- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Lethbridge
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,565.29
- Government Page
Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to stand in this place and to address a very important issue. That issue comes down to affordability. It comes down to the well-being of Canadians from coast to coast, to those who live in rural areas, in urban areas, in my province of Alberta and in Atlantic Canada.
The debate tonight has to do with being able to buy the very basics of life, including fuel for a person's vehicle so that they can drive to work or take their kids to sport practice. It is a conversation about being able to put food on the table, whether that is fruits, vegetables, grain or dairy. Whatever a family chooses to consume, they should be able to afford those choices.
Furthermore, Bill C-234 is about being able to heat one's home. I do not know about others, but where I live in Alberta, we can get temperatures down to -53°C with the wind chill. I cannot imagine trying to heat my home with a heat pump, as the Liberals would like to suggest is possible, nor can I imagine relying on wind or solar as my sole source of electricity, because we had a proof point, just a few weeks ago, that it just does not work.
Instead, what people rely on to heat their homes in my part of the country is largely natural gas. The Liberal government has attached something called a carbon tax to those very necessities of life, whether it is the food we eat, the fuel that we put in our vehicles or the energy that heats our homes. The carbon tax is punitive in nature, and it is driving up the cost that Canadians have to pay just to survive.
Bill C-234, which we are discussing here today, has to do with taking the carbon tax off the fuel that farmers use for the very necessities of the jobs they do. Imagine putting all of one's time and energy and all of one's labour into producing food for the nation of Canada and for the entire world. Imagine doing that, and then imagine having a government in power that, rather than expressing gratitude toward them, actually punishes them. That is exactly what the Liberals have done for the last eight years.
The carbon tax is extremely punitive in nature. It goes after those individuals working hard to produce food. It does that by applying this tax to the very necessities of production. Whether it is using natural gas to heat a barn in order to keep chickens alive or dairy cattle alive, or whether it is using propane to be able to dry grain, let us say, those are things farmers do on a day to day basis. Those things are necessary to produce food for Canadians and for the world. Those things are required to keep us, as humanity, alive and to drive our economy forward. Rather than celebrating the incredible contribution that farmers are making, the Liberal government has chosen to go after them and to be extremely punitive.
On this side of the House, members got together and came up with an idea. That idea is brilliant. It is supported by producers all across the country. That idea is to remove the carbon tax from fuel, from natural gas and from propane so that farmers can produce food at less expense.
Here is what happens when farmers are empowered to produce food with little expense attached to it. Those savings get passed on to Canadians. Then, when Canadians go to grocery stores and buy food for their families, they are able to pay a little less. However, when the government attaches that tax, it actually drives up the cost of food, so Canadians then have to spend more.
What will happen when Canadians have to spend more? Headlines across this country will show us exactly what will happen. Families are struggling. Millions are lining up at food banks every single month across this country. In my riding, in Lethbridge, Alberta, the food bank use has doubled under the Liberal government. It has doubled.
It is not just folks who maybe do not have homes or who live in low-income housing. It is folks who have full-time jobs and live in middle-class neighbourhoods. It is seniors who rely on fixed incomes, who have worked incredibly hard for 65, 75, maybe 80 years of their lives. It is the students studying at Lethbridge College or the University of Lethbridge who are investing in their education and, because of the government, cannot afford to make ends meet, so they have to go to the food bank. It is the veterans who fought for this country, the country that we love. It is the men and women who sacrificed a great deal, and are now not supported by the government, who are lining up at the food bank.
That is a problem that was created under the watch of the Liberal government, but it did not have to be that way. The government has created policy after policy that has punished Canadians and held them back from achieving greatness, from being able to bring in income and stretch it to cover their costs of life. It is the government that has prevented people from being able to do that.
On this side of the House, there is a concerted effort to give Canadians control of their lives back. There is a concerted effort to make sure they can afford the very necessities they require. Of course, top of mind is to axe the tax, and that is exactly what Bill C-234 would do. Bill C-234 is all about getting rid of this punitive tax, taking it off of farmers and allowing all Canadians to benefit because, when farmers benefit, so do the people who go to the grocery store to buy food. That is what this bill is about.
Here is what the government did. This bill was discussed in this place and then went to the Senate, which started out with some good common-sense thinking. At first, it seemed that the majority in the Senate was going to support this bill because it just makes sense, but then the Liberal government, in particular, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Environment, caught wind of this. What did they do? They got on the phone, asked for meetings and applied pressure. They applied pressure to the senators, who are supposedly independent, and eventually those senators caved. The bill ended up being gutted to the point of being meaningless, and that is what we are now debating in this place.
