Debates of Feb. 7th, 2023

Opposition Motion—Carbon Tax

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals in the debate, all day long, keep saying that Canadians have never had it so good. They seem exacerbated as, again, we fight against their punishing carbon tax.

We are going to keep fighting against the carbon tax so that Canadians can keep their heat on, can drive to work and can afford nutritious food. We will never apologize for that.

We have heard today some version of what they call an environmental plan, but make no mistake. The Liberals gave us an environmental plan, or they gave us a tax plan that was disguised as an environmental plan, and it was directly cited for the higher prices. In fact, their tax is working so well that we have already seen it raised three times. We are still no closer to meeting any sort of environmental goal.

In fact, Canada is the only G7 country, if we want to play the facts game, that has raised fuel taxes during a period of record-high inflation. That should tell us everything we need to know about where we are in this.

We are in the depths of winter and home heating costs are, in some cases, up 100%. Heating one's home in Canada is not a luxury. I do not know why we have to say it, but it is a necessity in this country. All one has to do is go outside for 30 minutes.

There is no denying that the government and its NDP coalition partners who vote with it every single time, although they get up in the House and scream at the government that nothing is going right and then continue to support it, are making prices higher for families. They make this necessity more expensive with a plan to triple the tax, no matter what they say outside of this place. No matter what motion they bring forward, they are the ones who support the government in making things more expensive for every single Canadian.

It is a plan that disproportionately punishes people in rural areas who have no choice but to rely on heating oil or other heat sources made more expensive by the carbon tax. It is a plan that disproportionately punishes families, including parents who are struggling to feed their kids, who are struggling to get to work and who are struggling to drive their kids to activities and school.

I know they do not like to hear it, and they certainly do not want to talk about it. We would be here for an eternity if they had to admit it. However, for more Canadians, things have never been so bad, and a little humility and an admission of responsibility would go a long way for the people across the aisle.

The Liberals laugh, and they say that the stories that we tell in the House are not real. They must not speak to the same people we speak to. They must not listen to the same people we listen to. They must not go to the places we go. If they did, they would know that these stories are very real.

They are painfully real for millions of Canadians, and they are growing in number. The most out-of-touch thing that anybody can do, while serving others in this place, is to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is fine, because it is not. It is far from it.

Here in Canada, the Liberals have given us the highest inflation in 40 years, some of the highest interest rates in the G7, the highest in a generation, and the highest home prices ever. Add a carbon tax on top of that. We will continue to speak against that tax in the House until we have the opportunity, as a government, to remove it.

If the government was in touch at all with the economic reality, it would know that one cannot tax one's way to prosperity. It does not work. It never has.

With respect to our farmers, the hon. member for Foothills speaks with farmers, and I will be splitting my time with him.

On everything that we eat, on everything that we buy and on everything that we use, the Liberals have imposed a tax. It started at $30 a tonne, then it went to $40 a tonne and now it is at $50 a tonne. They promised Canadians, before the last election, that it would never go up. Never is a really long time, but it did.

We should have known better. We should have known that $30 was going to be $40, then it was going to be $50 and now it is $170. That might not mean a lot in terms of tonnage, but it makes everything that we buy, that we eat, that we use and where we go more expensive. It has an effect throughout the economy.

They will tell us that Canadians get back more than they pay. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said the opposite. Tripling the price, without even making a dent in emissions, and presenting it as if they are returning that money to Canadians is the only misinformation that we have heard in the House today.

Why, after all of this evidence, are they still saying that over and over again? All they have to do is open the report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the Liberals appointed. There are 20% of Canadians skipping meals just to make ends meet, because the cost of groceries has gone up 11%. They have not gone up because I have said they have gone up, but they have actually gone up. People are not angry because I said that they are angry. They are angry because they are hungry and the price of groceries has gone up 11%.

