- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Calgary Forest Lawn
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,041.76
- Government Page
- Nov/6/23 3:03:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister plans on quadrupling the tax on gas, groceries and home heating. He gave 3% of Canadians a pause on the carbon tax for home heating where his poll numbers were tanking and his MPs were revolting. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that if people in the Prairies wanted a pause on the tax, they should elect more Liberals. The MP for Calgary Skyview is a Liberal, but his constituents do not get the pause.
Will the Prime Minister let that member mail in a free vote on our common-sense Conservative motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on and shove this carbon tax where the Prime Minister's poll numbers are, in the gutter?
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- Feb/7/23 2:33:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, maybe they should start taxing the hot air coming out of the minister's mouth.
Canadians are watching the hypocrisy of the Liberal government taking more under its failed carbon tax scam while emissions go up because it has missed every climate change target it has set. Liberal inflation is driving up food prices and this failed carbon tax is contributing to one in five Canadians skipping meals.
Will the Liberals finally show some humility and take off the tax so that Canadians can keep the heat on, or do they think there is no business case for struggling Canadians to eat and heat their homes?
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- Feb/7/23 2:31:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians are suffering more than ever. His out-of-control spending fuelled a 40-year high in inflation. Rents have doubled. Home heating has doubled. Even food inflation has gone up. He pile-drove Canadians further by taking more off their paycheques and is going to take even more and cause even more suffering when he triple, triple, triples his failed carbon tax scam.
Will the Prime Minister show some humility and take the tax off so that Canadians can keep the heat on?
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- Feb/7/23 10:23:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, after eight long years of the current Liberal government's economic mismanagement, Canadians are paying the price. The Liberals' reckless government spending, coupled with their love of taxes, has caused this inflation crisis. Their failed policies have left this country with a 40-year high inflation, interest rates not seen since the 2008 recession, and continually rising taxes that seem to end up in the hands of wealthy Liberal insiders or sent out the door in inflationary spending. Worst of all, the government is going to triple, triple, triple the destructive carbon tax and add a second one on top of it.
The reckless spending by the current government started even before the COVID–19 pandemic. The Prime Minister's promise of $10 billion was broken when, even before the pandemic, he had already spent $100 billion. After telling Canadians he would have only modest deficits, he broke that promise completely. Of course, during COVID, the current government kept the money printers going, adding half a trillion dollars to the national debt, and 40% of that spending was not even pandemic-related.
Former finance minister and random Liberal Bill Morneau has admitted that the government overspent during the pandemic. Lucrative government contracts have gone to companies like SNC-Lavalin, WE Charity and the company run by former Liberal MP Frank Baylis. Of course, Canadians got nothing out of those contracts in all those cases, but the Prime Minister's friends were happily paid off and it cost Canadians. The Auditor General has even reported that $32 billion went to people who should not have received COVID benefits, including prisoners, dead people and even foreign nationals. It seems the Prime Minister ranks Canadians lower than even criminals.
Who can forget the $54 million spent on the ArriveCAN app, which failed to do anything but wrongly send vaccinated Canadians into government-run quarantine centres? What is worse is that the Liberals thought they should add $15 billion a year in spending on contracts that go out to high-priced consultants who have personal connections to cabinet ministers and even the Prime Minister. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer once said, this is not “keeping one's powder dry”.
The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, has said that inflation is a homegrown issue. He admitted to the finance committee that the current Liberal government's out-of-control spending drove up the inflation that plagues Canadians today. He even indicated that the eight consecutive interest rate hikes were necessary because the Liberals cannot help but spend, spend, spend.
The former Bank of Canada governor and future Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney told senators that inflation is a domestic problem. Former Liberal deputy prime minister and finance minister John Manley said that the Liberal spending is working against the efforts of the Bank of Canada to control inflation. He added that Liberal spending is fuelling inflation.
Inflation has also been fuelled by the current Liberal government's adding tax increases after tax increases. There is the triple, triple, tripling of the carbon tax, the new, second carbon tax coming this year, the payroll tax and the undemocratic escalator tax on the drinks Canadians enjoy.
