- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Calgary Forest Lawn
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,041.76
- Government Page
- May/30/24 2:34:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Liberal math used by the anti-Alberta minister says that jacking up the carbon tax 20% is somehow going to fix forest fires and reduce the—
Some hon members: Oh, oh!
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Madam Speaker, I withdraw that part of my statement unequivocally.
However, that member stands up here and continues to prop up the government, which has driven more Canadians into food banks than ever before, and then she has the gall to talk about farmers, when she completely supports almost putting our farmers into bankruptcy and not helping Bill C-234 pass in its original form so that we can bring down the cost of gas and groceries. The bill would help reduce costs for our hard-working farmers, yet they go on this attack on our farmers always and are okay with the cost of everything going up. They continue to prop up the government.
I think that member needs to stop protecting her leader's penchant for propping up the corrupt Prime Minister. It is time to get out of the way and go to a carbon tax election so that Canadians, and especially Albertans, can tell her and her government where they stand on the carbon tax. After the next carbon tax election, Canadians are going to scrap the Prime Minister and that NDP government.
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- Apr/18/24 1:12:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the great member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
Whether one is an immigrant to this country like myself, or has lived here throughout one's life, it is really hard not to feel like Canada is not the same Canada anymore. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, it feels more broken than it has ever felt. It is hard to walk down the streets of our major cities and not see tents everywhere, as well as crime, chaos and disorder, or to walk by a business that has a “for lease” or a “for sale” sign because they became insolvent.
We hear stories all the time about mothers having to put groceries back on the shelves because they are not sure if they can afford them or having to buy less nutritious food. Those moms, as well as seniors, have had to find other options because rents have gone up and mortgages have doubled. Now we are hearing stories about students living under bridges. We are hearing about nurses and teachers who have good jobs, but after nine years of the government, they have to live in their cars because they cannot afford housing. It is harder and harder for people to eat, heat and house themselves after nine years of the government.
High interest rates have been driven up by the government's deficits. Once again, last week, Canadians looking for any kind of relief when it comes to housing, received none. There is no hope at the end of that tunnel because the Bank of Canada, once again, had to hold the rates higher for longer. Due to rates staying higher for longer, builders are not building, buyers are not buying and developers are not developing.
This country used to be one where, if people put in the hard work, they would be able to get something out of that. The member previous to me spoke about personal experience. We moved here as immigrants. We did not come here with much. I was considered an at-risk youth. We went through really harsh poverty. My family and I used to stand in line for low-income bus passes. However, there was a promise that was kept in Canada back then, something that we called the Canadian dream, where if people worked hard, they would be able to see the fruits of their labour.
Today, after nine years of the government, the Canadian dream has turned into a nightmare for more and more families. Those who have moved here have said this is not the Canada that was promised to them, one where people could own a business, own a house, afford groceries and have an affordable place to live. Those people who have lived here all their lives are wondering what they are doing here as this place just does not feel like the same Canada anymore. That is because, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, life has never been so miserable or more expensive.
How did we get here? The Prime Minister, after saying that budgets balance themselves, has delivered eight inflationary budgets that drove up inflation to 40-year highs. Canadians have seen the most rapid and aggressive interest rate hikes that have never been seen before in Canadian history. The Prime Minister slammed a carbon tax scam onto Canadians, making the cost of everything even more expensive. Just recently this month, when 70% of Canadians were telling him to spike the hike and to not go ahead with a carbon tax increase, he still increased the carbon tax by 23%.
Just now the government's own Parliamentary Budget Officer once again confirmed what he said before the carbon tax increase, which was that a majority of families will be worse off after this carbon tax scam, factoring in the economic and fiscal impact of what they would get back from the so-called rebate. He also confirmed that they would still be worse off after the hike on April 1.
There is misinformation coming from the government. The government does not understand the real pain that all of these bad policies have caused for Canadians and why Canadians feel like this is not the same Canada any more. The dream and the promise of Canada is gone.
Just this year alone, the Liberal-NDP government will force taxpayers, Canadian taxpayers, to pay more for the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister's interest on the debt he accumulated than what goes to health care or national defence. Can members believe that? This means that $54 billion is going to go to bankers, bondholders and this Prime Minister's Bay Street buddies rather than going to doctors, nurses and hospitals. That is after nine years of this Liberal-NDP government.
