Debates of Feb. 14th, 2023

Climate Change

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister's incompetence, home heating has become a luxury. He said he could not find a business case to provide the world with clean Canadian energy and cancelled pipelines, making the cost of home heating double in this country, yet he found a business case to shovel billions of dollars to his Liberal crony insiders, giving them cushy contracts. Now, Canadians are having to turn down the heat and wear blankets right before he triples his failed carbon tax.

Will the Prime Minister come up with a real climate change plan and stop with the virtue signalling so Canadians can keep the heat on and take the tax off?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that the policies we are putting in place will help Canadians reduce their dependency on expensive fossil fuels and replace them with Canadian-generated clean electricity, reducing their energy bills, which is why we have worked to help Canadians in Atlantic Canada and across the country reduce their home heating bills.

Carbon Pricing

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the problem with that plan is that it is not an environmental plan. I looked for it and I could not find it. Can anyone else find it? Mr. Speaker, did you find it?

What I did find was a tax plan that made gas, groceries and home heating more expensive. It is a tax plan that has not helped the Liberals meet a single emissions-reduction target, and they have made emissions go up.

When will they stop their fake virtue signalling and cancel the failed carbon tax so Canadians can keep the heat on?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is somewhat rich coming from the opposition that flip-flops on carbon pricing faster than I can flip my pancakes in the morning. One minute, the Conservatives are in favour of carbon pricing. The next minute, they are not. The minute after that, they are for carbon pricing. In the last election, the members of the opposition campaigned on carbon pricing and now they are saying they—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am going to have to pause for a second. I am having a hard time hearing the answer up here because of the heckling going back and forth. I know that everybody wants to hear the response, just like they want to hear the question.

The hon. minister has 15 seconds left.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Conservative Party of Canada, with its reckless policies, flip-flops on carbon pricing faster than I can flip my pancakes in the morning. It is impossible to know what its position is at any given minute because it changes its position so often.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians are facing a generational cost-of-living crisis. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Canadians are now facing the biggest financial challenges of their lives, yet the Liberals continue to double down on increasing the carbon tax, which will occur again on April 1. Conservatives would keep the heat on and take the tax off.

Will the Prime Minister show some compassion and scrap the carbon tax?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, it is important in the House that we are actually not misleading Canadians. As the official opposition members know, eight out of 10 Canadian families—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. minister, from the top, please.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition members know full well, even though they actually do not say it publicly, that eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back than they pay in the price on pollution. Certainly, affordability is a critical issue, but so is climate change. I would say it is enormously rich for a party that cannot even acknowledge the reality of climate change to be asking about the government's climate plan.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals do not have an environmental plan; they have a tax plan. They are starting to sound like a broken record of broken promises and failed policies. The reality is that 38% of Canadians are nearly broke. This is according to the federal government's own researchers. Just this morning, I met with some students from Burnaby's Simon Fraser Student Society, who told me that students are missing meals because they cannot afford to eat.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for students who cannot even afford to feed themselves, or will the Conservatives have to fix what he broke?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, certainly affordability issues are critically important for all Canadians. I think everybody in this House can agree on that.

Certainly this government is taking steps to address affordability concerns across the board, but one of those, to be honest, is a price on pollution where eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back. It is an important policy to reduce emissions and fight climate change but do so in a manner that promotes affordability.

My goodness, it is far past time that the official opposition actually acknowledged the reality of climate change and put forward a plan that Canadians can look at.

Carbon Pricing

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that after eight years of the Prime Minister, one in four Canadians cannot afford a $500 unexpected expense. Nearly half of Canadians are concerned about affording their rent and their mortgage payments, which have doubled under the current Prime Minister, and too many Canadians are concerned about heating their homes, because it has become so expensive under the current Prime Minister.

Now, on top of that, the Liberals are going to triple, triple, triple the carbon tax. Will they help Canadians out by keeping the heat on and taking the tax off?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy of the other side is astounding. We are talking about affordability, about helping Canadians to make ends meet, and members on the other side voted against a $500 top-up on housing. They voted against dental supports for 500,000 kids. They voted against rental supports. They voted against supporting Canadians at a time when they needed it the most. They have no plan. We do, and we will keep supporting Canadians.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what we voted against was putting more fuel on the fire. We cannot spend our way out of inflation.

