Debates of Dec. 8th, 2022

Opposition Motion—Carbon Tax

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I have to interrupt the hon. member.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay is rising on a point of order.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, I was listening to my colleague. Is he saying that the Liberals are extorting the public?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, I said “exhorting”.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, he said “exhorting”. Okay, I was just worried about what I had heard.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, the NDP member from the costly coalition is obviously very sensitive to any accusation that his friends and fellow caucus members are putting up the cost of everything.

I will go back to what my constituents have written to me. The member for Kingston and the Islands, I am sure, is getting emails like this. Nancy wrote to me to raise the issues facing those on a federal disability pension. The member for Kingston and the Islands is obviously not aware that people live on disability pensions.

She continued with asking us to please raise their pension. She wrote that her oil bill was over $700, and she gets $895 a month. She cannot afford prescriptions, power, cable, phone or Internet, to say nothing of food. She lives in rural Nova Scotia, so everything she needs, she has to drive to, but she cannot afford gas. She says she is usually home anyway, but this is ridiculous. She goes on to talk about her medical needs, and she says she is living a life like the early days of the pandemic because she cannot get out and misses appointments.

She then says that the government is giving away millions of dollars, and she understands why it has to do it, and she does sympathize, but she asks about Canadian citizens. She questions if the government cares about them. She then says that she finds it hard to see her mom, as she is 35 kilometres away, and Nancy cannot afford the gas to visit her. Her mother is on an old age pension too and cannot afford food.

I would think that the Liberals would care about these issues and vote for the motion.

We are seeing, for example, that food inflation is up 10.8% because of the policies of the government. Fish, which is very important in my riding, is up 10.4%. Butter is up 16%. Eggs are up 11%. Margarine is up 37%. I am not buttering members up on this. The reality is it has gone up by 37%. Bread and rolls, which is something we butter up, have gone up 17%. I can go on. The food costs have grown enormously.

Fishing is an important part of my riding. It is lobster season and the winter has just started. It is a dangerous job, fishing in the north Atlantic for lobster in the winter during storms, with waves and snow. There are dangers when people are out to sea, 40 to 50 miles off shore.

I know I am going to get scoffs from the other side, but the cost of diesel for a fishing boat is $2.70 per gallon, which is triple what it was at the start of the season last year. It is tripling. It is because of the policies of the government that we no longer have access to the necessary bait. We are not allowed to fish mackerel because of the decisions of the government. The reality is they have to buy bait from Europe and Norway, and the bait has now doubled to $1.40 per fish.

There are people who have a loan from the provincial loan board. They are young entrepreneurs who have gotten into the fishing business and have upwards of a million dollars of loans, so they could buy their boat, their licence and their gear. Their loans have just rolled over this fall. Do members know what they are now? They were paying 2%. What do members think they have gone up to? They have more than tripled to 7% on a million-dollar loan.

This is an incredible burden on and cost increase to the food that we eat. That is why we are putting forward this motion. We are saying we have to give people relief. The government has to give relief to Canadians to stop the cycle of inflation it is causing, which is driving up food prices and making our constituents have to choose between heating and eating.

How did we get here? Those tiny deficits were promised in 2015 and balanced by 2019. Before COVID, we had $110 billion of deficits spent by the government, which was supposed to have balanced budgets. Then during COVID, over $200 million was spent on issues that were not related to COVID, which added more debt to the country than all other prime ministers combined in the history of this country.

That excessive spending puts more cash into the market, and it is chasing fewer goods, which means our paycheques cannot buy what they used to. It is basic economics. However, if we had a government that understood or paid attention to monetary policy, it would have understood that and saw it coming, as we did two years. We warned the government that this was going to happen. The Minister of Finance said she was worried about deflation. Do members believe that? She did nothing about understanding the basic economics of our economy.

I have a lot more to talk about on the wasted government spending that has led us to this point where we are calling on the government to give some compassion and relief, so people can afford to buy food and do not have to choose between food, heating and prescriptions in my province, and in some cases selling their houses.

I have asked questions here, and I had Debbie on the phone. Her mother has to sell her family house. She has to sell the family house because the price of home heating has gone up from $200 to $400 a month. We get calls every week from people having to sell their houses because they cannot afford to heat them anymore, and they have to make the choice between maintaining that home or eating, so they have to sell the home.

