Debates of Sept. 20th, 2023

National Defence

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the member for Etobicoke Centre for his exceptional leadership in support of Ukraine.

In the face of Russia's unrelenting brutality and aggression, Ukrainians have fought back with remarkable strength and courage. Canada continues to stand with them.

Canada has already provided over $1.8 billion in military aid, and earlier this week, while visiting our soldiers in the United Kingdom, who are training Ukrainian soldiers, I announced that Canada will contribute $33 million to a British-led air defence partnership. This investment will equip Ukrainians with the tools they need to defend their skies and protect critical infrastructure.

Canada, our partners and allies will always support Ukrainian friends, and the comprehensive military—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon.

Carbon Pricing

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was at the International Plowing Match, which was in my riding, and I spoke with farmers from all across Canada. What is their number one concern? It is the carbon tax.

Whether it is drying grain or driving their combine, the carbon tax is crushing Canadian farmers. When farmers pay more, Canadians pay more at the grocery store.

After eight years of paying more, Canadians cannot afford the Liberal government. Will it come to its senses and axe the tax?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, being a farmer, I understand the trouble and difficulties farmers have. Imagine going to a potato field and having to take a bulldozer to pull the potato harvest.

Out in the Prairies, there is not enough rain to grow a crop. Fiona blew our barns down and it killed our dairy cattle. It blew the wharves to pieces.

That is why we, as a government, have invested in climate change and will continue to invest to make sure that farmers and the country itself can grow crops and have fishing and harbours.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member says the government is investing in climate change. What they have are investments in a tax plan. If it was a climate plan that was going to fix climate change, carbon tax 1 and carbon tax 2 would have actually done something.

All of these things he talked about are still happening. Why? It is because it is a tax; it is not an environment plan. What this tax does is make everything more expensive for Canadians.

They say they are going to help. Will they actually help and axe the tax?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity]

Mr. Speaker, I represent a rural riding too, and what the member does not get is that farmers believe in climate change and they want to help fight it. I spent the summer with my community listening to their concerns and I heard them loud and clear. Affordability is a major issue and we are reminded harshly, through the—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. The hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon would like to hear the response to his answer. Please, everyone, listen so that we can all have an idea of what the answer is.

I will let the parliamentary secretary continue.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, like the member, I live in a rural riding, and unlike the Conservatives, I spent the summer talking to my constituents and hearing their concerns. I heard them loud and clear. Affordability is a top issue, but we are also reminded harshly, through extreme weather events throughout the summer, that fighting climate change is more important than ever.

We have a plan to address both. That is important. This is about environment and climate change as well as affordability, but the Conservatives do not have a plan for either. Our climate action incentive sends more money back to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Foothills.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Liberal agriculture minister claims that farmers support the carbon tax. How out of touch can a minister be? Only 2% of Canadian farmers think the Liberals even support agriculture, because they know that the Prime Minister is unaffordable.

Farmers cannot afford to pay close to $1 billion in carbon taxes. They cannot afford it when diesel goes up 70¢ a litre. They cannot afford to pay more in fertilizer and feed and higher interest rates.

Does the Liberal agriculture minister truly support quadrupling the carbon tax on farmers, truckers and processors, knowing the consequences mean higher food prices for Canadians?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that farmers are fully aware of what is taking place in this country.

Hurricane Fiona blew down their barns and killed their cattle. Temperatures went to 50 below zero and extreme winds were over 200 kilometres an hour, blowing everything to pieces. Farmers fully understand that that adds costs to everything.

That is why the Liberal government has continued and will continue to invest in climate change and to stand with our farmers.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his ally, the Bloc Québécois, are driving up food prices by continuing to support the carbon tax.

Yes, the second carbon tax applies to Quebec, contrary to what the Bloc claims. Input costs continue to rise for our farmers and transportation costs continue to skyrocket, yet the Bloc wants to drastically increase the carbon tax. Yes, voting Bloc is costly.

Can the Prime Minister tell us if he is going to listen to the Bloc Québécois's request to drastically increase the tax?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague wants to talk about costs. How costly is it to deal with our burning forests? How costly is it to clean up overflowing lakes and rivers? How costly is it rebuild after tornadoes and hurricanes hit our regions? How much does it all add up to in health care costs for our children?

One thing is clear: Canada cannot afford the Conservatives.

Marine Transportation

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when the federal government finally appointed Davie as the third partner in the national shipbuilding strategy, we thought things would get better in Quebec City. Has anything changed? No, nothing has changed.

The federal government gave Irving nearly $500 million to modernize its shipyard. How much did they give to Davie? Nothing.

