Debates of Oct. 30th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, when a Liberal rural affairs minister says that if Canadians want a pause from the carbon tax, then need to elect a local Liberal MP, she has it exactly wrong. What they need to do is elect a common-sense Conservative government that would axe the tax entirely.

This is not only hurting the pocketbook of Canadians or forcing seniors to choose between eating and heating, now Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C. and Ontario are asking for similar breaks. In fact, the Saskatchewan government is refusing to collect the tax on the utility.

Does the Prime Minister realize that he is not only bankrupting Canadians and leaving them in the cold, he is actually dividing our country?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as a resident of Ontario, I remember the last time that our province elected a common-sense Conservative government. Look what it did to education. Look how it gutted health care. Look at what happened with Walkerton.

We know, as Canadians, what happens when we elect common-sense Conservatives. They gut programs, they hurt Canadians, and they are certainly not there when it comes to fighting climate change or supporting Canadians.

Small Business

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, tens of thousands of businesses say that the Canada emergency business account has put them in jeopardy. The pandemic hurt them. Inflation is hurting them. Interest rates are hurting them. Forecast consumption by Quebec and Canadian consumers is hurting them.

We requested an additional one-year extension. We requested some form of accommodation from the banks. We requested a credible point person who would be available for these businesses.

Is the government ready to act?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, our government is listening to small businesses. The first deadline to qualify for forgiveness was the end of 2022. Small businesses asked for our help. That is why our government extended the forgiveness repayment deadline to January 18, 2024. We also announced a full one-year extension of the term loan repayment date until the end of 2026.

Our government is always there for small businesses.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about real businesses, real entrepreneurs, real jobs. We are talking about a real economic impact on the Canadian and Quebec economies. Everyone, including every single province, is saying that the current extensions and deadlines are insufficient and that businesses are in danger of closing down.

This is serious. It is more serious than the fictions some people here are spouting. These are real jobs, real businesses. This measure is a helping hand that would cost next to nothing.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, we set up the Canada emergency business account to help businesses and organizations during the pandemic. We extended the forgivable deadline by one year, postponing it from 2022 to 2023. We postponed it by a few more weeks to give businesses time to make adjustments and continue to benefit from this forgivable portion. Loans will not be called in this January.

Members must not scare organizations and businesses unnecessarily.

Taxation

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week's announcement on home heating only benefits Canadians who live where Liberals need to save their seats.

All Canadians need some relief when it comes to the cost of home heating. That is why New Democrats proposed taking the GST off all home heating. It would help all Canadians. It is a measure that Liberals and Conservatives have both opposed.

When will the Liberals stop playing games and bring in relief for all Canadians this cold winter?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, again, I would say that folks in the chamber need to do their homework. This program actually applies across the country. The doubling of the rural top-up applies across the country. The heat pump program applies across the country. It applies to all folks who are challenged by the cost of home heating oil.

Housing

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford and the Greenbelt are the perfect example of the Conservatives' housing strategy: sell public land to their rich developer friends. The Liberals' record after eight years is no better, with record-high rents, renovictions and the worst housing market in the G7. These two parties are looking out for the people profiting from the housing crisis, not the people suffering from it.

When will the government announce measures for building not-for-profit housing?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that I was opposed to what the Ford government was trying to do in the Greenbelt in the greater Toronto area. Sadly, the Conservatives across the way supported it.

We are here to protect the environment across the country. In the past month alone, we have signed agreements with the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nova Scotia to protect one million square kilometres across Canada. That is an area four times the size of Great Britain, and we have still have a lot more to do.

Carbon Pricing

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-NDP government is finally saying the quiet part out loud. It admitted that its carbon tax makes life more unaffordable and does nothing to help the environment. However, only certain people get relief: those who happen to live in places where Liberal polling numbers are the worst. Everyone else gets told that their vote does not matter and that the Liberals do not care.

If the Liberals can take the carbon tax off for some Canadians, why can they not take it off for all Canadians?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, this program applies across the country in every province and territory of this country. We have developed a solution with respect to home heating oil that will put more money back into the pockets of Canadians. It will continue to fight and reduce emissions. It will address both the climate issue and challenges with respect to affordability.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister can rely on his prepared talking points all he wants, but that was not quite how the Minister of Rural Economic Development spun it yesterday. She told Canadians that if they wanted to be exempted from Liberal carbon taxes, they had to vote Liberal. My neighbours in the GTA have a question for the minister. There are 24 Liberal MPs in Toronto, 11 in Peel, seven in York and 10 of them are cabinet ministers.

