moved:
That, given that,
(i) as of April 1, 2025, the government eliminated carbon pricing for Canadian consumers and that this pricing did not apply to Quebec,
(ii) despite its elimination, the government spent $3.7 billion to continue Canada Carbon Rebate payments that Quebeckers do not receive,
(iii) individuals in the listed provinces received the rebate cheque on April 22, 2025, during the federal general election,
(iv) the rebate was paid for with government funds, and therefore by all taxpayers, including those from Quebec,
the House call on the government to pay Quebec, without conditions, an amount equivalent to its contribution to the $3.7 billion in spending, estimated at $814 million.
Mr. Speaker, let me start by saying that I will be sharing my time with my distinguished colleague, the hon. member for Pierre‑Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères.
Since this is my first speech in the House, I want to take some time to thank a few people who made it possible for me to stand here today. I will start with the voters of Saint‑Jean, who have placed their trust in me for a third time and given me the privilege of representing them in Parliament. Of course, I would also like to thank the campaign workers. A campaign team can never work as effectively without them. Moreover, we are only as strong as our teams. I must not forget my office staff, who held down the fort during the campaign: Dave, Hugo, Diane, Huguette and Philippe‑Olivier.
Of course, we must also acknowledge our family members, who support us on a daily basis, in good times and bad. There is my little boy, Léopold. I see smiles on my colleagues' faces. People in the House already know him. He was unfailingly patient and resilient during the campaign, and he remains so today. It is clear from the smiles that he brings to people's faces, particularly on the fourth floor. I would also like to thank my colleagues who are taking care of him while I speak in the House.
Although the Speaker read the motion we are proposing today, I am going to read it again. We can never be too careful, as they say. I want to be sure everyone understands exactly what we are talking about today. Our motion reads as follows:
That, given that, (i) as of April 1, 2025, the government eliminated carbon pricing for Canadian consumers and that this pricing did not apply to Quebec, (ii) despite its elimination, the government spent $3.7 billion to continue Canada Carbon Rebate payments that Quebeckers do not receive, (iii) individuals in the listed provinces received the rebate cheque on April 22, 2025, during the federal general election, (iv) the rebate was paid for with government funds, and therefore by all taxpayers, including those from Quebec, the House call on the government to pay Quebec, without conditions, an amount equivalent to its contribution to the $3.7 billion in spending, estimated at $814 million.
This request reflects a motion that had the unanimous support of the Quebec National Assembly on April 23, at the tail end of the election. That motion read as follows:
THAT the National Assembly take note that the federal government is granting a total of $3.75 billion in early carbon rebate funded by all Québec and Canadian taxpayers, despite the abolition of the carbon tax;
THAT it note that Quebecers are not entitled to these election cheques;
THAT the National Assembly ask the federal parties to commit to giving Québec its share of this payment, estimated at more than $800 million, without conditions
When considered together, the two motions are pretty self-evident. Nevertheless, I want to go over the history leading up to today's debate on our motion.
This is about the carbon tax. What is the carbon tax, and where did it come from? The government created the carbon tax in 2018 to reduce the impact of climate change by incentivizing consumers to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The tax is a pollution pricing mechanism whereby a cost is applied to every tonne of CO2 emissions to encourage businesses and consumers to adopt greener behaviours.
Ultimately, this led to a tax on fossil fuels such as gas, diesel and natural gas. That was the stick part of the approach, but there was also a carrot. The tax generated revenue, and 90% of that revenue was redistributed to people in the form of a quarterly rebate. Canadians who indirectly paid into the carbon tax system whenever they bought gas, for example, received a payment four times a year to offset some of what it cost them. Eight out of 10 Canadians received more than they spent on the carbon tax. The remaining 10% in unused tax revenue was supposed to fund energy transition programs.
Year after year, 80% of families received somewhere between $190 and $540 per payment. On March 14, before he was even elected, the Prime Minister announced that the carbon tax would be eliminated as of April 1. There went the stick, and, logically, the carrot should have disappeared too, but it did not. That is precisely the problem. That is exactly the issue at the heart of our motion today.
Once the carbon tax was cancelled, and since the payments made to the public were advance payments, people should not have received any carbon rebates. Basically, taxpayers were given an advance on the amount that they would have paid to help them cope with the cost of living and so on. However, since we knew that this amount would not be collected—as of April 1, no more carbon tax would be collected—there was no reason to give any rebates. However, in what strongly resembled a vote grab, the government decided to take $3.7 billion that did not come from collection of the carbon tax, but from taxpayer funds. The government then gave that money back to everyone, except for Quebeckers. Quebec ended up being penalized by an obvious vote‑seeking measure. The payment was made six days before the election, and it came straight out of Quebeckers' pockets. Our opposition day specifically seeks to right this wrong.
During the election debates, the Prime Minister was asked whether he considered this to be an injustice. His answer was rather unclear. We hope that with this debate in the House today, he will have time to consider our proposal, understand all its ins and outs and, once and for all, rectify the situation by giving Quebeckers the $814 million they paid out of their own pockets, with absolutely nothing in return, to hand out goodies to other people.
The real question is whether we can have our cake and eat it too. Taxpayers outside Quebec wanted to receive the carbon tax rebate without having paid the tax. I am leaving out the rest of the Quebec expression because my son is listening somewhere in another room. Beyond that, abolishing the carbon tax still has its challenges and harms Quebec in different ways. We are in a trade war with the United States. We are talking about diversifying markets and the importance of finding markets abroad. For Quebec, Europe is one of the main gateways to economic diversification. We know that starting in January of next year, Europe is going to impose tariffs on the entry of goods from countries that have no carbon pricing. Quebec is not isolating itself. Canada is isolating itself by abolishing carbon pricing and removing the financial incentives aimed at reducing the impact of climate change. This undermines Quebec's market development potential with the European Union.
In the long run, that hurts all taxpayers. During the election campaign, the Bloc Québécois commissioned the Institut de recherche en économie contemporaine to do a study on the costs of climate change. It showed that, in 2023, food prices rose by 8.3% because of climate change, home insurance premiums went up by 4.8% and damage to homes cost all Canadian taxpayers $2 billion annually. If nothing is done, the cost could hit $13.6 billion by 2100. Repairing damage done by floods, fires, wildfires and all the extreme climate-related events we are experiencing costs an average of $720 per person per year. By 2050, it could be as much as $2,300 per person.
The purpose of our motion today is to correct an injustice that was done during this year's election, but we must not avoid the discussion about climate change. It is one that calls for a longer-term view, because if we do not tackle climate change, we are doing future generations an injustice. The debate must be had more than once, not just today.
I encourage people to follow the various efforts led by the Bloc Québécois to address the issue. Our hope right now is that the injustice spontaneously caused by the Prime Minister will be corrected today.