We are calling on the government to show a little compassion and reduce or eliminate its failed carbon tax, which has not met a single carbon target it has set out. The Liberals have not reduced carbon outputs in this country since they have been in government. It is an inflationary tax intended to drive up inflation, and it is not working, so we would urge all members in the House to please support this motion today. It is a brilliantly crafted motion, which would really help Canadians suffer through this terrible economic time we are in.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague, during his remarks, talked about government spending over the last two years, and some of that spending has included a national child care program, which has been rolled out across the country. Indeed, the Nova Scotia minister is actually an MLA within that member's riding. We just announced that child care fees are going to be going down by 50%, and that there will be another 1,500 spaces added in our province of Nova Scotia alone. That will help support families in my riding and in the member opposite's riding.

Does that member support that government spending over the last two years? Why does he not support it? Will he support the legislation we introduced today that would enshrine that moving forward, so that families in his riding and mine can be supported with important affordability measures that would make a difference to our young kids?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Kings—Hants, who represents a rural riding in Nova Scotia, will know that there is almost no institutional child care available in rural Nova Scotia. I have one institutional child care space that helps nobody in my riding, and there are over 70,000 or 80,000 families on the waiting list in Quebec for this program, and that is a mature program, so it is not going to help. I think it is highly misleading to the families in my riding to think that somehow that would help them achieve their child care needs.

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Madam Speaker, the colleague opposite mentioned two things that kind of caught my attention: the price of diesel, which somebody is burning in his riding, and the price of gasoline for somebody else to get to medical appointments or to visit their mom. How much of that price, because he quoted the actual price per litre in his speech, is a federally implemented carbon tax, or is it a provincially implemented carbon tax? Could he please—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for South Shore—St. Margarets.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, the member for Avalon does an excellent job chairing the fisheries committee, and I enjoy working with him on that committee.

On the question, there is no provincial carbon tax on that diesel because we did not impose a carbon tax provincially in Nova Scotia, and the price has gone up from 90¢ to $2.70 because of the inflationary policies of the government. The policies of the government have also led to our dependence on Saudi Arabian fuel coming into Atlantic Canada, including to the refineries in that member's province, which has energy coming from Saudi Arabia. The—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I have to give time for other questions.

The hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, in 2013, the Government of Quebec joined the carbon market with California, but the negotiations were held long before 2013. The Conservative government was in power at the time. The good thing about the carbon market is that it puts a cap on carbon emissions. Quebec tried to encourage the Government of Canada to join the carbon market, but it did not.

Looking back, does my colleague think that the carbon market is a better alternative to taxation, which only puts a price per tonne without putting a cap on emissions?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, no, because the carbon market is basically allowing somebody to pay at the end of the day for continuing to pollute. It puts the price of everything up, even in the province of Quebec, and we have not seen carbon emissions come down as a result of that. The province with the most aggressive carbon tax in this country is British Columbia, and we have seen nothing but increases in carbon in that province for the almost 20 years that it has had a carbon tax in place.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed my colleague's speech, especially when he read some his constituents' concerns, which he highlighted. The cost here in Windsor, Ontario, is significant as well, and I would like to hear his perspective on a problem we have that is compounding everything. I have not heard the Conservative position on this.

The City of Windsor had to spend $5.7 million to clear the illegal border crossing blockade at the Ambassador Bridge, which cost tens of millions of dollars per day to the Canadian economy. Does the member's party support making the city of Windsor residents whole? On top of all these other expenses, we now have to foot the bill of nearly $6 million to clear the illegal blockade for the rest of the country, and most of the people came from outside this region. Does he support that restitution for the City of Windsor?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Madam Speaker, I am not an expert on the priorities of the City of Windsor's municipal government, but I think it enjoys having the responsibility of policing and not having the federal government do it. When the city takes those responsibilities on, it involves a cost throughout the year, whatever the challenges are.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Obviously, the procedural rules say that no member should suggest that another member has misled the House, but before me I have a report from the Nova Scotia government that talks about the number of registered day care spaces in South Shore—St. Margarets. Could we—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

That is debate.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Davenport.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am happy to be sharing my time with the very hon. member for Vaughan—Woodbridge.

I am very pleased to join in today's debate on the issue of the higher cost of living. It is one that is top of mind for our federal government and also for the residents of my riding of Davenport. It is also the top economic challenge facing our country right now.

We have been speaking with Canadians and know the real uncertainty they are feeling today. First, we have experienced a once-in-a-generation pandemic. We turned the Canadian economy off and then turned it back on. Then Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Now we are dealing with inflation. All of these things are related, of course. Global inflation has not been created by the decisions of any one government alone. Global inflation has been created by the combined aftershocks of two and a half years of historic tumult.

