a year, in Canadians' pockets in jurisdictions where there is a carbon price.
We have a plan to fight climate change and put money in people's pockets. He has no plan.
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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 2:43:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member suggests that I do not have to get angry about climate change. I am sorry; Canadians are worried and angry about climate change. They saw the wildfires that cut across this country last summer and that have already started up in Alberta. They see the droughts. They see the floods.
The Conservatives have no plan. Their plan is to withdraw the four-times-a-year cheques that land in the bank accounts of Canadians and that the Parliamentary Budget Officer demonstrated give more money to eight out of 10 families right across the country in jurisdictions where the rebate is applied.
We have a plan. He does not.
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- Feb/28/24 2:44:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there was a unanimous vote in committee to support the bill introduced by my colleague from Shefford, which seeks to end the discriminatory treatment of seniors with respect to old age pensions; this discrimination is between those aged 65 to 75 and those over 75.
Since the vote was unanimous, it is safe to assume that the Liberal members were instructed to vote in favour of the bill. Consequently, that it will likely be part of the budget.
My question for the Prime Minister is this: Will increasing the pension and putting an end to age discrimination be included in the budget?
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- Feb/28/24 2:44:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to seniors, we have taken steps to recognize seniors who face higher costs, namely those who are 75 and older, and to give them a little more support.
On top of that, we are implementing dental care for seniors. This week, seniors aged 70 and over can register to start receiving their dental care in May.
We are here to help seniors. We are here to invest. We are here to help the most vulnerable. We will continue to be here to support our seniors across the country.
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- Feb/28/24 2:45:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is all well and good, but it is in the past. I want to know what he is going to do in the future.
I would remind the Prime Minister that his committee members voted in favour of the bill, which will be sent back to the House. I am therefore going to assume that the Prime Minister is not leading us on, that he is not leading on those who were the most vulnerable during the pandemic, who are the most vulnerable in general and who are the most vulnerable to inflation.
Will he use the budget as an opportunity to end age discrimination between seniors and to increase benefits for all seniors?
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- Feb/28/24 2:45:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since 2015, we have increased benefits, we have increased the guaranteed income supplement and we have recognized that, yes, seniors are facing difficult times, especially older seniors. Vulnerable seniors over the age of 75 have more expenses.
That is why we are in the process of giving more targeted help to those seniors while also helping all seniors through investments in housing, dental care, the new horizons for seniors programs and so on. We are investing across the country to help seniors. That said, we are always going to recognize those who are the most vulnerable.
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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 2:47:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as one of the Conservative leader's own MPs recognized, there is absolutely no data or proof to link their theory around the price on pollution and the price of groceries.
However, if the Conservatives actually cared about affordability for Canadians, they would have voted in favour of dental care for our most vulnerable seniors and for young families who cannot afford to send their kids to a dentist. That is what we are delivering and what they are voting against. They would not be stalling on the competition reforms to ensure that we are actually moving forward on greater competition to stabilize grocery prices.
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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 2:48:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that many Canadians are facing extremely difficult times, which is why we are continuing to step up our supports across the country for food banks, for programs and for supports for vulnerable Canadians. This is something that we have taken seriously, and we will continue to.
At the same time, we are continuing to move forward on concrete measures to help Canadians, such as dental care, pharmacare and child care. These are things the Conservative Party continues to vote against in terms of helping vulnerable Canadians and in helping with affordability. The Leader of the Opposition is there to instrumentalize vulnerable Canadians and to try to play politics off of them. He is not there to help them.
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