- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Dufferin—Caledon
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $136,309.03
- Government Page
- Oct/30/23 2:36:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now we have just been treated to the great carbon tax fable: first, it was revenue neutral; second, we get more money than we pay into it; third, it fights climate change. It does none of those things. What it does, and what the Prime Minister has admitted by pausing the carbon tax, is that it makes it more expensive for everyone. The real tragedy is for Canadians outside Atlantic Canada. Why? It is not being paused, and most people heat their homes in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, B.C. and Quebec not with heating oil. It does not apply across the country.
Will they stop playing politics, picking winners and losers, dividing Canadians and axe the tax?
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- Oct/30/23 2:34:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has finally admitted the carbon tax makes heating homes more expensive and he is pausing the carbon tax in Atlantic Canada, and we know why. It is because the minister, the member for Long Range Mountains, said Atlantic MPs forced the Prime Minister to do it.
What the Prime Minister is saying after eight years is that if someone is a Liberal MP from Brampton, Toronto, Mississauga or Thunder Bay, their voice does not matter at all. They cannot have any change. They are effectively useless.
Will the Prime Minister stop playing politics with the carbon tax and just axe it?
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- Oct/5/23 2:40:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this will not be a happy Thanksgiving for many Canadian families because food prices are absolutely out of control, and the NDP leader just said that food inflation has outpaced inflation over the last 20 months, which is coincidentally the length of the Liberal-NDP coalition. What could be happening? The sad fact is this: Canadian families are having to make a hard choice between feeding their families and paying their rents.
Will the Prime Minister finally recognize the damage he has done to Canada and keep his promise so people can have an affordable Thanksgiving dinner?
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- Oct/4/23 6:39:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just want to perhaps put the words the member said the last time we debated this directly to him. He said that farm fuels are mostly fossil fuels and they are exempt from the carbon price. He said, “The member opposite mentioned grain drying. The farm fuel exemption applies to the gas that people use for drying grain as well. The spread of misinformation on that side is rampant.”
In fact, the only thing on a farm that is exempt from the carbon tax is purple gas. The member should know that. One does pay a carbon tax to dry grain. That causes an increase in the cost of grain. The fact that all the inputs on a farm, like fertilizer, which is subject to a carbon tax, come from oil and gas increases the price of food.
Will he just finally admit that the carbon tax is causing food inflation?
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- Oct/4/23 6:32:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on September 20, I rose to ask a question about how the carbon tax is impacting farmers. The minister responded by suggesting that somehow the carbon tax will stop natural disasters, which occur in this country and all around the world. The fact of the matter is this: The carbon tax has not done that, and that is because we live in a global environment where the carbon emissions from other countries, such as the carbon emissions of China, impact whether or not there are large carbon emissions going on in the world.
There is no such thing as a carbon dome covering and protecting Canada so that somehow if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while countries like China continue to put out more than double our total output in their year-over-year increases, the carbon tax is going to protect us. It is not going to protect us, and in fact it makes the cost of everything more expensive.
Farmers at the International Plowing Match were telling me that this is a huge challenge. However, what makes it worse is that when I raised this question, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment suggested that farmers are exempt from the carbon tax and stated that they do not pay a carbon tax, even to dry grain. Then, when I suggested that he was wrong, he accused me of spreading misinformation. That is outrageous, because he is absolutely wrong. Farmers do pay a carbon tax to dry grain. Farmers do pay carbon taxes on all the inputs on the farm. The only thing they do not pay a carbon tax on is purple gas, which is exempt. However, the trucker who brings in that purple gas pays a carbon tax on the gas they use.
The parliamentary secretary is so woefully uninformed on his file that it is embarrassing. To accuse me of spreading misinformation when he did not know what he was talking about is deeply shameful, and the member should apologize.
If he spent five seconds talking to a farmer instead of blustering here in the House of Commons, he would know that farmers pay a carbon tax to dry grain. If they did not pay a carbon tax, why would Bill C-234 to eliminate the carbon tax from farm fuels be in the Senate? Why would the Parliamentary Budget Officer say that Bill C-234 would save farmers $1 billion?
The parliamentary secretary's lack of information and his audacity to accuse me of misinformation are exactly the reason we are in a mess in this country. The Liberals do not have a clue about what they are talking about.
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- Apr/21/23 11:43:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is astounding how the Liberals gaslight Canadians. Kim knows about the grocery rebate because Kim looked into the budget. Kim says, “Despite the grocery rebate, I have to choose between heating my home or buying food”.
The answer from the member and the arrogant, out-of-touch government suggests that Kim does not have a problem and that we should not be asking the question. It is audacious and despicable of people to gaslight and diminish Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet. Will they finally show they actually give a damn about Canadians and cut the carbon tax?
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- Apr/21/23 11:42:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, I received an email from Kim in my riding about the budget. Kim writes, “I'm stretched so thin I either pay bills or buy food because I can't afford both. Food costs are ridiculous. Gas and heating are going up. Is life better under this government? Not by a long shot”.
