Debates of June 1st, 2023

Opposition Motion—Carbon Tax

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Twice.

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

Twice? No, it is more than twice.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Eight, or 10?

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

Madam Speaker, I understand that even my Conservative colleague across the way cannot even keep track, but guess what. It is more than eight.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I said 10.

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

Madam Speaker, this is the 10th time Conservatives have brought forward a motion about pricing pollution. It is a motion that has been defeated in the House not nine times but 10. Do members know who has voted against it? Every political party except the Conservative Party has voted against it.

I often think to myself, from time to time, because of the growing similarities between the Conservatives and the Bloc members, that we have the Bloc-Conservative coalition here. They say the NDP-Liberal coalition. We can start saying the Bloc-Conservative coalition. However, not even their coalition buddies in the Bloc will agree with them on this issue. Even the Bloc Québécois members, as right wing as they have become in recent months, if not years, believe that climate change is real and that we have to price pollution.

It is a very basic, fundamental concept that, if we want to change market behaviour, we put a price on something. This is economics 101. This is the fundamental rule people are taught about supply and demand and affecting market decisions, in an introductory course to economics. However, somehow, the political party in the House of Commons, the only party that cannot understand that, also happens to be the party that purports itself to be the saviours of the economy. The only party in the House of Commons that somehow understands how an economy works is also the only party that disagrees with countless numbers, hundreds and thousands, of economists who say that this is the way to do it. The Conservatives disagree with the basic fundamental principles of how an economy works, but somehow they like to build up this image that they are the ones who know what is best for the economy.

I should make it very clear that, although I am talking about Conservatives right now in the current context, I am really speaking about these particular Conservatives. These particular Conservatives are even further to the right than the Conservatives with whom I was elected in 2015. Members will remember that it was only a year and a half ago that all of the members of Parliament who are Conservatives ran on a platform that actually said that they wanted to price pollution.

I have here with me, in both official languages, the plan. It is called “The Man with the Plan”. This is the Conservative Party platform from 2021, which is something I am sure all Conservatives are very proud of because they ran on it.

Madam Speaker, I do have it in both official languages, so with your indulgence, I would seek unanimous consent from the House to table, in both official languages, the Conservative platform. Could I have unanimous consent?

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

Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

No.

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

Madam Speaker, wow, I am really surprised.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, I just have a brief point of order. I know the member is very passionate, but he has been yelling for an extended period of time, and our interpreters could be hurt by this. I would just ask him to maybe—

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

I do take the hon. member's point, and I ask the hon. member to perhaps be a bit softer in tone.

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

Madam Speaker, I apologize to my colleague. If I am too loud for him, perhaps he could leave and watch this later on CPAC to make sure he does not miss a moment of it.

I find it amazing that I just sought the unanimous consent of the House to table, in both official languages, the Conservative Party platform called “The Man with the Plan”, which outlined its plan, and it was Conservatives who yelled no and will not let me table that.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

They are embarrassed about it.

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

Madam Speaker, it does sound like they are embarrassed about it.

How about I read what it says in the platform? In the 2021 platform, it says, “Canada’s Conservatives will work with the provinces to implement an innovative, national, Personal Low Carbon Savings Account. This will put a price on carbon for consumers without one penny going to the government.” That sounds familiar to me. It goes on to say, “It will be completely transparent and engage consumers in the process of building a lower carbon future.”

There were 338 Conservative candidates, 18 months ago, who went door knocking throughout this country and sold this plan to Canadians. Since they were elected, they have brought forward opposition motions against their very own plan 10 times. Talk about it being extremely embarrassing. They are trying to run away from their plan. I am absolutely amazed by it.

Despite the fact that there are over 100 Conservative MPs in the House who were part of that and believed in that, there is also a really special group of Conservative MPs in the House. These members are above and beyond those who ran in the last election.

Those members are, starting with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Carleton; the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin; the member for Edmonton Mill Woods; the member for Grande Prairie—Mackenzie; the member for Red Deer—Mountain View, who everyone will remember I quoted earlier; the member for Red Deer—Lacombe; the member for Banff—Airdrie; the member for Abbotsford, who was heckling me; the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman; the member for Fundy Royal; my neighbour, the member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston; the member for Niagara West; the member for Oshawa; the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke; the member for Wellington—Halton Hills; the member for Prince Albert; the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle; and the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek.

What club do these members belong to? They belong to a different club. They belong to a club that not only ran on pricing pollution in 2021, but also ran on it in 2008 under Stephen Harper. Can anyone believe that? I have that platform too, in both official languages. Perhaps, with unanimous consent, they will allow me to table the 2008 Conservative platform in both official languages.

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

Does the hon. member have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

No.

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

Madam Speaker, wow, I cannot believe that. The Conservatives have now rejected, not once but twice, my attempts to table their very own platforms.

Well, I guess I will just have to read it. Listen to Stephen Harper's commitment that the member for Abbotsford and all the members I referenced, including the member for Carleton, ran on in 2008. It said:

A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will implement our Turning the Corner action plan to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms by 20 per cent over 2006 levels by 2020. We will work with the provinces and territories and our NAFTA trading partners in the United States and Mexico, at both the national and state levels [here is the good part], to develop and implement a North America-wide cap and trade system for greenhouse gases and air pollution....

