Debates of Nov. 9th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, nobody believes the Liberals any more. They lean on a tax that punishes Canadians and will not meet their own targets. They say no to carbon capture and storage. The environment minister himself opposes nuclear.

The Liberals have delayed approvals to 25 years to mine the minerals we need to get cleaner power. They are tax collectors in 58th place out of 63 countries on climate change.

Will the Liberals save us the sanctimony, stop killing clean energy projects and cancel their failed and now selectively applied carbon tax?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before in the House, people may be entitled to their opinions but they are not entitled to their own facts.

The commissioner this morning actually said that it was effective and it was working, and so do all of the academics. I do not know where that person gets her facts, but at the end of the day, the facts are the facts.

The fact is that those folks do not have a plan for climate change, but they also do not have a plan for the economy. In fact, right now, in the natural resources committee, the Conservatives are blocking moving forward with Bill C-49, which is about enabling the development of an offshore wind and hydrogen program in Atlantic Canada, something that is supported by the Conservative Premier of Nova Scotia and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is bizarre.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, eight years times zero targets met is still zero. After eight years of that zero government, Canadians know that its environmental record is nothing but hot air and hypocrisy.

The Bay of Fundy can supply green tidal energy to all of Nova Scotia and make us a net exporter of green energy. The only successful project to harness the power of the Bay of Fundy, delivering endless green energy, was killed by those Liberals when they refused to renew the permit. They killed capital investment in tidal power.

Why does the Prime Minister claim to support green energy but veto green tidal projects?

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

Do you know what is the height of hypocrisy, Mr. Speaker? It is a member of Parliament who was elected on a campaign platform that included a price on pollution and who now disavows that every day in the House. It is an Atlantic Canadian member of Parliament who is actively opposing the development of a major offshore wind and hydrogen project in Nova Scotia in direct opposition to the Conservative premier of his province. That is the height of hypocrisy.

Veterans Affairs

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when women were invited into all military operations in 1989 and submarine services in 2001, they entered an environment not made for them. Trailblazers, these women endured through discrimination and lack of support, and the physical and mental outcomes they dealt with were not documented. Now, as veterans, they are often underserved because of the lack of documentation.

When will the government honour servicewomen and make it right?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to listen to the stories of women veterans and for our government to ensure we are addressing their needs.

While the work of the parliamentary committee is independent, it is doing a study on this very task. It is undertaking this important study on women veterans. We commit to acting on this. We urge all parliamentarians to put aside any partisan politics in order to take the time to listen to those women and hear what they have to say so we can make their lives a lot better in the future.

Foreign Affairs

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, UN agencies have reported that over 10,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed and 1.5 million have been displaced by the Israeli siege and bombardment on Gaza since October 7. UN experts say that these attacks constitute war crimes of collective punishment and ethnic cleansing.

Shamefully, the Prime Minister directed his ambassador to abstain from a vote on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at the UN General Assembly. Yesterday, the Liberals and Conservatives voted against our motion calling for the same.

How many Palestinian deaths will be enough for the Prime Minister to find the moral courage to call for a ceasefire?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. What is unfolding in Gaza is a human tragedy. We must be guided by human dignity. All civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, are equal and must be protected, and international law must be respected.

Canada stands firmly with the Israeli and Palestinian peoples in their right to live in peace, security, with dignity and without fear. We will continue to support diplomatic discussions on humanitarian pauses. We need Canadians to leave, hostages to be released and humanitarian aid to get in.

International Trade

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last June, the Conservative member for New Brunswick Southwest attended a meeting in England held by the International Democracy Union and paid for by the Danube Institute, a right-wing Hungarian think-tank that—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I am going to ask the member to get to the point, if this relates to government business or committee chair business.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is a right-wing Hungarian think-tank that just last month published a paper quoting that “the stakes of the Russia-Ukraine war are not Ukraine's sovereignty, but the victory of NATO, the expansion of the US "deep state", "wokeism".” Coincidentally, for weeks, Conservative MPs have been blocking the modernized trade agreement with Ukraine.

Could the minister explain why this agreement is so important for Ukraine—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Members know that I have made it clear on a couple of occasions over the last few days, and this week, that we will be looking at the issue raised by all House leaders, with the exception of one, of the importance of having questions that deal with the administration of government or committee chairs. I have not ruled on this yet.

For this week, I have been letting these questions go. If there is a minister who is going to respond, I will allow it to be consistent, but I would ask all members to please try to refrain from this until the Speaker has made his ruling.

The hon. minister.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Export Promotion]

Mr. Speaker, this is a high-standard trade agreement that is good for Canadian and Ukrainian businesses. It is also a strong endorsement of Ukraine's territorial and economic sovereignty as it fights for democracy.

