Bill C-234

An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act

This enactment amends the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to expand the definition of eligible farming machinery and extend the exemption for qualifying farming fuel to marketable natural gas and propane.

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite spoke a lot about the cost of food. One thing that the Conservatives wanted to see ahead of the budget was a plan to immediately pass Bill C-234 in its original form, which would support farmers and farm families by taking the carbon tax off food and making it a lot more affordable for everyone to buy groceries.

Can the member speak to why the government has been dragging its feet to do that? It is a very simple action that could make groceries more affordable for every Canadian across the country.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have heard from constituents across Middlesex and across London who are facing hard times right now. They cannot afford food. They are going to food banks in record numbers. Of course, we have a rural area around London where people are paying a high carbon tax.

Would the member for London—Fanshawe like to comment on why she continues to support the Liberal government with the carbon tax and why she will not vote in favour of Bill C-234 to axe the tax for our farmers?

Carbon Pricing

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost of food. While Canadians are skipping meals, the minister who is in charge of lowering food costs for Canadians is rubbing shoulders with Hollywood celebrities and political elites at the most expensive dinner imaginable. He is dining out at the White House on the taxpayer dime. After nine years, the current Prime Minister is out to lunch and the ministers are out of touch.

Will the champagne coalition and caviar caucus lower food costs for Canadians and pass Bill C-234 in its original form?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as the member well knows, Bill C-234 is in the hands of the Conservative House leader. The member should speak to him.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the current Prime Minister, Canadians are skipping meals, and food banks are overwhelmed. Eighty-three per cent of Canadians are paying $80 more a month for food than they were just six months ago. According to Second Harvest, more than half of the food banks in the Toronto area cannot meet demand, and they are putting families on wait-lists. Families cannot afford to put food on the table, and the crisis is getting worse as the Liberal-NDP government increases the carbon tax by 23%.

Will the Prime Minister reverse his decision to increase the carbon tax, and pass Bill C-234 in its original form so Canadians do not have to dumpster dive for their dinner?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, if Bill C-234 was so important in the Senate, then why did five members of their own caucus not show up to vote?

By the way, Conservatives had the opportunity to debate Bill C-234 when it came back to the House, when we come back in one week. They traded two private members' bills. One was not Bill C-234. If it is so important, I would advise my colleague to lobby his colleagues and stop politicizing this issue.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Madam Speaker, after the release of the tax-and-spend budget this week, everyone knows that the NDP-Liberal government, after nine long years, and the Prime Minister are just not worth the cost.

Bill C-234 was to provide some desperately needed relief for our farmers who produce food for Canadians. That bill passed this chamber. Then the Prime Minister bullied the senators into gutting that bill and leaving Canadians with higher costs.

When will the Prime Minister call for a vote on the original bill or call a carbon tax election?

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Madam Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberal government has hit Canadians with another carbon tax increase of 23%. Grocery prices are climbing, making families choose between heating and eating.

Conservatives tried to ease this burden by passing Bill C-234, which axes the tax on farmers. However, this week, the Liberals blocked it. They are hell-bent on making life more expensive. If they are so confident in their costly plan, will they let Canadians decide and call for a carbon tax election?

Carbon pricing.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, I do not know why a member from Quebec is asking that question. The carbon tax has no impact on Quebec. I am pleased that a member from Ontario can tell him so.

In the meantime, I hope he will lobby his colleagues who are responsible for introducing Bill C‑234. The Conservatives had the chance to do it when we come back, but they traded two bills and Bill C‑234 was not one of them.

It is not my fault or the government's fault. It is their fault.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, speaking of people who are out of touch, they are providing a very clear illustration of that this morning.

I invite the government and the Bloc Québécois to go to Beauce today to tell the farmers that the carbon tax has no impact in Quebec. I have room in my car if they want to get in after question period.

If there is no farming, then there is no food. That is something that the Bloc-Liberal coalition does not understand. The Bloc Québécois wants to radically increase the carbon tax again, proving once more that it is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois.

Will the government take action and pass Bill C‑234 in its original form?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, I find it odd that a member from Quebec is asking a question about Bill C-234, because it will not apply in Quebec.

Perhaps he should talk to his colleagues. The Conservatives had a chance to make Bill C-234 a priority for next week. What did they do? They traded two bills, and Bill C-234 is not one of them.

It is important to walk the talk. The member needs to convince his colleagues to introduce Bill C-234. The House needs to vote on it, once and for all.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of this Prime Minister, who is not worth the cost, farmers are making an impassioned plea. This morning, they are protesting in large numbers in Beauce to show their anger at a government that is completely out of touch with reality.

Our farmers are being asked to fill our pantries while the Bloc-Liberal coalition is preventing the passage of Bill C-234, which would remove the carbon tax on the propane and natural gas needed to heat buildings and dry grain in order to bring down the cost of food.

Will the Prime Minister and the Bloc Québécois show some common sense and agree to this demand from Canadian farmers?

Carbon Tax

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Madam Speaker, especially in British Columbia and the North Okanagan-Shuswap, Canadians are seeing that, after nine years, the Prime Minister and his NDP-Liberal government are simply not worth the cost.

Their April 1 carbon tax increase of 23% has seen gas prices push past $1.75 per litre in the interior and over the $2 mark in other parts of B.C. The carbon tax only adds to the costs for farmers, who have no choice but to pay if they are to produce food for Canadian families. One chicken farmer in the Shuswap paid over $100,000 last year alone, just for his carbon tax bill. Because of the NDP-Liberal government that carbon tax bill will increase another 23% this year, making it even more difficult for Canadian families to afford food.