When asked by Conservatives, the Bank of Canada governor admitted that the failed carbon tax is driving up inflation. It is not hard to see why. While inflation caused by Liberal spending has made everything more expensive, the Liberals' carbon tax is punishing Canadians, businesses and farmers for living their lives. Agriculture producers are dealing with higher prices for farm fuels, fertilizers needed to grow crops, and the feed they need to keep livestock alive. We know that, once tripled, the failed carbon tax will cost a typical farmer $150,000 a year, and the agriculture industry could lose upwards of $50 million on fertilizer emissions costs. The price of natural gas will jump as the tripling carbon tax adds about 30¢ per litre. Businesses are taking on the higher costs of buying goods, paying for transportation and paying for refrigeration and storage.
If farmers and businesses want to survive in the Prime Minister's Canada, they have to raise their prices. At the end of the day, they still need to pay their employees, pay the rent and pay for the Liberal tax increases. When producers making the goods are forced to pay more, it costs more for businesses to buy, transport and store goods, so it is not rocket science to see that it costs Canadians more to pay for the gas, groceries and home heating they need to survive in Canada.
It is that cost of living that is the issue. One in five Canadians is out of money. They are skipping meals or accessing charity services just to meet their basic needs; 60% of Canadians are cutting back on groceries, while 41% are looking for cheaper, less nutritious options. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment across Canada's 10 big cities is over $2,000 a month, compared to $1,171 a month in 2015. That is an almost 90% increase in rent. The average homeowner's mortgage payments have more than doubled since 2015, going from about $1,500 to more than $3,000 a month. Inflation on the interest on mortgages is up 18% year over year. It takes 60% to 70% of Canadians' paycheques to pay the mortgage, while inflation and the cost of living eat up the rest.
As we see skyrocketing home heating prices, due to the Liberal government cancelling good, clean energy projects that could have been made here in Canada, we also see that the carbon tax takes up about 18% to 20% of everyday Canadians' home heating bills. When Liberals triple, triple, triple the carbon tax, it would take anywhere from 40% to 60% of the bill alone, just on carbon tax.
Eighty per cent of variable rate mortgages have now hit the point where their mortgage payment is entirely just interest. The bank is forcing Canadians to pay more to pay down the principal part of their mortgage, and 45% of those homeowners on a variable rate mortgage will have to sell their homes in nine months. People living in one of the hot housing markets, like Ontario, could lose 30% on the sale of their house if they bought it in the last 12 months.
This carbon tax is a complete failure. It has failed to reach the Liberal emissions targets. In fact, Canada ranks 58th out of 63 countries in climate change performance. We rank lower than China and the U.S., and just barely perform better than Russia. It is clear the Liberal carbon tax is not an environmental plan; it is a tax plan. If Canada is to succeed on the environment and in our economy, government needs to get out of the way, incentivize businesses and let them thrive.
For decades, the private sector has been the innovators and developers of the technology that drives our economy forward. The right approach to addressing climate change is through technology and innovation, not tax. Liberals have crushed the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit and have even driven away investment. Since 2015, Canada has only seen a decline in investors wanting to bring their money to invest in our world-class businesses and industries, because of uncertainty caused by out-of-control Liberal spending, inflation and taxation.
We need to restore affordability and confidence to the Canadian economy. To do that, government is not, and will not be, the solution. Instead, it is time to fire the gatekeepers, cut the red tape and end the punishing tax burden on Canadians. Canadian workers and businesses are ready to get this economy back on track, restore good paycheques for our workers and reverse the damage caused by the Liberal government.
On this side, we know that the only way out of this affordability crisis is to stop the crazy government spending and instead make more of what money buys: affordable homes, affordable Canadian food and affordable, responsibly sourced Canadian energy. At a time of crisis for Canadians, Conservatives and our Conservative leader are listening and ready to act. Canadians are ready too, but they need to get the government out of the way. It is time to end the inflationary spending spree, end the cushy Liberal contracts and stop the tax increases. It is time to axe this failed carbon tax and let Canadians keep more in their pockets.
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- Dec/13/22 2:35:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our hearts and prayers are also with Jim Carr's family and friends.
