Debates of Oct. 6th, 2016

Taxation

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please.

It is getting too noisy in here. Members do not want to lose a question.

The hon. Minister of Transport has the floor.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities is in Edmonton speaking to municipal leaders from across the province at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association's conference.

Working with our provincial and municipal partners, we have approved 69 projects worth a total of over $3 billion since taking office.

Under phase 1, we have already approved $543 million in federal funding for 66 projects--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please.

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

Health

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of strained federal-provincial relations, the Liberals promised to negotiate in good faith with the provinces.

On Monday, the Prime Minister surprised the provinces by unilaterally imposing an environmental policy. The Prime Minister also rejected his provincial counterparts' request to talk about health care funding now.

Should the provinces be concerned that the Prime Minister will impose his own health care policy too?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to health, our government is always on Canadians' side. Canadians expect us to have a collegial working relationship.

That is why my colleagues and I are meeting on October 18. I will work with all of my provincial and territorial counterparts. We will improve health care systems for Canadians.

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we need more than just rhetoric. The provinces need stable, predictable funding for health care.

The Prime Minister has always said that he would not do anything without consulting the provinces. However, he refuses to sit down with his counterparts immediately, which is a little too reminiscent of Stephen Harper's attitude.

As a good faith gesture, will the Prime Minister commit to deferring the cuts planned for health transfers for one year, as the provinces are calling for?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to health, it is crucial that the health ministers gather to discuss what Canadians need. I am organizing such a meeting in order to improve our health care systems.

We are going to increase the Canada health transfer. Next year it will go up to $37 billion. We will also discuss other ways to help our colleagues across the country.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, based on the Liberals' actions last week, the premiers have every right to worry.

The government promised a renewed health accord that respects the provinces, and thePrime Minister directly said he would not touch health care funding without negotiations, but all we have seen is its plan to adopt Stephen Harper's cuts to the transfers, no matter what the provinces say.

Many Canadians are starting to ask themselves this: How is a Liberal cut to health care any different from a cut by Stephen Harper?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I have raised this point in the House before. The approach of this government to health is completely different from what has been seen in this country in the last 10 years.

I have been negotiating with my colleagues since the beginning of this year about how we can help them.

More money is not the answer to everything that ails the health care system in this country. It requires us working together. It requires us making new investments in home care, in making new investments to make sure Canadians will have access to mental health care. It requires collaboration, and that is exactly the approach we are taking.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, to paraphrase the Prime Minister, a cut is a cut is a cut.

If the Prime Minister proceeds to cut the health care transfer, this will cause a loss of $1 billion next year alone and $36 billion over the next seven years. This will mean one thing: devastating cuts to patient care across our country.

The provinces have made a simple request: keep the 6% escalator for one year in order to show good faith and protect Canadians.

Will the Liberals reconsider their approach and accept the provinces' reasonable request?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure the House hears me very clearly on this. There will be no cuts to health care.

The Canada health transfer is increasing next year by more than $1 billion, but while investments in the transfer have increased at a rate of 6% per year for the last decade, provincial health spending has not increased at that rate. It has been less than 2% and it has not helped the system.

We have a new approach. We collaborate with our colleagues. We figure out how the system needs to change. We invest in areas that need improvement, like home care. We will make sure Canadians get the health care they need.

Taxation

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, with the new tax on everything, the rural, the unemployed, and seniors on fixed interests will all suffer.

The government falsely promised to support the middle class, yet it cannot even tell us how much the carbon tax will cost Canadians. Instead of spouting the same lines over and over again about family tax cuts, could it not just acknowledge that its massive tax grab has clawed back all of that and then some?

Why does the Prime Minister not just tell Canadians exactly how much more they will be paying for electricity, for gas, and for heating?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member of a few facts.

We are proud to support Canadians at every stage of their life. That is why the first thing we did was to reduce taxes for nine million Canadians. Then we went on to create the Canada child benefit, which is going to help 90% of families in Canada and help to raise 300,000 children out of poverty. Then we went on to enhance the Canada student loans, which is going to help 250,000 students in Canada. Then we went on to the guaranteed income supplement, which is going to make life easier for about a million Canadians. That—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Abbotsford.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Liberals who are out of touch with ordinary working Canadians, we understand that a massive carbon tax grab will not help the environment. It will only hurt the most vulnerable.

My friend Glen is 65-years old and cannot afford to retire. He does not know how much he will pay for his rent, for his groceries, and the heating bill as a result of this massive carbon tax grab.

So again I will ask for a straight answer. How much will this massive tax grab cost Glen and other Canadians when a carbon tax is levied of $50 a tonne?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I am a little confused with the member's question.

When commenting on B.C.'s revenue-neutral direct price on carbon pollution, the Conservative environment critic stated that they did the right thing. He went on to say he would not completely rule out a price on carbon as he did not want to “paint the [Conservative] party into a policy corner” while leadership candidates and members debate how to meet Canada's 2030 climate targets.

How can the member reconcile his position with the fact that his party just voted against the Paris agreement and the Vancouver declaration?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals just do not get it. We agree with the Paris agreement.

This government thinks it is going to create jobs by imposing a carbon tax. How many jobs are the Liberals going to create? None. Are there other ways to achieve the targets set out in the Paris agreement? We reduced greenhouse gas emissions and left a budget surplus. This government is not being transparent for Canadians, who get up every morning and work hard to earn a living.

Will the government finally tell Canadians how much this carbon tax is going to cost them?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that reducing our greenhouse gas emissions will make the economy more competitive and allow it to grow in a sustainable way.

Pricing carbon pollution would give Canada an edge in building a clean growth economy. It would make Canadian businesses more innovative and competitive. It would bring new and exciting job prospects for middle-class Canadians. It would reduce the carbon pollution that threatens the future of this planet.

Job creators across Canada actually agree with us. The president of Shell Canada said, “balancing Canadian economic development while protecting the environment will be enabled by a reasonable price on carbon...”.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, we agree with the Paris agreement.

Can this government think about Canadian families? Did it think about how Canadians are going to pay for this? The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has said that Canadian taxpayers are going to pay dearly for this carbon tax.

Did this government even try to come up with other solutions that will not have such a financial impact on Canadian families? What planet is it living on? There must be smoke—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, pricing of carbon pollution uses the market to drive clean investment decisions. It encourages innovation and it helps to reduce emissions.

That is why 30 Canadian companies have come out strongly in support of a price on carbon pollution; that includes energy companies such as Suncor, Enbridge, and Shell. They know that pricing carbon pollution will bring new and exciting job prospects for middle-class Canadians.

It also includes a number of leading Conservative politicians, including Ontario Conservative leader and former member of Parliament Patrick Brown, who says:

Climate change is a fact. It is a threat. It is man-made. We have to do something about it, and that something includes putting a price on carbon.

A price on carbon is coming and it's going to come everywhere—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Richmond Centre.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep quoting millionaire CEOs in defence of the new carbon tax, but like their millionaire friends, the Liberals do not care about the real impact that a carbon tax will have on small business owners.

This tax would drive up costs for restaurants and retailers, and make small businesses less competitive for international markets.

The Liberals seem determined to run our small businesses into the ground. How can they justify increasing the tax burden on our small businesses again?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has so clearly mentioned, putting a price on pollution creates predictability, and that predictability is so important for businesses, including small businesses.

That allows them the ability to innovate and come up with new clean-tech jobs. These jobs will be created from coast to coast to coast. This is the kind of initiative we want. We want to grow the economy. We want to help small businesses. We are going to put forward an innovation agenda that focuses on small businesses and clean jobs.