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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 291

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 19, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)
  • Mar/19/24 10:28:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative motion today is very short, clear and concise. They are relying on numbers, and I imagine that the Conservative Party is very thorough and does not pull numbers out of a hat. They claim that 70% of Canadians oppose the 23% tax hike that will take effect on April 1. However, if we look at the survey, we see that those numbers apply to the government's decision to exempt heating oil from the carbon pricing legislation, not to the legislation itself. Did the Conservative Party forget to specify that in its motion?
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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • Mar/19/24 1:26:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member has spoken a lot about the disinformation that the Conservatives have been spreading, and I agree, but the Conservative member asked him a very fair question about small businesses. We know that the federal government currently owes small businesses and indigenous groups $3.6 billion. Those are rebates that the government has promised small businesses, and they are still waiting. The government has also said it is going to give small businesses less because it has doubled the rebates for rural Canadians. Why would it make small businesses pay for that when we could be making big oil and gas pay for it? The output-based pricing system is unfair. Suncor pays 14 times less than an average Canadian does in carbon pricing. Why not make big oil pay what it owes?
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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)
  • Mar/19/24 3:06:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for that MP from British Columbia, but I am really disappointed that he seems entirely ignorant of how the price on pollution works in B.C. There is no federal backstop in B.C. There is no federal backstop on B.C. small businesses nor on the people of B.C. B.C. has an exceptional system for pricing pollution, which the province has had in place since 2008. The people of B.C. are proud of it, and they should be.
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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Mr. Kody Blois
  • Mar/19/24 3:46:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will respond in English. I would try in French, but that was a nuanced question. The hon. member hits it right on the head. If we were to cut the price signal altogether, it actually would hurt industry in Quebec. I guess the position of the Conservative Party is to hurt innovation in Quebec and to hurt lower-income families if the federal backstop was in place, but it is not because the Quebec government actually believes in moving on climate change. They are trying to suggest that this price signal is not good for innovation in this country, and it is not good to be able to meet our targets internationally. I do not know what the position is. I cannot speak for the Conservatives, but the way they villainize the carbon pricing policy and suggest that it is all that ails people in society is short-term thinking. It is not nuanced, and if they do not like the federal backstop, they should be proposing and pitching other types of credible environmental plans, which I have yet to see.
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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Ms. Lindsay Mathyssen (London—Fanshawe, NDP)
  • Mar/19/24 4:34:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, earlier today my colleague, the member for Victoria, asked similar questions and did not receive a good response, so I will ask this member. In terms of output-based pricing, New Democrats do not believe it is fair. We do believe in carbon pricing. However, Suncor pays 14 times less than an average Canadian in carbon pricing. Why will the government not make big oil companies pay what they owe and pay their fair share?
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