Fortunately, Canada is faring better than most other G7 countries in these very difficult times. However, that reality does not change the impact on Canadians when they are looking at their grocery bills or their gas receipts. Our federal government knows how challenging these past several months have been, and while inflation is down to 6.9% from a peak of 8.1% in June, it is still too high. It is also no comfort that Canada's inflation rate is one of the lowest of all G7 countries.

Affordability and covering the costs of everyday living will continue to be a top issue. It will continue to be a difficult time for a lot of Canadians, friends, families and neighbours. Our economy will slow, the same as economies around the world, as central banks continue to act to tackle inflation, as we heard from the Bank of Canada yesterday. There will be people whose mortgage payments will rise. Businesses will no longer be booming in the same way they have been since we left our homes after the COVID lockdowns and went back out into the world. Our unemployment rate will still be low but will not be at its record low.

We know that Canadians are worried about the higher cost of living and are also wondering when it will all end. For the Canadians who need it the most, namely those who are the most vulnerable and those who feel the bite of rising prices most acutely, our federal government is there with measures in our affordability plan right now, this year.

Our affordability plan has been providing up to $12.1 billion in new supports throughout this year, with many measures continuing after this year to help make life more affordable for millions of Canadians. Let me go through some of those measures.

We have doubled the GST credit for six months, which is providing $2.5 billion in additional targeted support to roughly 11 million individuals and families who already receive the tax credit, including more than half of Canadian seniors. Many received this additional payment last month.

The second thing we are doing is enhancing the Canada workers benefit to put up to an additional $2,400 into the pockets of low- and modest-income families, starting already this year.

We also increased, on a permanent basis, old age security by 10% for seniors over 75. That began in July. This increases benefits for more than three million seniors and provides more than $800 in the first year to full pensioners.

In addition, we have a $500 payment this year going to 1.8 million Canadian low-income renters who are struggling with the cost of housing through a one-time top-up to the Canada housing benefit.

We are also cutting regulated child care fees by an average of 50% by the end of this year. I am delighted that we have introduced Bill C-35, legislation that will protect access to affordable, inclusive, high-quality early learning and child care now and ongoing. This legislation will make it harder for any future government to cancel or cut any child care in the future. I am very happy that this is happening and is currently under way.

We are providing dental care for Canadians without dental insurance who are in households earning under $90,000 and have children under the age of 12. They are getting up to $650 this year and up to $650 next year.

We are also indexing benefits to inflation, including the Canada child benefit, the GST credit, the Canada pension plan, old age security and the guaranteed income supplement.

All of these measures mean that Canadians are getting more money back in their pockets when they need it most. Also, when it comes to pollution pricing, we know a national price on pollution is the most effective and least costly way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and putting money back into the pockets of most Canadians.

I would like to take a moment to further highlight two other measures in this plan in more detail.

First, in the fall economic statement, we set out a plan to further improve the Canada workers benefit, in addition to already expanding and enhancing it in budget 2021 to reach up to three million Canadians who do important jobs but do not get paid very much. The federal government currently delivers the Canada workers benefit through tax returns. That means eligible Canadians need to wait until the tax year is over to receive the money they have already earned.

However, bills need to be paid throughout the year. That is why in the fall economic statement, we set out a plan to further improve the Canada workers benefit. With the changes proposed in the fall economic statement, the Canada workers benefit will reach up to 1.2 million additional hard-working low- and modest-income Canadians through advance payments that would be made in July, October and January based on a worker's income in the previous year. This means that in total, the Canada workers benefit would top up the income of up to 4.2 million Canadians. They are among the lowest paid Canadians, and no one who works 40 hours a week should have to worry about paying the bills or putting food on the table.

The second measure I would like to underscore is our federal government's investments to support early learning and child care. Child care is not just a social policy; it is an economic policy too. Affordable, high-quality child care will grow our economy, will help give every Canadian child the best start in life and will allow more women to enter the workforce.

I call this policy a game-changer. In fact, just last week, Statistics Canada reported that almost 82% of women in their prime working years had jobs in November, the most on record, as our implementation of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system continues to close long-standing gender gaps in conjunction with a tight labour market. At a time when the cost of living is top of mind for so many, the investments we have made are having a real, tangible impact on what is often one of the biggest monthly expenses for a family.

This is very popular among residents in my riding of Davenport. They love this national child care plan. They are absolutely using it. They very much appreciate the additional dollars, especially during months like December, when there are some additional family gatherings and they need additional dollars.