It is a direct result of the carbon tax, because it costs more to grow, more to harvest, more to transport and more to buy. The Liberals blame someone else, something else or somewhere else for that failure, but it is their fault. It is squarely their fault and they could show some humility in this House and take responsibility for it. It would go a long way.

We have the lowest projected GDP per capita growth of any advanced economy. This is not just in the G7, but of any advanced economy. The time to add taxes to the mix is not right now. It is actually never, when it comes to this tax that does not work.

Two years ago, the Leader of the Opposition, when he sat here as the member for Carleton, warned that if a government had unchecked and unrestrained out-of-control spending, it would lead to higher inflation and higher interest rates. The cost of government would drive up the cost of living, and that is exactly what we have seen happen.

The Liberals told us the only way to save ourselves on the environmental front is a carbon tax, but, again, that does not match reality. It turns out, once again, that our trust was misplaced in a Liberal government that said it would not raise the carbon tax. It has now raised the carbon tax, and it is about to triple it.

All one needs to do to verify the claim is just look around. Do we not have the highest inflation in 40 years? Do we not have the highest interest rates in a generation? Is home ownership not out of reach for Canadians? Are people not paying more for the cost of energy to heat their homes, to drive their cars and to buy their food? We know the answer, and it seems the Liberals know it too.

We bring this up every single day in the House. We quote testimony from experts and testimony from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whom the Liberals appointed. We bring stories of the people who are hurting in this country, and the Liberals laugh it off or call it fake.

The response from the government is another program, another inflationary spending measure, a plan to triple the carbon tax, more platitudes and empty words and a few Instagram posts. Then they pat themselves on the back and clap for each other.

The Liberals can talk about the billions of dollars they have spent, and they can talk about it all they want, but that comes from the taxpayer. Never has so much money been spent to bring so few results to so few people in this country. That is a fact.

More of the same ideas that got us here in the first place are just not good enough. We have a different approach. Instead of giving more power to the government, instead of the central planning that we see from them, let us give more power to Canadians and let them spend more of their own money.

Let us put that money back into their pockets and help them live with dignity and help them survive. Let us help them pay to heat their homes, to drive their cars and to buy nutritious food for their families. Instead of raising taxes, leave workers with more money in their pockets, because they know how to spend their wages.

There is only one taxpayer in this country, and the Liberals ought to recognize that. The Liberals ought to show some humility, take some responsibility for the inflation crisis they have caused and not add yet another tax. Instead of throwing more money at the problem, let us invest in solutions that work. Let us reduce greenhouse gases. Let us get housing built. Let us build more transit.

In short, instead of telling Canadians that everything is fine and that they have never had it so good, let us have the government show some humility and take responsibility for the crisis that they have created.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member got my attention when she said that Canada has the worst GDP growth in developed countries. I had to quickly look up what the forecasts are for 2023. Canada is 1.5%, United States is 1.4%, France is 0.7%, Germany is 0.1% and England is -0.6%. It seems to me she has the facts backward.

Can the member correct that for the record?

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will actually correct the member. If he wants to open his own budget, on page 25 is the GDP growth per capita. We are the lowest in projected growth over the next 30 years, of not only the G7, but also every advanced economy. It is in the member's own budget, and he ought to read it.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague talk a lot about humility, particularly near the end of her speech.

If she recognizes that climate change is real and that we failed to take action for years, whether under the Conservative government or during the past eight years under the Liberal government, then is it not true that the first lesson in humility is admitting one's mistakes and trying to make amends?

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the member if this were actually an environment plan, but it is a tax plan. It has not reduced any emissions. It has not hit any targets, which the government itself has ever set. Therefore, if we want to talk about an environmental plan, I am happy to do that with the member, but a carbon tax is not it.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the speech from the member today. I want to talk about some of the items that are top of the list of budget expenses in my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam: housing and child care. I will talk specifically about housing.

