Debates of Nov. 7th, 2023

Housing

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague for raising the importance of investing in more housing. The good news is that we did that just this morning. This morning, with Canada Lands Company, we announced the construction of 28,000 additional new homes in the next five years, 20% of which, at least, will be affordable homes. That is five times the number of affordable homes we have constructed in the last 30 years. There is more to do, including with non-profit housing providers. We are going to do that.

Climate Change

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, even as my constituents weather high prices and tough economic times, they remain deeply concerned about climate change. That is why Yukoners welcome actions from the government to reduce fossil fuel emissions while conserving energy and reducing costs. Contrary to a common misconception, Yukon-based studies have shown that heat pumps can operate efficiently in very cold climates. The Prime Minister has invited all interested provinces and territories to join the codelivery program for heat pumps.

Can the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources update the House on the progress in bringing this program to my riding in the Yukon?

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

Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank my colleague from Yukon for his tireless advocacy for his constituents.

Heat pumps have been well-tested and adopted in northern climates for years. That is why we are working to deploy more cold climate heat pumps across the territory to reduce ongoing energy bills and to reduce emissions. In fact, heating oil actually serves over 50% of the population in Yukon, making it a pressing issue of affordability and climate.

I had a conversation recently with the Premier of Yukon. He is extremely interested in moving forward on a joint delivery, and I expect we will have good things to say very soon.

Carbon Pricing

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we saw the Bloc Québécois's true colours. They once again turned their backs on Quebeckers by voting with the Liberals.

People say that voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly, and we saw further proof of that yesterday. The Bloc Québécois voted against removing the tax on all forms of home heating in Canada for all Canadians. That is unbelievable. This costly new Bloc-Liberal coalition is not doing anything good for Quebeckers.

What did the Prime Minister give the Bloc Québécois in exchange for staying in power for another two years?

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

Mr. Speaker, last week, after asking what my former Greenpeace colleagues thought of my work, my hon. colleague changed his mind and asked what Equiterre thinks.

I have here for him a quote from Équiterre about our climate change action plan: “this is the first time that we have such a detailed strategy to reach a target that we have set.” Would my colleague like a quote from the David Suzuki Foundation? “This plan has a better chance of success than any of Canada’s previous climate plans.” Would he like a quote from Greenpeace? “The government’s new plan marks the first time that the oil and gas sector is being asked to significantly reduce emissions”.

We have been looking for positive comments about the Conservatives' plan. I have not found any.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what is the Prime Minister's Christmas gift to 97% of Canadians? Merry Christmas. They are going to have a carbon tax on home heating this winter.

The Prime Minister literally gave Canadians a lump of coal by voting against the common-sense Conservative motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on. We thought the Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition was bad, but there is a new addition to the carbon tax naughty list. The Bloc joined the Liberals and voted to keep the carbon tax on home heating this winter.

Which gift did the Prime Minister leave under the separatists' tree to protect his government for two more years?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, it is important to actually have a plan to address critical affordability issues in a long-term way, but also to continue to address the climate crisis. Those are the measures that we have put into place.

I have to say again that I find it the height of hypocrisy that my hon. colleague across the way, who ran on a platform that included putting a price on pollution, gets up in the House today and actually says what he is saying. It is the height of hypocrisy.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister joined the separatists to divide Canadians. Those Canadians will have to pay a carbon tax on their home heating over the winter, and 3% of Canadians will get a pause on the pain. It is clear that for the Liberals and the Bloc, their Christmas gift to Canadians is to punish families for heating their homes this winter. They voted against a common-sense Conservative motion to take the tax off for every single Canadian.

Again, what Christmas wish did the Prime Minister grant the separatists for the Liberals to avoid an election on the carbon tax?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think every party in this House is concerned about affordability issues, but the only party in this House that does not care about the climate crisis is the Conservative Party of Canada. It is the only party that actually has no plan to address it and does not even believe that climate change is real.

Yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition essentially said he would walk away from Canada's climate targets. He would walk away from every member of the international community. He would walk away from our children's future. He would walk away from a clean economy that would actually create jobs and economic opportunity across the country. Shame on him.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the revolting Atlantic caucus and the panicking, plummeting Prime Minister now have two coalitions with which to flip Canadians the bird. There is the costly coalition with the NDP to drive the cost of everything up. Unfortunately, Canadians know too much about that. The other, according to the Quebec media, is with the separatist Bloc that committed to keep the Liberals in power for another two years.

The costly coalition Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Will the Prime Minister release his full carbon tax coalition agreement with the separatist Bloc?

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

Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend across the way used the word “revolting”. What is revolting are the tactics and the circus act that are going on in the natural resources committee, blocking the passage of Bill C-49. It is endangering the health and safety of the translators in that committee. It is an enormous waste of taxpayer money. It is opposing the Conservative Premier of Nova Scotia and the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. The bill would create jobs and economic opportunity for the future in a manner that is consistent with fighting the climate crisis. Shame on him.