In budget 2021, our federal government has made a historic investment of $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. In less than a year, we have reached agreements with all 13 provinces and territories. As I mentioned earlier, by the end of this year, regulated child care fees will be reduced by an average of 50% by 2025-26. Child care fees will average $10 a day by then for all regulated child care spaces from coast to coast to coast.

Today, that means parents across British Columbia can now save on average up to $550 more per month for each child they have in licensed child care, representing up to an additional $6,600 annual savings. This is on top of the existing savings of up to $350 per month introduced by the ChildCareBC plan in 2018, for a total of almost $900 in savings per month on average.

As we continue to work with the provinces and territories on the implementation of agreements, we are also creating an early learning and child care infrastructure fund. Through an investment of $625 million, this fund will enable provinces and territories to make additional child care investments, including for the building of new facilities, all with the goal of making high-quality child care across Canada more accessible and more affordable.

When it comes to ensuring Canadians will get through this challenging economic time, we are providing inflation relief, through our affordability plan, to Canadians who need it the most: the most vulnerable, who are most exposed to inflation. We, of course, cannot support every single Canadian the same way we did with emergency measures at the height of the pandemic. To do so would only make inflation worse and more persistent. In saying that, I note we have been responsible with our spending, we are being compassionate and we are going to continue to have the backs of Canadians who need it the most, both now and moving forward.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Davenport, because she just admitted at the end of her speech that the more the government spends, the higher inflation goes. She just said it. She said that we cannot spend as much as at the height of the pandemic because it makes inflation go up.

I will get to my question for her, now that she was honest about that.

In listening to her speech, Canadians would think they have never had it so good, yet 1.5 million Canadians use the food bank every month. Does the member think this is a statistic that shows her government is doing well, yes or no?

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, on the first part of the member's question, I said that we had to be very responsible in our spending, and that is exactly what we have been. We have been very responsible in our spending in our fall economic statement, in which we were very targeted in how we would actually spend money. We wanted to ensure we were providing targeted funding to those who needed it the most. I provided a number of those examples of how we were targeting that funding. None of that will add to us increasing inflation.

With respect to food banks, it is a very serious situation, something I definitely worry about in my riding of Davenport. All the measures we have put into place will continue to help the most vulnerable and will put additional dollars into their pockets. We are hoping that the use of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Lac-Saint-Jean.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, what is unfortunate is that, because of the government's inaction on climate change, the Conservatives have come here today with a populist motion saying that the carbon tax does not do anything to fight climate change since Canada is ranked 58 out of 63 and is among the worst countries when it comes to climate change performance. It is a good thing there is a carbon tax. Without it, I think we would likely be ranked 122 out of 63.

At a time when Quebeckers and Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, big oil companies, banks and major food corporations are making record profits. Meanwhile, the government is allowing oil projects to increase their production when every international body is calling for a reduction in oil production around the world. To me, it seems absolutely insane to think that Canada is bragging about being good at fighting climate change when it is ranked 58 out of 63.

My question is as follows. When is the government going to start taking money out of the pockets of big oil, big banks and major food corporations and give it to citizens who are working hard to live a decent life?

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I do think oil and gas companies are raking in the profits. They need to be using their profits and putting them toward reducing their emissions, to decarbonizing, to a just transition plan to help their workers continue to have well-paying jobs as we move forward to decarbonize and achieve our net-zero-by-2050 targets.

I do not agree with the hon. member that we have not done enough as a government. We have put in over $100 billion. We have introduced over 100 actions to ensure we achieve our Paris accord targets and that we meet our net-zero targets by 2050.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague just read off a long list of NDP proposals that are there to help Canadians, such as dental care, doubling the GST tax credit and the rent benefit. We are glad to see that.

Many Liberals have read off lists of jurisdictions and countries that have a price on carbon. We are glad to hear that as well.

However, I have a list of countries that have an excess profit tax: Belgium, Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, U.K., Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and I could go on. They have had the courage to go after CEOs.

The member has said that the Liberals cannot help Canadians like they did in COVID, but they are helping CEOs like they did in COVID. They are helping shareholders like they did in COVID.

When is Canada going to make the list of countries that are taking on greedflation and excess profit from oil and gas companies?

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, fist, the supply and confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP was about us coming together and working on the things that we both believed in, such as the environment, housing, indigenous reconciliation, dental care and pharmacare. These are important priorities for Canadians and I am really glad we are working very hard together on achieving these objectives.

With respect to going going after oil and gas companies and profit-making, we have already raised corporate income tax rates. We have increased it by 1.5% on Canada's largest and most profitable banks and insurance companies—