- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- New Brunswick Southwest
- New Brunswick
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $123,506.39
- Government Page
- Sep/18/23 2:53:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price differential today for gasoline between the state of Maine and my province of New Brunswick is 60¢ a litre.
For eight years, Liberal MPs have voted to bring in and raise taxes on energy. They also voted to triple the carbon tax between now and 2030. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost. His carbon tax on farmers has raised the price of carrots by 74%.
Will the Prime Minister's big meeting with grocery CEOs bring down the 74% increase before Thanksgiving, yes or no?
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- Jun/1/23 11:09:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, that was quite a show we just had from the member.
In my province, we have regulated gas pricing, so we understand locally just how much the taxes and regulations cost consumers. Right now before the province, we see a request to raise the carbon tax by 3.25¢. What is more interesting is that the clean fuel standard is going to add 7.5¢ a litre on July 1. This is the headline of the CBC back home right now: “New Brunswick consumers may face double carbon charges on July 1”. The total is 12.4¢ with the HST, because, of course, with the Liberals it is a tax and another tax, a tax on a tax.
My last point is this. The CTF, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has said that the tax will be 14¢, and by 2030 will be three times that, at 41¢. That is where we get the “triple, triple, triple”.
With the Liberals, it is all taxes, more taxes and taxes on top of them all the time. What does the member have to say about that?
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- May/30/23 2:53:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is absolute rubbish that a carbon tax is going to control the weather or bring down natural disasters. The government is not serious about an environmental policy. It has a tax policy. It is going to cost motorists in Atlantic Canada 67¢ more to fill up their pumps because of carbon taxes 1 and 2. It is the Parliamentary Budget Officer who said the net cost to Canadian families in Atlantic Canada is over $2,000 a month.
I will ask it again: When is the government going to do what Atlantic premiers have asked and cancel carbon tax 2 to give all Atlantic Canadians the break they deserve?
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- May/30/23 2:52:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Atlantic premiers have begged the government to remove the carbon tax from home heating fuels, but instead of listening, the Liberals have come up with carbon tax 2, which is going to punish Atlantic voters even more. Carbon tax 1 is a 40¢-a-litre tax on the pump price. Carbon tax 2 adds another 17¢, plus there is the 15% HST, adding another nine cents to pump prices. This makes everything we buy more expensive. Carbon tax 1 and carbon tax 2 will cost Atlantic households an extra $2,000 a year.
When will the Liberals stop punishing Atlantic Canadians and remove the carbon tax scam?
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- Feb/14/23 12:14:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for South Shore—St. Margarets.
I am always honoured to rise in the House of Commons on behalf of my constituents to speak for individuals, families and communities in New Brunswick Southwest. New Brunswick is a place where people work hard, play by the rules and sacrifice for their kids and grandchildren. In this way, the Maritimes are really just like any other part of this great country.
Today, working hard is just not paying off like it once did. This is because the current federal Liberal government is not upholding its end of the bargain. It is not delivering on its promise to Canadians. Canada is at a difficult crossroads. The economic skies are very dark, and times are hard for Canadians. I remind the members opposite, the MPs who represent the Liberals and the NDP, that federal tax increases, sky-high deficits and out-of-control inflation are all results of deliberate policy choices made by the government, which they have supported for the last eight years.
What are the consequences of botched federal policies?
After eight years of the current Liberal Prime Minister, inflation is at a 40-year high. Since last year, the cost of groceries is up 11%. Half of Canadians are cutting back on groceries. Twenty per cent of Canadians, or one in five, are reducing or skipping meals to control costs and help make ends meet.
After eight years, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment across Canada's 10 largest cities has doubled to over $2,200 a month, compared with less than $1,200 per month in 2015.
Nearly half of variable-rate mortgage holders are saying that rising interest rates could force them to sell or vacate their homes by the end of this year. Average monthly mortgage payments have more than doubled; they now cost typical Canadian family households over $3,000 per month.
Canadians are being squeezed by a vice grip of inflation and Bank of Canada mismanagement.
Liberal monetary policy has been a disaster, but this should not be a surprise. The Liberal leader informed Canadians in 2021 that he did not think about monetary policy. I actually thought the PM was boasting about not thinking, but look at the mess Canada is in. Liberal budgets are also moving in the wrong direction. The central philosophy is tax, spend and regulate. When that does not work, the Liberals hit repeat. They tax, spend and regulate.
Reckless Liberal spending, fuelled by easy debt, is the root cause of Canada's soaring inflation. The Government of Canada ballooned our national debt. It has doubled in the last eight years. The government has accumulated more debt than all previous prime ministers combined going back to 1867. This debt binge was encouraged by the Bank of Canada's policy of quantitative easing, and today, Canadians are paying for this entirely predictable effect of policy carelessness. The federal tax bite has worsened over the past eight years. Today, taxes on consumption and everyday living increase every year, while Canadians are falling further behind.