For those who do not know what a cap and trade system is, it is basically an alternative to the pricing mechanism that we have now. However, I cannot believe that we now have not only MPs who were hypocrites in 2021, but now we have hypocrites from 2021 and 2008 elections, including the member for Abbotsford, who I understand used to be the minister of the environment.

People will sometimes ask what the cap and trade system is, which I think is a very good question to ask, because there is a slight difference between that and our existing pricing mechanism.

The cap and trade system was actually brought about in North America a number of years ago. It was started by the Western Climate Initiative. In 2007, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington started what was known as the Western Climate Initiative. Later on, Montana and Utah joined. After that, Ontario, Quebec and B.C. got into the cap and trade program.

The cap and trade program is slightly different from pricing pollution, but it effectively does the same thing. It encourages companies within those jurisdictions to trade off their emissions and effectively lowers emissions. This is exactly what Stephen Harper was talking about in his 2008 platform commitment. He wanted to implement that system that had been developed by the Western Climate Initiative. He wanted to bring it in.

Now, guess what happened? Stephen Harper got elected, but do members think he delivered on that commitment?

[An hon. member]

I bet he flip-flopped.

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

He flip-flopped, that is right. He did not deliver on that commitment. However, instead what we ended up seeing were the provinces going alone. The provinces said, “Well, if Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, cannot take a federal initiative on this, something he ran on and was elected on, we will do it on our own.” That is when Ontario and Quebec went to see Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, signed the deal and essentially became part of the cap and trade.

Flash forward to our newest premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, who got elected.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

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

Yay for Doug Ford; amazing. If we can believe it, Doug Ford is even more progressive than these guys.

However, I will conclude with this: Doug Ford got out of it. What did we see in the process? What have seen since then? We saw Quebec move so much faster and further ahead in terms of emission reductions via electric vehicle stations and protecting our environment. Now, Ontario is lagging behind.

I look forward to continuing after question period.

Italian Heritage Month

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the beginning of Italian Heritage Month here in Canada. Over the next 30 days, we will have the opportunity to celebrate and honour the richness of the Italian language, culture and heritage. From generation to generation, Italian Canadians have visibly and vastly contributed to the economic growth of our country and marked the history of Canada with their many achievements.

Tomorrow, June 2, is also an important date for Italians here in Canada and around the world, who will celebrate the 77th anniversary of the Italian Republic. Indeed, it was on June 2, 1946, that Italians voted to embrace democracy and to form the republic as we know it today. It was also the first time women were allowed to vote in a national election, marking the beginning of our country’s long-standing embrace of liberal values.

Tanti auguri per una Buona Festa della Repubblica Italiana.

I wish everyone a happy Italian Heritage Month.

The Economy

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Philip Cross, former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada, testified before the finance committee that Canada has had its lowest GDP per capita since the 1930s. Yes, that means we are languishing in the worst economy since the Great Depression.

The reason is the Liberals' war on work. Excessive taxation and regulation is punishing our entrepreneurs and our workers. Parents and seniors are regularly facing marginal effective tax rates in excess of 50%, which means that on the next dollar generated they are often only getting 40¢, 30¢ or even 20¢.

Help is on the way: the common sense of the common people. From my home, one's home and our home, let us bring it home.

Vaudreuil-Dorion Heritage Weekend

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Oyez, oyez, Mr. Speaker!

Lords, ladies, nobles and the good folk of Vaudreuil-Dorion will gather again on June 8, 9, 10 and 11 for the 2023 edition of the Seigneuriales. At this festival honouring the history of New France, they will eat, drink, play and sing as they celebrate the rich cultural heritage of our community, Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

In partnership with the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion and the Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges and under the leadership of Christiane Levesque and her team, the people of Vaudreuil-Soulanges will have the opportunity to explore the local artisan fair and participate in the tall tales competition.

I therefore want to take this opportunity to invite all the lords and ladies of Vaudreuil-Soulanges to join me at this festival. There will be activities for the whole family, and, of course, everything our seigneury has to offer.

La Journée de la Gaspésie

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every year on the first Thursday in June, we celebrate Gaspé day. What a pleasure to celebrate the people of the Gaspé and our magnificent region.

To show our affection and attachment to our home region, the Stratégie Vivre en Gaspésie invites us to wear blue, enjoy the great outdoors, listen to music of the Gaspé, enjoy local products, express our creativity and share our love for the Gaspé with as many people as possible.

This year a wide range of activities are on offer throughout the peninsula from Sainte‑Anne‑des‑Monts to Matapédia, Gaspé, Chandler, L'Anse‑à‑Beaufils, Percé, Grande-Rivière, New Carlisle, Bonaventure and Carleton‑sur‑Mer.

Our Gaspé is more lively than ever, more vibrant than ever. Good people with warm hearts fill our region with a zest for life every day. I invite members to join me in celebrating the dynamism and vitality of our region. I wish us a happy Gaspé day.