Debates of March 31st, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, it is really puzzling. Every single person on that side of the aisle campaigned in 2021 on putting a price on pollution. Stephen Harper was in favour of a carbon tax before he was against it. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills made it the centrepiece of his leadership campaign in 2017. The MP for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, as a member of the B.C. government, actually introduced the first carbon price in North America.

The Conservatives need to stop flip-flopping, get serious about climate change and present their own plan.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, tonight, 12:01 a.m. will spell very bad news for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The Liberal carbon tax is going up.

This is going to have a direct impact on every family in Canada, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer demonstrated yesterday, with numbers to prove it. Transportation, food, heating—they will all cost more.

Why is the government once again punishing Canadian workers and families?

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

Madam Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows very well, the price on pollution does not apply in Quebec. Quebec is a leader in managing the clean economy.

Every time we have cut taxes for workers, the Conservatives have voted against it, whether it was a tax rebate for workers or a tax cut for Canadians.

With this budget, we already know that they are going to vote against workers. They are the ones voting against it, and we are the ones supporting Canadians.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, that clearly shows that this government is completely out of touch with reality.

In a March 15 interview with the Journal de Québec, Groupe Robert, a well-established Quebec transport company, stated that this will have a direct impact on everything that comes from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Not only do the Liberals not know what they are talking about, but everything will cost more for all Canadians, including Quebeckers.

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

Madam Speaker, what we must be clear about is that climate change has a cost for Canadians.

We all remember the wildfires in Fort McMurray. We all remember the floods in Calgary. We all remember the flooding that happened across the country.

We must fight climate change. Economists have said that the best mechanism in our system is a price on pollution to combat climate change. That is what we are implementing. We will fight climate change.

Government Appointments

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Madam Speaker, if there is one role that must be free from any and all appearance of conflict of interest, it is the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

The Liberals are proving their total lack of judgment once again by appointing a minister's sister-in-law as interim commissioner. We are not questioning her competence or integrity. Cabinet is the one at fault for choosing to appoint a family member of one of their own.

The appearance of conflict of interest is obvious. Even though they do not seem to know what a conflict of interest is, we are asking the Liberals to reconsider this appointment.

Will they reconsider this appointment?

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

Madam Speaker, I would emphasize that the interim Ethics Commissioner is a career public servant who has served in a senior role in the Ethics Commissioner's office for more than 10 years. That is beginning when the Harper government was actually in office.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Madam Speaker, this is just another in a long list of Liberal ethical lapses.

They appointed one of the Prime Minister's neighbours from the cottage as special rapporteur on Chinese interference. They appointed a Liberal staffer to head the commission on Ottawa's protest convoy. Today, they appointed a minister's sister-in-law as Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

No one is questioning her qualifications. That said, there are 39 million Canadians out there, so why does every Liberal appointment always go to someone with Liberal Party connections?

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

Madam Speaker, once again, I would like to put an emphasis on the importance of recognizing the fine work that our civil servants do. I would just say that the interim Ethics Commissioner who is being referenced is a career public servant. She has served in a senior role in the Ethics Commissioner's office for more than 10 years, beginning when the Harper government was in office. We owe a great deal to our professional civil servants.

Telecommunications

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Madam Speaker, Canadians pay the highest cellphone prices in the world. In fact, Rogers telecommunications is the most expensive telecommunications carrier in the world. How expensive is it? It is three times as expensive as Australia and twice as expensive as the U.S. and Europe. The Rogers-Shaw deal will only make the priciest and the biggest company only bigger. We need more competition in Canada, which means not just a fourth carrier, but 40 carriers to supply more choice to Canadians, and lower prices. When will the minister get serious about competition instead of pandering to just one monopoly?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased with the question from my colleague. Perhaps he did not fully listen to the press conference this morning. If he looks at the contract the prices that we see in Quebec, which are on average 20% lower than in the rest of Canada, now will have to be offered in Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta. In addition to that, we got commitments to have a headquarters in Calgary, Alberta and 3,000 new jobs in western Canada. Canadians know that we have their backs and western Canadians understand that.

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

Madam Speaker, in fact, Videotron's prices are higher than Freedom Mobile's prices, so if Liberals really believed in competition they would have let a competitive bidding process happen for Freedom. The Liberals are in the back pocket of Rogers. They allowed Rogers to ignore three higher bidders from Freedom. These Liberals and the PMO were lobbied more than 60 times by Videotron and Rogers during the sales process, but did not meet once with any other bidder. Why did Rogers get privileged access to the Liberals that other bidders did not?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague and my critic. One thing he would know is that, as the regulator, they do not meet with the parties. That is a basic principle in due process. What Canadians, particularly western Canadians, understood this morning is that we have their backs because what they want is lower prices. The way to do that is to have competition and the way to do that is for a fourth national player. Members on the other side who may not have had a chance can read the contract with Canadians. That is the way that we bring lower prices in Canada.