For the past eight years, the federal government has pursued a plan to make our affordable and abundant energy more expensive through regulation and ever-rising taxes. Home heating fuels, electricity and prices at the pump are all more heavily taxed, and the Liberals keep raising those taxes.
Canada can do better.
If we look back to eight years ago, taxes for families, businesses and individuals were lower in this country. If one earned a low income, one actually paid no federal income tax. The GST was cut to help low-income Canadians.
Our manufacturing and natural resources sectors were growing because Canada had a federal government that understood what fuels our economy and shared prosperity. Budgets were in surplus and taxes were cut. This allowed more households to save for the future, because federal government spending was focused on improving services and better outcomes for Canadians. Home ownership was growing, and people were able to afford the basics and save for tomorrow. Canadians, in short, were getting ahead.
Today, it is a completely different story. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Half of households earning less than $40,000 a year are worse off, because we know, should know or have learned that inflation is the price Canadians pay for all the government benefits the Liberals and their NDP coalition partners said would be free. We know that is just not true. Meanwhile, our allies across the globe are making desperate energy deals with dictators to buy oil and gas as Canada ignores requests for help. This is true in Asia and is true in Europe.
None of this happened by accident. It is the result of policy choices supported by the Liberal-NDP coalition. That is why today's motion is so important. It is a motion introduced by the Conservatives to get Canada back on track. It is a necessary course correction. We are calling on the Liberals to cap spending, cut waste, fire high-priced consultants who do not do much and eliminate inflationary deficits and taxes that have caused a cost of living crisis.
Unfortunately, I do not think members opposite will take advantage of this opportunity to fix their mistakes. They are committed to their belief that the federal government's primary role is wealth redistribution. In fact, the previous speaker said the government is about wealth redistribution, instead of what Conservatives believe in, which is expanding opportunity and creating wealth so we have the resources to fund our social programs and ensure Canadians get ahead. The Liberals are also preparing the next blow to our economy with a plan for a so-called just transition away from hydrocarbons.
I am a member of the public accounts committee, and we recently studied the government plan that seeks to shut down natural resource sectors to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The government's planned transition will be so painful that it is being compared to the collapse of the northern cod fishery in Atlantic Canada in the 1990s, which was devastating. I note that the labour minister recently said Canada needs more oil and gas workers, not fewer, and cursed the misleading term “just transition”. That is because the member represents Newfoundland and Labrador and understands the danger the just transition poses to his economy and provincial economies across the country.
The members opposite are so desperate to hide this reality from the public that they are testing new buzzwords. How do they sell job losses? It is by mentioning “a fair economy, a green economy, a progressive economy, an economy that works for all Canadians, and an inclusive economy.” That is nonsense. What is so fair or inclusive about a federal government determined to put Canadians in the unemployment line? When someone is working two jobs just to make ends meet, pay their rent and buy food, as some of my constituents are, how can they possibly save enough to get ahead?
For years, the Conservatives said the carbon tax was a tax on everything. Members opposite scoffed, but today nobody is laughing as families struggle under punishing energy and consumer prices. The Liberals and NDP like to blame the Russians, but in my part of the world, over in the state of Maine next to New Brunswick, a litre of gasoline is 50¢ less after exchange than it is in New Brunswick. The Russians have nothing to do with it. That is tax policy and regulation policy driven by the Canadian government.
Members of the Liberal Party and the NDP are committed to a set of policies that are going to continue to push Canada down the wrong track. Government is about protecting and advancing the interests of Canadian families. The NDP-Liberal coalition has failed to do this. That is why it needs to be replaced so Canadians will not just get by but get ahead.
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- Feb/7/23 3:33:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member likes to talk about promises made and broken promises, of which there have been numerous on the Liberal side. However, one that I keep referencing and hearing about is the Liberal promise to never, cross their hearts and hope to die, increase the carbon tax beyond $50 a tonne. Every single Liberal ran on that promise and the Liberals have voted to increase the carbon tax to $170 a tonne. Why the double-talk?
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- Feb/7/23 12:47:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as another Atlantic Canadian, I would like to ask the member about the carbon tax and the idea that government keeps raising taxes. People cannot afford the tax burden. Down east we have so many people who use home heating fuels to heat their home, prices are going up, and the government's solution is to try to catch that up with another government program. We have countless programs and rising prices.
Our amendment is to scrap the carbon tax, bring down fuel prices, energy prices, particularly in the winter, and turn to technology. I hope the government will consider this and move in that direction, instead of making prices more expensive, which is what the government has been doing for eight long years now.