Today, we are having a conversation about carbon tax, but really, relief on any carbon tax would affect very few people. However, relief on affordable housing is something huge. I wonder if the member would not mind sharing some of the solutions the Conservatives have brought to the table to fight the crisis of a lack of affordable housing, because we desperately need more affordable housing in this country.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite raises a very important issue, which frankly, has a lot to do with the economic crisis we are in. My hon. colleague should recognize that there are still 30-year-olds living in their parents' basements. We have a supply-side solution, and we have a plan to incentivize those who build housing to build more housing, which is something the government has not done.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I received a call from a constituent this week, a woman in her mid-40s whose gas bill was over $300 for the first time ever. She lives alone in her house. She says that, if her power bill is equivalent, she will not be able to afford her bills for the first time ever. She has never had a better paying job in her life, and her final thought to me was that she would have been better off staying in a relationship with her abusive husband because at least he paid the bills. This is because she cannot afford to live on her own anymore.

I wonder if my colleague has any thoughts about how the carbon tax disproportionately affects women and the people who are vulnerable in our society.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, like my hon. colleague, members hear stories of this from our own ridings when we go home. This affects, particularly and disproportionately, those in vulnerable or, frankly, tragic situations, as the member has brought up, as well as those in rural communities. It affects the middle class.

I have also asked constituents in my riding to send over their energy bills because I could not believe what I was seeing. They use less, yet they pay more, and we can fix a part of that today by voting for this motion.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise to speak to our opposition motion today because the carbon tax is asking all Canadians to pay more. It is asking seniors to pay more, young people to pay more, small business owners to pay more and certainly farmers to pay more, and I can say that farmers have paid more.

In fact, according to Statistics Canada, the 2022 crop year was the most expensive in Canadian history. On-farm expenses were more than $11 billion, 12% higher than the previous year, which is the highest increase in history in Canadian farming. According to the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, or APAS, many of its members saw their input costs go up seven times. Much of that can be attributed to the Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition and their carbon tax.

Mary Robinson, the chair of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, and a potato farmer from P.E.I., was at the agriculture committee yesterday and said that this year's crop year could be even more expensive than what we saw previously.

Farm families cannot afford this. This jeopardizes their ability to remain economically viable. Farmers cannot afford fertilizer, fuel or feed, and they cannot afford to put crops in the ground. As a result of that, we are seeing many of those on family farms throw up their hands and walk away. Farmers just simply cannot be sustainable when they are selling at a loss. We are no longer competitive on the global market.

These should be red flags and alarm bells for the current Liberal government, and they should be forcing it to change course. In fact, it is not changing course, but tripling down on its failed carbon tax policy. It is going to be tripling that carbon tax when Canadians cannot afford to put food on the table.

My colleague earlier said that the Liberals will argue that the carbon tax is an environmental plan to ensure that farmers are environmentally sustainable. Ironically, they have not hit a single emissions target they have set, proving that the carbon tax is a fallacy. More importantly, farmers cannot remain environmentally sustainable if they are not economically sustainable. They will simply cease to exist.

According to the records we have seen, farmers are having a difficult time remaining sustainable. Unlike most other industries in Canada, Canadian farmers in agriculture pay the carbon tax over and over again. They pay it when they buy fertilizer, buy feed, haul cattle or move grain. They pay the carbon tax from the rail companies, the trucking companies and the gas companies, over and over again.

What makes the carbon tax attack on Canadian farmers the most frustrating is that they are being punished instead of applauded for the work they do. Canadian agriculture has reduced its carbon footprint and emissions by 50% over the last two decades. At the same time, they have increased their yields by 60%. What other industry on Planet Earth can make such a claim? Farmers have done this while, at the same time, reducing their inputs, improving soil health, reducing water input use and becoming much more efficient.

Do members know why they have done this? They have not done it because they were punished with carbon taxes or because of government regulations and interference. They have done it because it is the right thing to do. They have done this on their own, by embracing technology and new innovation, and by embracing new practices such as 4R nutrient stewardship, zero till and precision agriculture. Again, they have done these things on their own because it is the right thing to do. It has improved their efficiency and production, but it was the right thing to do to protect the water, their soil and their animals.