Liberal insiders are the only ones benefiting from reckless Liberal spending. The Liberal trade minister's friend is the perfect example. She just got caught breaking ethics laws for giving her friend a lucrative contract.
This kind of wasteful spending is driving more and more Canadians into food banks. For every hard-earned dollar Canadians make, they owe $1.83. Failed Liberal policies have driven up the cost of home heating and made them double.
Why will this Liberal government not do the right thing, stop its reckless spending, rein in its spending and cancel the carbon tax so Canadians can keep the heat on this winter?
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- Nov/22/22 2:33:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals failed on the climate and the economy. What the minister fails to acknowledge is that the government has failed to hit a single climate target, failed to lower emissions, failed to deliver a real plan and ranked 58th out of 63 on its failed carbon scheme. Its only answer is a tax plan. Canadians are out of money, and the out-of-touch government thinks heat pumps are going to save them. Contrary to what the finance minister wants us all to believe, the carbon tax is not helping anyone, and neither is cancelling Disney+ subscriptions.
Again, why will the Liberal government not get out of the way and axe the carbon tax on home heating?
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- Nov/22/22 2:32:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Liberals continue to throw fuel on the inflationary fire and cause home heating costs to go up. Instead of addressing the real issue, Liberals are spending $250 million to make Canadians buy heat pumps they cannot even use this winter season. Today we learned the government will impose its crippling carbon tax on all Atlantic provinces, forcing families to take a heat pump handout instead of letting Canadians choose what works best for their own homes.
Why will the Liberal government not do the right thing, get out of the way and axe the carbon tax on home heating?
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- Nov/21/22 2:34:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of selling green fairy tales and telling Canadians to cancel their Disney+, the government should stop its inflationary spending and stop the plan to triple the taxes. Billions of dollars of cancelled projects, because of the costly coalition's climate zealot ideology, has made home heating unaffordable while not hitting a single emissions reduction target.
Why will the Liberal government not stop day dreaming, do the right thing and cancel its carbon tax on home heating?
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- Nov/21/22 2:32:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today's reannouncement of more government spending does not address the real issue of inflation and unaffordability. The Liberal government has demonized and kicked down Canada's energy industry for years. Instead of building energy projects in Canada that would have helped make home heating more affordable, the Liberals cancelled projects, killing good energy jobs while helping China build pipelines instead. As the government keeps spending, it drives up inflation, making gas, groceries and home heating more and more expensive.
Why will the Liberal government not do the right thing and cancel the carbon tax on all home heating?
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- Nov/15/22 2:32:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the finance minister cancels her Disney+ subscription to miraculously save Canadians from going to food banks, her government continues to tax Canadians to infinity and beyond.
Proving how out of touch she really is, she goes on the Liberal-friendly CBC to say the carbon tax is helping Canadians. The reality is that emissions are up and the carbon tax is only helping her government's greed while the cost of heating homes is doubling.
Why will the costly coalition not axe the tax on home heating and give Canadians a break?
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- Nov/4/22 11:33:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals are also hiding the fact that they are going to hit workers with a second carbon tax by the end of this winter that is going to cost them an extra $1,300. Inflationary spending, the Liberal inflation tax and the carbon tax are increasing the cost of essentials while sending more Canadians to food banks. While the costly coalition attacks Canada’s energy sector, our workers, seniors and families are paying the price.
Why will the Liberals not give Canadians relief and cancel their plan to triple taxes on home heating?
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- Nov/4/22 11:32:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, yesterday’s fall economic statement continues the inflationary spending of the costly coalition and fails to stop tax increases. Temperatures in Alberta have dropped below zero as the province gets blanketed in snow. Albertans are firing up their furnaces and are seeing their gas bills soar as the carbon and inflation taxes eat up their paycheques.
Why will the Liberals not give Canadians some relief and cancel their plan to triple tax on home heating?
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- Nov/3/22 4:30:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's policies have caused 40-year highs in inflation, leading to massive interest rate hikes on Canadians, which will cost Canadian families $3,000 a year.
Today the Prime Minister had a chance to give Canadians some relief by cancelling the carbon tax on home heating, but he refused. The Liberals refused despite the fact that home heating bills will increase by 50% to 100% this winter. They refused despite billions in new tax revenue on the growling stomachs of Canadians.
