44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 9, 2024 10:00AM
- Apr/9/24 10:20:41 a.m.
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moved:
That the House declare that the Prime Minister convene a carbon tax emergency meeting with all of Canada’s 14 first ministers; that this meeting address:
(a) the ongoing carbon tax crisis and the financial burden it places on Canadians,
(b) the Prime Minister's recent 23% carbon tax increase,
(c) plans for provinces to opt-out of the federal carbon tax to pursue other responsible ideas to lower emissions, given that under the government's current environmental plan, Canada now ranks 62 out of 67 countries on the Climate Change Performance index; and
that this meeting be publicly televised and held within five weeks of this motion being adopted.
He said: Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for South Surrey—White Rock.
Imagine for a moment a person who fell into a coma in 2015 and who wakes up today. Imagine the last impression that they would have had at the time, in 2015, when inflation and interest rates were almost as low as they have ever been in the history of Canada. At that time, taxes were falling faster than at any time in Canadian history. The budget was balanced. Crime had just fallen 25%, and small-town folks could even leave their doors unlocked.
Our borders were secure and our immigration system was working. It was not perfect, but overall, established Canadians and newcomers were satisfied with the situation, which was orderly and compassionate. Housing cost half of what it does today, the average rent was $950, an almost laughably low number by today's standards, and take-home pay had risen by 10% after tax and after inflation. This represented one of the largest pay and income increases for Canadians in a half century. In fact, this was even making news internationally. The New York Times said that Canada's middle class was richer than America's for the first time. At the same time, trouble was brewing in the world, with wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, none of which caused inflation here at home.
However, now the person has awoken, eight years later, to find a completely different country. Inflation, after hitting a 40-year high, is still higher than its Bank of Canada target. Per capita income is declining. In fact, Canada has the worst per capita income growth rate of all the G7 countries, and it is expected to have the worst OECD growth out of 40 developed countries for the next five and a half years and the next 35 years.
Some families have had their existing mortgages extended to 90 years or even 120 years because their mortgage loan is higher now than when they took it out, due to interest rate hikes that the Prime Minister had promised would never occur. Houses in Canada now cost 50% more than in the United States. People can buy a castle in Sweden for a lower cost than they could buy a two-bedroom apartment in Kitchener. Toronto has the worst housing bubble in the world according to UBS Bank. Vancouver is the third-most expensive city when comparing median income to median housing prices. Vancouver is more expensive than New York, London, Singapore and other places that have more people, more money and less land. Fewer houses were built last year than in 1972.
That person waking up today would learn something else: Our national debt has doubled. When they fell into a coma, the national debt was about $600 billion. Now it is up to $1.2 trillion.
The debt has doubled. This Prime Minister has added more to our national debt than all other prime ministers combined.
The streets have become unsafe. There has been a 100% increase in the number of criminal shootings. People are afraid to walk down the street. Crime is everywhere. Cars are disappearing. When the person wakes up, they will hear Toronto's chief of police telling people to keep their keys near the door so that car thieves can peacefully steal their vehicles. That is the Canada they will wake up to. The Prime Minister's solution to all this is to increase taxes and deficits and to let more criminals loose. Another thing the person will see is that the Bloc Québécois supported all of the policies that led to this nightmare.
There is still hope, however, because there is something else the person will see when they wake up: a common-sense party that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. The first step will be for the Prime Minister to meet with the provincial premiers to reverse the policies that caused the hell we are experiencing across the country and to discuss axing the carbon tax and other taxes in order to allow Quebeckers and all Canadians to succeed through hard work and pay an affordable price for food, housing and gas in a free country. That is good old common sense, and that is what we are offering.
Imagine that, in fact, someone had been in a coma for the last eight years. They would have gone to sleep in 2015 in a country where inflation and interest rates were rock-bottom, taxes were falling faster than at any time in Canadian history, the budget was balanced, crime had just fallen 25% so small-town folks could leave their doors unlocked, our borders were secure and our immigration system was uncontroversial, with everyone agreeing it worked and was the best in the world. Housing cost half of what it does today; the average rent was $950, an almost laughably low number by today's standards. Take-home pay had risen by 10% after tax, and after inflation in the preceding years. The New York Times had just called Canada “the richest middle class”; in fact, it said that Canada's middle class was richer than America's for the first time.
This was with lots of trouble in the world, with wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and, yes, Ukraine, none of which caused inflation here at home. At the time, of course, we had former prime minister Harper, who was able to keep inflation and unemployment low even while the world suffered turmoil.
However, now the person has awoken, eight years later, to find a completely different place. Inflation, after hitting a 40-year high, is still 50% higher than its 2% target. The economy is shrinking in per capita terms; it is smaller than it was six years ago, perhaps the first time that has ever happened in Canadian history. Canada is expected to have the worst OECD growth out of 40 countries for the next five and a half years and the next 35 years.
It now takes 25 years to save up for a down payment for a mortgage in Toronto, and many people have had their existing mortgage extended to 90 years and 120 years, meaning their great-grandchildren will still be paying it off. Houses in Canada now cost 50% more than in the United States. People can buy a castle in Sweden for a lower cost than for a two-bedroom home in Kitchener. Toronto has the worst housing bubble in the world. Vancouver is the third-most expensive when comparing median income to median housing prices.
This is the nightmare that would have been unimaginable to someone had they fallen into a coma and just awoken now. However, there is good news. They do not want to fall back into a coma, because the best is yet to come. We now have a common-sense Conservative alternative that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. We call on the Prime Minister to meet the premiers and talk to them about their desire to see the tax cut or eliminated altogether.