There is no relief because, on his way to quadrupling the carbon tax scam, he increased the carbon tax by 23%. We instantly saw, all across the country, what that did when people were filling up their gas tanks or when they went to the grocery stores.
There is nothing, also, on top of that to address the productivity issue. Senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Carolyn Rogers, recently said that Canada's productivity is a break-glass emergency. The Bank of Canada saying that should ring alarm bells. When the Bank of Canada is saying it is raining, there is probably a thunderstorm or a tornado coming. That is after nine years of the government.
It is not just Conservatives or the Bank of Canada saying this. Liberals are calling out other Liberals about this budget. A proud Liberal, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge, said that this is going to be the worse budget since 1982. This is because Canada is in a productivity crisis that was created by the government when it drove out investment. In fact, it has driven more than 260 billion dollars' worth of investment out of Canada since 2016 because of its failed policies and its anti-energy, anti-Canada, anti-Alberta, anti-resources agenda.
This woke agenda is the reason why people are not investing in Canada and people are leaving Canada. They are leaving everything on the table here and just leaving, and this is because they do not see any reason to invest.
There is more of a tax burden. There is a lot more red tape and regulation here than anywhere else, even though Canada has some of the best standards when it comes to environmental standards and human rights standards, yet this anti-energy, anti-business government continues to drive more and more of our powerful paycheques outside to dirty dictators and other places when it should be here for our people.
Canada is in that bad of a situation when it comes to productivity. Canada has the worst economic growth in all of the OECD countries. In fact, our GDP per capita, or per person, which is how we consider how each Canadian is determined to be successful in this country, is worse today than it was in 2018. That means that Canadians are poorer. It is clear to see when two million Canadians are going to a food bank in a single month, and a million more are projected to be this year, and when, like I said, students are living under bridges, and nurses and teachers are living in their cars. That is Canada after nine years of this Liberal-NDP Prime Minister.
This budget does absolutely nothing but pour another $40 billion of inflationary fuel on the fire that this government started, with higher deficits, higher taxes, more pain and more suffering for Canadians. It was not like this before this Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, and it will not be like this after he is gone.
He is not worth the cost. After the next election, the carbon tax election, Canada will see a common-sense Conservative government that would axe the tax to bring down the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. It would also knock off a huge chunk of the inflation we see today, which means that interest rates could come down at a faster rate. Common-sense Conservatives would build homes, not more bureaucracy, like we have seen after nine years of this government, which pumped in $89 billion of inflationary spending to only double housing costs, doubling rents and mortgages.
A common-sense Conservative government would incentivize municipalities to increase their permits by 15% so that they could build. We would fix the budget. We would bring in a dollar-for-dollar law so that interest rates and inflation could come down and so Canadians would not have to lose their homes. We would work responsibly with taxpayers' dollars and not throw it away like this government does, and we would stop the crime, chaos and disorder we see in this country. We need to help our loved ones get back on their feet through recovery and not through more drugs.
We would bring it home for Canadian people and restore the Canadian dream this great country used to have.
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- Mar/22/24 11:33:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the minister from Alberta should be ashamed of himself. He is constantly ramming the Prime Minister's woke ideology down the throats of Albertans, when he should be the voice of Alberta at the cabinet table.
Why does he not stand with the majority of Albertans, who say to axe the tax and scrap this scam, instead of standing with the corrupt Prime Minister? I have a simple question for him: Does he have his job references lined up? I ask because, after the next election, he and this carbon tax scam will be gone.
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- Mar/22/24 11:31:42 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, after eight years under the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister and his carbon tax scam, Calgary food bank usage has skyrocketed 50%. Albertans pay $2,900 into this scam and only get $2,000 back. There is a really bad Liberal math joke in there that just does not add up.
Yesterday this costly coalition voted to hike the carbon tax by 23% on April 1. Why is their obsession with the carbon tax more important than the 70% of Canadians who are telling them to spike the hike so they can feed their families?
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- Mar/21/24 4:26:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to correct the member on many of the falsehoods he stated, and not even with my own facts. The Prime Minister's own hand-picked Parliamentary Budget Officer said that more Canadians are worse off because of this carbon tax scam, and there is more and more proof. An average Alberta family will pay $2,900, but the rebate is only $2,000. In Ontario, where the member is from, an average family will pay $1,600 in this carbon tax scam and will only get $1,000 back. The PBO has debunked everything the member is saying, and I will remind the Liberals that it has not helped emissions come down.