Will the Prime Minister stop punishing Canadians and cancel the plan to triple, triple, triple the carbon tax on home heating?
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- Oct/20/22 3:35:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on a question that my colleague, the member for Calgary Shepard, asked which the member refused to answer.
Does the member stand with the Prime Minister, her leader, who is punishing her constituents and those who live in her province? Because of bad economic and energy policies, her province alone has seen a 52.8% increase in fuel oils. Otherwise does she stand with her Liberal premier, her constituents and follow what the Conservatives are trying to do to help save on home heating bills for her constituents?
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- Oct/20/22 10:45:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is simply not true. About 80% of first nations along the route wanted the project to take place.
I am proud to stand with our new leader, who actually wants to see real reconciliation by partnering with first nation communities and giving them the sovereignty they deserve: economic sovereignty. This is what true reconciliation in this country looks like. I am proud to stand beside a leader who believes in that too.
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- Oct/20/22 10:43:11 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I respect the hon. member and have enjoyed working with him on the immigration committee.
It is one thing to keep attacking our energy producers, but where was the government, or anyone else, when they were not making profits? What about when there was a downfall, when Canadian energy was suffering, when it was being replaced by dirty dictator oil? What about all those job losses for the hard-working Canadians who worked in that energy industry, including newcomers to this country, people from the LGBT community and people from BIPOC communities? What about those people? Who was standing up for them? It was the Conservatives and the Conservatives only. That is what we will continue to do.
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- Oct/20/22 10:41:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me tell the member the difference between the two leaders today. We have one leader, the Prime Minister, who continues to divide and blame Canadians for his failed policies, cancels energy projects that could provide the world with clean, responsible energy, and punishes Canadians because he keeps missing his own targets and fails to keep his own promises.
Then we have a new Conservative leader who will stand up for hard-working Canadians, who will cancel the job-killing, crippling carbon tax and get clean Canadian energy to the rest of the world, which it deserves, lowering emissions and ensuring everyone has a job in our country.
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- Oct/20/22 10:31:47 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to add my voice in support of fighting to exempt all forms of home heating fuel from the carbon tax for all Canadians.
This week, we have heard a lot from all sides about the pain Canadians suffer as unjust inflation and the cost-of-living crisis make life absolutely unaffordable in Canada.
From a single mother skipping meals just to be able to feed her kids to a tradesman renting an apartment with his parents and still not being able to afford gas for his truck to seniors living on a fixed income and staring down the triple carbon tax, people are not sure if they can heat their homes or even keep them.
We hear from the Liberals and the NDP that Canada is in a much better position than the rest of the G7, yet the Bank of Canada is tied with the U.S. for the highest interest rates today.
What is worse is that it is widely expected that the bank will raise the key interest rate by another 75 basis points. That means we are looking at the interest rate being 4%. That is a 4% increase Canadians are forced to pay to borrow money or get a mortgage.
Why are there higher interest rates? To combat the unjust inflation created by the government's out-of-control spending. After an over $300-billion deficit in the fiscal year 2020-21 and an almost $100-billion deficit last year, the Liberals have been spending non-stop.
In 2021, the Conservative leader warned the government that its spending would cause inflation. Instead of heeding his warning, the finance minister claimed that Canada would actually see deflation. When inflation started spiking, she said it would be transitory. Boy, was she wrong.
The Toronto Star is now reporting that she has started to see the light. The finance minister told colleagues that in order to fund the Prime Minister's additional spending, cuts to other areas of government spending were needed.
Spending is not the only issue though. Yesterday, the finance minister admitted that with more stimulus money in circulation, there would be more demand for a limited supply of goods and services. In short, too many dollars chasing too few goods.
In the context of today's motion, the supply of LNG and other heating fuels are very relevant examples. When the government was elected in 2015, there were 15 LNG projects. Now, seven years later, none have been completed.
The same can be said for the Teck mine in Fort McMurray, the TMX pipeline, the northern gateway pipeline, energy east pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline.
On this side, we all know the value of Canadian gas. The world needs more Canadian oil and gas. Alberta has some of the most responsibly developed, produced and transported energy products. The oil and gas companies operating in Canada are the most significant contributors and developers of new clean technology to decrease their emissions.