Will the Prime Minister take the step to axe the tax on farmers and food by immediately passing Bill C-234 in its original form, or will he continue to prove that he and his NDP partners are simply not worth the cost?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of this NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. The Liberal April Fool's Day joke was a 23% carbon tax increase. April Fool's Day jokes are supposed to last one day, but this one continues, fuelling high inflation.

In Ottawa, the Prime Minister's policies made the price of gas at the pumps jump by nearly 20¢ a litre, reaching its highest level since 2022. Still, the Liberals pretend their tax-and-spend policies are helping Canadians.

When will the government start helping people instead of hurting them? When will it do the right thing and pass Bill C-234 to axe the tax on farmers and food?

One thing we know for sure is that, as prices on everything continue to go up, driven by the costly carbon tax, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, this budget is ironically called “Fairness for Every Generation.”

After nine years of the Prime Minister trying to make things fair, he sure has not done a very good job. Things are not fair.

Is it fair to every generation that every year life is less affordable? Is it fair to every generation that rents are sky-high? Is it fair to every generation that one in four kids cannot afford to eat? Is it fair to every generation that it takes almost 20 years just to save up for a down payment?

The Prime Minister is not worth the cost for any generation. This is the ninth straight year of deficit spending. In 2015, the federal debt was $616 billion, accumulated from 1867, when Canada began. Today, it is $1.25 trillion, double. The Prime Minister has borrowed more money than all other prime ministers combined.

The result is that, after 20 years of low inflation and interest rates, the Prime Minister's irresponsible inflationary spending has upended Canada's stable economy.

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. It is also more money than the government spends on health care or on the Canada child benefit.

This is what happens when a Prime Minister does not want to think about monetary policy. The result is that mortgage payments have doubled, down payments have doubled, rents have doubled, the cost of gas, groceries and home heating have skyrocketed, and people cannot afford to eat, heat or house themselves.

Instead of reining in spending to bring inflation under control, the Prime Minister acts like a pyromaniac, throwing another $40 billion on the inflationary fire. This is despite warnings from economists, including Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, who cautioned that government spending is at the upper bound. This will make it much harder for the bank to lower interest rates.

This is not a partisan point. Former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page expressed this yesterday, telling Global News, “We gotta get those interest rates down. So on a net basis, this is just not good for inflation.” Former Liberal finance minister John Manley also warned this government months ago that it was pressing on the inflationary gas pedal with its spending. Even former Liberal-appointed governor of the Bank of Canada David Dodge said he believes that this will be the “worst budget” since 1982.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. After nine deficits and doubling the national debt, Canada is less fair and Canadians are worse off.

Now the finance minister says that what Canadians really want is a stronger government to make things fairer. By making government bigger, the Liberals have made citizens weaker. Conservatives believe that smaller government makes for bigger citizens.

This is not a government that gives people everything they want. It is a government that takes everything they have. Members do not have to take it from me. Just yesterday, in the Financial Post, it was written, “we’ve become a growth laggard and our living standards have largely stagnated for the better part of a decade.”

Part of our declining standard of living has to do with the fact that Canada has the worst productivity in the G7. Our GDP growth has been driven primarily by population and labour force growth, not productivity improvements. That may increase the total amount of goods and services, but it does not translate into increased living standards.

This is a real crisis. From 2000 to 2023, the growth rate of Canada's real per person GDP was 0.7%. That is meaningfully worse than the G7 average of 1% and the United States', whose GDP per person growth rate was 1.2%, almost double. Our country is facing a productivity crisis that threatens to erode this country’s standard of living and erase many Canadians' hopes for a more prosperous future.

Just a few weeks ago the Bank of Canada's deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said that we have a productivity emergency, and “in case of emergency, break glass.” Even former Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau says the budget is a threat to investment and economic growth.

It is time to take action by, for instance, reducing regulatory barriers to investment, celebrating entrepreneurship, bolstering the profit incentive for private investment and loosening the federal government's tight grip on the economy. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister does the exact opposite.

There has been one change, though. The borrow-and-spend Liberals are now the tax-and-spend Liberals. On top of gouging Canadians with their April 1 tax hikes, they have decided that they know better how to spend businesses' money than the hard-working Canadians who actually run those businesses.

This is not a partisan point. Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB, said, “What worries me the most about [these tax] changes is the potential to demotivate Canadians from getting into business in the first place or working hard to grow a small business to a medium-sized business”. He is not the only one.

Harley Finkelstein, president of Canada’s greatest tech company, Shopify, said:

We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build.

What's proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized—this is...a tax on innovation and risk taking.

Our policy failures are America's gains. At a time when our country is facing critically low productivity and business investment our political leaders are failing our country's entrepreneurs.

For nine years, the Prime Minister has told Canadians that the rich would pay for the cost of his spending, but the truth is that it has been everyday Canadians who have been the ones paying. The Prime Minister has already raised his punishing carbon tax by 23% on April 1, and with $40 billion in new inflationary spending, Canadians will continue to pay the inflation tax that hurts the poorest among us the most. Whatever the Prime Minister says, it will not be him and his billionaire friends who pay for new spending. It will be single moms, workers and small business owners.

We cannot tax our way to prosperity, and no government program can increase productivity better than the power of the free market, spurred on by Canadian entrepreneurs. We need to celebrate entrepreneurship in this country, not punish it.

Conservatives had three simple demands for the budget: axe the tax on farmers and food by immediately passing Bill C-234 in its original form; build the homes, not bureaucracy, by requiring cities to permit 15% more homebuilding each year as a condition for receiving federal infrastructure money; and cap spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down interest rates and inflation. The government must find a dollar in savings for every dollar of spending.

The Prime Minister did none of those things, and for those reasons, Conservatives will not be supporting the budget.