Debates of Jan. 31st, 2019

Natural Resources

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we should start with the fact that the member is incorrect. He apparently did not read the report. What we know, though, and most important, is that we see that it is important for us to have the capacity to get our oil resources to international markets. We are dependent on right now sending 99% of our resources to U.S. markets. If there were ever a time where Canadians believed that it is important to diversify, now is that time.

This purchase is going to be good for the long-term health of our economy. It is obviously going to be good for our oil sector. We believe that both those things are quite important.

Carbon Pricing

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the National Airlines Council of Canada stated that the Liberal carbon tax would make air travel more expensive for Canadians and really would do nothing to help us reduce our emissions.

Unlike the Prime Minister, who inherited a vast family fortune, most Canadian families save for years to afford to fly. According to the council, families will pay hundreds of dollars more to visit grandma and grandpa, making it unaffordable for many.

Why do Canadians have to keep paying more for the Prime Minister's mistakes?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, had the hon. member attended the committee hearing of the same environment committee Monday, she would have seen that Stephen Harper's former director of policy gave testimony, indicating that the most effective thing we could be doing to bring our emissions down was putting a price on pollution and returning the revenues to Canadian citizens. It actually is going to make life more affordable.

I do not know why the Conservative Party seems committed to campaigning on a promise to take money from its constituents so pollution can be free in Canada.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberals who are making pollution free again by mass exemptions to industrial emitters and dumping sewage into the ocean.

The Prime Minister has no concept of managing money because he inherited, in his words, a great “family fortune”. According to his own government's documents, the Liberal carbon tax is expected to cost a family of four up to $5,000 a year. He has already introduced Bill C-69 and Bill C-48. He cannot build a pipeline. How does he now expect that struggling families are going to pay for this?

When will the Prime Minister stop making Canadians pay for his mistakes?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, how? Let me count the ways. Big emitters will pay under our system. That is why families are going to be better off.

When the Conservative Party is lost and has no argument to present on its own, it resorts to snide personal attacks against members on this side of the House. Politics deserves better.

We campaigned on a commitment to grow our economy and protect our environment at the same time. We are putting a price on pollution that will bring emissions down, make life more affordable for Canadians. It has been 277 days since Conservatives said that hey were going to come up with a plan. So far their only plan is to mislead Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, well, the finance minister paid $4 billion for a $2-billion pipeline. The word is that he is now in the market for some oceanfront property in Arizona.

As for his carbon tax, it will be a lot more expensive than he admits as well. He received a briefing document in 2017 which said that the tax would have to be much higher than the government admits. Based on other government figures, it could be as high as $300, which translates into a $5,000 per year bill for a family of four in Canada.

Will he tell us now what is the full and final price of the Liberal carbon tax?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, the desperate scare tactics that the Conservative Party has resorted to are completely disingenuous. It knows that we have never indicated once that we plan to move forward with a figure anywhere close to the one he is talking about. We have been putting it on our website.

I have told the member in the old chamber at Centre Block before, that Canadians are going to be better off. I note that in his constituency, a typical family of four can expect to receive $307. He is going to be going to the polls in the next campaign with a commitment to take that money from his constituents.

We are going to bring emissions down and we are going to make life more affordable for Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, so that is the Liberals' trade-off. They will give families a $300 cheque before the election for a $5,000-bill after the election. He suddenly disputes these numbers.

In the year 2022, the tax rate is scheduled to go up. The minister has admitted that, the government documents have admitted that and everyone else knows that it is true. The fact is that the Liberals will not tell us by how much it will go up. The only figure that we can find in government documents is $300, and that translates into a $5,000 bill.

If that is wrong, what is the real price?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the hon. member opposite has the same confidence I do that we are going to be in government after the next election.

However, where I would like to correct the record is where the hon. member is using astronomical figures to scare Canadians about the policies we are implementing to fight climate change. We are going to put forward a price on pollution that is going to return revenues to Canadian citizens, which makes life more affordable for families.

It is no surprise the Conservatives are opposing this policy. When we introduced the Canada child benefit to make life more affordable, they voted against it. When we introduced the middle-class tax cut to make life more affordable, they voted against it. When we put a price on pollution to make life more affordable for Canadians, they—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Carleton.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, only a Liberal would say that a tax makes life more affordable, but that tax is not even effective. According to the government's own documents, they will fall 80 million tonnes short of meeting its Paris targets.

How will they fill the gap? According to the environment minister, “we will evaluate both the need for and opportunity of utilizing international credits.” That is right, forcing Canadians to send billions of dollars to California and other jurisdictions to pay for the government's failures to meet its own targets.