When 70% of Canadians and premiers, including the premier in the Liberal leader's province and a Liberal premier in Atlantic Canada, have asked the government to spike the hike because families cannot afford to eat, heat and house themselves, why is the Liberals' radical ideology about this carbon tax more important than those 70% of Canadians who are asking the government to spike the hike? Why do they not let Canadians decide, in a carbon tax election, whether they want to keep this carbon tax scam or scrap the Prime Minister and go with a common-sense Conservative plan?
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Madam Speaker, I am going to be splitting my time with my good friend and colleague, the great member for Foothills, who is from the great province of Alberta.
Before I get started, let me give another shout-out to another fellow Albertan, another colleague in this House who has done incredible work on this unjust legislation, the member for Lakeland. She has been an absolute advocate not only for our province but also for our world-class and world-leading energy sector.
The world needs more clean, responsible low-carbon energy. Not only does the world need Canada's world-class energy, but Canadians need it too. They need it not only to heat their homes, keep the lights on and fuel their vehicles, but for the economic benefit it brings.
After eight years of the incompetent Liberal-NDP government, it is just not worth the cost for Canadians or our resource sector. Canada is last among developed countries for GDP per capita growth. Canadians are suffering with the worst GDP per capita growth rate since the Great Depression, or since the 1930s. GDP per person in Canada today is just under what it was halfway through 2018. That means Canada has had five years' worth of economic productivity wiped out.
According to the OECD, Canada will remain last among developed countries for GDP per capita growth through 2060. The government has been doing one thing really well, which is chasing investment out of our country. As our leader once said, all of our exes are running away to Texas.
The costly Liberal-NDP coalition has not just been chasing investment out of our country, but chasing out jobs, people and talent as well. People do not want to move to this country because they do not see a future here anymore. When my family came here as immigrants, there was a hope in Canada that if one put in hard work, one would be able to see the fruits of that labour. However, after years of the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, all that hope has been wiped away by bad economic policy that has told the world that Canada is not open for business anymore.
This unjust legislation would further hurt Canada's economy and reputation on the world stage, as if the Prime Minister's reputation has not already damaged Canada enough.
The Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada was formed just a few years ago to advocate against the government's anti-competitive and antiworker policies. Now half of its manufacturer members have already moved or are moving their operations out of Canada.
The green industry in Canada will not even make a dent in the kind of economic development and growth needed for recovery. In 2007, the clean-tech sector was 3% of Canada's GDP. Today, even after billions and billions of tax dollars and government subsidies and billions more in private sector investment, it is still only 3%, and 1.6% of employment.
Despite the anti-energy agenda by the Liberal-NDP government, the unconstitutional “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69, the tanker ban bill, Bill C-48, cancelling Energy East, cancelling Keystone XL and not building any of the 18 LNG projects proposed when the Prime Minister took office, Canada's energy sector still represents 10% of our GDP and, with the related manufacturing that comes with it, contributes over $120 billion to our economy. Canada needs its energy sector to be strong to attract businesses, investments and jobs in order to get our economic growth and productivity back on track.
The Liberal-NDP government loves nothing more than to vilify profit or the success of large Canadian industries. When it comes to Canada's energy sector, it is like a sport for the left to see who can hate it the most. There is a big cost to these failed Liberal-NDP policies, these anti-energy and anti-Canada policies. These attacks will throw at least 170,000 people out of work across the country, many of them in my home province of Alberta and many in my riding of Calgary Forest Lawn. They will displace another 450,000 workers and risk the livelihoods of 2.7 million Canadians in all provinces and sectors, regardless of whether they are working class or middle class.
We know that people would lose jobs with the unjust transition the left is proposing. We already saw it in Ontario under Kathleen Wynne with the green energy program, which killed off nearly 100,000 jobs directly. The 50,000 green jobs those Liberals promised to create never materialized. In Alberta, the Rachel Notley NDP, in 2015, implemented a just transition, and in small mining towns like Hanna, just north of Calgary, workers were promised new green jobs once their coal mining jobs were wiped out. Just as in Ontario, over 1,000 workers left town because the jobs that had been promised were not there. This was in a town of just under 3,000 people, and 1,000 were driven out of work and out of town.
