Debates of June 17th, 2024

Indigenous Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals only take action when New Democrats force them to.

It has been nine years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued its report. The commissioners are sending a clear message today. The Liberals' progress is too slow. Every day that passes is another day without housing, clean water or justice.

Will the Prime Minister admit that if CEOs were the ones asking, he would not be dragging his feet?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to be working with our indigenous partners.

We work with first nations people every single day to do the kinds of things that the member opposite is talking about, closing infrastructure gaps and lifting boil water advisories. Ninety-six per cent of first nations now live in communities with access to clean water, and we will not rest until it is done.

Carbon Pricing

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, only after relentless pressure from Conservatives did the Liberals finally end their carbon tax cover-up.

The numbers show the NDP-Liberal carbon tax is going to blow a hole of $30 billion a year once they fully quadruple the carbon tax. That is nearly $2,000 per family per year. The radical environment minister knew that all along. Instead of publishing the report, he gagged and ridiculed the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Will the never-ending tax hikes finally stop or, better yet, will the minister just resign?

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

Mr. Speaker, eight out of 10 Canadians do better where the federal system applies.

The Conservative Party of Canada, after campaigning to put in place carbon pricing during the last election, has now turned its back on it, just as Conservatives have turned their backs on Canadians. Their only answer to climate change is to ignore it and to let the planet burn. This is immoral.

We will not let that happen on this side of the House. We will be there to support Canadians, unlike the Conservative Party of Canada.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the Liberals do not have an environmental plan; they have a tax plan, and it is a tax plan they were trying to hide from Canadians.

It was Conservatives who finally got the answers that show the $30-billion-a-year hole it is blowing in our Canadian economy, a billion-dollar tax increase to farmers coming up, and a quadrupling of the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre on the price of gas. It is out of touch. It is arrogant. It is punishing Canadians when they need help.

Will the minister get with reality and finally stop increasing the carbon tax, or again, better yet, just fire himself?

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

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, what we have is a comprehensive plan to address the threat of climate change, one of the most comprehensive in the world. We also have a plan for the economy, one that will ensure economic jobs and economic prosperity in a low-carbon world.

What is astonishing is the fact that the Conservatives have neither. They have neither an environmental plan to save the planet from burning, nor an economic plan. With the height of hypocrisy, that member over there actually campaigned on putting a price on pollution. Where were they?

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals knew that the carbon tax was costing Canadians billions of dollars. They knew and they covered it up.

The cost is $25 billion a year. That works out to $1,800, each and every year, cost for every single Canadian family. If Canadians wonder why it is hard to pay for things, this is why. If the average Canadian went to work, lied and covered something up, they would be fired.

Will the Prime Minister fire the radical environment minister, who tried to cover this all up from Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, if anyone should resign in this House, it is the people who are misleading Canadians about the benefit of carbon pricing.

There is 25 million tonnes less pollution in this country because of carbon pricing. We have a plan to work with Canadians to help them better prepare to face the impacts of climate change.

The Conservatives have nothing: no plans for adaptation, no plan to reduce the amount of pollution, and no plan for the economy. If anyone should resign, it should be them over there.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about misleading Canadians, the Liberals pretend they have an environmental plan when greenhouse gas emissions actually went up year over year. Canada is now ranked 62nd out of 67 for emissions reduction performance. We are now ranked with the low-performing countries. All the while, the government is bankrupting Canadians while the limousine Liberals drive around and preach that Canadians should just take it. It is all a pack of lies.

The environment minister should be fired for covering up the truth of the cost of the carbon tax from Canadians. Will he resign?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the member to update his speaking notes, which date back many months.

We just received, in fact, the Climate Scorecard 2024 Government Climate Leadership Award for one of the best performances in terms of greenhouse gas emissions reduction since 2019 in all of the G7 countries, something that has never happened under a Conservative Government of Canada and will never happen under a Conservative government.

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

Mr. Speaker, the radical environment minister must either resign or be fired, full stop. First he misled Canadians by falsely claiming that the carbon tax would financially benefit them, and then he hid from Canadians a study from his own department that said the opposite. When the Parliamentary Budget Officer found out about it, the minister put a gag on him, preventing him from disclosing or referencing the study. Next, he tried to ruin the PBO's reputation. His report clearly shows that the economic damage from the carbon tax will cost every Canadian family $2,000 a year.

When will the minister be fired for his economic extremism?

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

Mr. Speaker, if anyone in the House ought to resign, it is the member who just spoke. Back in 2021, he campaigned on a promise of putting a price on pollution and introducing a clean fuel standard.

What are the Conservatives doing today? They have turned their backs on those promises. They are the ones flip-flopping. They have no plan for the economy. They have no plan for helping Canadians deal with the impact of climate change. They have no plan for combatting climate change.

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

Mr. Speaker, does everyone know what the minister did? He desperately tried to hide the fact that Quebeckers are paying dearly for the federal carbon tax, which is supported by the Bloc Québécois. Despite his claims that Quebeckers do not pay the carbon tax, his own figures, which he would not reveal until the Conservatives forced him to, tell a different story. The report that he was so anxious to conceal shows that the economic cost of the carbon tax for Quebeckers is $5 billion.

