Persons with Disabilities  We are now moving forward with the first step of the disability benefit, with a cost of over $6 billion over the coming years. It will put hundreds of dollars a month, tax-free, in the pockets of the most vulnerable persons with disabilities. We are continuing to commit to creating a better, fairer country for generations to come.

The Budget  Recognizing that we need better infrastructure to support an uptick in housing supply, our government has also revealed that the budget would feature a new $6-billion Canada housing infrastructure fund to help communities increase their housing supplies and to upgrade water, waste water, stormwater and solid waste infrastructure. Because many Canadians rely on public transit to go to school, to get to work and to see their friends, budget 2024 also announces that any community seeking to access long-term predictable funding through the federal government's forthcoming permanent public transit funding would be required to take action that directly unlocks housing supply where it is needed most.

Human Resources committee  Chair, I think it's really important that my honourable colleague and, I think, all individuals underscore the fact that, first and foremost, the $6 billion that we have put forward is going to support more than 600,000 individuals. The $2,400 tax-free per year for an individual with a disability is not insignificant—

Human Resources committee  Again, I think it's important to recognize that this is a first step but a very significant step. It is $6 billion, the single largest budget item that was put forward last week, or two weeks ago, perhaps. It is not insignificant, with a tax-free amount of $2,400 per year for individuals who are going through extremely tough times.

The Budget  The Prime Minister, after saying that budgets balance themselves, has delivered eight inflationary budgets that drove up inflation to 40-year highs. Canadians have seen the most rapid and aggressive interest rate hikes that have never been seen before in Canadian history. The Prime Minister slammed a carbon tax scam onto Canadians, making the cost of everything even more expensive. Just recently this month, when 70% of Canadians were telling him to spike the hike and to not go ahead with a carbon tax increase, he still increased the carbon tax by 23%.

The Budget  The Prime Minister celebrates, saying that high gas prices are his purpose, and he has the full support of the NDP leader on most days, when the NDP leader can figure out what his policy is. The NDP leader has voted 22 times to hike the carbon tax. Both parties, along with the help of the Bloc, have voted for future increases that will quadruple the tax to 61¢ a litre, a tax that will also apply on home heating bills and, of course, a tax that applies to the farmers who produce the food, the truckers who ship the food and therefore on all who buy the food.

The Budget  This year, Canada will spend $54.1 billion on interest to wealthy bankers and bondholders, instead of to doctors and nurses, to service the Prime Minister's debt. That is the same amount collected in GST. We should change the name of that tax from the GST to the DST, the debt servicing tax.

The Economy  This photo op budget gave no hope to the moms putting food back on grocery shelves or to those renewing their mortgages at double or triple the rate. He doubled mortgages, rents and the needed down payments on houses. He hiked the carbon tax scam 23%, after Canadians told him to spike the hike. He is not worth the cost. It is time for a carbon tax election. The New Democrats need to stop protecting their leader's pension and propping up the corrupt Prime Minister.

Finance  Stop the out-of-control spending, deficits, inflation and tax hikes that are forcing struggling people over the edge. The budget, the government and the Prime Minister are not worth the cost to any generation. It is time for common-sense Conservatives to clean up the mess and to govern with common sense for Canadians.

The Budget  Speaker, common-sense Conservatives told the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister to stop his spending, his deficits, inflation and his tax hikes, but the Prime Minister blew right through that stop sign, dumping $40 billion of fuel on the inflationary fire, which he started. This photo op budget would do nothing for average Canadians, who cannot afford a home and groceries today.

Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act  In fact, 75% of Canadian private sector investment in clean energy comes from oil and gas and pipeline companies. However, the NDP-Liberals would apparently spend billions of tax dollars on re-education programs that their internal briefing notes explicitly say would leave workers at risk of only being able to get jobs that are more precarious, with less pay and lower skill requirements, and would shut down a sector that is already the leading research and development investor, and skills trainer in alternative, renewable and future energy technologies in Canada.

Persons with Disabilities  That is why we have stepped up regularly over the past years with initiatives to reduce barriers in Canada and to create a Canada disability benefit. We are now moving forward with that at the cost of over $6 billion over the coming years to put hundreds of dollars a month, tax-free, in the pockets of individuals with disabilities. The reality is that there always more to do, but this will help.

Business of Supply  He is telling us now that B.C.'s carbon tax will increase to comply with the Prime Minister's mandate. According to the Vancouver Sun, B.C.'s carbon tax will rise by $9 billion over the next three years and only credit back $3.5 billion.

Agriculture committee  They were from the Ontario Minister of Agriculture; the Agriculture Alliance; the Vegetable Growers of Canada; Mushrooms Canada; the Western Stock Growers' Association; the Grain Farmers of Ontario, which represents 28,000 farm families; the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Wheat Growers Association. These letters are asking for a couple of specific things on the impact the carbon tax is having on Canadian agriculture with the hike of 23% on April 1. That said, I'm going to ask the committee on this motion. It is: Given that: a) The committee received numerous letters from agricultural stakeholders regarding their opposition to the carbon tax hike on April 1, including from the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities; b) Seven Provincial Premiers and 70% of Canadians opposed the government's 23% increase in the carbon tax hike on April 1; c) The Premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have issued public letters calling on the government to provide a carbon tax carve-out for farmers and pass Bill C-234 in its original form; d) The carbon tax currently costs greenhouse operators in Canada $22 million a year and will pay between $82 million and $100 million by 2030 when the carbon tax quadruples; e) 44% of fresh fruit and vegetable growers are already selling at a loss and 77% can't offset production cost increase; f) The carbon tax increase this year will cost mushroom farms $7.4 million, and by 2030 it'll be more than $16 million; g) A sample of 50 farm operations across Canada paid a total of $329,644 in carbon taxes in one month last year, with the increase this year it'll cost those same farms $431,544 and nearly triple over the next seven years to $893,944; h) The Parliamentary Budget Officer has stated the carbon tax will cost farmers nearly $1 billion by 2030; i) The 2030 Food Price Report estimates the carbon tax will cost a typical 5,000-acre farm $153,000 by 2030; and j) The Food Professor recommends pausing the carbon tax for the entire food supply chain, I ask for unanimous consent for the committee to report the letters it received from agriculture stakeholders, the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities regarding the 23% increase on the carbon tax on April 1, to the House for its consideration in debate on Bill C-234 Chair, these letters we have here represent tens of thousands of farmers who are asking for their voices to be heard.

Business of Supply  moved: That the House declare that the Prime Minister convene a carbon tax emergency meeting with all of Canada’s 14 first ministers; that this meeting address: (a) the ongoing carbon tax crisis and the financial burden it places on Canadians, (b) the Prime Minister's recent 23% carbon tax increase, (c) plans for provinces to opt-out of the federal carbon tax to pursue other responsible ideas to lower emissions, given that under the government's current environmental plan, Canada now ranks 62 out of 67 countries on the Climate Change Performance index; and that this meeting be publicly televised and held within five weeks of this motion being adopted.