The sheer number of job losses we are talking about on a national scale is devastating, especially at a time when Canadians face a cost of living crisis. Sixty per cent of Canadians are choosing cheaper, less nutritious food because they cannot afford healthy options. Millions of Canadians are visiting food banks as families choose between keeping a roof over their head and keeping food on the table. Nearly a third of mortgage holders are concerned they will not be able to afford their mortgage, as interest rates could increase monthly payments by 40% or higher.
It is not just the jobs, livelihoods and communities that suffer when the Liberal-NDP government attacks our energy industry. It is also hurting Canadian pensions. The Canadian pension plan and Ontario pension plan invest billions in Canada's oil and gas sector because they know it is a good return on investment. In fact, seven of the largest pension funds in Canada remain invested in Canadian oil and gas. By firing energy workers and attacking our world-class energy sector, the Liberal-NDP coalition is attacking the retirement security of Canadian seniors and workers.
There is a huge impact of this unjust transition on communities and Canadians. There is nothing fair, equitable or remotely just in this blatant anti-energy attack. The Liberal-NDP government, with its war on Canadian jobs and paycheques, is not worth the cost. Canadian energy companies provide good-paying jobs, even good union jobs, for Canadians.
As an example, the Keystone XL pipeline project was to employ 1,400 direct and 5,400 indirect jobs in Alberta alone. The province and TC Energy partnered with Natural Law Energy, an indigenous-led and indigenous-run company. Many of the Canadians who worked on the project were indigenous. The economic benefit for Albertans in surrounding rural communities kept people employed and businesses running.
Canadian energy companies are also leaders in the investment and development of clean technology. Seventy-five per cent of private sector investment in clean technology comes from the oil and gas sector.
Canada's energy sector contributes $48 billion in taxes and royalties to all levels of government. These continuous attacks on our energy sector drive up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. We do not need to go very far to ask a Canadian about that. We have talked to Canadians all across this country who just last winter were hit with the failed policies of the Liberal-NDP government when we saw the cost of heating homes double and saw gas prices at record levels. All of these things are contributing to the cost of living crisis we see today with the failed carbon tax scam that the Liberal-NDP government continues to introduce.
It was not like this before the Liberal-NDP government and it will not be like that after the Liberal-NDP government, because when the member for Carleton becomes prime minister of this country, we are going to bring it home. Conservatives will bring home energy production to Canada to produce energy here and create jobs to get Canadians good paycheques instead of giving dollars to dictators. We will green-light green projects like tidal water, hydro, hydrogen and LNG. We are going to make sure that we support our seniors by axing the failed carbon tax to bring down the cost of gas, groceries and home heating and bring home lower prices. We are going to bring it home for Canadians.
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- Jun/6/23 2:35:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my constituents, like all Albertans, rejected the Liberal-NDP government and elected a strong Conservative government just last week. She can spare us her Disney+, Mickey Mouse lectures because not all Liberals are as incompetent as the government is. Former Liberal finance minister John Manley said that Liberal spending fuelled inflation. The former Liberal premier of Nova Scotia Stephen McNeil said that governments continuing to spend beyond its means would only increase inflation.
How come random Liberals understand the importance of balancing a budget and the incompetent Liberal government does not?
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- Jun/5/23 7:33:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is simple. The member is from Alberta. We will cut what Albertans voted for. We will cut the carbon tax.
In 2019, Albertans overwhelmingly voted in the Conservative government. Its number one priority, and first bill, was to cut the carbon tax. Once again, last week, we saw Albertans overwhelmingly support and vote in a Conservative government that is against the Liberal-NDP failed carbon tax scam.
To the member for Alberta, we are going to stand with Albertans and axe the carbon tax, just as they asked for when they voted in the UCP government and gave it that mandate.
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- Jun/5/23 5:07:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me just start off by reminding the member that Edmonton is in Alberta and that Albertans overwhelmingly selected a majority Conservative government, rejecting the same carbon tax that we are debating right now.
He wants to talk about disrespect. We can talk about the one in five Canadians who is skipping meals and the 1.5 million people who are visiting food banks because that party is making food, groceries, home heating and fuel more and more expensive with the failed carbon tax. We cannot call that party an opposition party anymore, because it is part of the government.