Canadians deserve better. For starters, they deserve better behaviour from the government, and second, they deserve better policy. They deserve policy that would allow them to work hard for a paycheque, bring that money home and be able to cover the cost of things they need to purchase, whether it is groceries, fuel for their vehicles or their heating bills. Canadians need to be empowered to cover those expenses, and a big part of that is axing the tax.
In my riding, a producer was willing to share his natural gas bill with me. He has a few different parts to his farming operation, but just for one of them, the beef operation, he spends $62,000 a year on the carbon tax. He was willing to share some his bills with me, which I reviewed, and month after month the carbon tax is more than the amount he spent on the actual natural gas used. That is crazy. It is ludicrous that a farmer would have to spend more on the tax than the product itself.
What also needs to be driven home is that we have to remember that all Canadians, including farmers, are not just paying the carbon tax, but the tax on top of it. They are paying a government tax and a provincial tax on top of the carbon tax. It is the greatest scheme for the government to make money, but it is on the backs of Canadians, and the government should be ashamed of itself.
Conservatives are going to work hard. We are going to fight for Canadians. We are going to make sure their paycheques stay powerful. We are going to axe the tax.
1409 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/7/23 3:09:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, what I heard from the member opposite is that the government is committed to picking winners and losers, and the winners are the 3% who use oil to heat their homes. They will not have to pay a carbon tax for the next three years, but the rest of Canada will.
When the minister for rural affairs was asked about this, she said that people need to vote more Liberals in and then they will give them their attention, referring to those in other parts of the country, of course. Those who live in the constituency of Edmonton Centre did elect a Liberal member of Parliament, and yet they were not shown that favouritism. They were not given the benefit of having the carbon tax removed.
My question is simple. Why is the government so hell-bent that the people of Edmonton Centre still have to pay the carbon tax on their home heating?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
161 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/7/23 3:07:22 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister paused the pain of his carbon tax on 3% of Canadian families in the areas where his polls were the lowest. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that if people in other regions wanted to see a pause as well, then they needed to vote Liberal. However, the people in Calgary Skyview did vote for a Liberal member of Parliament, who yesterday could have voted to keep the heat on and take the tax off, but instead voted no to the people of Calgary Skyview.
Why is the government so hell-bent on quadrupling its carbon tax that the member for Calgary Skyview left his constituents out in the cold?
115 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/31/23 3:12:12 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are hurting more than ever before. The government's solution is actually to divide our country by picking winners and losers.
For some Canadians, they will save $1 on the carbon tax with regard to their home heating, because, of course, it will be temporarily paused, but for those in Alberta, they are not given the same benefit. They will continue to pay the carbon tax.
The Minister of Labour and Seniors had this to say. He said that this is purely an affordability issue. Conservatives believe that this is true. It is an affordability issue for all Canadians, not just some.
Could the Minister of Labour and Seniors tell me why the seniors in my community do not deserve the same break as the seniors in his community?
140 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/13/23 2:16:42 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years under the current Prime Minister, we live in a country where parents are actually watering down their baby formula in order to make ends meet and seniors are turning down their thermostats or choosing to skip meals in order to be able to pay their bills.
The Liberals continue to shrug their shoulders and say they are not responsible. When asked about the carbon tax, a Liberal MP quipped, “There needs to be a bit of pain there. That's the point”. I guess the Liberals are achieving their goal.
Canadians are definitely feeling the pain. A young mother recently came into my office and shared with me that when she opens her home heating bill, it feels like a gut punch. She has to choose between properly feeding her family and paying the bill.
Canadians are out of money and cannot afford to eat, heat or house themselves. They are without hope and living in a broken Canada.
Canadians deserve a brand new government that will put control back in their hands. Conservatives will keep the heat on and take the tax off.
191 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/7/23 2:35:59 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, that is the answer of a government that is entirely out of touch with the needs of Canadians and the pain they are truly feeling in this country right now.
Another constituent of mine came in and joked that to get from A to B in Canada, B now stands for “broke”. What he was talking about was the need to be able just to get to work and the skyrocketing cost that has ensued there, as well as the need to feed the family and heat the home. These costs have gone up because of the Prime Minister's carbon tax.
Once again, when will the Prime Minister finally wake up to the reality that is out there, that Canadians are truly experiencing pain, and when will the Prime Minister decide to keep the heat on by taking the tax off?
146 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/7/23 2:34:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister's carbon tax, Canadians continue to struggle. They continue to struggle to be able to heat their homes, to be able to feed their families, to be able to commute to work. After eight years, things are not looking better.
Recently, a 70-year-old woman came into my office with her heating bill in her hand and tears down her face because she cannot afford it. She has turned her thermostat down to 17°C. It is -36°C outside.
My question is very simple: Why will the government not show a little compassion and take the tax off so that Canadians can keep the heat on?
119 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