Their innovation and use of green technology make Canadian oil and gas far more responsible than the dictator oil that the Liberals would instead bring in. Instead of Canadian energy being produced, refined and consumed in Canada, tankers of dirty Saudi oil are flowing down the St. Lawrence.
The government's dependence on foreign oil means that we send our dollars to the very OPEC-plus cartel that colludes with Russia to reduce the production of their energy products to drive down supply. At the same time, demand increases, causing record profits for countries like Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela.
It is not like Canada does not have other countries needing our oil and gas. For example, just this summer, when the Prime Minister made excuses for not having a business case to ship Canadian LNG to Germany, the German chancellor asked our country to increase shipments.
The Liberals did not even show the chancellor any Canadian LNG projects. Instead, they talked about hydrogen.
Hydrogen is a clean and practical option in which Canada needs to continue to invest. However, replacing LNG with hydrogen is years away and currently impossible.
Instead of capitalizing on economic opportunities to increase the production of Canadian energy and fight the OPEC-plus cartel, the government sided with the “leave it in the ground” left and backed Canada into a corner.
Instead of lowering energy costs for Canadians, we are at the mercy of Liberal-made inflation, reduced supply and foreign dictators dictating oil and gas prices. The cost of groceries, gas and home heating are skyrocketing because the government has created an environment where prices are out of control, supply is lacking and taxes keep climbing.
As the current government prepares to triple its carbon tax, Canadians continue to get hit with numbers like 37% inflation on natural gas and 48.7% on other fuels; 11.4% on groceries; 13.2% on gasoline; and an 8.3% increase in mortgage interest costs.
In a recent report, RBC is expecting that, “Rising inflation and higher borrowing and debt servicing costs are expected to shave almost $3,000 from average purchasing power in 2023.”
Let us suppose families are paying more for utilities, groceries, gas and mortgages. In this case, a $3,000 hit to their pocketbooks is absolutely devastating, especially with almost half of Canadians being $200 away from insolvency. Therefore, as we turn to the winter months when Canadians need to heat their homes, people are starting to make tough choices. Do they pay for gas or electricity bills to get heat, or pay for groceries, or even cover their mortgage payments. The fact that people in our country have to make that decision is a disgrace. That is why the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador wrote to the government last month, asking for a carbon tax exemption on home heating fuels.
Right now, inflated home heating bills are made up of roughly 20% of just carbon tax. After this year of inflation and the tripling of the carbon tax, that portion could increase to almost 60% of home heating costs per month. That is especially scary for Atlantic Canada, as fuel oils in Newfoundland are already up by 52.8%. According to yesterday's inflation numbers, in P.E.I. it is up 37.2%; 52% in Nova Scotia; and 45.4% in New Brunswick.
Analysts are predicting that home heating bills could increase this winter from anywhere from 50% to 100%, and in some cases around the country even 300%. The Ontario Energy Board also indicated that Ontario natural gas prices could increase by more than 150% this month.
Other Canadian premiers are also calling for the Liberals to cancel their tripling of the carbon tax as provinces fight for a better way to deal with climate change and lower prices for Canadians.
This summer, Nova Scotia submitted a provincial plan to get out of the federal carbon tax, but the federal government outright rejected it.
In Alberta, the province created the technology innovation and emissions reduction program. It puts a price on carbon for heavy emitters and the collected funds get reinvested in advancing technology and innovation to reduce omissions, such as carbon capture and sequestration.
These are the types of advancements that Canada needs to replace the out-of-touch carbon tax. Punishing Canadians for heating their homes, driving to work or just eating is absolutely wrong.
While the government continues to ignore its out-of-control spending and fails to address inflation or the need for development investment in Canadian energy projects, the least it can do is exempt hard-working Canadians from paying the carbon tax to heat their homes.
Canadian energy production needs to be increased to grow the supply and lower prices.
Winter is coming and the pocketbooks of Canadians are in the red. I ask all members to do the right thing and vote for this motion. I call on the government to have some decency, get off the necks of Canadians and cancel its plans to triple its carbon tax.
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