Instead of being applauded for that, the Liberal government is punishing them. It is taxing them to produce food in the most sustainable way anywhere in the world. Not only is this punishing Canadian farmers, it is also punishing every single Canadian, because the carbon tax trickles through the supply chain.

We are seeing it from the farm gate to grocery store shelves, where tens of thousands of Canadians are struggling to be able to put food on the table, and the impact is very real. We see the cost of fruit and vegetables is up 13%. Bread and potatoes are up 15%, and pasta is up 30%. These are the essentials that Canadian families rely on every single day, but they are unable to afford those fundamental parts of their grocery bills because of a Liberal carbon tax that is only going to go higher and higher.

Again, the Liberals will argue that there is nothing to worry about here and that most Canadian families get more back than what they paid into the carbon tax. We need to end this revenue-neutral carbon tax myth right here, because we know, from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, that it is factually not true. In fact, we had the Grain Farmers of Ontario appear at the agriculture committee and say they are getting about 13% to 15% back of what they spend on the carbon tax. That is a long way from revenue-neutral. I fact, the CFIB just ratified those numbers by saying that the average farmer, right now, is spending about $14,000 a year on the carbon tax. When it is increased on April 1, they will be paying $45,000 a year on the carbon tax.

Interestingly, when the Grain Farmers of Ontario and the CFIB came out with these numbers, which show that the carbon tax is clearly punishing Canadian farmers and rural Canadians, no one in the Liberal government disputed those numbers. No one came out to say it was revenue-neutral and that this was not true. The reason they are not coming out to question those numbers is that they know they are true. The narrative the Liberals are putting out there is a fallacy. The carbon tax is not revenue-neutral.

In fact, I have the member for Winnipeg North saying that is not the case. I asked Finance Canada, as a matter of fact, how much, on average, a Canadian farmer gets back on the carbon tax. Its answer was $800 a year, when they are paying $45,000. Math is not my strong suit, but I am pretty sure that is a pretty wide gap, comparing what farmers are paying to what they are getting back in the carbon tax. Every single Canadian is paying for that in their grocery bills, and Canadian farmers are certainly bearing the brunt of that.

In fact, there is a farmer from the Winnipeg area, the member may be interested to know, and his name was Jochum. He was at the agriculture committee, and he said that the carbon tax is currently costing him about $40,000 a year, and when the Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition triples that carbon tax, he will be paying $136,000 a year. A recent report came out and said that after the carbon tax is tripled, an average 5,000-acre farm will be paying $150,000 a year in carbon taxes alone. Anybody in the House can come and tell me, especially if they have a rural riding, about any of their farmers who can absorb that kind of cost. There is not one.

This is putting the economic sustainability of Canadian agriculture at risk and our food security at risk. Taxing farmers who are trying to produce food, when there is no other alternative to the fuels they use on-farm, is nonsensical. It makes no sense, especially when the Parliamentary Budget Officer has certified the numbers we are talking about here. It is by no means revenue-neutral, and our agriculture minister is complicit on this. She is saddling Canadian farmers with the crippling carbon tax. She voted against our bill, Bill C-206, which would have exempted the carbon tax from on-farm fuels, such as natural gas and propane.

However, as Conservatives, we have not given up the fight. We have brought back a private member's bill, Bill C-234, which would again exempt the carbon tax from on-farm fuels, such as propane and natural gas. That would help farmers trying to heat and cool their barns and dry their grain. These are essential for Canadian farmers to remain competitive and viable.

It is time to end the attacks on Canadian agriculture. It is time to stop the Liberals from looking at Canadian farmers as part of the problem, because indeed and in fact, Canadian farmers are part of the solution, and the carbon tax has got to go.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has stated that eight out of 10 households have a net benefit and that they receive more money than they pay on the price on pollution or, as the member refers to it, the carbon tax.