It has failed to hit a single emissions reduction target, yet it is making things worse for those struggling Canadians and putting more tax on the backs of Canadian families.
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- Jun/5/23 5:06:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am just as excited as they all are that Albertans rejected the same failed carbon tax the Liberal-NDP government keeps boasting about. I congratulate Albertans, Danielle Smith and the UCP majority government—
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- Jun/5/23 5:05:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, speaking of elections, let me congratulate Alberta and all Albertans for electing another UCP Conservative majority that once again rejected the Liberal-NDP government, including the job-killing carbon tax, the inflationary carbon tax—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Jun/5/23 4:06:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was a scam all along, and Conservatives knew it from the beginning. The Liberals and the NDP sold this carbon tax as something that would fix the environment, and the higher it went, the better the environment would get. The weather would get better. They also said that Canadians would get more back in their pockets than what they would pay into the scam in the first place. Were they wrong? Boy, were they wrong. The Conservatives were right all along.
Now the Liberals and the NDP have nowhere to hide. This was a scam that made the cost of gas, groceries and home heating even more expensive. Remember that at first they sold it as a levy? They said it would be a levy for your Chevy. They said that the more one drove, the more one would have to pay, so maybe people would change their habits. Boy, was that wrong.
It does not take a government economist to see that Canadians were sold a bill of goods. The PBO says that low-income Canadians were hit the hardest by this scam. We are already seeing Canadians suffering today because the Liberal-NDP government spent and put Canadians further into debt than all governments before them combined. It made inflation go up.
We have seen 1.5 million Canadians visiting a food bank in a single month. We have seen one in five Canadians skipping meals in this country. One in four Canadians today are having to borrow money from their friends and family just to put food on their table, and now more and more Canadians who are being driven to food banks are asking for medical assistance in dying because they are hungry. This is the state of Canada today under the Liberal-NDP government.
When my family and I came here, we came here to live the Canadian dream. Under the Liberals and their costly coalition partners of the NDP, that Canadian dream is dead. Canadians are working harder than ever before, sometimes two or three jobs, and they are not getting anything back in return. They are paying higher taxes than ever before because the government continues to spend. It continues to break its promises. It promised a balanced budget in 2015. It said it would balance the budget, and by 2019, there would be no more deficit spending. It is 2023, and it still continues to break that promise. It is breaking that promise on the backs of hard-working, struggling Canadian families.
There are these continued failed experiments, such as carbon tax number 1, and now they are introducing another one, carbon tax scam number 2. That does not have any phony rebates with it. The first carbon tax scam is going to cost each and every Canadian household an average of $1,500. The second scam is going to cost every single Canadian household on average $537. That is more than $2,000 on the backs of hard-working Canadian families.
I talk to newcomers to this country all the time, and they have the same complaint. They ask us, “Why did we leave the country we came here from? We came to Canada looking for a better future. We were promised a lot. We were promised a better future. We were promised a safer future. We were promised that we could get ahead with the more work that we put in.” Now they feel like they were scammed.
They come here working harder than ever. At the end of the day, they have a Liberal-NDP government working against them and their hard work, so much so that now one in five newcomers are thinking about packing up and leaving this country. Most are only living here for about two years. They cannot afford the cost of living, and they have a government that is dead set on making sure that they take more from these newcomers than Canadians. With their carbon tax scam 1, they told Canadians they would get more back in their pockets. They promised, “We'll take some money from you, and we promise to give you more back.” Conservatives did not believe that in the first place. We knew it was a scam all along.
In my home province of Alberta, Albertans will be paying $2,500 more into this scam than what they get back. In Ontario, it is almost $2,000. This carbon tax scam was not as advertised from day one. Thank God the Parliamentary Budget Officer exposed the truth and the scam behind what the Liberals were selling for years. Do members remember when they promised that it would not go over $50 a tonne? They broke right through that promise, like they did when they said they would balance the budget.
More Canadians are finding it harder to eat and heat their homes. We hear about seniors having to cover themselves with blankets during the wintertime just so they do not have to pay the high heating bills they keep getting every single month. Heating bills have almost doubled across this country. Why? It is because the climate zealot, ideologically based Liberal-NDP government blocked and stopped any energy projects from being built in this country. They could have helped not only lower the price of energy in this country, but lower the cost of the fuel to heat our homes, of goods and even of food. However, the government continues to block them over and again. Why? It is because it wants to look woke. It seems like the more the Liberals go woke, the more Canadians go broke.