We are going to continue to stand with our businesses, including our SMEs and exporters, that want to be a part of rebuilding Ukraine, even as the Conservatives try to stall this legislation and dismiss it as woke. The Conservatives are standing in the very way of progress for Ukraine and, frankly, they should be ashamed.

Climate Change

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister has not hit a single emissions target. In fact, Canada is ranked 58 out of 63 countries when it comes to climate action performance.

It is clear that the only green plan the Prime Minister has is diverting green backs from his carbon tax to his Liberal friends. However, when our most important allies, Germany and Japan, come to Canada for help, for clean Canadian LNG, he turns his back.

Why does the Prime Minister support diverting Canadian tax dollars to a billion dollar green slush fund instead of unleashing the clean Canadian energy the world desperately needs?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Export Promotion]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' reckless and risky inaction with respect to climate change has gone global. The Conservatives do not have a plan for Canada. They will not commit to the Paris targets. Now they are blocking a trade deal with Ukraine that has the most comprehensive and ambitious environment chapter in a free trade agreement by Canada.

If Ukraine can fight Russia and prioritize fighting climate change at the same time, so can we, and we are.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is clearly misleading Canadians. The Liberals do not have an environment plan. What they have is a political agenda.

The Prime Minister has two carbon taxes that are punishing Canadian families, which we now know do not reduce emissions. However, when his polls plummet in Atlantic Canada, he can remove the carbon tax from home heating oil, the energy source with the highest emissions. At the same time, the Liberal environment minister, under a wave of red tape, kills a tidal energy project that would have provided clean electricity for the east coast.

Why is the Prime Minister killing clean Canadian energy, while his carbon taxes force Canadians to freeze in the dark?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly ironic to hear a Conservative member of Parliament talk about the lack of an environmental plan. We went through 10 years under Prime Minister Harper when there was no regard for the environment and there was no climate plan. We were seen as the dinosaur in the international community because of the lack of any action.

This government has put in place a comprehensive climate plan, a robust environmental plan to protect biodiversity in the country, and an economic plan that acknowledges the reality of climate change and is creating good jobs and economic opportunity in every province and territory in the country.

Carbon Pricing

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of environmental failure, the costly Bloc-Liberal coalition is not worth the environmental cost. The carbon tax, which the Bloc Québécois wants to drastically increase, is not an environmental plan. It is a plan to tax Canadians, and it has not helped this Liberal government achieve its environmental goals for seven out of the eight years it has been in power. In fact, Canada trails behind, ranking 58th out of 63 countries.

In light of these repeated failures, will the Prime Minister finally admit that what he has is a tax plan, a political plan, not an environmental plan?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct my colleague. What he said is inaccurate. Carbon pricing works, and the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development confirmed it this morning at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. I invite my colleague to take a look at the transcript of that meeting. Not only does carbon pricing work, it is responsible for 30% of emissions reductions. That is the equivalent of taking 11 million vehicles off our roads.

Our plan is working. We are on track to meet our targets. There is still work to be done, but it is certainly not the Conservative Party that will get us there.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, a quarter of Canadians are using assistance services to meet their basic needs, such as food and housing. After eight years of this tax plan, this Prime Minister is not worth the environmental cost. The Liberals have literally killed every clean energy project. The Prime Minister killed GNL Québec's natural gas project in Saguenay. We have a Minister of Environment and Climate Change who is against nuclear energy, which does not produce any greenhouse gas emissions. The government is against carbon capture and storage.

When will the government stop killing clean energy projects and cancel its carbon taxes, which only punish Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, sadly, what my colleague is saying in the House is again false. Since we took office, wind power production in Canada has increased by 60%. The GM, Stellantis, Volkswagen and Northvolt projects are all projects that the Conservative Party opposes. They also oppose battery manufacturing in Quebec and the investments in Ontario.

We are here to create a sustainable economy for generations of Canadians while fighting climate change, unlike the Conservatives, who have no plan for the economy, no plan for fighting climate change, and no plan for affordability.

News Media Industry

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the next few weeks, the government is going to release its economic update. I think this would be a great opportunity for the government to express its concerns over the future of the news media. Our media industry is struggling. Our print media, electronic media, local media and regional media are struggling. Frankly, I think they need a break. Bill C‑18 will not take effect in the short term. Meanwhile, some newspapers will close.

Will the Minister of Finance announce the creation of an emergency media fund until Bill C‑18 comes into force?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, we are obviously very concerned about what is happening in the media sector. That is why we have been putting programs in place for a number of years to provide better support to print media and media in general. We have also worked hard to modernize our laws and ensure that the web giants, our cultural industry, our creators and our journalists operate within a fairer environment.

Unfortunately, the Conservatives have opposed all of our efforts. I have no idea why they are in the pocket of the web giants instead of siding with Canadian businesses and Canadian workers.