Let us grant relief to our people now until there can be a carbon tax election, where the people of this country will restore the common-sense consensus that will allow anyone from anywhere to do anything their birthright is, so that with hard work they can afford a good home and good food in a safe neighbourhood in the country we love, which is all of our homes. It is their home, my home and our home. Let us bring it home.
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- Apr/9/24 10:32:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not need to criticize the government's immigration policy because the Prime Minister has done it for me. He has said that the immigration system is out of control. Those are his words, reiterated by his immigration minister, both of them apparently blaming the preceding immigration minister for screwing the entire system up so badly that they allowed hundreds of thousands of students to come in to study at fake institutions that do not even exist. They are diploma mills, by the government's own description. Now those kids are abused, taken advantage of and forced to work 20 hours a week. They are going home in body bags and forced to rent out half a bed for four hours a day, paying $700 a month.
It is absolute chaos in our immigration system after eight years of the cocktail of total incompetence and radicalism that has defined the Prime Minister and his appallingly incompetent immigration and now housing minister, the member from Nova Scotia, who has given us 35 homeless encampments in the biggest city in his home province.
That is the deplorable record that someone, having fallen into a coma eight years ago, would be shocked to wake up to.
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- Apr/9/24 10:34:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no industrial carbon tax on the oil and gas sector, so the member should do her research before she asks questions like that. In Alberta the province has something called the TIER system, which is a provincially administered system. It stands for technology innovation and emissions reduction. It allows the large industrial players to invest in green initiatives to reduce their emissions at no cost to consumers. It is one of the reasons our oil and gas sector is the most advanced in the world.
What I propose is that we produce more of our clean Canadian oil and gas to displace the dirty dictators of the world. The real question is why the NDP wants to put good union workers in western Canada on the unemployment line, steal their jobs and send those jobs to foreign dictators around the world. We common-sense Conservatives would bring home those powerful paycheques for our people in this country.
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- Apr/9/24 10:36:23 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has supported every program that the Liberals have brought to the table. The Bloc Québécois voted in favour of this government's $500‑billion discretionary spending in the estimates. That money will be used to centralize and expand the government's powers. I want to clarify that I am not talking about spending on health care or seniors, which is already legislated and does not need to be voted on in the House. I am talking about spending on bureaucracy, consultants and large centralizing programs here in Ottawa.
Ottawa needs to stop building a bigger bureaucracy. Ottawa needs to shrink the bureaucracy and ensure there is more construction, less red tape and more houses. That is the Conservatives' common-sense policy.
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- Apr/9/24 2:19:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the common-sense Conservatives are going to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.
However, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost. After eight years, he has doubled the national debt, causing generational inflation and forcing two million Canadians to turn to food banks thanks to programs that did not work. His own figures show that the Prime Minister will be spending more on servicing interest on the debt than on health care.
Why is he giving more money to bankers than to doctors and nurses?
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- Apr/9/24 2:21:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yet more proof that he is not worth the cost.
His continued out-of-control spending has caused the worst inflation in 40 years. Two million people now have to go to food banks every month. He has doubled the cost of housing, even with $80 billion in housing programs. These programs inflate government spending and encroach on provincial jurisdiction.
Will he meet with our premiers to defend his inflationary, expansionist, centralizing approach?
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- Apr/9/24 2:22:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, common-sense Conservatives will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Indeed, his carbon tax, which the Parliamentary Budget Officer has proven costs 60% of Canadians more than they get back in rebates, is now opposed by 70% of Canadians. Everybody understands that the tax is driving people to food banks. That is why six premiers, including the Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, have asked for a meeting.
Will the Prime Minister agree to a televised carbon tax conference if he is so sure of himself on this issue?
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- Apr/9/24 2:24:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is mathematically impossible given that the NDP-Liberal government has a combined majority and can pass anything it wants, which is exactly why we are in such a mess today as a country. After eight years, the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost. That is why the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirms that 60% of Canadians are paying more in carbon taxes than they are getting back in rebates.
If the Prime Minister believes the contrary, why does he not have the courage to sit down in a televised and open forum and have a carbon tax conference with the premiers?
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- Apr/9/24 2:25:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he met the premiers in 2016. Since that time, he has broken the promise he made them. He said the tax would only go up to 11¢ a litre. Now, he admits it will go up to 61¢ a litre. He said the tax would make people better off. Now, we have the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, which confirms that 60% of Canadians pay more than they get back.
The Prime Minister said, in 2015, “Canadians need a Prime Minister who will meet with the Premiers”. What happened?
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- Apr/9/24 2:32:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the incoming leader of the Liberal Party has just given a speech and given advice to his soon-to-be predecessor. Mark Carney said that he agrees there should be a carbon tax conference, where the premiers can come together and share their concerns about the Prime Minister raising the cost of living and breaking the backs of Canadians. If the Prime Minister will not listen to me and will not listen to the Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, will he at least listen to his successor and meet with the premiers on the carbon tax?
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- Apr/9/24 2:34:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Mark Carney, who is the next Liberal leader, is a fierce supporter of the carbon tax. He has been called “Mark 'carbon tax' Carney” in the past. He is willing at least to defend his carbon tax views in front of the premiers, but the Prime Minister is not. He is running for cover and hiding from Canadians, refusing to defend his own policy decisions.
If the Prime Minister is really so proud of his plan to hike the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre, why will he not listen to Mark Carney and have a big, open, televised carbon tax conference?
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