Debates of May 31st, 2024

Taxation

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Madam Speaker, yesterday the Liberal health minister and that Liberal over there showed Canadians just how out of touch the Liberals are with the lives of everyday Canadians. Apparently, any family vacation that is not using a bicycle needs to be cancelled because it is destroying the planet. Conservatives are calling on the NDP-Liberal government to axe their carbon tax this summer to give Canadians a break, so they can enjoy a summer vacation. Unlike these out-of-touch Liberals, Conservatives want our children to explore our great country.

Why are the Liberals telling them to stay at home instead and just look at their phones?

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

Madam Speaker, what happened yesterday in the House is that the health minister exposed the Conservatives. The Conservatives had offered up what they called hundreds and hundreds of dollars in savings, but the health minister was describing what one would have to do to access these savings that the Conservatives were claiming: 38,000 kilometres in an automobile, locked up with their children non-stop, would be the requirement in order to derive the savings the Conservatives were claiming. They should be ashamed of themselves. It is misinformation.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We were not doing too bad. I just want to remind members to please keep their thoughts to themselves until they are being recognized by the Speaker.

The hon. member for Saskatoon—Grasswood has the floor.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Madam Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Instead of offering tax relief, the government increased the carbon tax by another 23%. Conservatives are asking the Prime Minister to immediately axe gas taxes. That would save a Saskatchewan family $860 this summer alone.

Will the Prime Minister vote with us on this side of the House on a common-sense Conservative motion, so Canadians can afford a summer trip?

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

Madam Speaker, as with some others, the member's math is off. The reality is that Canadians benefit. Eight out of 10 Canadians end up better off as a result of the rebate, where it applies, in the various provinces. The member talks about taxes, though. It is funny; I heard an interview where the Leader of the Opposition told a journalist from the National Post that bakers bake bread and Conservatives cut taxes. That is not exactly true. This government has voted to put in place measures to cut taxes for the middle class and to cut taxes for small businesses. The Conservatives voted against that every single time.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Madam Speaker, I spy with my little eye a government that wants to ruin family summer holidays. Does anyone remember playing that game while travelling through this beautiful country? I am sure they do. We all do, yet yesterday the Liberal health minister described this family road trip as a punishment. For all average Canadians, it is quality time.

Will the Prime Minister show some compassion and vote for us on Monday, so Canadians can afford a summer road trip?

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

Madam Speaker, the Conservatives stood in the House and promised Canadians sunshine and flowers and hundreds of dollars in savings if only the Liberals would agree to their crazy proposal. What we found out is that one would have to drive back and forth to Mexico several times in order to save the money that they claim, and to do that, families would be locked in cars non-stop. These things that the Conservatives come up with are just crazy.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

On Monday, the House will vote for our common-sense Conservative motion to save Canadians 35¢ per litre on gas until Labour Day by axing the carbon tax, the federal fuel tax and the GST on gasoline and diesel.

Families really need a break. The tax holiday will save the typical Canadian family $670 this summer. Will the Prime Minister vote with us so that Canadians can afford a simple summer road trip, or will he keep Canadians home this summer?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, on the other side of the benches, they just do not do the math. Since the government has come into power, things such as the Canada child benefit, or CCB, have lifted over 450,000 children out of poverty so that they can have gymnastics classes and go on that summer road trip. In addition, with $10-a-day child care, we are saving families thousands of dollars. Rather than 35¢ on the dollar, why do they not invest in families?

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are becoming more unhinged and out of touch. There is the perfect example of the Liberals' socialist agenda: They tax people to oblivion and then they look at what little they can give back, which is actually people's own money.

Now Canadians cannot even afford to feed themselves. They cannot afford to visit loved ones. They cannot afford to save for their future, certainly. Taxes keep going up, and the carbon tax just went up 23%.

The Liberals should give people a break. They should give people a tax break. Will the Liberals vote for our common-sense bill to give families a tax break and axe all federal fuel taxes this summer, or will they just keep Canadians at home?

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

Madam Speaker, let me remind the member of her record.

In the last election, she went around Kelowna Lake Country telling everyone, “You know what we're going to do? We're going to put a price on pollution.” Now she is coming here and flip-flopping, saying, “Oh, I must have been mistaken. I really didn't do that. It's really selective amnesia on our part.”

The member has also voted against every single tax relief measure that the government has put forward in the House that favours the middle class and asks a little more of those able to pay.

