House of Commons Hansard #331 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was billion.
Leslyn Lewis Conservative Haldimand—Norfolk, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government tried so hard to hide the truth that the carbon tax was driving up the cost of everything in Canada. The Parliamentary Budget Officer even had to call them out for blocking the release of their own economic impact report. They were literally forced to release the report.
Now we all know that each Canadian family is losing at least $1,800 a year, and there is no rebate for that. When will the environment minister finally resign from misleading Canadians?
Jonathan Wilkinson LiberalMinister of Energy and Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my hon. colleagues on the other side of the House to actually go and talk to the PBO and the 300 economists who have said eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back. They say it is those living on modest incomes who actually do the best.
I would say the collective amnesia that actually exists on the other side of the House is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. Every one of those members, including the member opposite who asked the question, campaigned on putting in place a price on pollution. It is hypocrisy.
Leslyn Lewis Conservative Haldimand—Norfolk, ON
What is hypocritical, Mr. Speaker, is that, even while the Liberals' carbon tax was costing families more than $1,800 a year, and even while they knew over two million Canadian families per month were accessing food banks, the Liberals continued to try to convince Canadians that they were better off paying for a higher carbon tax. An $1,800 tax is a lot of money to many Canadians.
When will the Liberal government give Canadians back their money and fire the environment minister?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the government is very proud of the environment minister, who put the first credible plan in history on the table to meet the Paris Agreement, the Paris Agreement that the Conservatives want to rip up.
It is no surprise, and the Conservatives got all of the data today, that eight out of 10 Canadians are better off. The Conservatives are standing up for the more well off in our society. They want to move on from what they did two days ago, which was to stand up for 0.13% of Canadians, not the people who draw a paycheque, make an honest living, go to work every day and pay their taxes on time.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I know all members are excited to be returning to their ridings for the weekend, but to move things along quickly, I will ask members to only take the floor when they are recognized by the Chair.
The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Bloc tax is costing our economy $30.5 billion a year. That adds up to nearly $2,000 per family in costs that the Minister of Environment and Climate Change tried to conceal. The Minister of the Environment knew it, yet he deliberately hid the numbers from the Canadian public.
After deliberately hiding the facts, will the Minister of the Environment have the courage to stand up in front of all Canadians and resign for not telling them the whole story?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, that member from Quebec will never do what the other member from Quebec, the Minister of the Environment, has done for Canada by submitting a credible plan for lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The minister has also complied, and will continue to comply, with the Paris Agreement, which the Conservatives want to take us out of.
It comes as no surprise that this member wants to pull us out of a plan that benefits eight out of 10 Canadians and, at the same time, is going to help us meet our climate change targets. That member should be ashamed.
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Speaker, he is absolutely right. I would never hide the $5-billion cost of a carbon tax from Quebeckers. That is exactly what the Minister of the Environment did in his own documents.
According to row 17, column AN, the carbon tax is costing Quebeckers $5 billion a year. The Bloc Québécois supports that tax. After trying to ridicule and muzzle the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who was telling the truth, as we now know, will the Minister of the Environment resign?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will never hesitate to be there for Canadians, to defend their right to clean water, clean air and a clean environment, unlike the Conservative Party of Canada.
The extent of the Conservative Party's ignorance on this issue is beyond the pale. All the member has to do is turn around. If he were to turn around and talk to the member sitting right behind him, she can explain to him that Quebec has its own carbon pricing system, which was in place long before the federal system. What is more, several Conservative members have voted in favour of provincial carbon pricing. This is completely ridiculous.
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Mr. Speaker, let us not forget that the CBSA's ArriveCAN app cost $60 million more than planned.
Well, the CBSA has found a way to do worse with its new app, the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management, or CARM. This app is supposed to make it possible to register all imports at the border. So far, there has been $300 million in cost overruns and counting. CARM does not work. The CBSA had to postpone its rollout.
These two apps are money pits. How much more money will the CBSA be allowed to throw out the window before the minister gets angry and cleans house?
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, the minister has stated that we are aware of some of the industry-led concerns, and we are working to make sure that the application is fully functioning, but I want to reassure all Canadians that the app was created to modernize Canada's border system to ensure that tariffs are collected fairly and promptly. I should also note that the app was purchased and developed in 2010 under the Harper Conservatives, but it is something we are going to ensure is working properly.
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Mr. Speaker, the worst part is that $300 million has been wasted and CARM does not even work.
All of Canada's imports will have to go through this app. Its rollout had to be delayed because the tests did not go well. The CBSA is still unable to provide us with its contingency plans in the event that problems complicate billions of dollars in transactions every day. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum expressing its concern. Imagine. Even the Americans are concerned about the CBSA's incompetent management.
Does the minister find that embarrassing?
