Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I hope all members of this committee will support this common-sense motion.
All this motion does is express the will of the committee to hear from Mark Carney. He was invited to come after the fall economic update was tabled, and he refused that invitation. We know it's not because he's shy. He's not a bashful man. He has no problem speaking to Liberal insiders at invitation-only events, where he gives them glimpses into his extreme policy agenda. All this motion is about is accountability. If Mark Carney wants to replace Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, he should have the courage to be held accountable.
We know he has a lot to answer for, Mr. Chair. Look at a few of his greatest hits.
He's an enthusiastic supporter of the carbon tax. I think the committee should hear his explanation as to why he supports a policy that drives up prices, that increases the cost of home heating and that forces vulnerable Canadians and seniors to choose between eating and heating. We'd like to know how high he would hike the carbon tax. We know the current Liberal plan is to quadruple it. Will that be enough for carbon tax Carney? Will he want to push that carbon tax and those prices up even higher?
We know he has defended international organizations that put forward policies about having more and more government control over people's lives and more and more central planning over the economy.
In an unbelievable display of hypocrisy, he cheered on this government's cancellation of Canadian energy projects—Canadian pipelines that would have brought Canadian jobs home to Canada and given powerful paycheques to Canadian workers. He cheered on the government's cancellation of those job-creating and prosperity-creating projects, yet, at the very same time, he's the chair of asset management at Brookfield. Where does Brookfield invest some of those assets? It invests them in a massive energy project in Abu Dhabi, on the other side of the world, that is creating jobs and paycheques for Canada's competitors. He cheers on and advises his Liberal friends to cancel Canadian projects that would compete with the energy projects his companies are invested in.
He himself was personally found to have misled the public on Brookfield, the company he's a part of, over its claim to be net zero. I would hope all members would like to hear his explanation for why Brookfield was accused of massively under-reporting its emissions in a scandal that hit all the papers around the world that cover business. Brookfield, as well, was accused of using favourable tax policies in countries like Bermuda to avoid paying taxes here at home in Canada. We'd like to hear what he has to say about that. I would think that members of all parties would want to hear the explanation for why Brookfield views it as acceptable to avoid paying taxes here at home, especially when we hold that up to the light of the job-killing policies Mark Carney himself personally cheerleads for.
That's all this is about, Mr. Chair. It's just about accountability. Mark Carney clearly wants to replace Justin Trudeau, so he should have the courage to be held accountable for it. Canadians have a right to know what direction he would take this country in. I would hope my NDP colleagues would like to know who their replacement coalition partner will be and what their replacement coalition partner will do with policy in this country.
This motion is very common sense. It's about accountability. It's about transparency. It's about giving Mark Carney the opportunity to explain why he loves the carbon tax so much, how high he would drive it up and how many more energy projects he would kill. When we look around the world, we see countries coming to Canada, begging for our clean and ethical LNG to displace dirty coal, but Mark Carney clearly likes to advocate for cancelling those projects here in Canada. We'd like to know why.
Mark Carney has bragged about having access to Liberal cabinet ministers. He clearly has no problem giving his advice to them in secret, behind closed doors, or over the phone, so we'd like to have him before the committee, and he can tell Canadians and all parliamentarians what kind of advice he's given his Liberal friends to pursue their anti-energy and job-killing projects.
This is about asking Mark Carney to come and show the courage of his conviction and see if he can withstand the scrutiny and accountability that we ask of all senior officials. We've given many witnesses the opportunity to come and explain why they hold the views they hold, and what advice they give this Liberal government.
There's nothing more and nothing less. It's just an accountability session for someone who aspires to take over the leadership of the Liberal Party and become the replacement coalition partner of the NDP-Liberal government.
I strongly urge my colleagues from all sides of the House and from all political parties to vote in favour of accountability and transparency and invite Mark Carney to come and defend his positions.