The carbon tax is crushing the affordability of everything that Kim buys and uses. The cost of everything is driven up by the carbon tax, making life unaffordable. Will the government finally do something to help Kim and the millions of Kims across Canada by cutting the carbon tax?
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- Mar/8/23 7:31:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am sure that, with regard to the 415% increase in seniors using the food bank, those folks are going to be very happy to hear about the Liberal child care program.
Speaking of that program, most Canadian families cannot access it because there are just not that many spaces.
As for the other programs she has talked about, I said that those have already been announced and yet 25% of Canadian families are unable to meet a $500 expense and 45% of Canadians are $200 away from not being able to make ends meet, despite all of these programs.
When will they get it through their heads? It is not working. The programs are not actually stopping any of this.
What is actually causing it is the carbon tax, which is running up the price of everything. Cut the carbon tax and groceries will be affordable, heating one's home will be affordable and people will actually be able to make ends meet.
Do not talk about a program that has actually done nothing.
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- Mar/8/23 7:23:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the carbon tax is an absolute failure. We have to measure it by two metrics, and the first metric is whether it reduced carbon emissions. On that metric, it is absolutely clear it is a failure, because carbon emissions have gone up under the Liberal government every single year. That is strike one.
The next thing is whether it is supposed to give more money back to Canadian families. The PBO report is unequivocal on this. When we factor in the cost of the carbon tax to the Canadian economy, most Canadian families actually end up behind on the carbon tax. If we factor in things like the cost of the carbon tax on farm families, we have an absolute and unmitigated disaster.
The carbon tax is a complete failure, and the Liberal government's plan is to increase it. It is not stopping climate change, it is not reducing emissions and it is financially hurting Canadians, and the government's decision is to increase it. Why is that relevant? I will give three statistics.
In my hometown of Orangeville, the number of seniors using the Orangeville Food Bank is up 415% since the government took over. That is the number of seniors who say, after eight years of the Liberal government, they cannot afford to feed themselves and now have to go to the food bank to help themselves out.
Twenty-five per cent of Canadian families are saying that if they get a $500 expense, they cannot pay it. Think about that. That is one-quarter of Canadian families. What is going to happen? The carbon tax is going to go up, and it is going to make things even worse.
Forty-five per cent of Canadian families are within $200 of not making ends meet. This is after eight years of a Liberal government. This is the wonderful world the Liberals have created.
They are going to say they have put in place programs, and they are going to list them off. They will say, “We did this to OAS. We did this to GIS. We did this; we did that.” Well, despite all that, the trail toward poverty for Canadians continues, so everything the Liberals are doing is not working.
What will make this worse is increasing the carbon tax yet again. What does that mean? It means farmers will pay a higher carbon tax. It means food coming from farms will cost more. The tractor that ploughs the field will have a carbon tax. The truck that picks up the food from the farm to take it to the processing centre will have a carbon tax. Taking the food from the processing centre to the grocery store will have a carbon tax. Heating the grocery store will have a carbon tax.
The multiplier effect of the increase to the carbon tax is going to make things even worse for Canadian families. What the Liberals are doing is not working. Their programs are not stopping Canadians from not being able to make ends meet. Will the Liberals finally see the light? Will they finally say they are going to cut the carbon tax so Canadians can pay their bills?
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- Feb/16/23 2:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when one has absolutely lost the argument, one tries to change the channel.
Let us get back to the channel. After eight years of the Liberal government, 35% of Canadians say they find it hard to make ends meet every single month; 25% say that if they get an expense of $500, they cannot pay it. The government is pushing Canadians to bankruptcy.
When will Liberals admit that is what they are doing? If they will not fix it, they should get out of the way, because Conservatives will.
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- Feb/10/23 11:33:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can say that whatever the Liberals are targeting, it is not working. Why do they not try targeting this, the 415% increase in seniors using the Orangeville Food Bank since 2017. That is what we get with eight years of the government. There are also the 45% of Canadians who are within $200 of not being able to make ends meet. Why do they not target them? Instead, they are going to triple the carbon tax and make everything even worse.
When will the government stop hurting families and do something to help them by allowing them to keep the heat on and cut that darn carbon tax?
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak to the fall economic update.
“Canadians have never had it so good,” is the message we get when we listen to Liberal members talk about what is going on in Canada. They say things are great, that Canadians should be grateful for everything that is going so wonderfully here in this country. They talk about how it is so wonderful because of all the money they have spent. The answer to every problem in Canada, if one is a Liberal, is to spend money. That is the solution, so spend they have.
The Liberals have doubled the national debt. The amount of debt of every prime minister up to the current Prime Minister, the Liberals have doubled. Every prime minister before accumulated a certain amount of debt, and the current Prime Minister and government doubled it in a few short years. They say that as a result of that, things are great.
