Debates of Feb. 5th, 2024

Pharmacare

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep on choosing big pharma and Canadians keep paying the price.

The Liberals are slinging mud about Loblaws, but they are very well connected too. They have met with Loblaws 60 times in the past two years, and they have received thousands of dollars from the Sobey family. They have the power to lower prices but they are not doing it.

When will the Liberals stop governing for the Sobeys and the Westons?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it is crucial that we reduce the cost of living in general and ensure affordability. That is why we worked with all provinces and territories to co-purchase medications so we could reduce costs. With respect to the question about lobbying, I think that is a great question for Jenni Byrne.

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-NDP government continues to scam Canadians with its carbon tax. It said it would reduce emissions; it did not. It said Canadians would get more in the phony rebates; they do not. It plans to increase the carbon tax scam in April, making the cost of everything go up as two million Canadians visit a food bank in a single month, a third of whom are children. After eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

Will the Liberals stop their plans to increase the carbon tax scam on April 1 that will make the cost of gas, groceries and home heating even more expensive?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I find it incredulous that opposition members are speaking about scams, when we think about the advice they are giving Canadians to invest in volatile cryptocurrency and to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada, one of Canada's foremost institutions.

They have voted not once, not twice, but 120 times against supports for Canadians, including our armed forces, and against supports for Ukraine. That is the height of hypocrisy.

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

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to vote every single time against all measures that make Canadians' lives even harder and even more expensive.

Conservatives are on the side of Canadians who are having to go to food banks more than ever before and for whom the cost of gas, groceries and home heating is more expensive because of the Liberals' carbon tax scam. The Liberal-NDP government is immune to the pain it is causing Canadians, because it is always working for Liberal insiders and consultants.

Why does the government not scrap the scam and axe the tax to bring down the cost of gas, groceries and home heating?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, after the news this weekend about insiders, I find it rich of the opposition members to criticize on that point.

I will ask the Conservatives this in return: What is it they would cut? Are they going to cut supports to Ukraine and the Canadian Armed Forces? Are they going to cut affordable housing? Are they going to cut the Canada child benefit and $10-a-day child care? Let us hear it: What are they going to cut?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to say that the first thing we will cut is the Liberal-NDP carbon tax, and we will make life more affordable for Canadians.

Canadians are paying more for food than they ever have before, with two million people relying on a food bank every month. The Prime Minister's solution is to make food even more expensive. On April 1, Liberals plan to increase the carbon tax by 23%, which is part of their plan to quadruple it.

Conservatives have a common-sense bill, Bill C-234, which would remove the carbon tax for farmers, making food more affordable for Canadians.

Why will the Prime Minister not cancel his plan to increase the carbon tax on April 1 to ensure that Canadians can feed their family?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, it is rich of opposition members to talk about food prices when we know that the member's campaign chair, campaign manager and senior adviser, the person who walks into their caucus every week and gives them advice, is the chief lobbyist for Loblaws in this country, Canada's leading food retailer.

Instead of talking about axing the tax, maybe they should axe the hacks?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the desperation of the Liberals is incredible as they continue to avoid the real question.

Canadian farmers should be applauded for their environmental accomplishments instead of being punished by the carbon taxes from the Liberals. Why is that? The carbon footprint to produce a tonne of canola in Saskatchewan is 67% lower than that of European wheat. Canadian wheat could be transported three and a half times around the world before it has the same global footprint as wheat grown in Europe. However, the Prime Minister wants to punish farmers instead of rewarding them for their environmental stewardship.

Why will the Prime Minister not cancel his carbon tax increase on farmers to make sure we can grow food for Canadians?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, today I have heard Alberta MPs talking about the vulnerable, yet the leader of the Conservative Party claims to talk about freedom but is now showing every Canadian exactly the type of leader he is and what type of person he is. He is the one standing with the bullies. He is the one who is—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I am having a little trouble hearing the hon. member. I would ask all members to please quiet down.

The hon. Minister of Employment and Workforce Development.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member is the one standing with the bullies. He is the one picking on vulnerable people. He is standing with Danielle Smith instead of defending the most vulnerable youth in our country. He has shown Canadians who he is, and Canadians will not forget.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today the costly Bloc-Liberal coalition will have the opportunity to vote on a Conservative motion to cancel the April 1 carbon tax increase.

With 800,000 Quebeckers lining up at food banks every month, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberals think it is a good idea to raise taxes. What is worse, the Bloc members want to drastically increase the carbon tax, which has a direct impact on the cost of groceries in Quebec.

