SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)

Mar/19/24 11:22:17 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we lived through the dismal decade of the Harper years, when Canada was the fourth-worst country in the world with respect to emissions around climate change. We saw the doubling of housing prices under the Conservatives. We saw the doubling of food bank line-ups under the Conservatives. We saw people forced to work longer and longer as the retirement age of seniors was scrapped. It was terrible. My question for the Liberals this. Why have they continued so many of the same practices? The massive handouts to oil and gas CEOs have continued under the Liberals. Yes, they have moved up from the absolutely deplorable record of the climate-denying Conservatives, but only a few spots. The reality is that the Liberals should be putting in place things that the NDP have been pushing in the House of Commons as the adults in the House, such as ensuring that we actually have an excess profits tax, that we end oil and gas subsidies and that we actually invest in clean energy. Why are the Liberals not doing the things that they know they have to do, if we are really to beat this battle against climate change?

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Chris Bittle

Mar/19/24 11:23:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are doing it. We are ending fossil fuel subsidies. We are engaging in serious plans on technology and on other issues. It is not just a price on pollution; it is a comprehensive plan. We are working on it, and we are happy to work with the NDP on this issue. We have been taking action since 2015, and we will continue to do so.

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Greg McLean (Calgary Centre, CPC)

Mar/19/24 11:49:13 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have an important question for my Bloc Québécois colleague. According to her, the carbon tax should be $239 per tonne rather than $170. Did she take into account the implicit carbon tax created by the subsidies to battery plants? The Liberal government has given approximately $45 billion in subsidies to foreign companies so far. Does she agree with the figure given by the Quebec government, which determined that the implicit carbon tax was $800 per tonne, money that comes out of Canadian taxpayers' pockets?

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Alexandre Boulerice

Mar/19/24 12:23:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the NDP has not shied away from criticizing those measures, which are actually hidden subsidies to oil and gas companies. My colleague from Timmins—James Bay is introducing an important bill on behalf of our party to ban oil and gas advertising, similar to how we banned tobacco advertising. At the same time, we have forced the Liberals to do things they had never done before that are going to help average Canadians. For example, people who make less than $70,000 a year will have access to a dentist. I have given 15 presentations in seniors' residences in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. People are extremely pleased with our efforts because we are delivering concrete results that will change people's lives and change the face of the world, no pun intended.

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Mar/19/24 1:09:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if the member is concerned about homelessness and initiatives this government has put forward, I would encourage him to not be tempted into voting against all the opposed items the Conservatives will be putting up. As I indicated, two of them, the Reaching Home program to address homelessness and the Canada housing benefit, are on the chopping block as a result of the opposed items the Leader of the Opposition has put forward. The reality of the situation is that, while he says we are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, we have phased out the fossil fuel subsidies. The only way we continue to subsidize, in any way, the fossil fuel industry is to help to deal with abandoned orphan oil wells. That member might that think that it is not our problem, because they were companies from 50 years ago. We should leave the wells there, and that would be the end of that. Unfortunately, governments at the time did not think it was good to ensure that the proper money was in place to deal with those wells later on, so now society has to pick up the tab. That is the unfortunate reality. However, it is something that we have to do in our environmental interests.

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Mar/19/24 1:10:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think we need to talk about going well beyond subsidies. We know that in Great Britain they had an excess profit tax on oil and gas; that is the Conservatives in Britain. We cannot even get Liberals to do that. Right now, the Liberals have ended the Canada greener homes loan program. I have constituents who want to access that program. I have contractors saying they are going to have to lay people because they were employing people and were supporting Canadians who wanted to do the right thing. My questions to my colleague are these: Will they charge an excess profit tax on oil and gas? Will they not just fund the greener homes loan program but also actually provide it with the necessary resources to make it through a full budget cycle so that all Canadians can access it?

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Mar/19/24 1:55:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in June I asked the Parliamentary Budget Officer what would happen if we did away with the carbon tax and went toward subsidies and regulations, or what would happen if we did nothing. The U.S. has made it clear there would be a border carbon adjustment, and I asked what the impact would be on those eight in 10 Canadians. He said that it depends exactly what is done in place of the carbon tax, but if we just speak about a carbon adjustment at the U.S. border, that would probably lead to an economic slowdown in Canada and it would be significant, depending on the adjustment, of course. However, he said it was not unthinkable that this could lead to negative impacts on sectors that are more energy-intensive. He said it would drive up inflation in the U.S., and that in Canada it would probably have the opposite effect and act as a depressor on economic activity and on prices. It would be the opposite effect, which is not much better. This is what he cited. In fact, one could say it is worse because it would depress economic activity. My colleague ran on a price on pollution. As my colleague knows, I am always trying to work on solutions. What are Conservatives proposing in place of a carbon tax to ensure that Canadians do not get the impact of a carbon adjustment at the border with the U.S., the U.K. and the EU?

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Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

Hon. Steven Guilbeault (Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)

Mar/19/24 3:17:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are doing exactly that. We are the first country, the only country, in the G20 to have phased out fossil fuel subsidies, two years ahead of everyone else. We are the only country that has committed to eliminating public financing for fossil fuel subsidies. We have the best performance of all G7 countries in terms of greenhouse gas reduction between 2019 and 2021. We are working to fight climate change. We are working to improve air quality all across the country.

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