Maybe we should talk about how great things are as a result of all this spending. First of all, we just heard from the Auditor General that a lot of the spending did not really go anywhere that it should have. There were $4.6 billion in confirmed overpayments during the pandemic and $27 billion in suspicious payments, so we are looking at $32 billion of money that went who knows where, not where it should have gone. This includes the fact that 1,500 people in jail received these benefits.
To this point, there is absolutely no real plan to get any of this money back. Liberals say they are working on it and the wheels are in motion, when they are not saying the Auditor General was pushed into making this report by the opposition and trying to undermine the Auditor General. It is an interesting position for a government to take, when it appointed the Auditor General.
We look at all that spending and at the issues across the country from coast to coast to coast. Many members have been rising in this chamber to talk about the issues in hospitals all across the country. The premiers have said the federal government should be transferring more money to the provinces for health care, and the government is saying that the cupboard is kind of bare.
I am thinking that $32 billion, if it had been properly managed, would therefore have been available for health transfers, but that ship has sailed and the government is doing virtually nothing to get that money back.
There is $27 billion a year now being paid in interest on the debt, which has doubled over the course of the last number of years under the Liberal government. That is $27 billion every year that could be spent on things like health care. Right away, if we put those things together, one year of the massive interest on the massive debt plus the $32 billion spent on who knows what, and we would have over $50 billion for health care.
There are some hospitals and some provinces across the country that would very much be interested in receiving some of that money, but of course they cannot, because the Liberals have spent it on other things.
The interest on the debt is actually going to go to $43 billion a year by 2026. Let us think about that number. It is staggering: $43 billion a year simply to pay interest on the credit card.
When one raises issues like this, the government says it spent so Canadians did not need to spend. Well, Canadians are spending now, through their taxes, paying $27 billion a year in interest, which is moving to $46 billion. However, that is okay, because everything in this country is fantastic. Canadians have never had it so good.
Right now, inflation is at a 40-year high. People in this country are having to choose to eat or to heat their homes, but Canadians have never had it so good.
In one month, 1.5 million Canadians used a food bank. It is unprecedented. The struggle of Canadians after seven years of spending by the government is worse than it has ever been, so the rationale that we have spent all this money and things are great is completely debunked, because things are not great.
There are so many Canadians who are within a few hundred dollars of not being able to make ends meet, and inflation is eating into that every single day, but, right, everything is great. The money was spent to make the lives of Canadians better, except that their lives are not better. By virtually every measurable index, the lives of Canadians now are worse than they were 10 years ago.
There is no apology from the government on this. It will say things like, “Yes, but we are going to pay this benefit here or this little benefit there.”
When a person is $200 away from not being able to make ends meet, a one-time payment of $500 is not going to help. It might get them through the first couple of months, but there are 10 other months in the year in which we have to try to make ends meet.
One in five Canadians are skipping meals, but all this spending was so great for Canadians.
The result of the economic policies of the government has been to impoverish the nation, and that is where we are when we look at all the statistics that are adding up.
There is absolutely no recognition of this by the government. There is no apology for it. It simply says, “We have this little program here. We have another program here. That is all Canadians need.”
The other glaring omission from the government has been any meaningful response to the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. It is a transformational document on how the United States is going to have its economy move going forward. No, we cannot match, dollar for dollar, the kinds of programs the United States is offering, but it offers these things in very clear ways. It offers tax incentives for governments. It offers production incentives for businesses.
What we are being promised here in Canada are programs. There is going to be a program here that a business can apply for, an opaque program. At committee, we heard industry representatives say that these programs are given according to a naughty list and a nice list. If one is on the naughty list, one has no idea why one is on the naughty list, and one does not get the funding.
When the government is picking winners and losers in business, everyone loses. The response is not sufficient, and the response it is offering is not going to help Canadian businesses.
We have heard over and over again from witnesses that this is a game-changer in the United States and that the government needs to act quickly. Well, my definition of “quickly” is not waiting for the budget in two, three or four months to announce some measures, sprinkling a couple of things here in the update and then saying to businesses, “Do not worry. Everything is going to be fine when the budget is released.”
Businesses cannot wait three, four, five, six or seven months. Investments are happening in the United States right now.
The government has impoverished Canadians over the last number of years, and now it risks losing out on the manufacturing bonanza for electric vehicles, etc., that is coming, because it is just acting so slowly.
This is an update that we cannot support and Canadians cannot afford.
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- Sep/28/22 2:56:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no, what we want to do is stop the government's tax increases.
The cost of living is at an all-time high, and interest rates are skyrocketing because of Liberal money-printing inflation. Before this Liberal disaster, a third of Canadians were within $200 of not making ends meet. What was the Liberal response? To raise taxes, both payroll taxes and the carbon tax, because taking more money from Canadians is really going to solve the affordability crisis.
Will the government start helping, stop hurting Canadians and stop these tax increases?
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