- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Independent
- Spadina—Fort York
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 62%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $144,966.01
- Government Page
- Jun/1/23 12:58:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to read into the record an analysis by the Hon. Dan McTeague. He spent 18 years serving in this place as a Liberal MP, and he now serves as the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy. He states, “The Clean Fuel Standard is simply another tax grab by this government that will raise the cost of everything with no benefit to the environment.” He adds, “It is shocking that this government insists on moving forward with another ineffective tax during a time of soaring household costs”.
What is my colleague's analysis on how this tax is going to drive up household costs?
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- Jan/31/23 5:50:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are going through tough financial times. We see higher interest rates, inflation, high food costs and soaring housing prices. This all leads to a very shaky and uncertain future for many Canadians.
On top of this, the government is proceeding with a series of taxes on fuel at a time when many households are just trying to heat their homes. If the clean fuel standard led to just a $30 monthly increase for Canadians, what harm would it cause? The answer is, plenty. According to the Daily Bread Food Bank, “A $30 per month increase in rent would lead to 73,776 more visits to food banks annually in Toronto and 375,512 more visits across Ontario.” That 375,512 is equivalent to everyone in Spadina—Fort York, my riding, and two other ridings of my Toronto colleagues, the parliamentary secretary's colleagues. How disconnected from the economic realities of Canadians is the federal government?
The clean fuel standard adds $1,277 annually to energy costs. It also does not stop at creating higher prices for gasoline, diesel or home heating fuel. It is added at every component in production processes. For example, it is added to the cost of nitrogen that is purchased by farmers to grow food we all eat, to trucks transporting food to the grocery store, and to the selling of food to consumers. Even if people do not drive, they still eat, and the clean fuel standard will drive up those costs. These associated costs contribute to higher prices at the grocery store but also to inflation, and everyone is struggling with inflation.
On the one hand, we have the Bank of Canada trying to wrestle inflation to the ground by raising interest rates, and on the other hand we have the government trying to pile-drive Canadians into the ground by raising taxes. What a tag team of indifference to economic hardships that abound.
The government has refused my request to delay implementing the clean fuel standard until the Canadian economy no longer faces a looming recession, to a time when Canadians have some breathing room and the government has found realistic answers on how to get the country back on some semblance of sound financial footing. Moreover, to add insult to growing food bank visits, the lack of environmental benefit from the clean fuel standard is appalling. The only thing that is being cleaned is what little money is left in the pocketbooks of Canadians.
In light of the fact that the clean fuel standard would actually increase net emissions, what environmental catastrophe would occur if we delayed the implementation of the clean fuel standard by six months? Is this just another way for the government to pay for its wanton overspending off the backs of Canadians?
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- Nov/3/22 3:10:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, an independent analysis of the Liberals' second carbon tax, the clean fuel standard, has found that it will actually increase net international greenhouse gas emissions. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet and are trying to heat their homes and put food on the table. Why does the government want to add $1,277 to annual household energy costs?
What is being cleaned here are the pocketbooks of Canadians, without any environmental benefit. If the government insists on proceeding with this high-cost hypocrisy, will it at least delay the clean fuel standard by six months?
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- Nov/1/22 6:21:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what my colleague did not read from the government talking points is direct research that analyzes the impact of the clean fuel standard. This research by Professor Ross McKitrick found that the net international effect of this is likely to be an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
I want to ask my hon. colleague, who appears to be just as oblivious as the government to the harsh realities facing so many Canadians, if it would be possible to at least delay the implementation of the second carbon tax by six months. This is not a political thing; it is the right thing to do for Canadians who are struggling.
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- Nov/1/22 6:16:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to further debate the government's second carbon tax: the clean fuel standard. As I alluded to in my initial question, it would be unconscionable for the government to proceed with introducing a second carbon tax, one with limited efficacy, at a time when Canadians are facing incredible financial hardship. This is no game. It is very real.
I ask the hon. member to pretend for a moment to be a pensioner living in Atlantic Canada where most people use oil to heat their homes. This new tax will further increase the cost during a long, cold winter.
Perhaps my colleague could imagine being part of a family of four in downtown Toronto as they dread the weekly trip to the grocery store. Food inflation is at 11.4%. It is the highest in 40 years. Half of Canadians, me included, have only ever known this to be the highest in their lifetime. People are struggling to put food on the table and some are going without a meal. Canadians also worry about being able to make their rent payment or their monthly mortgage payment.
Can the hon. member please explain why the government would want to proceed with a second carbon tax that will increase household energy costs by up to 6.5%? That is an additional annual cost of $1,277.
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- Oct/21/22 12:08:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, a report by economist Ross McKitrick has exposed the true cost of the government's clean fuel standard. This second carbon tax would increase per-household energy costs up to 6.5% a year. That is an extra tax of $1,277 annually. With food inflation at 11.4% and families struggling to afford basic necessities, the government is going to make things worse, a lot worse.
The government says this tax would reduce Canada's carbon intensity footprint. Will the government admit that it would be minimal at best and achieved on the backs of Canadians working in the bleak economy predicted by the finance minister?
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- Jun/23/22 3:15:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, fuel costs continue to soar. Inflation and food prices are at their highest in 40 years. With Canadians facing unprecedented struggles to get by, the government reverts to reannouncements of programs. Government smoke and mirrors will not pay the mortgage or rent, nor will they put food on the table.
Will the government eliminate its disgraceful triple-dipping tax on gas? President Biden has asked for a three-month federal gas tax holiday. Has the government clued in on this? Is it going to do anything?
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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/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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