When the Parliamentary Budget Officer makes that statement, is the member prepared to say that the Parliamentary Budget Officer is wrong? It seems that the Conservatives are trying to spread misinformation to give the impression that if they get rid of the price on pollution, there is going to be tax break for Canadians, and that just is not the case.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know any parliamentarian who would say that getting rid of tax is not a tax break. If we get rid of the carbon tax, then, yes, it is a tax break, because Canadians would not be paying the tax.

However, the numbers I quoted from Finance Canada, their own numbers from the Liberals own government department, said that the average Canadian farmer would get back about $800 a year when they pay $45,000 a year, on average. I can show the member bills from my constituents that are as high as $30,000 a month for a poultry operation just to heat their barns. That is the average.

These are his own numbers from his own government that clearly show that the carbon tax is disproportionately punishing on rural Canadians and Canadian farmers. If the member wants to argue that, he should talk to his own officials.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. Obviously, I find this whole debate on the carbon tax a bit tiresome and I look forward to moving on to other things.

One of the other things we could talk about is what we can do to really encourage industries to go green. I am thinking of the mining industry in particular. How can we help the industry build green mines?

What we are seeing more and more of everywhere, but particularly on the international stage, is purchasing decisions based on carbon footprints. What can we do to really help our industries go green so that we can meet these objectives and remain attractive?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this is the frustration that I think many Canadian farmers are feeling. We have an elected member saying that he is finding this discussion on the carbon tax tiresome. I would ask him to talk to farmers across Canada who are doing everything they can to be green. They are using zero till and they are using precision agriculture and nutrient stewardship programs to be as efficient and as environmentally sustainable as they possibly can, yet they are getting no credit for that.

The question from the Bloc member shows that members are not paying any attention to the things that farmers are already doing without government intervention and without being punished with a crippling carbon tax. Let us applaud them for that.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am also concerned about how difficult it is getting for individuals and families to make ends meet.

However, this is the thing. The Conservatives do not support a national child care plan. I put forward a bill for a guaranteed livable basic income, and they do not support that either. They voted against an excess profit tax on oil and gas companies that would have made big oil pay their fair share.

Since we are talking about a carbon tax, and the Conservatives are opposed to that, I am wondering if they are for making big oil companies pay instead of the cost being paid on the backs of people and families.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as Conservatives, we would want everyone to pay their fair share when it comes to taxes, but, again, it shows how no one wants to talk about this important issue. The member is talking about the cost of living and child care. She has mentioned that her constituents are having trouble putting food on the table. This goes directly to that.

The carbon tax trickles down through the entire supply chain. We are seeing food inflation at a 40-year high and one of the key contributors to that is the Liberal carbon tax. If we get rid of the carbon tax, grocery prices will start to come down.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Kingston and the Islands.

It is a privilege today for me to stand to address this motion considering carbon pollution pricing. As hon. members in the House know, climate change is already having unprecedented effects on Canadians. We have seen the evidence all around us: in Quebec, extreme heat; in the west, floods and wildfires; in Atlantic Canada, extreme weather events such as hurricane Fiona. In fact, around the world, we would be hard pressed to find a time when extreme weather was not making devastating news in some part of the world.

The impacts from climate change are wide-ranging. They affect our homes, our cost of living, our health and our safety. It also impacts infrastructure and economic activity in communities across Canada. We know that the problem is carbon pollution.

The latest science warns that to avoid severe impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly and urgently to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C.

When we talk about taking action on climate change, the issue is not about choosing between our economy and climate change. It is well understood that the two really do go hand in hand and that the long-term health of our people, our planet and our economy depends on us taking ambitious climate action. The cost of inaction is enormous.

As emphasized in a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the cost includes more severe floods, forest fires, heat waves and droughts that cause environmental and economic damage. Weather-related disasters are costing Canadians more each year. It is rising from tens of millions of dollars to billions of dollar annually in Canada alone.