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we are going to ensure that the app is in good working order to ensure that Canada's border system and tariff collections are done in a modern, efficient and effective manner. Something that we have needed to do is hold consultations with industry leaders as well. This is where countries are going to ensure that our border services and our trade across borders is done in the most efficient way possible. We are continuing to work with CBSA to make sure that the processes are in place and that the app continues to work properly.
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Mr. Speaker, on the topic of the Canada Border Services Agency, Quebeckers were scandalized to learn that some big stores are destroying and throwing away enormous quantities of unsold clothing that could have been donated to charity instead.
What they do not know is that the federal agency encourages this practice. The obsolete or surplus goods program refunds the duties and excise taxes paid on destroyed goods, but not on donated goods. The Bloc Québécois wrote to the minister a month and a half ago calling his attention to this, but we have yet to get a response.
Will the government stop rewarding waste?
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, that is something that the minister has taken on seriously. He is working with finance to find the appropriate solution. We want to ensure that collection, and our customs and tariff system, are working properly, but the minister is well aware, and we are looking into the matter.
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Mr. Speaker, while Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, the Prime Minister put a gag order on the Parliamentary Budget Officer to prevent the PBO from releasing the full report exposing the true cost of the NDP-Liberal carbon tax. We now know that the carbon tax will cost Canadians $30 billion in economic activity. That is over $1,800 for every family.
Why do they continue to muzzle the PBO? Is it because the report is so damning it should cost the minister his job? When will the Prime Minister fire his truth-evading minister?
François-Philippe Champagne LiberalMinister of Innovation
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we can tell that Canadians are proud of the environment minister because he is standing up for what is right for this country, while we have the climate deniers on the other side. They want to see the planet burn. We want to act for our children. We want to act for future generations.
It is eight families out of 10. We know it is tough to go beyond six for those guys. It is just six plus two. That gets to eight. Six plus four gets to 10. Eight out of 10 will get more money.
We will fight for Canadians at every step of the way. We will fight for climate change, and we will fight for our children.
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's dirty $30-billion secret has been exposed. His carbon tax will cost Canadian families far more than they pay into it. That is money out of the pockets of people trying to feed their kids, heat their homes, pay their rent and fill up their cars.
Why are the Liberals so afraid of releasing the full report? Why is the budget officer muzzled? If the NDP-Liberals will not end the cover-up, tell the truth and release the full cost of the carbon tax, then the minister should resign. Why will he not get to it?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise that the Conservatives want to move on from the fiasco of two days ago when they voted for 0.13% of taxpayers and set aside the 99.87% of taxpayers who are not affected by a capital gains change. They want to stand up for people who have made $250,000 on investments in a given year, and they will not stand up for the electricians, the farmers and the janitors, who earn a paycheque every week and do it honestly.
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Mr. Speaker, a secret government report confirms what Canadians already know, which is that the carbon tax is costing Canadians more than they are getting back. The report says the carbon tax is costing Canadians $30 billion a year. That is almost $2,000 a household per year.
The government is not worth the cost. When will the environment minister resign?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, it looks like Conservatives want to change the channel. Yesterday, they were all about talking about capital gains. They were fighting for the rich guy and holding up plumbers and electricians, but not talking about waitresses or school bus drivers, when talking about how they are fighting for the little guy.
On this side, we know that Conservatives do not care about people who are pulling in a paycheque, but rather, they are focused on their ultrarich friends.
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, when the Minister of Labour was asked about supporting the bargaining rights of Teamsters rail workers, he boasted about the government's success rate in trampling on the workers' right to negotiating a fair deal. The Liberals will say that they support workers, but will then pull the rug out from under them when they try to negotiate.
Instead of forcing a pathway toward binding arbitration on the rail workers, will the Minister of Labour respect the collective bargaining rights of Teamsters Canada and support its call to stagger negotiations to avoid a rail shutdown?
Terry Sheehan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors
Mr. Speaker, the government has had the backs of workers from the get-go. The first thing we did was reverse the most anti-union legislation ever created in the House of Commons, brought in by the Conservative government. We further went on to introduce replacement worker legislation, which I am pleased has passed.
Right now, the minister is absolutely correct. There are negotiations happening at the table with the mediators. We believe in our mediators, who have a 96% success rate. We are confident in collective bargaining. We know that the best deals are made at the table, and we encourage those conversations to continue.
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Mr. Speaker, today the UN released its annual report on children in armed conflict. The report verifies that there are more cases of war crimes against children in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel than anywhere else in the world. It is an appalling and alarming confirmation of the grave violations taking place.
Children are dying and the Liberals are failing them. When, on what date, will the government finally impose sanctions on those responsible for the violence against children, including Netanyahu's war cabinet?