Senator Lankin: I would like to thank you and Senator Gagné. The subject matter is difficult to make real and bring to life for people, particularly in speeches in the format we have in the Senate, but both of you do an excellent job. I, for one, am appreciative of that.

Senator Marshall, in particular to you, I think of you as our collective critic on these things. There may be someone else with those skills, but I don’t hear from them; I hear from you, and it helps me tremendously in my work. I want to thank you personally.

I have two questions. You talked again about a number of line items where there are large amounts of money but no particular detail. In some other cases, there is detail about line items but no particular source of the funding is identified. I would say that is something I experienced in the Ontario government when I was in cabinet and when I was in opposition. I’ve seen it in Ottawa under the Trudeau government, under the Harper government and under the Martin, Chrétien and Mulroney governments. I can’t go back further than that.

Has the Finance Committee done any kind of analysis to draw a trend line of these challenges and what they mean to parliamentarians and Canadians that they represent in terms of having in-depth knowledge and being able to refute or understand where your interests lay and are recognized in there? If that hasn’t been done, is that something that would be a worthwhile project for the Finance Committee to do?

Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Gold, another budget, and the Trudeau government still plans to triple the carbon tax that is crushing Canada’s farmers and consumers. It’s set to rise again on Saturday — fittingly, April Fool’s Day.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business tells us that this year, more than $8 billion will be collected from small businesses in carbon tax, and only $35 million of it will be returned in rebates. “The Food Professor,” Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, wrote in a column today that small agri-food business owners are also really feeling the squeeze. He said that, as a result:

. . . by 2030, the carbon tax will potentially become a much more significant driver of food inflation than climate change itself.

Senator Gold, when will this Trudeau government axe the carbon tax so that Canadians can afford to eat?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, when the recent reports of Beijing’s interference in our elections emerged, the Prime Minister did not treat them with the seriousness that they deserved. First, he blamed the whistle-blower. Then, he said the allegations were inaccurate, but he wouldn’t say why. He then went on to label legitimate questions as racism. After that, he had backbench Liberal MPs walk out and filibuster at committee for three weeks. Then, he appointed an old family friend and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation member as a made-up special rapporteur.

Leader, the budget contained almost $50 million for the RCMP to counter foreign interference and protect Canadians from this harassment. How did the Prime Minister go from dismissing these reports to giving them an entire section in his budget in just a few short weeks?

Senator Batters: Senator Gold, one in five Canadians are skipping meals because they simply can’t afford to eat. Prime Minister Trudeau’s inflationary spending is a major factor, and now he is cranking up the carbon tax that hits not only Canadian farmers but also agri-food businesses and will further drive up food prices for every Canadian consumer. Canada’s Food Price Report 2023 predicts that a family of four will spend more than $1,000 extra on food this year, almost $600 more than the GST credit they would get. No matter how you slice it, it just doesn’t cut it.

Last week, Minister Wilkinson actually referred to the carbon tax as an affordability measure. Clearly, he hasn’t lived in Saskatchewan for a very long time.

Why doesn’t the Trudeau government save its pennies-on-the-dollar rebates and instead axe the carbon tax to give Canadians real relief on their grocery bills?