If this is the largest concentration of Liberal ridings in Canada, why are they still paying a carbon tax?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, home heating oil is a challenge not just for Atlantic Canadians, but for many in rural Canada. That has been the case for many years, but it became more forceful in the last couple of years as the price of home heating oil skyrocketed. It went up 75% in 2022.

I would say we have come up with a solution that will enable Canadians to do the right thing with respect to fighting climate change. It will actually put more money in their pockets. It is a good solution for the climate. It is a good solution for the affordability of Canadians in Atlantic Canada, and everywhere across this country.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has finally admitted the carbon tax makes heating homes more expensive and he is pausing the carbon tax in Atlantic Canada, and we know why. It is because the minister, the member for Long Range Mountains, said Atlantic MPs forced the Prime Minister to do it.

What the Prime Minister is saying after eight years is that if someone is a Liberal MP from Brampton, Toronto, Mississauga or Thunder Bay, their voice does not matter at all. They cannot have any change. They are effectively useless.

Will the Prime Minister stop playing politics with the carbon tax and just axe it?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as a member of Parliament from Ontario, I know that Ontario families get over $1,000 a year for fighting pollution. I guess that Ontario MP wants to take that $1,000 right out of their pockets, which is exactly what he is advocating for. Instead, our government is committed to making sure that we help Canadians not just fight pollution, not just fight climate change, but also deal with affordability.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, now we have just been treated to the great carbon tax fable: first, it was revenue neutral; second, we get more money than we pay into it; third, it fights climate change. It does none of those things. What it does, and what the Prime Minister has admitted by pausing the carbon tax, is that it makes it more expensive for everyone. The real tragedy is for Canadians outside Atlantic Canada. Why? It is not being paused, and most people heat their homes in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, B.C. and Quebec not with heating oil. It does not apply across the country.

Will they stop playing politics, picking winners and losers, dividing Canadians and axe the tax?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record. When we came into power in 2015, projections in emissions growth in Canada were growing and, in 2030, we would be 80 million tonnes above our 2005 levels. We took that out of the atmosphere and we reduced emissions by another 50 million tonnes. That is the equivalent of removing from our roads more than 20 million vehicles. That is one of the things we have done in the last eight years, and we have done so many more things to fight climate change.

We have the best record of all G7 countries, which is something that never happened, not once, under the Conservative Party for 10 years.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Before I give the floor to the hon. member, I urge all hon. members to wait their turn before speaking.

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, the Prime Minister looked at the polls as our leader arrived in Nova Scotia. He started to panic. What did he do? He temporarily suspended the carbon tax in the Atlantic provinces.

His environment minister said yesterday in an interview that he was not willing to help out Canadians in other provinces, not even back home in the minister's and my home province of Quebec. That is humiliating for Quebeckers, who also bear the brunt of the carbon tax. Quebeckers also have to buy food and fill up their cars.

Will the Prime Minister announce a complete, not just temporary, suspension of the second carbon tax that applies to Quebec?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to watch that episode of Les coulisses du pouvoir again. I am actually happy that he watches Radio-Canada, because his party wants to slash CBC/Radio-Canada's funding. He should watch that interview again, because what I said was that we are there to help people.

All the measures that we have implemented, from dental care and child care to fighting climate change, are things that the Conservative Party of Canada is opposed to.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as for the tax, I watched the show not once, not twice, but three times, and it was clear what the minister said. He even said that, as long as he is environment minister, there would never, ever be any further changes to the carbon tax elsewhere in Canada. He essentially confirmed that there will be no other pauses as long as he is in that role. It remains to be seen what the Prime Minister will do with that.

For now, I would also like to say that the Bloc Québécois, which supports the carbon tax, says it does not apply to Quebec and wants to drastically increase it.

At the end of the day, what is this government doing?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I think that if he watched the show once, twice, or three times, maybe he should have practised his question once, twice, or three times. It is not entirely clear what he was asking. I think he was talking about carbon pricing.

Carbon pricing is in place across the country, from coast to coast. We have made sure there is a fair mechanism for all Canadians. We support Canadians in the fight against climate change as well as on the issue of affordability.

Small Business

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government cannot let 250,000 businesses go bankrupt without trying to save them.

Everyone is asking the government to defer repayment of the CEBA loans for another year without losing the subsidy. All the premiers agree on this, including the premier of Quebec and the premiers of the other provinces, as well as the National Assembly, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Association Restauration Québec. The federal government's inaction is leading us to a wave of bankruptcies.

When will the government finally offer SMEs an adequate deferral of repayment?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, nearly 900,000 small businesses had to shut down during the pandemic. What did we do? We created the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA, to help small businesses keep their doors open.

What are we doing? We are providing additional flexibility so that businesses can repay their CEBA loans. What will our government continue to do? We will continue to listen to and support small businesses across the country.