There are the benefits of action. I encourage members to look at the exponential market growth for clean technology all around the world. In fact, last year, global clean technology activity was anticipated to exceed $2.5 trillion.

It is no secret that we have had an extremely challenging couple of years. First, we had COVID-19, then a geopolitical and humanitarian crisis and now economies are struggling to adjust to the postpandemic world. It is not an easy time, yet climate change is the crisis that will persist if we continue to not take action.

I would like to emphasize that carbon pricing has proven to be the most significant and effective tool to combat climate change.

In April 2021, the Government of Canada responded to the latest science by submitting a strengthened national emissions target of 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, in addition to its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

In March 2022, we released the 2030 emissions reduction plan, outlining how Canada will meeting our 2030 targets. The plan builds on a strong foundation, starting with Canada's first-ever national climate change plan in 2016 and then our strengthened plan released in 2020. The plan shows that we can build a cleaner economy, while making people's daily lives better.

Carbon pricing is central to all these plans. Why? Because it is widely recognized as the most efficient means to reduce carbon emissions and drive innovation and energy efficiency. It creates demand for low-carbon technology, goods and services. As the cost of polluting activities increases, individuals and businesses seek out cleaner alternatives.

We have heard from stakeholders across the country. They have told us that consistency and predictability are key to unlocking investments in the low-carbon economy.

We have heard from businesses and industries. They have shown us they are developing innovative technologies and approaches to reduce emissions. They have asked for clear incentives and supports to put those technologies into practice, including runway time for capital investments to show returns.

Carbon pricing creates those incentives without dictating any particular approach. It lets businesses decide how to best cut their emissions.

At the same time, we know Canadians, especially the most vulnerable, are facing an affordability challenge.

When it comes to the federal approach to carbon pricing, we have not only designed it to maintain the consistency demanded by industry and investors, we have also prioritized affordability for Canadians. The bottom line is that it is not enough to create a cleaner economy. We need to ensure Canadians can afford it.

It is true that pricing carbon pollution modestly increases fuel costs, but carbon pricing has never been about raising revenues. In fact, under our plan, most households do in fact end up with more money in their pockets than what they paid. Whenever the federal fuel charge proceeds are returned directly to households, eight out of 10 families get more back through climate action incentive payments than they pay in direct carbon costs, meaning this system is helping with the cost of living for a majority of Canadian families by offsetting their costs.

It is lower-income households that will benefit the most. High-income households tend to spend a lot more on fuel and energy, so they will face a net cost. However, the lowest-income Canadians come out the most ahead. These estimates take into account direct costs, like paying for more fuel, and also indirect costs, like paying a bit more for goods and services.

Families in rural and small communities are eligible to in fact receive 10% more than families in urban centres.

Households can use these funds however they want. They can use them to absorb the extra two cents per litre on gasoline if they choose. Any households can take action to reduce their energy use to come out even further ahead by going to something like zero-emission vehicles to reduce fuel consumption or federal purchase incentives that help to reduce the cost of heating.

The federal government is also supporting home energy retrofits in Canada, through the greener homes grant, to reduce energy used at home. They save money and cut pollution at the same time.

The Government of Canada has also committed to return the proceeds collected from federal output-based pricing system, or OBPS, to the jurisdictions of origin. Provinces and territories that have voluntarily adopted the OBPS can opt for a direct transfer of proceeds collected. The proceeds that are collected in other backstop jurisdictions will be returned through the OBPS proceeds fund aimed at supporting clean industrial technology and clean electricity proceeds.

Climate change is a serious challenge, and it does not go away with the decisions we make in the chamber. However, we can mitigate the impacts of climate change and we can reduce climate change in the future.

Analysis by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate estimates that transitioning to a low-carbon economy will deliver a direct economic gain of $26 trillion and generate 65 million new jobs.

Just as we are putting a price on pollution, we are also making historic investments in clean technology. We are investing in green infrastructure. We are driving growth, creating jobs and including $9.1 billion in new investments to cut pollution and grow the economy as part of the 2030 emissions reduction plan.