Are these not five billion reasons for the minister to resign?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is sad to see the Conservative Party of Canada continue to display its complete ignorance on the issue of climate change.

The member should just turn around and speak to the member behind him. She was part of a provincial government in Quebec that introduced a price on pollution long before the federal government did. As he knows full well, or should know by now, the federal price does not apply in Quebec. It applies to other provinces.

Climate Change

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week's forecast calls for temperatures that feel like 45°C. This is the weather forecast not for Arizona, but for my home region, southern Quebec. The planet is heating up and the climate is changing, yet the federal government plans on giving oil companies a further $83 billion in tax handouts over the next 10 years. It is doing this not to help with the just transition away from oil, but to try and mask the impact of boosting oil production. While Quebec burns, Ottawa is going to help fund 10 more years of increased production of dirty oil.

Has the time not come to just stop?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague, who recognizes the importance of combatting climate change. However, I disagree with the premise of her question, since Canada is the only G20 country to have eliminated subsidies for fossil fuels. We did this two years sooner than any of our G20 partners. We even went further by committing to also eliminating public subsidies from Crown corporations for fossil fuel production.

We are the only G20 country to have made this commitment, and we will do it by the end of the year.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is 45°C in southern Quebec, and Environment Canada is predicting an abnormally hot summer.

Unprecedented heatwave conditions were recorded last year in 90% of the world's oceans, according to the UN, and our own St. Lawrence River was not spared. Quebec climate change experts predict that the north will heat up by 7.6°C, five times higher than the Paris Agreement target.

Meanwhile, Ottawa is giving oil companies $83 billion in tax breaks and spending a further $34 billion to buy a pipeline.

Would these billions of dollars not be better spent on climate change adaptation?

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

Mr. Speaker, I again thank my colleague for her question. I would remind her that last year, for the first time in Canada's history, we adopted a national adaptation strategy. The provinces, territories, indigenous peoples and experts worked together to develop this strategy to help us prepare for the impacts of climate change.

In fact, all the provincial, territorial and federal ministers are scheduled to meet in two weeks to work on implementing this national adaptation policy.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is not all. According to a federal greenhouse gas inventory report, the dirty oil industry is even dirtier than we thought.

The federal government realized that it was miscalculating fugitive emissions from sources like wells, pipes and torches. As a result, the 2021 emissions retroactively shot up by 38 megatonnes. It is good news that Ottawa can now keep track better, but it is bad news for the planet.

Is investing $117 billion in dirty oil that is even dirtier than expected really the disgraced environmentalist minister's solution to climate change?

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

Mr. Speaker, I said it earlier in English, but for the benefit of my colleague, I will say it in French. Canada just received the 2024 Climate Scorecard award for its performance in the fight against climate change. Between 2019 and now, we have been a top performer in the G7 when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

I completely agree with her that more needs to be done. That is why we continue to move forward with our plan. Over the next year, we will be capping greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector to ensure that that sector, like the others, is doing its part to reduce emissions.

Carbon Pricing

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, common-sense Conservatives got proof that the Liberals kicked and screamed to hide, but most Canadians already know that after nine years, the NDP-Liberals' carbon tax is not worth the cost. It will gouge Canada's economy for about $30 billion. That is almost $2,000 for every household each year.

In Lakeland, a family farm paid nearly $500 in carbon taxes in one month. An agricultural group paid $5,000 in just six months. Both were before the April 1 hike.

Will the environment minister finally just admit that his failed carbon tax is a cash grab and resign?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to have a conversation with the 300 economists who have validated that eight out of 10 families get more money back, that the price on pollution is a driver of innovation and is a driver of investment in our economy.

Across the aisle, we have a Conservative Party in the country that denies the existence of climate change and has no economic plan to ensure prosperity in the future for people from coast to coast to coast. It is truly a shame. It is abandoning the future of our children and the future of our country.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, he should actually listen to what Canadians are pleading with him about, because emissions are up and so is the price of everything. It is all a sham. The truth is that not once did the 1,200-page analysis show that Canadians were better off with the carbon tax and rebate.

The worst thing is the Prime Minister fought to hide the real costs of his agenda, even though he has never had to worry about affording anything in his entire life. He has the gall to tell Canadians that paying more for gas, heat and groceries makes them better off, just like he claims that hiking taxes on small business and farmers makes Canadians better off. None of it is true and none of it is worth the cost or the cover-up.

If the fibbing environment minister will not resign, will the Prime Minister finally just fire him?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member is an experienced member, and that is getting very close to the line in terms of what is acceptable parliamentary behaviour. I will look at that question a bit more carefully.

The hon. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

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

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and her colleagues across the aisle may be entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts. The fact is that emissions are down in a significant way. The fact is that 300 economists, experts in their field, say that eight out of 10 Canadians get more money back. Those are facts.

What is also a fact is that the party across the way has no plan to address climate change and no plan for the economic future of the country. It is also the case that they all campaigned on putting a price on pollution. If anybody should resign, it is those members opposite.