Debates of April 19th, 2024

Carbon Pricing

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Speaker, gas prices are the highest they have been in years. In my Ontario community, prices are as high as $1.80 a litre. Sadly, the Prime Minister gave no relief to Canadians and increased the carbon tax by 23%. What is worse is that, when the carbon tax quadruples, it will add 61¢ to the price of a litre of gas. It is clear the Prime Minister is not worth the cost as Canadians work twice as hard to take in half as much.

When will the Prime Minister axe the tax so Canadians can afford to get to work, get groceries and take their kids to practice?

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

Madam Speaker, what is baffling when listening to the members opposite is that they are not listening to economists from across this country. Last week it was about 200 economists, and now it is over 350 economists who have written an open letter to us saying specifically that most families receive more in rebates than they pay in carbon pricing. In other words, the policy is designed to ensure it does not raise the cost of living for most Canadians and, they say, climate change, on the other hand, poses a real threat to Canadians' economic well-being.

I am going to listen to the economists.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Speaker, the economists and the experts I listen to are the people in my riding paying $1.80 a litre for gasoline now. The Prime Minister could reduce the price of a litre of gas by 20¢ right now by axing the carbon tax.

The Liberals have out-of-control spending and Canadians are broke. Rent and mortgages are doubling. Inflation is through the roof. We spend more money to service the debt than we do in transfers to the provinces on health care. Canadians are tapped out. They are saying there is no relief from the government.

When will the Prime Minister do the right thing and call a carbon tax election?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and to the Minister of Official Languages]

Madam Speaker, let us listen to another expert. The former Conservative prime minister of the U.K., Boris Johnson, came to Canada to teach the Conservative Party a lesson about the dangers of climate change denial nonsense. He said, “voters...continue to care deeply about the environment, and they want solutions that are going to be cost effective.” We agree. Both the PBO and over 350 economists agree that, with the carbon pricing rebates, eight out of 10 will be better off.

The Conservatives' only plan is to let the planet burn. Their chief insult—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Order. When the hon. member asks a question, he should listen to the answer. He should not be heckling. Some of his colleagues were heckling as well. I would ask members to please tone it down and listen to the questions and answers that are being posed.

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, after nine years, Canada's emissions are rising and the Liberal carbon tax is making life unaffordable. On April 1, the NDP-Liberals increased the carbon tax and across the country today, Canadians are paying way more at the pumps. Many Canadians who have been struggling to pay their bills throughout the cold and dark winter who might have been planning a summer road trip might not be able to afford it now.

Why are the NDP-Liberals giving Canadians a cruel summer instead of axing the tax?

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

Madam Speaker, it is important that we be clear. Under the previous Conservative government, emissions were on the way up with no plan to bring them down. We are on track to meet our 2026 targets. We are on track to meet the Paris targets. We are taking the action needed to reduce emissions.

However, more than that, if we are going to talk about affordability, let us talk about an economist from Calgary, who said, “carbon pricing is definitively not to blame for affordability challenges.” Again, I am going to listen to the economists.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, I choose to listen to the people in my riding who are paying 20¢ more a litre because of the NDP-Liberal carbon tax.

An inconvenient truth for the Liberals is that the only time that emissions went down in Canada was under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. In fact, if they want to listen to someone, they should listen to a fellow Liberal, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, who, after losing a by-election, said the carbon tax is wrong.

Tens of millions of Canadians agree. These are the people we listen to. Why do the NDP-Liberals not?

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

Madam Speaker, if the member opposite is concerned about the price of gas in Alberta, she may want to speak to the premier, who, on April 1, increased the Alberta gas tax. By the way, that is not connected to a rebate. The federal carbon price backstop pays more to eight out of 10 Canadians than they actually pay in carbon pricing, but the premier's gas tax was just an add-on.

Finance

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Madam Speaker, the finance minister used a metric of 40% debt to GDP just last year as an anchor, which she has now cut loose. With $40 billion more debt last year, $40 billion more debt projected for this fiscal year and a $40-billion debt projected for the following fiscal year. I sense a pattern. After nine years of the Liberal-NDP government, Canadians are being asked to hold the line at 40-something, but there is no real plan for that.

Will the Prime Minister tell Canadians under 40 how much of their future he has blown?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite is a graduate of the Ivey school of business in my riding. He know economics, so he knows, of course, that Canada has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 and that the debt-to-GDP ratio is set to continue to come down.

What he is really saying by raising these issues is that they do not stand in favour of a vision of fairness for this country, one of child care, pharmacare, dental care and building more homes. The national school food program that my colleague mentioned before is also vital to that vision. They stand against all of it.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Madam Speaker, it appears that member did not get the memo about what is causing inflation in Canada. It is actually deficits. The Bank of Canada governor said so. The interest cost to service Canada's growing debt has risen to over $54 billion, doubling in the last few years. It is now more than what we spend on health care. This is a cascade of debt obligations and there is no plan to reverse it. The NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost.