The fact is that the Liberals' carbon tax plan is a failed plan that has not met any target that they have set. Even the Bank of Canada governor has admitted that the carbon tax is contributing to inflation, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that households will pay more in carbon tax than they will get back in rebates.

Will the Liberals help Canadians out by keeping the heat on and taking the tax off?

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

Mr. Speaker, Fort McMurray forest fires cost Canadians almost $6 billion; Alberta floodings in 2013, almost $4 billion; the ice storm in Quebec, $3 billion; atmospheric rivers in British Columbia, $8 billion. These are only a few of the examples of the increasing cost to Canadians of climate change.

What is the answer from this reckless opposition party? It is to make pollution free again. That is unacceptable. On this side of the House, we will support Canadians and we will fight climate change.

Justice

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk about the notwithstanding clause, the only bit of autonomy that the Constitution guarantees Quebec and the provinces. It was the compromise that Prime Minister Trudeau senior came up with so that the provinces would agree to his Constitution, which, by the way, was never signed by Quebec. The notwithstanding clause gives Quebec and the provinces the right to make different societal choices without having them overturned by the courts or the federal government. Yesterday, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau's son's Liberals and the NDP voted against that right.

Why is it that the Liberals and the NDP think that any little bit of autonomy for Quebec and the provinces is too much?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, our government has always been clear about its concerns regarding the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause. The charter is there to protect rights and freedoms, and it was created to protect minorities across Canada.

The pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause shuts down dialogue between the courts and the House. That is why we are against the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it seems complicated and difficult. Maybe my colleague should reread the Constitution, or perhaps read it for the first time. Nowhere in section 33 does it say that the notwithstanding clause represents the first or the last word. It is exclusively up to Quebec and the provinces. That is written in black and white. Therein lies the rub for the Liberals and the NDP. The notwithstanding clause guarantees in black and white that certain decisions can be made by governments other than the federal government, without having to ask its permission.

Is the real problem with the notwithstanding clause the fact that the Liberals do not get the last word?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I remember the debates that took place at the time of the Canadian Constitution very clearly. The notwithstanding clause was always there as the last word during constitutional negotiations.

It is a very serious matter when legislation is used to abrogate the rights of individuals in Canada, which is why the notwithstanding clause must be used only in exceptional circumstances. This is especially true when it eviscerates dialogue between the courts and the House.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the notwithstanding clause has basically only been used by Quebec, in order to protect and promote our national language and our unique values.

It is no coincidence that the Liberals and the NDP are attacking it today. They want to contest Bill 96, which protects French in Quebec, and Bill 21, which protects state secularism. They want to prevent Quebec from tabling any other legislation that they do not agree with.

The real problem is that Quebec is different and the notwithstanding clause allows it to live differently. Is that not what the Liberal government's real problem is?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I will talk about the Bloc Québécois's problem.

The Bloc Québécois had an entire opposition day to talk about an issue of their choice. We could have spent a whole day talking about the fight against poverty, how to help our seniors, the environment or the cost of living.

However, they chose to talk about the Constitution. That was their choice. That does not put food on the table. It does not help seniors and it does not help families. They must be really out of touch with reality to do what they did.

Carbon Pricing

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current Prime Minister, Canadian businesses are beginning to sound the alarm. Take Gio, who owns a small coffee shop in Edmonton. He has to bring his beans up from South America, but due to the rising costs of fuel, transportation and utilities, he has had to hike his prices 25%. It is policies like the Liberals' carbon tax that continue to drive up these costs.

Conservatives will keep the heat on and take the tax off, so when will the Prime Minister get out of the way so Conservatives can fix what he broke?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the hon. member what this side of the House does for small businesses. We have their backs every single time. During the pandemic, it was about keeping their employees on the payroll. It was about giving them a loan so they could get through every single day.

Now, it is about helping them get new customers by going through e-commerce. It is about helping those businesses get access to new markets all around the world. I might say that those businesses are doing terrific, because they are increasing their business and creating great jobs for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.