Finance Committee on June 8th, 2026

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Okay. That's fine. No problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

We're on the subamendment. Since we don't have UC to stand this clause, we will briefly suspend.

[An hon. member]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Yes, if you can submit that, then we'll come back.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Colleagues, we are going to get started. You will have all received the CPC subamendment in your inboxes in both English and French.

Mr. Hallan.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

The reason we're moving it forward is that we've tried over and over again to save Canadians more money, especially with summer coming up. There's a Liberal cost of living crisis in this country. Everything is up. Costs are up. Taxes are up. Having the government double Justin Trudeau's deficit did not help Canadians either. We have one of the highest food inflations in the entire G7. We have the highest housing costs and the highest household debt of the G7 because of Liberal policies. Things are not looking up for Canadians, as evidenced by the record number of food bank users.

With the subamendment, I'm trying to see if the Liberals will at least have a little bit of compassion for Canadians over the summer, so that we can save them even more money and extend this excise tax until the end of the year. It would actually deliver real cost savings to Canadians at the pump. In turn, this could also help bring down food costs because it will lower the cost of the fuel needed for transferring the goods and services that Canadians buy.

This is to give Canadians a break. Let's try to extend this until then. We've tried multiple times in the House of Commons to get rid of the excise tax for the rest of the year, the clean fuel standard the Liberals brought in and the GST on top of all of that, which would total a savings of 25¢ per litre, or a total of $1,200 for Canadian families for the rest of the year. The Americans pay about 15% or 20% less than we do. The only difference between the two are the Liberal taxes that get thrown on top of fuel. This is our attempt to save Canadians money. I hope the Liberals will find it within themselves to give Canadians a break.

The argument that this would blow a big hole in the budget is false because there's more that gets taken out in those revenues from Canadians than the savings that we're going to be putting into Canadians' pockets.

I'll leave it there. I hope the Liberals will find a little bit of compassion to give Canadians a break for the rest of the year. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Hallan.

Mr. Leitão.

[Carlos Leitão, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Madam Chair, we're not going to support the subamendment. We already did what we did, suspending the excise tax for three months. That by itself is two-point-something billion dollars. That's that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Go ahead, Mr. Turnbull.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Madam Chair, I want to ask if this subamendment is admissible, given the fact that it would greatly increase the cost. It's not accounted for within the scope of this bill, and I believe it contravenes the prerogative of the Crown to spend money. I believe it is out of scope, but I want to check with you whether you've ruled on it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull. Let me consult with the legislative clerks.

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull. It is admissible because it's not requiring the government to spend additional money. It's just not enabling the government to recoup additional money.

Mr. Lawrence.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Thank you.

I would like to add my voice briefly. It's not the government's money to begin with. It is money that is earned by hard-working Canadians. The government taking less money is not in any way a charity to the people of this country. It's the charity of the people that supports the government. Quite frankly, their charity is running thin.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.

Mr. Viersen is next.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

I wanted to add as well that this ends before the harvest is complete. Farmers generally have a discount on fuel, but this would limit farmers' ability to get cheaper fuel as they go into harvest.

In my neck of the woods, harvest begins in September, but it's generally not done until the end of November, and this would allow farmers to take full advantage of this tax exemption.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Viersen.

Next is Mr. Kelly.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

I as well would like to get some thoughts on this on the record.

In one of the arguments when we debated this in the House of Commons in an opposition motion and in the debate on the bill itself and the policy, we were told that the relatively short time horizon on the excise removal—just over the summer—was there because the prices were so volatile that the government didn't know if the price was going to come down right away and that maybe would have lower crude prices by the summer.

I will note this just quickly. I mean, I don't follow it day to day, but just a quick search here says that West Texas Intermediate is at $91.28 today. We have not seen relief in the crude price, which is one of the drivers that gave us the sharp rise in fuel costs for Canadians.

Given that we're already.... I mean, that was many weeks ago now, Madam Chair, and the rationale they had then was that we should wait and see before we take additional measures. Some would say that we have waited. We have waited and the price is still very high. Gasoline prices are still very high. Canadians are very much pinched and could use the the relief.

The argument for extending the removal of not just this—the excise they're proposing here—but all federal taxes on fuel through to the end of the year is that it would be an important affordability measure for Canadians. The ongoing and prolonged high oil price would suggest that we should in fact extend this excise relief and, also, relief on other fuel taxes the Liberal government has imposed, like the clean fuel standard and the industrial carbon tax, which go into the input.

I'm in favour of the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Kelly.

Mr. Turnbull is next.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I have nothing further to say. Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Okay. Shall the CPC subamendment to G-1 carry?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

We'll have a vote.

(Subamendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you. Going back to G-1—

Go ahead, Mr. Lawrence.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

I would like to propose the following subamendment.

In the spirit of being, like I said, eternal optimists, we keep putting forward ideas, and we're hopeful that the Liberal government will join us and meet us at least halfway on one of these.

I'll read out the particulars of it, but the substance of it is a suspension of the clean fuel standard, which of course drives up the cost of fuel. We're just doing it for the period that the Liberals had proposed—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. That is inadmissible. That doesn't have anything to do with the bill at hand or the current amendment. You can't do that. The chair is ruling that inadmissible.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

I haven't read the actual subamendment, so you can't—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

You talked about the clean fuel standard and subamending it, and that's not a part of the actual clause, Mr. Lawrence.