Will the Prime Minister advise why he is continuing on a fiscal course that will saddle young Canadians with sky-high debt for years?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Madam Speaker, I have to really question the member's understanding of economics. I thought he knew, but I am wondering now. Inflation is a global phenomenon and in Canada, in fact, it is declining.

What is the member going to do when it comes to voting on the budget? Is he going to stand and declare an intention to support child care in this country, to make sure that we have a vision of fairness so that kids can go to school with their bellies full, so that we can have dental care in this country, pharmacare and all those things? He is against it.

Seniors

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, in their budget, the Liberals like to illustrate their measures with tangible examples of fictitious citizens. Let us give them a dose of their own medicine so that they can understand what seniors are going through.

Rose is 72 and is hard hit by inflation. She cannot afford groceries anymore and cannot drive places because of the price of gas. Her taxes skyrocketed after the latest property assessment because of the real estate bubble.

If she were 75, she would receive nearly $1,000 more in old age security, but, since she is 72, she gets nothing.

Why have the Liberals abandoned her?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Madam Speaker, our seniors are absolutely a priority for the Government of Canada. We have made extremely significant investments for them.

I have a question for my colleague. Since housing is a priority for Quebeckers, since home ownership is a priority for Quebeckers, since fighting climate change is a priority for Quebeckers, since the electrification of vehicles is a priority for Quebeckers, and since economic growth is a priority for Quebeckers, then why is he going to vote against all that?

Housing

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, there is not a penny more for seniors in the budget.

Let us talk about housing. Imagine a Quebecker who is looking for a one-bedroom apartment in July but cannot afford the $1,600 in rent. He does not have access to affordable housing because the federal government has invested only 6% of the money in Quebec. He sees in the budget that the federal government is putting off 96% of its investments in apartment construction and 91% of its investments in housing infrastructure until after the election. It will be years before he sees the impact of the budget measures, and that is only if the Conservatives do not scrap them.

Why not allocate that money now?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Madam Speaker, I am looking at everything that is being done in housing, for example, building new housing, accelerating housing construction, protecting affordable housing and helping young families in need, in other words young couples with or without children, to become homeowners.

The members of the Bloc Québécois are saying that this is important, but they are voting against these measures. They are being swallowed up by the Conservatives. The Conservatives have so much influence over the Bloc Québécois that the Bloc keeps voting with them. That is shameful.

Carbon Pricing

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Madam Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberal government has hit Canadians with another carbon tax increase of 23%. Grocery prices are climbing, making families choose between heating and eating.

Conservatives tried to ease this burden by passing Bill C-234, which axes the tax on farmers. However, this week, the Liberals blocked it. They are hell-bent on making life more expensive. If they are so confident in their costly plan, will they let Canadians decide and call for a carbon tax election?

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

Madam Speaker, I want to be clear about the affordability piece to the way the carbon price works. It is a carbon price and a carbon rebate. I believe that the members opposite should be very clear with their constituents about whether they are asking for the carbon rebates to not land in their bank accounts.

Again, going back to what the economists state, an economist reviewed the carbon pricing and rebate system and said that they estimate that the medium annual net cost of carbon taxes for households in Ontario in 2023 was negative, meaning that most households received $300 more in rebates than they paid in carbon taxes.

Finance

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, it spends more servicing the national debt than on health care. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadian soldiers eat at food banks and veterans are living in their cars. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, seniors cannot afford to eat and they cannot afford to heat.

After nine years, despite deficit after deficit and record debt, the problems are getting worse. Canadians know the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. When will the NDP-Liberal government admit it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, that is a bit rich coming from the party opposite. Let us take a walk down memory lane.

When the Conservative Party of Canada was in government under Stephen Harper, let us see what the Conservatives did to veterans. They slashed the veterans affairs budget. They closed nine veterans affairs offices, and they cut the workforce by 1,000, individuals who provided direct services to veterans.

We will take no lessons from the Conservative Party of Canada.

Carbon Pricing

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Madam Speaker, after the release of the tax-and-spend budget this week, everyone knows that the NDP-Liberal government, after nine long years, and the Prime Minister are just not worth the cost.

Bill C-234 was to provide some desperately needed relief for our farmers who produce food for Canadians. That bill passed this chamber. Then the Prime Minister bullied the senators into gutting that bill and leaving Canadians with higher costs.

When will the Prime Minister call for a vote on the original bill or call a carbon tax election?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, if Bill C-234 was so important in the Senate, then why did five members of their own caucus not show up to vote?

By the way, Conservatives had the opportunity to debate Bill C-234 when it came back to the House, when we come back in one week. They traded two private members' bills. One was not Bill C-234. If it is so important, I would advise my colleague to lobby his colleagues and stop politicizing this issue.

Finance

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of this Liberal government and its inflationary policies, everything costs more, everything costs too much. Interest rates have tripled. Gasoline costs over $1.90 a litre. Groceries are unaffordable. Canadians are going hungry because housing is too expensive now. The Canadian dream of home ownership is now beyond the reach of a hard-working generation of young adults.

Will this inflationary government implement a policy of matching every dollar of new program spending with a dollar of savings?