Harold Albrecht

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, at one point near the end of his speech, my colleague commented on the successful conclusion of the NAFTA. That is a bit of a joke because the Prime Minister said he would not appear at the signing unless the tariffs were removed. Here we are, with the aluminum and steel tariffs still in place.

From someone in the Waterloo region who spoke at committee earlier this year:

Currently, we directly employ approximately 475 people in the Waterloo region and support significantly more jobs in Canada. These are well paying value-added jobs.... Current Canada-U.S. tariffs are driving up prices of our inputs in North America and threatening our supply chain. The pressure heightened when the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum under section 232. Things were made worse when the EU and Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs. Our steel costs are up 18% this year alone. This is a substantial increase that our competitors...do not contend with.

How can my colleague believe that the USMCA is a good agreement, that is an improvement on the NAFTA when the tariffs on aluminum and steel continue to damage our small businesses in Canada?

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Alberta for his commitment to the people in his riding. My riding is about 50% urban and 50% rural. The carbon tax is going to have a huge impact, especially on farmers.

Earlier today, one of my colleagues tried to downplay the impact the carbon tax would have on farmers. However, one farmer in my riding told me that on 50,000 litres of fuel per year and at 12¢ a litre, the current carbon tax rate, that would take $6,000 a year off his bottom line. That is only on his farm, let alone the cost of transportation of products to and from his farm. All of those things add to the burden of the carbon tax. Does my colleague agree that the carbon tax will in fact have a huge negative impact on our agricultural community?

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his great work on the economy and on the trade file. He came to my riding, and we did a round table, and we heard clearly from the processors there some of the challenges they are facing.

Near the end of his speech, my colleague commented on the massive debt. The Liberal government promised to balance the budget by 2019. Here we are this year with a deficit of about $20 billion. The massive debt is growing. The interest costs alone are going to be $30 billion a year by 2021. This is clearly having a negative impact on the ability to invest in other things or to reduce taxes for our businesses. I wonder if my colleague is hearing the same concerns from the people in his riding.

[Petitions, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition from a number of Canadians.

The petitioners urge Parliament to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to prohibit Canadians from travelling abroad to acquire human organs removed without consent or as a result of a financial transaction.

[Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, December 3rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, two or three times during his comments, and again in response to questions, my colleague from Guelph commented on protecting our waterways. We remember very clearly that a few days after the current government came to power, the Minister of Environment authorized Montreal to dump eight billion litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. Just this year in February, Quebec City dumped another 46 million litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. How can my colleague stand here and talk about his government protecting our waterways when this kind of action has taken place?

[International Trade, November 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this morning the Prime Minister signed the USMCA along with the presidents of the United States and Mexico.

The problem is that appendix 3, sections C10 and 11, undermine Canadian sovereignty and our ability to manage our dairy sector without U.S. intervention. Canada cannot afford to hand over sovereignty of our dairy sector, effectively giving up our ability to provide food security for Canadians.

Why did the Prime Minister capitulate to Donald Trump at the expense of our dairy sector?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague listed a number of accomplishments that the current government has achieved, but she did not list the great increase in the deficit and the increase in interest costs. At one point, she said that investor confidence is growing.

It certainly is not growing in my area. I can tell her of a number of small and medium-sized enterprises that are losing confidence. Not only are they unable to expand like they had hoped to do, they are laying off people. This is going on across the country.

The Bank of Canada actually confirms this because the new Canadian investments into the U.S. have gone up by two-thirds, by 66%, over the last three years. U.S. investment into Canada decreased by 52%.

I would like it if my colleague could give us some actual concrete evidence for her comments that investor confidence is growing, because that is not my experience.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, in 2015 Canadians had their voices heard, but in 2015 Canadians also heard significant promises by the current government that the deficit would be $10 billion maximum and that there would be a balanced budget by 2019. Now the Liberals go on and say they are just investing in the economy and that it is making our economy stronger, but the record is clear.

Budget 2016 promised that spending would raise the GDP by 0.5% in 2016 and by 1% in 2017 and 2018. However, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated the infrastructure spending only contributed a tiny 0.1% to the GDP growth in both years, or not even 10% of what was promised. How can the Liberals continue to go down this path of spending more money, increasing our deficits and increasing our debt payments $15 billion more over a four-year period? That is $15 billion more in payments just for interest.

How can the government continue to support investments like that, requiring more interest payments by this generation and, more importantly, downloading them onto our children and grandchildren?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I enjoy working with my colleague on the scrutiny of regulations committee. I find him to be a very collegial colleague.

He commented frequently in his remarks about supporting families and children, with which we certainly agree. If that is true, why then did his colleagues oppose Motion No. 110 the other day, which sought to give additional support to families after they had the unfortunate situation of losing a child. It seems to me that this is a common sense motion and the House should get behind it. However, when it went to committee, the Liberal members on that committee put roadblocks in the way and would not allow the amendment to go through.

Could my colleague comment on how he squares the circle of support for families with children, but for those who have actually experienced the loss of a child, which is one of the most devastating experiences a family can endure, his government seemed rather uncaring in that situation?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, it is just a clear indication of the misplaced priorities of the government. We saw the same thing a year and a half ago when the government started attacking our farmers and our small businesses, trying to go after them and calling them tax cheats, yet at the same time ignoring their multi-billion dollar corporations. This is just another example of that.

I agree with my colleague. We should be going after those who are cheating our tax system and evading taxes. It is a clear indication that those are areas we need to shore up. However, the Liberals are going after small-business people, who are the backbone of our economy and provide thousands of jobs for Canadians. Not only do we need to leave those people alone, but we need to have policies in place that encourage them to maintain those businesses and expand them as they are able.