Debates of Nov. 27th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard directly from Canadian families who are struggling to buy groceries, and on this side of the House, our government continues to make investments to support families through difficult times, investments in affordable housing, and investments in early learning and child care and the Canada child benefit.

The Leader of the Opposition continues to oppose these supports. His common sense is nonsense. On this side of the House, we will continue to do all that we can to support Canadian families.

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

Mr. Speaker, a Liberal minister who gets almost $300,000 a year and drives around in a limo says that it is nonsense to talk about the 800,000 Ontarians who went to a food bank for the first time. This kind of conduct from these Liberals is disgusting, and there is an answer. There is a fix. They could tell their senators to stop blocking Bill C-234, which would take the carbon tax off farmers, the people who feed us, but no, they are not doing it because of the delicate sensibilities of the environment minister who says, “I'll resign if there are any more cuts to the carbon tax.”

Will they take it off? Will they pass Bill C-234?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again we have trouble putting the actual facts on the table, from the leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada. When it comes to working with the Senate, the Senate is independent. There is only one party that is directing senators, and that is the Conservative Party of Canada. As a member of Parliament from Ontario, he should recall the common-sense revolution that cut services to education, to health care and to water, which led to deaths in Walkerton. It was an absolute disaster. Canadians know their common sense is absolute nonsense.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

There are many experienced members in this House, on both sides, who know when a colleague has the floor that colleague should be the only person speaking. I ask members to please keep their comments to themselves until they have the opportunity take the floor.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister, we are once again seeing that he has no respect for a decision made by the House of Commons.

A majority of MPs voted in favour of Bill C‑234 and sent it to the Senate, where it has stalled. The Minister of Environment is even lobbying senators.

Will the Prime Minister ask his minister to stop exerting pressure to block the bill, respect the decision made by the House of Commons and let the senators do their job so that they can vote in favour of Bill C‑234?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my colleague that there are no longer any Liberal senators. There are Conservative senators.

Since we took office in 2015, we have appointed independent senators. Anyone who works with the Senate knows that they are independent. We do not tell the Senate what to do. The Conservative Party is the one telling Conservative senators what to do and how to vote, and it is even asking them to intimidate other senators from other Senate groups.

That is unacceptable and scandalous.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would like to remind the member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier not to speak when another person who has been recognized by the Chair is speaking.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, what is clear, and we saw it in last week's economic statement, is that the Liberals want to drastically increase the carbon tax.

However, Conservative Bill C‑234, supported by a majority in the House, will carve out an exception to the carbon tax being imposed on Canadian farmers.

The Minister of Environment has promised to resign if this bill passes. Perhaps that is why he is going off to the other side to talk to independent senators. He is telling them to vote against it.

Will the Prime Minister tell the senators he appointed to put the interests of Canadians ahead of the environment minister and pass Bill C-234 so Canadians pay less to feed their families?

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

Mr. Speaker, after the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle posted a photo of the female senators who opposed Bill C‑234, the Senate and the police had to launch an investigation in response to the threats these independent senators received.

We do not tell senators how to vote, unlike the Conservative Party, which not only tells them how to vote, but encourages them to bully other senators who do not think like them. It is unacceptable.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, the federal government needs to reimburse Quebec for the $460 million it has spent to take in asylum seekers, which is a federal responsibility.

However, to sidestep the issue, the Minister of Immigration is claiming that this has suddenly become a shared jurisdiction with all the provinces. First of all, it is not shared. It is a federal responsibility. More importantly, it is not shared with the provinces, because Quebec takes in 48% of all asylum seekers in Canada.

Quebec is doing all the work while the federal government twiddles its thumbs. Even worse, Quebeckers will have to foot the bill.

When will the minister reimburse Quebec?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, instead of reading his cue card, the member should read section 95 of the Constitution. He would see that this is definitely a shared jurisdiction.

I think my mistake is debating with the Bloc Québécois on the floor of the House of Commons.

I have a very good relationship with my counterpart in Quebec. I will be meeting with her in a week. It will be a private meeting, and we will deal with things like the competent governments that we are.

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

Mr. Speaker, he was appointed minister. He has to be willing to debate this issue publicly.

The Minister of Immigration told us that he could not find $460 million to fulfill his responsibilities toward asylum seekers.

We are going to ask the Minister of Finance. Perhaps she knows. Her colleague needs $460 million to do his part to properly integrate asylum seekers. Those funds will make it possible to continue providing housing and social services assistance, among other things.

