Debates of April 11th, 2024

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, one of the first things we are going to cut is about 70 or 80 Liberal MPs in the next election.

Second, nine out of 10 young Canadians believe they will never own a home under the Liberal government. It is embarrassing. Canadians used to be able to pay off a home in 25 years, and now it takes 25 years to save for a down payment.

The Prime Minister refuses to listen to our premiers. If he is so proud of his carbon tax, will the Coward of the County come out of his house and actually meet with premiers?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would like to remind all members, as the Speaker has made this point before, that it is important not to call into question any member's courage.

The hon. Minister of Labour and Seniors.

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

Mr. Speaker, on this issue, it is very important to listen to constituents.

I would like to quote Danielle from Foothills. She said, “I do my family's taxes, so I know we got $808.50. We get an extra little bump for me and my husband because we live in a rural environment. When I go back and look at what I spent last year in carbon taxes, because I was working from home, I wasn't commuting, my gas bills were way down, and even the amount of tax that I paid on my home heating [bills]... we're principally natural gas where I live, I would say that I probably ended up better off with that transfer.”

We should listen to constituents, like Danielle of Foothills, Alberta.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has spent the last two weeks reminding Canadians of the disasters he has caused over the past eight years, including passports, immigration, EI backlogs, inflation, interest rates, doubling of rents and more.

Yesterday, his Liberal MPs voted unanimously against the common-sense Conservative motion that the House adopted, calling on him to convene a first ministers meeting. The last meeting was all the way back in 2016.

Will he organize this meeting, or would he rather continue interfering in every domain without meeting with the provinces? What is he afraid of?

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians who are tuning in, and we here on this side of the House, hear the voice of inaction.

What the people at home understand is that inaction does not a strategy make. Inaction is not a plan, nor is it an option.

On this side of the House, we have proposed a plan for Canadians: invest in more housing, invest in day care, invest in jobs, invest in growth.

We will let the Conservatives keep sloganeering. On our side of the House, we are focused on the issues that matter to Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, let us examine its record.

Housing costs have doubled. Immigration wait times are interminable. Over 800,000 Quebeckers are using food banks every month. Our streets are less and less safe. Violent crime is on the rise.

The kicker is that the Prime Minister now wants to impose his incompetence on the provinces. That is like handing our front-door key to the crooks who just burgled our home.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he is not even competent enough to manage his own government and that he should just mind his own business?

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

Mr. Speaker, if my colleague wants to talk about crooks, how about we talk about the climate crooks on the other side of the House?

If the Conservative member wants to know the benefits of putting a price on carbon, he can easily find out. All he has to do is turn around and talk to the member behind him. She was part of the first government in North America to put a price on pollution, because that is the right thing to do. It is the right thing for the economy. It is the right thing for fighting climate change. It is the right thing for Canadians.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, immigration minister Christine Fréchette reiterated the Quebec government's modest demands.

There is nothing spectacular or over-the-top about them. The minister is not asking for full powers over immigration; she is asking for the bare minimum. What she is asking for is a fair distribution of asylum seekers among the provinces, reimbursement of the costs associated with taking in asylum seekers, and adequate funding for French integration classes. I do not think that is too much to ask for.

Is the government going to agree to Quebec's requests, or are we about to end up with another of the squabbles the Liberals are so fond of?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, what I agreed on with Minister Fréchette, when I met with her two weeks ago, was that we would exercise our full powers in our respective areas of jurisdiction under the Canada-Quebec agreement, in a reasonable and reasoned manner. This is what I intend to do with her in the months to come.

Canadians and Quebeckers will be well served as a result.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, their discussions are going so well that the Government of Quebec is thinking of holding a referendum on immigration.

The truth is that Quebec is so fed up with having the government laugh in its face that it is thinking of reaching out to the people. Considering the federal government's incompetence when it comes to managing its responsibilities, we all know that things would work a lot better if Quebec had full powers.

Is the minister going to respond to Minister Fréchette's highly reasonable requests, or would he rather wait for Quebec's entire population to vote on the federal government's immigration incompetence?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, no country in the world would hand over all its powers to someone else. I agreed with Minister Fréchette that we would exercise our respective responsibilities in our areas of jurisdiction in order to serve Quebeckers effectively. That is what I intend to do. That is what the minister intends to do as well.

Justice

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the French prime minister is visiting Canada and Quebec. We all know the special ties Quebec has with that great country, the cradle of human rights and secularism. While monarchists here proudly sing God Save the King and the tragic history of the Acadians is trampled underfoot, I believe there is an opportunity to remind France that we still share some of the same democratic values.

Will the government pledge not to contribute in any way, directly or indirectly, to the challenge to Bill 21 on Quebec state secularism?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned on several occasions, and as the Prime Minister himself has already mentioned, when Bill 21 goes to the Supreme Court, if it goes there, we will be there to intervene to defend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to defend rights like freedom of expression, the right to equality and freedom of religion.