How many of the seven icebreaker contracts the Prime Minister promised in April during a nice photo op went to Davie? None. It got no subsidies and no contracts.

As of today, how many dollars has the federal government committed to Davie?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to answer this question.

I would like to point out that my colleague also had the chance to attend the incredible announcement we made last spring. She was able to see, as she did today, just how happy the workers, the 1,300 suppliers and all the political and economic partners in the Quebec City area were with this decision and the choice we made to help the Quebec City area.

She should recognize—and I think she will when she is somewhat less engaged in this partisan effort—that we are there for workers, that we are there for suppliers and that we are there for the Quebec City area.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government gave Irving Oil $500 million in public funds and gave none to Davie. The federal government is investing Quebeckers' money against Quebeckers, but we know how to get things done. Together, Davie and the Government of Quebec invested $840 million to compensate for the federal government's unfairness. Despite Ottawa's inaction, Davie is ready.

This government promised $8.5 billion in contracts last April, and 1,800 jobs depend on those contracts.

When will Davie get those contracts? We want a date.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I would be delighted to give my colleague a briefing.

I think she forgot what she heard last spring, and that is that the workers are not waiting for contracts. The shipyard has already been given contracts. Nearly 1,000 people are working at the shipyard as we speak. There will be contracts for the next 20 to 25 years and thousands more workers will be hired, not to mention the tens of thousands of others who will work for the 1,300 suppliers.

That is wonderful news for the Quebec City region, and I would invite my colleague to celebrate that as we are.

Carbon Pricing

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, every member of the House receives emails, letters and phone calls explaining how unaffordable life has become due to the NDP-Liberal government's punishing carbon tax.

After eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, everything costs more, and inflation on basic necessities such as food continues to rise. The price of lettuce is up. The price of carrots is up, and the price of potatoes is up, all by more than 70%. Quite frankly, Canadians are fed up.

Will the Liberal Prime Minister cancel his plans to increase his inflationary carbon tax?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to take seriously a question from the hon. member after I read a news article, just a couple of evenings ago, indicating that he and some of his Conservative colleagues went on a $45,000 trip to have $600 bottles of champagne in the United Kingdom, so they could meet with people who oppose sensible policies to put a price on pollution.

The reality is that we are going to continue to put forward measures that grow the economy. I will take this moment to point out that the Conservatives, contrary to the will of the provincial Conservative government in Nova Scotia, are opposing a regulatory framework that would allow us to build offshore renewable energy. Conservatives need to get with the times. We are going to build a green economy for the future.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, what the Liberal government would like to do is deflect from the things that are very important to Canadians, such as their inflationary carbon tax. Even the governor of the Bank of Canada has stated clearly that, with the carbon tax announcement that has it going up, inflation increases each year.

The ongoing punishment for Canadians simply trying to buy food, put a roof over their heads, for which the minister is failing again just as he did on immigration, and heat their homes, must stop.

After eight years, the Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost. When will he cancel his plans to increase his inflationary carbon tax?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity]

Mr. Speaker, a serious responsible government needs to have a plan to address both affordability and climate change, but all these Conservatives have are slogans and catch phrases to stick on T-shirts and bumper stickers.

Groceries are too expensive, but one of the main driving forces behind, for example, expensive lettuce in drought-prone places is climate change. While that member was hobnobbing with millionaire climate change deniers in Europe, we were here continuing to address the issues that face Canadians and playing a leadership role in addressing the threats of climate change in Canada.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, eight years of the NDP-Liberal government have depleted Canadians' savings, raised their taxes and increased the prices at their local grocery stores. Cutting his carbon tax could bring immediate relief for Canadians, but the Prime Minister refuses. Even the Bank of Canada governor is now warning that the Liberals' carbon tax increases are causing inflation.

The policies of the Prime Minister are not worth the cost, and Canadians know it. Will he finally side with Canadians and cancel his inflationary carbon tax increases?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the House a number of times, the price on pollution was put in place in a manner where eight out of 10 families get more money back than they pay in the price on pollution.

I would have to say that the hypocrisy coming from that side of the House is unbelievable. The last Conservative government, within which the Leader of the Opposition was a minister, proposed cap and trade, which is a form of pricing pollution.

In the last election, the Conservative Party and everybody in this chamber ran on putting a price on pollution. Now the Conservative Party campaigns actively against a price on pollution. How can the Canadian public believe anything these people have to say?

Tourism Industry

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot about affordability these days, but we also need to build an economy that will create good jobs and a better quality of life for Canadians. The Outaouais boasts tremendous ecotourism and recreation potential.

I would like to hear what the Minister of Tourism plans to do to help the Outaouais achieve its full potential.