Will the Minister of Finance give her poor, broke colleague a little money so that he can finally live up to his responsibilities towards asylum seekers?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I think people need to stop seeing the federal government as an ATM.

We clearly have a relationship with Quebec. Quebec is clearly responsible for taking in asylum seekers and refugees.

I have a meeting with the ministers in a week. We also have demands for Quebec. We will talk about it in private and resolve this as responsible governments.

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

Mr. Speaker, 50% of our taxes go to Ottawa. We have the right to talk about it. This is not a shared jurisdiction; it is a federal one.

It is funny. For years, the Liberals have been opposing Quebec's desire to repatriate all immigration powers, but now when it comes time for them to pay a bill that falls under their jurisdiction, they are no longer interested in such powers. When it comes to providing services to asylum seekers or paying the bill, they are running for dear life.

Rather than fleeing, will they take responsibility for asylum seekers and reimburse Quebec?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I will say this in response to the same question asked in a different way: I am meeting with the minister in a week's time, and we are going to resolve this like responsible governments.

Carbon Pricing

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-234 would take the carbon tax off propane and natural gas used on farms. Five premiers, countless farm organizations and farmers from across the country have asked the Prime Minister to axe the carbon tax and give farmers a break.

The carbon tax on farmers is where food inflation and high grocery costs start for Canadian families.

Will the Prime Minister and the environment minister stop interfering with the Senate and let the vote happen tomorrow?

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

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that my hon. colleague and his party do not even have a plan to address the environment, and that is truly a reckless approach. However, we as the government have a policy to address the environment, to deal with farmers and to make sure they stay on the cutting edge.

For example, in Winnipeg a couple of weeks ago, I announced $9 million. With the provincial government in Manitoba and the Canola Council of Canada, we are able to put a program together to deal with the environment and to keep farmers on the cutting edge.

Our government will continue to keep farmers on the cutting edge.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting answer.

The Liberal government has never respected the environmental good that farmers do and it proves it every day by hitting Canadian farmers with high carbon taxes. One farmer in the Conservative Leader's riding had an $11,000 carbon tax bill in one month.

With the Liberal carbon tax, it is now cheaper for Canadians to buy food trucked from Mexico than from local Canadian farms. How is that right? How is that good for the Canadian consumer, the environment or Canadian farmers?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said previously, it is vitally important for any political party that is wishing to be in power to have an environmental plan. We as a government have an environmental plan. Another example deals with the minister of agriculture in Ontario. We were able to announce $25 million a couple of weeks ago in order to make sure that farmers in Ontario would be able to deal with the environment and stay on the cutting edge.

We have made sure and will continue to make sure that farmers thrive in our country.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Before I move to the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands for his question, I would like to remind all members, and in particular the member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, to please allow both the questioner to ask questions and the member answering to answer questions. He will have his turn when his name is on the list.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it never ceases to amaze me how clueless the agriculture minister is about the real-life costs of agriculture. One reason is that ranchers buy their fuel at outrageous prices. One rancher just showed me that his propane costs are over $1,500 a month. The carbon tax is a third of that cost. The quarterly rebate cheque does not even begin to add up to that much let alone to other costs for gas and diesel. This is all a tax on growing our food, which makes it more expensive to buy the food.

The Prime Minister needs to quit telling his appointed senators to block Bill C-234. When will the he back off so we can finally remove the carbon tax from all on-farm fuels?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I will remind the hon. colleague, the Senate is independent and we do not direct senators, unlike the Conservative Party of Canada.

The real question Canadians should ask themselves is, why did the Leader of the Opposition direct his party to vote against the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement? Is it because there is a group of Conservative members of Parliament who are pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine and they have to cover for them? Is that what is going on? Is right-wing American extremism going into Canadian politics? I wonder if the Conservatives had a free vote, who would have voted in support of the agreement.

Climate Change

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after a summer of record wildfires and drought, Canadians want a federal government that is serious about fighting climate change with the urgency that it demands, yet we see climate pollution from the oil and gas sector going up year after year, while its CEOs rake in record profits.

The oil and gas industry can no longer be allowed to sit on the bench during the fight of our lives. Will the minister put a hard cap on oil and gas emissions, commensurate with Canada's national target; or has the oil and gas lobby finally gotten to him?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy.

We will, as the Prime Minister has said, publish before the end of the year the framework to put a cap on the emissions of the oil and gas sector, because he is right. These emissions have continued to rise over the year, while other sectors like agriculture, electricity and buildings have reduced their emissions. The oil and gas sector must do its part to fight climate change in Canada and to help Canadians with affordability. This framework will come before the end of the year.