What is the full and final cost of buying international carbon credits under the Liberals' plan?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, just to correct the record, the way our system is going to work is that we are putting a price on pollution and returning the revenues to citizens. Eight out of 10 Canadian families can expect to be better off, and the hon. member's constituents will receive in excess of $300 at tax time.

We are moving forward with a plan that does not just include a price on pollution to bring our emissions down. We are also making historic investments in public transit. By 2030, 90% of our electricity is going to be fuelled by renewable resources. We are phasing out coal over 30 years in advance of when the Conservative government would have.

The reason the Conservatives start throwing non-factual information forward is because it has been 277 days and—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Carleton.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what Kathleen Wynne said. She planned to spend $2.2 billion sending money to California for carbon credits. The auditor general of that province said, “these funds may be leaving the Ontario economy for no purpose other than to help the government claim it has met a target.” Now we know where the carbon tax money will really go: outside this country.

Will the member confirm how much will Canadians spend buying foreign carbon credits under the government's plan?

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I have said a number of times that Canadians can expect to be better off as a result of our plan. It is clear that the hon. member does not believe me, so I would direct him to the testimony that was given by Mark Cameron, Stephen Harper's former director of policy. If he does not accept him, I would direct him to Doug Ford's chief budget adviser who told us previously—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Order, please. There is way too much noise. The questions have been put. I am sure all hon. members would be interested to hear what the parliamentary secretary has to say, but it just a little too loud for members to hear that.

We are going to go back and letting the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment finish up his comments and then we will be on to the next question.

[Sean Fraser]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have the opportunity to provide some further information, because it is not just me who is putting this information forward. As I mentioned, Stephen Harper's former director policy supports our plan. Doug Ford's chief budget adviser said that the single most effective thing we could do to transition to a low-carbon economy would be to put a price on pollution.

The winner of last year's Nobel Prize in Economics won the prize for developing this kind of a plan. Forty-seven economists, including the former chairs of the federal—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.

Housing

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Columbus Housing Co-op offers safe and affordable housing for seniors in Elmwood, but not without its challenges. The riverbank near the building is eroding. If a leaky roof were jeopardizing its units, it would be able to apply for renovation funding. However, the rules prevent it from getting money to shore up the riverbank. Its operating agreement is going to expire in several years.

While the Liberals promised a fix for this co-op and those like it, after three years, all we have is a Band-Aid to get them through the next election.

A proper national housing strategy would provide help and certainty to housing co-ops like Columbus, but that is not what the government has delivered. I want to know how much longer they are going to have to wait.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, from day one, we announced that we believed every Canadian had a right to a safe and affordable place to call home. I am delighted to answer the question.

The member knows already how ambitious we will be in supporting co-operatives and not-for-profit housing providers in the future. We have done this since 2016. Our investments of $5.7 billion has helped a million families since 2016.

We look forward to doing this for many other Canadians until we are able to fully implement our national housing strategy.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the key was “in the future”.

Safe and affordable housing is a right. Skyrocketing rents and ballooning home prices in Essex are making it impossible for people to keep a roof over their heads. People like Crystal's brother Darell, who was living in a tent because he was not able to find affordable housing. People like Fred's daughter, who is a single mother with five kids and living with him. The kids are sleeping in his livingroom because she cannot find affordable housing.

Instead of making up numbers to make themselves look good, what will the Liberals do for people like Darell and Fred's daughter?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, we understand and, indeed, know very much how important it is for all Canadians to a right to access a safe place to live, for seniors, for veterans, for people living with disabilities. We understand that and that is why we have invested, since 2016, over $5.7 billion in helping a million families. That is why over the next 10 years we will be implementing the first-ever national housing strategy, a 10-year, $40-billion plan, because we believe exactly that. Canadians have a right to have safe and affordable places to live.

Justice

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there was a case of déjà vu in an Ottawa courtroom today when a former Kathleen Wynne and current Liberal staffer was asking questions about lost emails. She appears to have been referring to Vice-Admiral Norman as a “certain naval officer” in an attempt to sabotage his defence. This deliberate attempt to sabotage access to information requests is a political attack on Vice-Admiral Norman's right to a fair trial.

Did anyone within the Prime Minister's Office ever have discussions about delaying the trial of Vice-Admiral Norman?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, all employees are required to maintain official records and to save them in an appropriate fashion. These policies are laid out very clearly in the Access to Information Act and in the related access to information manual. The government takes those responsibilities very seriously.