Hon. Leo Housakos: Senator Gold, it’s getting cold outside. Even here in Ottawa, there is no denying that winter is on its way. However, yesterday, your Liberal colleagues in the House of Commons chose to further punish hard-working Canadians by voting against our motion to remove the carbon tax from all home heating in Canada. The gimmick announced by Justin Trudeau a couple of weeks ago does nothing to promote the use of cleaner forms of home heating fuel, but does leave 97% of Canadian households out in the cold. Those Canadians are struggling not only to keep the heat on this winter but also to fill up their cars to get to work, keep food on the table and keep their barns warm to produce food that the rest of us eat. Do they not matter because not enough of them voted Liberal? Is that what this is all about, Senator Gold? Is this a bribe, Senator Gold, or a threat? Which of these two is it?

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, I am pleading with this government. Canadians are having a hard time heating their homes and putting food on the table for their children. They’re having a hard time getting from their homes to work, very often costing them more to get there than what the work actually pays.

When will this government lift its boot off the throat of working-class Canadians and allow them to breathe during these terribly difficult times which your government has created and contributed to in creating this inflation?

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question again is for the government leader in the Senate, and again it has to do with energy and heating costs in this country, which are rising at astronomical speed right now, and Canadians, of course, in this vast, beautiful, cold country of ours need to heat their homes as the winter comes around.

It’s a very simple question, government leader. Why is it that in a country like Canada, where we’re sitting on an abundance of oil and gas, in our province of Quebec and in Atlantic Canada, 50% of the oil is being imported from foreign sources? Explain that to me.