- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Independent
- Spadina—Fort York
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 62%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $144,966.01
- Government Page
- Jun/22/22 10:22:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague listed a number of things that he says his government is doing. Who is paying for these things? It is Canadians. It is Canadians' hard-earned taxpayer dollars that are being used to fund these things.
However, I did not really hear anything beyond great, grand commitments. How does that help someone who is struggling? It is cold comfort to someone who is sitting at the table at the end of the night, wondering whether they can feed their family next week.
What I hope my hon. colleague could help me to better understand is not a rehashing of things that have already been announced but what Canadians can expect, what my constituents can count on as they struggle to pay their bills.
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- Jun/22/22 10:15:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are struggling with soaring gas prices and the highest increase in food costs and inflation in 40 years. While Canadians are struggling, the government has refused to provide relief, despite the fact that it is raking in billions off the backs of consumers. Worst of all, the government is filling its massive fuel slush fund by the taxing of taxes. I speak, of course, of the HST being applied to the federal excise tax on fuel, the federal carbon tax on fuel and the provincial tax, never mind the product. My god, I am sure that if the Liberals could get away with it, they would put a tax on a tax on a tax.
This is why I am going to ask the government, for a fifth time now, to please help Canadians.
I know that my colleague will likely have some government talking points. I am going to help him out, so that we can really get to the substance of this debate.
The Liberals are likely going to cite child care. Yes, child care is great. I support child care, but how does $10-a-day child care help Canadians if they cannot afford the gas to take their child to day care? What about those of us who do not have kids or whose kids are adults now?
The Liberals will tell us that inflation is a challenge that multiple countries are facing. They might even list the countries where inflation is worse than in Canada, but our concern should be our constituents and Canadians here. How does the fact that it is worse elsewhere help those of us struggling here at home?
The Liberals might mention that payments are coming from the carbon tax and list the projected amounts that families are supposed to be rebated. When? People need help now. Can people expect payments when they can still afford to make a mortgage or rent payment or when they can still afford to put food on the table?
The Liberals will likely also cite how supply chains and many things are outside of the government's control. Do members know what the federal government has complete control of? It has complete control over how it chooses to use the massive slush fund of at least $2.5 billion. That is $2.5 billion extra that the government had not budgeted for or earmarked, the windfall.
Doing nothing is a choice. If the government wants to choose to continue to tax taxes, that is its prerogative, but I will plead with my hon. colleague to please put himself in the shoes of people who dread the end of the month and who wonder whether or not they will be able to make their bill payments. People are at their breaking point. They need help.
I hope that the fifth time is the charm and that this fifth call on the government will be enough to persuade it to help struggling Canadians.
Therefore, I ask my hon. colleague this: Will the government stop taxing taxes and will it please help Canadians who are struggling?
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- Jun/15/22 3:14:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are facing soaring gas prices. However, most consumers are unaware of the federal government's hidden fleecing. It is called “tax cascading”, and it must stop.
In Ontario, the government applies HST to fuel purchases and then applies it to the excise tax, the carbon tax and the provincial tax. The government is taxing taxes. If it is serious about helping Canadians, the government should take its triple-dipping tax hands out of consumers' pockets.
Will the Prime Minister eliminate tax cascading and provide Canadians with a fuel tax rebate from the massive slush fund that he is raking in?
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- Jun/14/22 6:24:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will acknowledge that there are countries around the world that are facing challenges with inflation. I acknowledge that point by my colleague. He mentioned there are certain things out of the countries' control. What is within the federal government's control is what it will choose to do with $2.5 billion extra that it did not plan to have.
Canadians are struggling now. What about single Canadians? Family support is fantastic and $10-a-day child care is great. What about those who do not have children? One in seven Canadians lives in poverty. They are struggling now with the cost of gas, the cost of food and so on.
I will ask, for the third time now: Will the government help struggling Canadians and provide relief following a precedent that a previous Liberal government had done?
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- Jun/14/22 6:19:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the price of gas has risen over 40% year over year. If we look up the price of gas in the GTA right now in, from Toronto to Richmond Hill, we will see that it is currently around 209.3¢ per litre. The cost of gas is up, way up, and so is the price of food.
Even if someone does not drive, farmers drive to plant, to harvest and to do so much more, and they need gas. To get the food they grow to our grocery stores, they need gas. Gas prices are up 40%. It is no surprise that food prices have risen almost 10%.
We have seen the largest increase in the cost of food since 1981. That is a 41-year record. In 1981, I was not even born yet. My parents were still in a refugee camp. If we take into account the fact that Canada’s median age is 41.1 years, that means for half of Canadians, myself included, the increase in the price of food is the highest it has ever been in our lifetime. The price of gas is also the highest I have ever seen in my lifetime.
The soaring cost of gas and food is crushing Canadians, but while Canadians are struggling, the government is just raking it in. How much is it bringing in? Let us do the math. Annually, 65 billion litres of gasoline and diesel are sold in Canada. The GST revenue that the federal government collects from just these two fuels alone works out to about $6 billion a year.
However, members will remember that gas prices are up 40%, so the federal government stands to pocket $2.5 billion extra that it never budgeted for or earmarked. Those billions of dollars belong to Canadians.
I know I have much more time to speak, but I am going to jump straight to the point. The federal government has a duty to give this slush fund back to Canadians. I will ask this of the government, yet again: Will the government provide relief to struggling Canadians, just as the fiscally prudent and compassionate Liberal Paul Martin government did? Yes or no?
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- May/18/22 3:15:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the soaring cost of gas has eviscerated Canadian consumers. With an unprecedented 6.8% inflation rate, people are wondering where next month's mortgage or rent is coming from, all while the GST is slashing through what remains in their pocketbooks. The government knows it is raking in billions of extra dollars.
Will the Prime Minister introduce a tax rebate, as the fiscally prudent and compassionate Martin government did, to help Canadians, yes or no?
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