Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to lead off second reading debate for His Majesty's loyal opposition on Bill C-69, the NDP and Liberals' budget implementation bill. I am disappointed that there will be so few Conservatives allowed to speak on this bill. That being said, we will deal with it at a later date in committee.

Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1  Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the member's speech, but I did not hear any explanation from that member as to why, as the first speaker, she thought it was appropriate that time allocation be put on the budget bill on a half a trillion dollars of spending, limiting debate before it even starts.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are calling on the NDP-Liberals to axe the carbon tax and all federal taxes on gas from Victoria Day to Labour Day. For Nova Scotians, this would represent $542 of savings per family this summer. After nine years, we know the Prime Minister will jet off to surf in Tofino this summer at taxpayers' expense while Nova Scotians cannot afford a summer road trip.

Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, we request a recorded division.

Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister why her party hates democracy so much. The fact is that we have not had a single hour of debate on Bill C-69, a 657-page piece of legislation, and the Liberals are already limiting debate. I know that the Liberals' leader once said that he most admires China, and I know that they find the opposition's questions and perhaps having a different perspective gets in the way.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, the simple answer is that the budget has been widely panned by just about everybody in the country. I am surprised that the government wants to get on to debating it, since it has not actually tabled parts of the budget that it has talked about. This is perhaps even more important to what happens to Canadians in the future than this flawed budget.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, that is a question on which our side and the NDP have been in total agreement. We have worked hard in committee with the member for Windsor West to ensure that the bill has the fundamental right recognized up front. We have moved the preamble, which had no legal meaning, into the bill and changed it to make that part of it, as well as to define what a minor is and make the best interest of the child part of that.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, that is a great question. We struggled with it in committee. We took the privacy part first, the first part of the bill, and had it organized by subject areas, so some witnesses would come twice. The problem we had was that by the time we got through that, the government decided that it wanted to limit the discussion on artificial intelligence, perhaps the most consequential part, and we ended up with only about eight meetings on artificial intelligence, which is wholly inadequate to deal with all the issues that have been raised.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise on this motion today. To remind everyone what it is about, we have a massive bill, as my colleague from Bay of Quinte said, that would, one, replace the entire Privacy Act with a brand new one for Canadians; two, create a new judicial tribunal to appeal decisions; and three, create something totally unrelated, the artificial intelligence and data act, the first such act.

Automotive Industry  Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberals are spending $52 billion of taxpayer money to subsidize international auto companies. The Building Trades Unions recently condemned the use of foreign replacement workers at the Stellantis plants for jobs like forklift driver, yet contrary to Liberal claims, foreign replacement workers keep being brought in for jobs that do not require specialty knowledge.

Automotive Industry  Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal minister who is spreading disinformation, because in committee he admitted he had not read the contracts. I have read both, Stellantis and VW. Do members know what is not in them? What is not in them is any requirement that jobs at these plants be for Canadians only.

Liberal Party of Canada  Madam Speaker, after nine Liberal Pinocchio budgets and nine straight deficits on which every Liberal projection has been wrong, the NDP-Liberal government is still not worth the cost. After nine years, we have a new Liberal double-double. NDP-Liberals have doubled the cost of government, doubled Canada's debt, doubled the taxes Canadians pay, doubled the interest on Canada's debt and doubled the cost of rent and mortgages.

Carbon Tax  Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are going hungry. Feed Nova Scotia reports that food bank usage is up 26%, with increased visits as high as 50% in Cape Breton. In Sydney, food banks are experiencing record-breaking increases in the number of new clients, with new visits up 80%.

Government Accountability  Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to raise an issue with regard to some statements made before question period that concern not only all members of the House but all Canadians. When I read the famous green book, on page 640, I see here that it says, the Premier of P.E.I. notes that a 23% increase in the carbon tax is a “punitive and unfair tax” and calls for it to be removed—

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, that answer is cold comfort for the families in my community that have increased the usage of the St. Margaret's Bay Food Bank by 30%. Why? Because the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that the average Nova Scotia family pays $1,500 in carbon tax and gets back $963 of its own money.