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- Feb/7/23 10:46:27 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the minister, as well as the Liberals, like to pretend that energy prices, gas prices in particular, are like the weather. They are not responsible for it. They blame Russia. They blame everything else. I am going to give the minister an example and ask him to respond to it.
My riding of New Brunswick Southwest is next to the state of Maine. Almost every day, the price of gasoline is 50¢ different. It is cheaper in Maine than it is in New Brunswick. All the gasoline comes from the refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, so it is not like the Americans are producing cheaper gas from another source. The difference is all tax, and every year that gap is growing because of the Liberal carbon tax.
The minister needs to own up to it. The carbon tax is meant to make prices higher, and it is working.
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- Dec/1/22 2:13:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, families across the country are paying higher prices for gasoline, groceries and home heating because of the Liberal carbon tax. People in Atlantic Canada rely more on home heating fuels, which is a vital necessity to stay warm.
Here are some astonishing numbers. Since last year, home heating prices are up over 50% in New Brunswick and P.E.I., up 68% in Nova Scotia and up 78% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Liberals say that they are sick and tired of people talking about this cold winter. That is too bad for the Liberals, because this winter is just beginning. Prices are going to be even higher than last year for families because of the Liberal government.
The rebate the Liberals are promising is a scam. The Parliamentary Budget Officer says that over 80% of Canadians are going to pay more in the carbon tax than they receive from the rebate. This is a plan to bankrupt Canadians. We need to end the scam. We need to end the carbon tax.
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- Nov/21/22 2:45:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no one is taking that minister's advice. No one in Atlantic Canada wants to see home heating fuels double this year. Nobody is asking the federal government to make heating more expensive.
The Liberal carbon tax is fuelling inflation. Even the Governor of the Bank of Canada says so. It is driving up the price on energy. It is driving up the price on food. It is driving up the price on life.
When Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick were able to reduce taxes on gasoline and home heating fuels, we saw prices go down. Under the government, they are going up because it keeps raising the carbon tax and it is going to triple it. They need it to stop.
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- Nov/21/22 2:43:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, according to Statistics Canada, families in Atlantic Canada are hardest hit by the Liberal's carbon tax on home heating fuels. On a year-over-year basis, families in New Brunswick are paying 50% more to heat their homes. It is up over 75% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Liberals believe heat pumps will solve this energy crisis, but their carbon tax is already forcing families to decide between heating and eating.
When will the Liberals do the right thing, cancel their carbon tax and give families in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada the break they need this winter?
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- Oct/3/22 2:38:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this government will triple the tax on gasoline, triple the tax on energy and make everything Canadians buy more expensive. Liberals do not have a plan for the environment; they have a bone-crushing tax plan. The carbon tax is costing families more and more each day, and Canadians know it.
A carbon tax is a tax on everything. The Liberals are pushing Canadians to the brink of financial dissolution with their high-tax agenda. Will the government cancel its plans to tax gasoline, energy and home energy fuels?
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- Oct/3/22 2:37:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are two constants with the Liberal government: Liberals have never seen a tax they do not like; they have never seen a tax they will not hike.
Conservatives know that a dollar is better left with Canadians than in the hands of the politicians who taxed it. Therefore, will this government cancel its plan to triple, triple, triple its carbon tax on groceries, gasoline and home energy fuels?
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- May/19/22 2:37:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep blaming Russia's war in Ukraine for the big price difference for gasoline between Canada and the United States, but that is Liberal disinformation. The objective of Canada's carbon tax is to make gasoline more expensive, and it is working. The Liberals should be taking credit for making energy more expensive with their punitive carbon tax.
After the exchange rate, gasoline in my riding is $2 a litre, and it is only $1.50 in the state of Maine. That difference is all tax. What does Russia have to do with that?
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- May/17/22 10:54:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's honesty in saying that he opposes affordable gasoline for Canadians. He wants high gas prices. My question to the member is this: Why will his partners in the Liberal government not also claim victory on this?
The Liberals brought in the carbon tax with the stated purpose of raising gas taxes at the pump. That is what happened. Now they are running for cover and blaming it on Russia.
I will give members one example. In my riding, a litre of gasoline is $2.00 a litre. Across the border, 10 minutes away in Maine, it is $1.50. That is a 50¢ difference. Now, all that gasoline comes from the same place, which is the refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. Maine does not have a more efficient refinery with harder workers or lower input costs. It is coming from the same place. That difference is all tax.
I would say it is mission accomplished, as they are driving up the price of energy in this country. Why will the Liberals not also claim credit on this and say, “Mission accomplished”?
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