We have an environment minister who, as far as I know, is the only one in this House who has worn handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit at the same time. He is dead set on making sure our energy costs are the highest in the entire world. Not everyone has the luxury of having transit close to them or being able to ride a bike everywhere they go. We have hard-working Albertans and people who live in northern parts of Canada who have no other choice than to drive pickup trucks. What are the Liberals doing? They are punishing the people who are trying to make this country better, the people who are literally building this country with their hands and putting in hard work to make Canada the best place in the world. What is the government set on doing? It is punishing them. It is punishing our seniors and each and every worker in this country.
It is sad that newcomers to this country are not seeing the same opportunities that my family and I saw. We did not come from a really great background. We struggled for many years. There was a deal back then that Canada had: If someone put in the work, they would get something in return. However, with the government, the harder people work, the more they pay and the more they will be punished. Never before in my life have I seen people who used to volunteer their time and donate their money to food banks standing in those food bank lines themselves. That is the sad state of this country after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government.
It is sad to see people who do not want to stay in Canada and help contribute anymore because they do not see the point in that. Some people have risked their lives and have left everything behind to come to this country, and now they want to pack up and leave and take their talent, energy and entrepreneurial spirit because the government continues to attack them and make everything more expensive.
That is why the Conservatives will bring in a common-sense plan, cancel both these carbon tax scams and solve the problem using technology and not taxes.
With that, I move:
That the debate be now adjourned.
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- Jun/1/23 1:27:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, since it is my NDP colleague who asked the question, I want to take this time to congratulate the people of Alberta who rejected the failed smear-and-fear tactics of the NDP government. Albertans overwhelming rejected the Liberal-NDP government that was once in power from 2015 to 2019 once again.
I want to remind the House that, in 2019, when the UCP formed government, the number one bill that Albertans overwhelmingly put the party into power with was to get rid of this carbon tax scam. I want to congratulate Albertans on the great job and huge victory by Danielle Smith and her government. We are looking forward to working with them when we have a Conservative government at the federal level and the provincial level, and we are going to have a strong confederation.
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- May/29/23 8:32:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, can the minister please tell Albertan families how much it is going to cost when carbon tax 1 and carbon tax 2 are fully implemented on each Alberta household?
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- Mar/30/23 2:51:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' campaign of misinformation continues. The claims that Canadians get more back in rebates for the failed carbon tax have been proven false by the public budgeting officer. He said the largest net loss will be felt by Alberta families, who will pay $2,773 in tax. In a bid to look more virtuous to eco-radical groups, the costly coalition is going to jack up its failed carbon tax this Saturday.
Why do they not axe the failed carbon tax and stop punishing families for eating, heating and driving?
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- Dec/5/22 2:32:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister from Alberta knows full well that Albertans overwhelmingly rejected the costly coalition's carbon tax. Albertans gave the provincial government a resounding mandate to scrap the NDP carbon tax, which drove away jobs and drove away our economy, and now the Liberals plan on tripling the carbon tax on gas, groceries and home heating.
Why will the minister not stand with Albertans and with Canadians, stand up against his “leave it in the ground” left Prime Minister, and give Canadians a break so that they do not have to choose between eating and 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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- Oct/28/22 11:01:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a very talented young woman from Calgary, Prabhleen Kaur Grewal.
She is a grade 12 student who plays with Kings XI Field Hockey Society. She has been selected for Field Hockey Canada’s next-gen program. Prabhleen represented Alberta at the U18 nationals, where her team placed second, and she was given the tournament 11 award at the national championships. As she said, she is the first Punjabi girl to be chosen for both. She will also play with the Canadian senior women in the near future.
I want to congratulate Prabhleen and her family for her accomplishments. In Calgary, field hockey has played a key role in building community and youth leadership. I want to congratulate the various field hockey clubs, like Kings XI, United Hawks Sports Club and United Field Hockey Club, for running very successful tournaments over the summer and their continued efforts to build a better future for our youth.
I thank the coaches, organizers, parents and players for doing their part to build a strong community, together.
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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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