Canadians have been clear about what they want: clean air and good jobs, a healthy environment and a strong economy. Our approach assures that Canadians are well placed to benefit from the opportunities created by the global transition that is under way. I am happy to say that our climate plan is working.

Evidence confirms that putting a price on carbon pollution works. It spurs clean growth, supports jobs and cuts pollution causing climate change. Pricing carbon pollution and returning the proceeds to Canadian families and businesses is an effective and affordable way to combat climate change, while supporting the sustainability of Canadian communities.

Canada has established itself as a champion of carbon pricing and now has international recognition as a leader and an innovator on carbon pricing. Significantly driving the force behind our success is that the Government of Canada cares about the well-being of our economy, our environment and all Canadians today and for many tomorrows. We will continue to put them first.

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

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my friend's speech, and all Liberal members' speeches. They talked about the PBO saying that more Canadians would get money back. There was a report that said this, but are any of the members of the government side aware of the second PBO report, which is the distributional analysis of federal pricing?

In that report, on pages 18 to 20, and I know it is 20 pages and a lot to read, it is exceptionally clear that most Canadians actually do not get more money back. It is like we get 80% on the mid-term, then fail the final and say that we achieved 80% in the course.

Have the Liberals read the second report and will they finally acknowledge that when we factor in all the costs throughout the economy that most Canadians lose on the carbon tax?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member across the way is trying to make the argument that doing nothing is the best option. However, what we have seen through successive Conservative governments is that doing nothing is not the best option. In fact, eight out of 10 Canadians benefit from the system we put in place, and the environment will benefit at the same time. Doing nothing is not an option.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, I attended a meeting with representatives of trade unions from across Quebec. They raised a number of issues. They asked us to introduce measures that should have been passed a long time ago, including anti-scab legislation, higher health transfers and concrete measures to ensure a fair transition.

In the context of this debate, can the member tell me what measures should be introduced to ensure not just an effective energy transition, but also permanent, good-paying jobs in the sector?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue for his intervention and for his previous interventions, as he is focusing on the industrial opportunity we have as a country. His riding is creating green aluminum, which is then used in electronic vehicles, and we have supply chain opportunities through the policies we are putting forward.

Absolutely, the member is correct that we have to transition into these new jobs to get ahead of them so that those jobs are not happening in other countries but happening in Quebec and in Canada.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in my last question for the Conservatives, I called out their failure to tax the big oil companies. They share that with the current Liberal government. I am wondering why the Liberal government continues to let big oil off the hook while families are struggling. Instead of making big oil and gas pay, why are the Liberals making families and individuals pay what big corporations and big companies owe?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what we are working on is the transition for businesses. That includes transitioning from the rebates we have been offering to oil and gas and accelerating them by two years so we can move faster and attract more international investment into Canadian industries, including oil and gas, which is still a very important industry for Canada that we cannot lose. We have to transition the jobs and transition the economy, and we have to provide greener opportunities within that industry.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Mr. Speaker, it is another day and another wasted Conservative opposition motion. I will note that this is the seventh time within the last year that the Conservatives have brought forward a motion that is either a carbon copy of this one or something very similar. I guess the Conservatives will not take no for an answer from the rest of the House, which continually votes against this.

The reason I find this to be so amazing is that every single Conservative sitting in this room right now, every single Conservative elected to the House of Commons in the last election and every single Conservative candidate who ran in the election in 2021 ran on pricing pollution. They all ran on it. It was key.

It took the former leader of the opposition something like 500 days to come up with a plan on the environment, and all he did was copy what we have, although he tweaked it a little and made it more like an air miles program whereby people got reward points and could get environmentally friendly products. That was their plan. That is what they ran on. They all ran on pricing pollution. I hate to say it, Mr. Speaker, but so did you. Everybody ran on pricing pollution—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!