Who will have the courage to vote against the Bloc-Liberal ideology this afternoon in order to leave more money in the pockets of families and reduce the lineups at food banks?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that federal carbon pricing does not apply in Quebec because the Quebec government has had a cap-and-trade system in place for over a decade. If he wants to speak with Premier François Legault, I would be happy to give him his contact information. This is not federal pricing

Let us talk about what the Conservatives are doing. Last month, they voted against the climate action fund to support sustainable agriculture, against the dairy innovation and investment fund and against funding to help supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg farmers. That is what the Conservatives have done.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they are good at trying to distract us to better divide us and shift the focus away from their disastrous record, which is driving two million people to use food banks every month. People can laugh if they want, but there is nothing funny about two million Canadians having to turn to food banks every month because groceries are now beyond their means.

Who is going to do the right thing this afternoon? Who is going to vote against a tax that the Bloc Québécois wants to drastically increase and, instead, vote in favour of the Conservative Party motion to abolish the April 1 tax increase? Who will have the courage to do it?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think that a lot of the people watching us just cannot understand why, in 2024, a party that wants to form the government someday, maybe, still cannot grasp the importance of climate change.

In 2021, drought caused a 27% decrease in Canada's grain production. Just two years later, in 2023, grain yields dropped by 13% across the country, again, due to drought. Over the past decade, 200,000 Canadian farmers have seen their costs increase because of climate change.

What is the Conservatives' response? They are going to make polluting free again.

Small Business

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there was a 41% increase in business bankruptcies last year, and 61% of those are in Quebec. It is the highest increase ever recorded. It is in that context that the federal government set the January 18 deadline for SMEs to pay back the emergency business account loan without penalty.

In a Radio-Canada news report, trustee Stéphane Leblond warned that insolvency cases have been on the rise for the past month. Of course the Liberals just added $20,000 of debt to the SMEs most at risk.

Why not show these businesses some flexibility instead of continuing to kick them while they are down?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA, was to help keep businesses afloat during the pandemic and give them some room to recover.

Nearly 80% of small businesses have paid back the CEBA loan and were able to take advantage of the refundable portion of the loan. We are also reducing credit card transaction fees by up to a quarter to help small businesses keep more money in their pockets.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are bragging about the fact that 80% of SMEs paid back their CEBA loans on time, but that is not good news. That means that 20% of SMEs are at high risk of bankruptcy. We are not talking about multinationals. We are talking about small business and restaurant owners in our communities.

The government needs to do three things: Deal with each case on a case-by-case basis, guarantee loans from financial institutions and reinstate the $20,000 subsidy. Why is it so hard for the government to be flexible in helping the business owners in our communities? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

I would like to remind her that this was not the first but the second extension that we gave to all businesses, and that there is no business that cannot get support from the government. If they cannot pay back their loan, we will guarantee that loan for three years at an interest rate of 5%, which means that they have to reimburse about $250 a month.

Not only that, but Canada Economic Development is looking to the future. I just made announcements in Drummondville, Sherbrooke and a number of regions in Quebec. We will continue to support businesses in making the much-needed green transition.

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

Mr. Speaker, last week I was talking to a restaurant owner in Trois‑Rivières. When he applied for the emergency account years ago, he could not have foreseen that inflation would increase by 10 % every year. He could not have foreseen that business would decline to such an extent.

Before the January 18 deadline, he asked his bank for a loan to repay the federal government, only to be denied, precisely because of the uncertainty in the restaurant industry. The banks do not want the risk that the federal government should be taking on. Since he could not pay up, the federal government is now demanding another $20,000.

How many restaurants like this do the Liberals intend to close?

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, once again, if the government had not been there to support them in the first place, these businesses would not have weathered the biggest pandemic crisis this country has ever known.

It is now time to look to the future. We need to support companies in meeting the challenges of the future. What are the challenges of the future? It is all about starting the energy transition and improving productivity to counter labour shortages. That is exactly what we are going to do on this side of the House. We will continue to support all businesses.

Carbon Pricing

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister is costing Canadians more than they can afford. His punishing carbon tax is already driving up the cost of groceries, heating and gas. On April 1, the NDP-Liberal government wants to increase it once again.

Conservatives introduced a common-sense motion to cancel the planned carbon tax hike that would cost Canadians even more on gas, groceries and home heating. Will the Liberals support our motion and cancel their April 1 carbon tax hike?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, once again we hear misleading rhetoric from the other side of the House.

Folks in Canada know that 80% of Canadian families get more money back than they pay. It is an affordability measure as well as something that actually addresses the climate crisis in front of us. It is something that helps the poorest Canadians.

In fact, what he wants to do is take away the rebate. He wants to take away, from poor and modest-income people, money that actually helps to pay for groceries, rent and transportation. Shame on you for trying to target those folks and benefit only the wealthy in Canada.