Debates of Oct. 4th, 2018

Carbon Pricing

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Manitoba joins a growing number of provinces in saying a firm no to a national carbon tax. The Liberal carbon tax plan is clearly in shambles, and the minister cannot even tell us how much her tax will reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. Experts on all sides are now saying that the Prime Minister's plan is nowhere near meeting its international commitments.

Therefore, my question for the minister is clear: Will she confirm today that her government will not meet its Paris agreement emissions targets?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I am so excited to hear members from the party on the other side actually talk about targets, actually talk about climate change. Maybe they should accept that pollution is not free, that there is a cost, and actually we are seeing the cost from coast to coast to coast with extreme weather events. There is also a $26-trillion opportunity, so I cannot wait to see the Conservative Party's plan to tackle climate change, to meet the Paris agreement and to put a price on pollution.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister arrogantly believes that he can solve the pollution problem with another tax. However, another province is now telling him that he is on the wrong track. The provinces know that families cannot afford it, and even the Liberals know that industry cannot afford it.

Now that Manitoba has said no to the carbon tax, will the Prime Minister finally abandon his plan to tax struggling families?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, as I said a few moments ago, we regret that the Government of Manitoba has decided to pull out of the plan that would have put a price on pollution.

We believe that Canadians expect their governments to work together to fight climate change. Canadians know very well that if a province does not have a plan to honour the commitments made two years ago, a federal plan will apply. We will refund the money to residents of that province.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we know that people who will be hardest hit by this tax are families and seniors who are struggling to exist. Part of that is because the Liberals have given large emitters an exemption from their own tax. No targets and bullying are two of the reasons why Manitoba has joined the growing list of provinces that are rejecting the Liberals' job-killing carbon tax.

Will the Prime Minister finally admit that his national carbon tax is a failure and drop this tax hike once and for all?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we have a plan to protect our environment and to take action against climate change. Why is that? It is because Canadians expect it. They voted us in to grow the economy and tackle climate change.

Unfortunately, the members of the party opposite do not get it. They are back in the Harper era where they think they cannot grow the economy and protect the environment.

We are going to do both. We are going to continue acting. We are going to recognize there is a cost to pollution. We are going to continue creating jobs and growing our economy.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's carbon tax is just another example of a Liberal failure. The Province of Manitoba is the latest to stand up for families that just cannot afford another tax. In fact, the Prime Minister acknowledges that industry cannot afford it either. The B.C. LNG project was only announced after the Prime Minister exempted it from paying this carbon tax.

Will the Prime Minister cancel his carbon tax, or will he insist that hard-working middle-class Canadians pay this tax?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, do you know what failure is? Failure is not recognizing that there is a price on pollution—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. Members I know will want to hear both the questions and the answers and I would ask them to restrain themselves. I know they are able to. I have great confidence that members are able to act like adults and restrain themselves.

The hon. Minister of Environment has the floor.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, do you know what failure is? Failure is not recognizing that there is a cost to climate change and we are paying it right now. Do members know what failure is? Failure is not recognizing a $26-trillion opportunity.

We are not going to fail. We are going to continue growing our economy. We have created more than 500,000 jobs. We have the fastest-growing economy in the G7, and our emissions are going down. We can do both. I only wish the party opposite would recognize that climate change is real and—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, only a Liberal would believe that taxing everything would actually grow the economy.

Yesterday, my premier, Brian Pallister, announced that he is standing up for Manitobans by saying yes to Manitoba's green plan and no to the Liberal carbon tax. Millions of Canadians are rejecting the Prime Minister's tax on everything. Why is that? It is because families and industries simply cannot afford it.

When will the Liberals finally do the right thing, respect provincial jurisdiction and axe the Liberal carbon tax?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it seems only a Conservative would believe that we cannot tackle climate change and grow the economy. When are the Conservatives going to get with the program that we can grow the economy, that we can create good jobs, that we can invest in innovation and we can have innovation here creating solutions that we can export abroad, creating good jobs. At the same time we can ensure a more sustainable future for our kids.

We are going to continue doing what Canadians expect: grow our economy, tackle climate change, protect our environment and create good jobs for Canadians.