Small Business

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the situation in Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix is very serious.

In my riding, 142 SMEs have announced that they will go bankrupt if the federal government does not extend the repayment deadline for CEBA loans by one year without the loss of the forgivable portion of the loan. The situation is the same in the entire national capital region. Our SMEs need more time. While the Liberals are asleep at the wheel and the Conservatives are defending oil companies, our small and medium-sized businesses are on the verge of bankruptcy.

When will the government finally give them the one-year extension they so desperately need?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my hon. colleague that nearly 900,000 small businesses benefited from the CEBA.

That is why we recently announced a one-year extension on the term loan repayment deadline, more flexibility on refinancing and more time to access loan forgiveness. We also increased the Canada child benefit and implemented $10-a-day child care, thus enabling more women than ever to enter the workforce.

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

Mr. Speaker, a wave of bankruptcies is coming for our SMEs if the federal government does not defer repayment of the Canada emergency business account without the loss of any subsidies.

According to the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals, more companies filed for insolvency in the last quarter than in the previous 10 years. In Beauport—Limoilou alone, 154 businesses have said they are at risk of bankruptcy.

How can the Liberals sacrifice everything they have, when all these companies are asking for is a one-year deferral, not 18 days?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are proud to have created that program, which paid out $49 billion to Canadian small businesses during one of the worst economic challenges they have ever faced.

I thank the Bloc Québécois for supporting these crucial programs, especially when the Leader of the Opposition called our pandemic support measures “big, fat government programs”. What matters today is to point out that SMEs now have until December 31, 2026, to pay.

Carbon Pricing

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Liberals voted down our common-sense Conservative motion to axe the carbon tax on all forms of home heating for all Canadians. The NDP leader said his NDP MPs would be supporting our Conservative motion to keep the heat on. However, not all British Columbia NDP MPs voted to take the carbon tax off. After eight years of this NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.

Will the Prime Minister quit forcing on British Columbians his carbon tax rates which he plans to quadruple on home heating?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have been saying, we have a plan to ensure long-term affordability for particularly vulnerable Canadians. The cost of heating oil is two to four times that of natural gas, depending on which province one lives in. It has accelerated over 75% in 2022. It is a plan that actually addresses that in a way that will give savings to people over the long term. It will do it in a manner that fights climate change.

I had the opportunity to speak with Premier Eby about it last week, and I believe that the people in British Columbia will have access to exactly the same proposal as people will have everywhere else.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister paused the pain of his carbon tax on 3% of Canadian families in the areas where his polls were the lowest. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that if people in other regions wanted to see a pause as well, then they needed to vote Liberal. However, the people in Calgary Skyview did vote for a Liberal member of Parliament, who yesterday could have voted to keep the heat on and take the tax off, but instead voted no to the people of Calgary Skyview.

Why is the government so hell-bent on quadrupling its carbon tax that the member for Calgary Skyview left his constituents out in the cold?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, we are moving forward on a program that will ensure long-term affordability for people who utilize heating oil and that they do so in a manner that is consistent with addressing climate change. I have reached out to my counterpart in the Government of Alberta, and we will be having conversations about how Alberta can participate in this project moving forward.

However, I would say once again that it is time, and Canadians expect it, for the Conservative Party to at least tell folks that it believes in climate change and it has a plan for addressing the climate crisis in a manner that is consistent with long-term economic prosperity and affordability.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order. I was not able to hear who said a certain comment, but every member who is recognized to speak has the right to do so until the time expires and the Speaker lets that person know.

The hon. member for Lethbridge.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what I heard from the member opposite is that the government is committed to picking winners and losers, and the winners are the 3% who use oil to heat their homes. They will not have to pay a carbon tax for the next three years, but the rest of Canada will.

When the minister for rural affairs was asked about this, she said that people need to vote more Liberals in and then they will give them their attention, referring to those in other parts of the country, of course. Those who live in the constituency of Edmonton Centre did elect a Liberal member of Parliament, and yet they were not shown that favouritism. They were not given the benefit of having the carbon tax removed.

My question is simple. Why is the government so hell-bent that the people of Edmonton Centre still have to pay the carbon tax on their home heating?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would like to remind members that I am quite aware of the time members have to pose and respond to questions. I politely decline their reminders as to how to do that.

The hon. Minister of Health.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the members opposite know that more than eight out of 10 Canadians get more back than they pay. Why we are hell-bent on this is that our planet demands it.

Fifteen thousand is the number of Canadians who died prematurely as a result of air pollution in the country. That cost is $114 billion, and it will escalate if we refuse to take action on this. Not only do we have a moral and fiscal imperative, but we also have an obligation to ensure the party opposite does not return to attacking climate policies across the world and move back to an aggressive state where we cease making progress on climate action.