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

Madam Speaker, the minister only needs to check the lobbyist registry to see more than 65 meetings with his department and the PMO. In December, this Liberal minister said he would not rule on the sale until the legal challenges were over. There is a legal challenge before the CRTC currently on this deal where Rogers is providing preferential rates to Videotron for access to its network that no other cellphone provider can get. Why has this minister flip-flopped on his commitment to wait for the legal challenges to be over? Is it because Rogers set today as the deadline?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, I am so happy that my colleagues ask questions. I look forward to more questions because one thing that people at home understand is that we are fighting every step of the way to bring prices lower in Canada. What we have achieved today is a new chapter in telecom in Canada. For the first time in Canada's history, more than 150 years, we have binding legal commitments by telecom in a contract with Canada to bring prices lower in Canada. It is this government that did that. Canadians know we have their backs. We will fight for them every step of the way.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Speaker, today the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced the merger of Rogers and Shaw, communications companies, which forces Vidéotron, another company involved in the transaction, to lower its prices in Quebec. However, the other companies involved in this transaction were not forced to lower their wireless prices.

Why?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It is fairly straightforward. We are the regulator and there are two parties involved, which is why we were able to get commitments from both Vidéotron and Rogers.

There is one thing Canadians understand, and it is very simple. If Vidéotron adds pricing pressure in western Canadian markets, it will cause the other telecoms to lower their prices as well. Boosting competition brings prices down. That is exactly what we did today for Canadians.

Natural Resources

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have been speaking with energy workers, miners, auto workers and innovators who are more than ready to make Canada a world leader in clean energy, but to get cheap and renewable energy to market requires massive investments in the national energy grid.

Now, New Democrats worked with this government and we have pushed this government to get serious about sustainable jobs that are tied to obligations for good union wages and apprenticeships. What kind of funding will the government put in place to build the electricity grid that Canadians need for a sustainable 21st century?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, I am very happy that the member opposite asked that question, because this budget that we tabled this week shows exactly our commitment to a strong, sustainable electrical grid. We know that union workers and good-paying jobs are part of that work that we need to get done.

We are supporting strong, sustainable jobs right across this country, and we know that our union workers are the backbone of the work we need to do.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Madam Speaker, Canadians want to see their government take leadership on tackling the climate crisis and creating good union jobs. New Democrats forced the Liberals to do just that in this year's budget, but more needs to be done.

For eight years, the Liberals have missed the mark by handing out billions to rich oil and gas CEOs who are jacking up prices for people and polluting our planet. Will the Liberals finally stand up to big oil, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and create a green industrial strategy?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Madam Speaker, I think the budget speaks for itself.

I would say “forced” is a little harsh. Some of us have been on this for quite some time, making sure that workers are at the centre of this energy transition that is occurring, which involves not only building up renewables but also lowering emissions in the oil and gas sector itself.

It is Canada's largest industry. It is something that we cannot ignore. The only ones who know how to lower emissions, and the only ones who know how to build up renewables, are the workers in those industries. Not only do we support them, but we will insist that they lead this transition everywhere across this country.

Gender Equality

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Madam Speaker, on International Transgender Day of Visibility, let us stand up for the protection and promotion of the human rights of people in Canada who are transgender, queer, non-binary and two-spirit.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth share what our government is doing to lift up transgender voices and be allies to the transgender community?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]

Madam Speaker, on this day, I am thinking of Emma Wakelin, a trans woman who shared that “It feels like every day we awake to a new law being proposed to strip us of our human rights, or more violence that extinguishes yet another trans life.”

As the trans community members face attacks against their identity, dignity and existence, we, as a government, will continue to stand with them today and every day.

Government Appointments

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Madam Speaker, Liberals chose a top minister's family member as the interim Ethics Commissioner. Of course, they gave millions of tax dollars and contracts to close friends and staff's relatives. This Prime Minister is the only one ever to break ethics laws twice and some of his MPs have too, four more times, for vacations and perks for their pals.

After eight years, Canadians have never struggled so much, but Liberals have never had it so good. Is that why the Liberals thought that Canadians would not see their ethics pick as anything other than trying to cover their own butts in the future?