Climate Change

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Madam Speaker, Quebec's Groupe d'experts en adaptation aux changements climatiques tabled a disturbing report on Tuesday. Experts expect warming of 4.5 degrees in Montreal and 7.6 degrees in northern Quebec, five times more than the Paris target.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the Liberals and the NPD voted for $30 billion in tax breaks for oil companies; that is another $30 billion to greenwash the increase in oil production.

Could the government not take that money and use it to find climate change adaptation solutions?

[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 think it is very important to take this opportunity to talk about the national inventory report that we submitted to the IPCC to show that our emissions are the lowest they have been in 30 years. That is not taking into account the COVID-19 period.

This shows that what we are doing to fight emissions and put a cap on emissions here in Canada is working.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Madam Speaker, while the Liberals and NDP are handing out gifts to oil companies, the forest fire season has already begun out west. There was a tornado in Montérégie on Monday and, on Wednesday, the Weather Network was predicting a hot, dry summer with a high risk of drought, severe thunderstorms, crop losses and forest fires.

Now is the time to make significant investments to mitigate the consequences of natural disasters. Every dollar invested now will save $15, according to a group of Quebec experts on adapting to climate change.

Once again, why not take the gifts being handed to oil companies and redirect them towards climate change adaptation?

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

Madam Speaker, the member is talking about disasters. I know all too well what she is talking about. Here in the Outaouais, we have experienced three 100-year floods in the last six years.

What the member does not know is that we are the first and only government to have prepared a credible plan to combat climate change and greenhouse gases.

She should really go talk to those on the other side who flatly deny that climate change exists. I wonder why she is not doing that. Any investment or measure to combat climate change must be implemented—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for New Brunswick Southwest.

Housing

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, the best time to buy a home or rent an apartment in this country was nine long years ago, before the NDP-Liberal government coalition broke our country. Its policies have doubled rent, doubled mortgage payments and doubled down payments. It is a housing nightmare for young Canadians. For families like the Hamiltons in Saint John, it means paying $1,500 each month to live in a leaky, mouldy apartment because they have nowhere else to go.

Will the Prime Minister stop funding photo ops and bureaucracy and instead start getting homes built in this country to help Canadians who desperately need help?

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

Madam Speaker, my colleague should check the record. Under Stephen Harper, housing costs doubled.

When they talk about, for example, things like bureaucracy and use the term “gatekeepers” in the pejorative every time they get, what they are actually talking about is not working: not working with partners, with provinces and, in particular, with municipalities. We know that working with municipalities, mayors, councillors and public servants at the local level is fundamental because that is where zoning decisions are made. The housing accelerator fund is leading to zoning changes. We are going to get more homes built through that way and many others.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, that is not good enough. Homes are not being built fast enough to help Canadians.

Mr. Cory Hamilton is a husband and a father of four. He is worried. He believes his six-year-old son has been sick because of the family's living conditions. The Hamiltons, like many other Canadians across this country, have no decent options because of Canada's housing crisis caused by the Prime Minister's wacko ideology that makes everything more expensive.

After nine years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. What does he have to say to the Hamilton family and other desperate Canadians across this country?

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

Madam Speaker, the first thing I would say is that they are very well represented by the member for Saint John—Rothesay. The second thing I would say is that they should talk to this member of Parliament and tell him to stop advocating for a cut to zero for regional development agencies and ACOA in this country. The third thing I would say is that for every single housing measure put in place and proposed by this government, the member has voted against. If one is a Hamilton, one wants him gone.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Order. The hon. member for New Brunswick Southwest had an opportunity to ask his questions and he should take the opportunity to listen.

The hon. member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of this Prime Minister, the housing crisis has become intolerable for Quebeckers.

While homelessness and hunger spread in Quebec, affordable housing is becoming increasingly scarce. To Canada's shame, it takes almost two years to get a building permit in Montreal. Quebeckers deserve better than this kind of incompetence.

Will this Liberal-Bloc government stop its out-of-control spending and give Canadians what they truly deserve?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Speaker, one, two, three, four, five, six: That is the number of affordable housing units that the Conservative leader built across the country during his entire career as housing minister.

Meanwhile, the member talks about insults and the people lobbing insults. What about the way that he insults Quebec municipalities by calling them incompetent when Quebec municipalities are building 8,000 affordable housing units? Who is more incompetent, the ones building 8,000 affordable housing units, or the Conservative leader, who built six?