Carbon Pricing

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, but do not take my word for it.

Heather from Newbury writes, “People need the cost of living brought under control now.” Carol from Strathroy says, “One more tax will take us down. We're already struggling.” To the average Canadian, the cost of the carbon tax on gas, groceries, home heating, farmers and families is punishing, not progress.

Will the Prime Minister axe the tax on farmers and help make food cheaper by passing Bill C-234 in its original form?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would allow Danielle from Foothills to continue with her comments. She also added, “I would say that I probably ended up better off with that transfer.” She also said, “[so] I think a lot of people would be of the view that if you are going to implement some kind of revenue-neutral carbon pricing, that's probably not a bad way of doing it.” These are the words of Danielle from Foothills.

I am happy to inform Danielle that two and a half years later since she made that comment, it is now up to $1,800 for a family of four in Alberta.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Mr. Speaker, even the NDP-Liberal environment chair admitted that the carbon tax has no impact on climate change, yet just last week, the Prime Minister increased the carbon tax by 23%, driving up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. If farmers cannot afford to grow food, the government has failed. Let me remind everyone that if there are no farms, there is no food.

Will the Prime Minister help bring the cost of food down for Canadians, axe the tax on farmers and pass Bill C-234 in its original form?

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

Mr. Speaker, instead of opposing battery plants, instead of standing up against sustainable jobs, that member and her caucus should remember that the vast majority of the fuels farmers use are tax exempt under the pollution pricing strategy. Farmers in the country are supported big time by adjustment policies, because they know, more than anyone, that climate change is a reality.

With respect to Bill C-234, that member should walk down to the front bench and tell her opposition House leader that he should call Bill C-234 and we will resolve it.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government is just not worth the cost.

Last week, the Prime Minister increased the carbon tax by 23%, driving up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. However, on Tuesday, the Liberal environment chair revealed that there was no proof that the carbon tax reduced emissions, saying “there is no data specifically stating that the price on carbon resulted in an x amount of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Now that the carbon tax scam has been exposed by a Liberal, will the Prime Minister finally axe the tax?

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

Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House are focused on making life more affordable for Canadians, but also on fighting climate change. The PBO and 200 economists across the country have been very clear that eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back. It works disproportionate to income.

Even the Conservatives actually used to know this before they got collective amnesia. Every one of the members on that side of the House ran in 2021 on a promise to put in place a price on carbon pollution. The hypocrisy that comes from that side of the House is unbelievable.

Infrastructure

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, first nations and Inuit have been neglected by successive Liberal and Conservative governments for years. They have underfunded infrastructure for first nations by $350 billion. For Inuit, the gap is $75 billion.

The Liberals committed to closing this gap by 2030, but they are nowhere near their target. This means more mouldy homes, more crumbling schools and more contaminated water.

When will the Liberals fulfill their obligations to first nations and Inuit by closing this infrastructure gap?

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her advocacy in the House.

We thank the Assembly of First Nations for its partnership. We actually worked together with it on this report, and we welcome the important recommendations it brought forward.

We know decades of underinvestment and discrimination have led to this infrastructure deficit, which is indeed a crisis for indigenous peoples across this country.

Our government has put a stop to this, with record investments, by dramatically increasing up to 1,100% since 2016. We are taking action to close the infrastructure gap and we will not stop until it is done.

Indigenous Affairs

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there are many residential school survivors and family members of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls in British Columbia who are non-status. This week, they are learning that their access to counselling is being cut-off because the Liberals, like the Conservatives before them, are underfunding first nations' health. These are community members who have experienced serious trauma and for whom counselling is a key part of their healing journey.

Why is the government denying survivors access to critical counselling?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, violence against indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people must be put to an end. After the previous government dragged its feet for years, we called a national inquiry. We have an action plan that was co-developed with indigenous partners. We made progress.

For example, we built 12 new cell towers along the Highway of Tears in British Columbia and new shelters for indigenous women. We are supporting frontline indigenous victims services and 36 indigenous-led policing services. We will continue to do more.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know better than to trust the Conservatives' failed policies. On this side of the House, our government is focused on creating more good jobs, including in innovation and technology.

Last week, in my riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler, I was pleased to be with our government when we announced new measures from the upcoming budget 2024 to secure Canada's AI advantage.

Could the President of the Treasury Board please update the House on our government's announcement on AI?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her hard work.

Last week, our government announced $2.4 billion to support artificial intelligence across the country. That means more infrastructure for AI researchers, that means more innovative AI solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, that means the creation of an AI institute and that means the responsible use of AI across the country.

Unlike the Conservatives who deny science, we will always support an innovative economy.