Dairy Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, across the country, people are not happy with the agreement signed by the Liberals.

Yvon Boucher, the president of the Producteurs de lait de la Montérégie-Est, told me how angry dairy farmers are at being betrayed by a government that broke another promise.

This bad agreement and the previous breaches will cost dairy farmers one month's salary every year.

Could the Prime Minister, a member of the government, or anyone else say that they had signed a good agreement if it cost them a month's salary?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in the House, we are the party that implemented supply management and we are the government that did defend supply management. It is important to note that the American government indicated quite clearly at the beginning of these negotiations that its desire was to destroy the supply management system. We made sure that did not happen.

We will fully and fairly compensate our farmers and make sure they continue to succeed. Also, the Prime Minister met with farmers today, with the dairy sector, and I have met with many of the supply-managed sectors across the country.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since the new NAFTA was signed, I have received many emails and calls from young Canadian farmers who are really afraid and who feel threatened by the new breach. This 4% concession comes on top of the 3% concession in CETA and the 3.25% concession in the trans-Pacific partnership.

Dairy farmers, especially the next generation, are extremely disappointed to have been sacrificed once again by this Liberal government.

How can the government rise in the House and tell the next generation of farmers that it signed a good agreement for them? It is not true.

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada-U.S. Relations)]

Mr. Speaker, we fully support our dairy farmers, their families and their communities. We must remember that the United States wanted to destroy the supply management system. We protected it.

This agreement will provide access to markets, but the most important thing is that the future of supply management is not in question. We will always support our farmers and our dairy producers. The Prime Minister had a good meeting with dairy farmers this morning.

Natural Resources

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for Canadian families who depend on the oil and gas sector, every day counts as they are left in limbo by a Prime Minister who has failed yet again to deliver a real plan to get the Trans Mountain pipeline built. The only plan the government has is to bury this pipeline in so many delays that it never gets built.

When will the government take this seriously, appeal the Federal Court ruling and request a stay of the decision so that the construction process can begin now?

[Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, we share the Federal Court of Appeal's view that we can and must proceed by engaging in a specific and focused dialogue with first nations that are involved in this project. That is exactly what we intend to do.

Let me be very clear: We are not starting over. We are building on the relationships that we have, the information we have gathered and the consultations we have done to date. We know it is worth taking the time to get it right together, and that is the only way that we can move forward.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister thinks he is fooling Canadians with his so-called plan for the Trans Mountain pipeline, a consultation to find out how to consult. Canadians know a real plan when they see one. Sticking one's head in the ground and crossing one's fingers is no plan.

When will the government snap back to reality, start consultations immediately and ask for a stay in this decision to finally get shovels in the ground to start construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline?

[Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. For 10 years, they did not build one pipeline to new markets. Canadians know now more than ever that we need to get our resources to market. For the Conservatives, consulting with first nations is a suggestion and not a constitutional obligation. For them, climate change is not even real.

We respect the court's decision and we will take the path that it has provided us.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, plain and simple, the government bought an expensive pipeline it cannot even get built. If the Liberals had any intention of getting the pipeline built, they would have begun consultations and appealed the decision.

Clearly, the member for Edmonton Mill Woods is incapable of standing up for hard-working Albertans. Will he finally admit that all this has just been a delay tactic on an economically vital project for Alberta?

[Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, we believe that getting it right, consulting and respecting the decision from the Federal Court of Appeal is the way to move forward.

As for the Conservatives, they disregard the Federal Court of Appeal's decision and they disregard consulting with first nations. Their record speaks for itself. For 10 years, not one pipeline was built to new markets. They cannot get it right. We will do it the right way.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, well, the member across the way is new here but he is totally wrong. There were four major projects that got oil and gas to new markets.

If the Liberals would do one thing, it would be to take a lesson from us, because ever since they took control of this pipeline, they abandoned all work on the pipeline. They sent Kinder Morgan packing with $4.5 billion of taxpayers' money so it could build pipelines in the United States. Just last week, the minister from Alberta, the Minister of Natural Resources, announced additional delays that are going to kill this project.

When did the minister decide to betray Alberta and kill this pipeline?