Debates of Nov. 5th, 2024

Public Accounts

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

Mr. Speaker, I was absolutely floored when listening to the response the member gave when he tried to justify that the NDP stepped away from the current price on pollution with the rebate mechanism we have. The member voted in favour of it 24 times. On June 4 of this year, the member justified the policy by saying in the House, “On April 1 of last year, the Prime Minister increased the carbon tax by three cents. Conservatives say this is bad, but Danielle Smith increased it by four cents and that is not even with a rebate.”

Can the member please just come clean and say the New Democrats stepped away from this because they were feeling the political pressure and could not stand up to the Leader of the Opposition?

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member would do right by having more serious concern for this issue. Young people are watching. I have given a very clear example of where the Liberals have failed on this. I will not bring up the personal record of the member, but to be serious, the Liberals cannot tell one region that it is exempt for political reasons to save their party and then tell the rest of the country to pay.

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

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, could the member tell us what region that was?

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

That is getting into debate. We will move on to the next speaker.

I am happy to recognize the hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Kingston and the Islands.

I am proud to rise to speak in this place on behalf of the constituents of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. However, I am not proud of the behaviour of the members of the official opposition, who are wasting taxpayer money on filibusters, feigning concern for issues they otherwise dismiss, such as environmental progress, and preventing real progress on issues that matter to Canadians. I will try to address some of the disinformation that has been put forward by them as they use up the time available in this place to avoid doing the real work that needs to be done for Canadians.

Let me start with one fundamental flaw in the Conservatives' arguments, and they do it repeatedly. It has been done since I have been in this place. They have an inability to understand the difference between correlation and causality. This is from a first-year statistics course that perhaps they missed. They continue to say that because something happened during the same period of time as something else, it was caused by that. We know that is not the case. Many things happen during the same period of time but are not caused by that thing.

Today, we heard a member opposite state that Canada's economic challenges are caused by the price on pollution program. The Conservatives constantly state that food prices are higher because of the carbon levy. It is simply not true. The misinformation they continue to spread has turned many Canadians against fighting the great fight against climate change, an existential threat.

Young people are discouraged. They hear us talk in this place in a way that does not address the concerns that are giving them great anxiety. Trevor Toombs, an economist, the Bank of Canada and many independent studies have indicated that this program is not responsible for the high inflation we have experienced. At most, it accounts for 1%, and much less by most studies.

Economists know and I believe the Conservative Party knows that the COVID pandemic, the post-COVID economy, supply chain issues and the conflicts around the world have caused global inflation. The inflation we saw was not just in Canada, but around the world. Although I wish that every country around the world had a price on pollution program, that is not the case.

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

We have a point of order from the hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we know the member opposite is from the “have a yacht” club. I am wondering if she could talk more about people who have not—

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

I would remind everyone to stay relevant to the topic at hand.

The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that was a personal attack. It had nothing to do with what I was talking about. I would like to see some rulings about the Conservatives attacking people personally as opposed to talking about politics—

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I fully understand that during proceedings of the House, from time to time, somebody will stand up on a point of order and use what is potentially not a point of order as an opportunity to make a political statement. I realize that I do that sometimes and that others do that, and you let people get away with it. However, what we just saw there was an intentional personal attack on a member who is speaking, and I think—

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

That is why I cut it off.

The hon. deputy House leader.

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

My point of order, Mr. Speaker, is that you should be asking the member to apologize for that.

[An hon. member]

Debate.

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

We get into a lot of crazy debates in the House, and I want to make sure that we move on to the topic at hand. That was a little off topic. I would suggest that everyone stay on the topic at hand. If there is a real point of order to be brought up, I am more than happy to hear it.

The hon. Member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

I would like a ruling on this, Mr. Speaker, because this is not the first time this has happened to me in the House. The Conservatives are making a point of attacking me personally about things that have nothing to do with the business of the House. Personal attacks are not permitted in this place.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Kingston and the Islands rose on a point of order to note that we should utilize points of order for valid points of order. Less than five minutes ago, he interrupted you and the proceedings of this place, so if you are going to apply a ruling to this, I hope it is applied equally and fairly to all members, including the Liberals.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that point of order, in my most recent intervention, when I rose on a point of order about this very serious matter, I did acknowledge that this happens and that I do it from time to time. However, let us not distract from the fact that the member is being personally attacked by the Conservatives right now on a personal level.

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

You do that to us every day.

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

There is tons of policy—

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

Let us not talk across. Personal attacks are not allowed in the House—

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

I am sorry if you take that personally.

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

Mark, we are not allowed personal attacks in the House.

I am going to ask the hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands to retract that and apologize.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I did not hear the retraction. I am sorry, but it is important. I just heard an apology.

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

A retraction and an apology are the same thing. He apologized; that means he retracted it.

The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill has the floor.