Charlie Angus

[Oil and Gas Industry, October 31st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, big oil has racked up their highest profits ever, and that is no surprise to Canadians who are getting gouged at the pumps.

How is big oil spending their loot? They are spending it on stock buy-backs, payouts to investors and automation, as they layoff thousands of energy workers. As for climate action, there is not a chance. They want taxpayers to pick up the bill.

When is the environment minister going to stop acting as an ATM for the oil lobby and hold them to account? When is he going to make the investments necessary in a clean energy transformation that does not leave Canadian workers behind?

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 31st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, this debate should have been settled a long time ago. What I find deeply concerning is that the Conservatives continually raise questions about a fundamental part of the bill, which is a right to a clean environment. I would think we would agree across all party lines to a clean environment, but apparently not the Conservatives. Also, I am very concerned about their promotion of single-use plastics and toxic chemicals, and not getting a bill through the House that would protect and keep the environment safe.

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 2., October 27th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, when I go door to door, people ask why they should vote. There is a lot of cynicism out there and people watch what they sometimes think is a gong show in Parliament. When we ask them what they need, we hear time and time again that people cannot afford to get their teeth fixed. There are seniors with serious teeth problems and young families that are not able to look after their children's teeth.

We made a promise that if we went back to this Parliament, we would get this done. Tonight, we are on the verge of the biggest new investment in federal health care since Tommy Douglas. This is extraordinary. This is actually about putting people first and putting the political antics to the back row, which is probably where the Conservatives belong because they are continuing with these antics.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague how significant he thinks it is that we can show people we can actually deliver something that will make a difference in their lives and the lives of their children.

[Affordability, October 25th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, winter is coming, Canadians are feeling the pressure of rising heating bills, and New Democrats are calling on this government to take the GST off home heating in order to give people some relief. Taking the GST off heating has been a long-standing policy of New Democrats, because it makes it easier for seniors and working-class families who are feeling the pressure of rising costs.

We attempted to work with the Conservatives on taking the GST off heating, but they refused, which is not surprising, because the Conservative Party is about the politics of division, while we are here about getting things done. We look at how they rail on about inflation while putting nothing on the table that is credible. We negotiated a doubling of the GST tax credit; we pushed for the investigation into gouging by grocery giants, and we are pushing forward with a national dental care strategy, while the Conservatives stand on the sidelines and howl in outrage.

When it comes to getting relief on heating bills, New Democrats will continue to put forward solutions that help the working class and seniors.

[Indigenous Affairs, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, they were popping corks in the minister's office when the Supreme Court announced it would not reopen the St. Anne's residential school file, but this issue is not going away. The justice department suppressed 10,000 pages of police evidence of rape, abuse and torture of children in that awful institution, then lied in the hearings and spent millions on lawyers all the way to the Supreme Court. There is no reconciliation in Canada without justice for St. Anne's.

Will the minister stand up and tell us he will meet with the survivors and establish a credible mediation process?

Look at me when I am talking to you about these St. Anne's survivors.

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I am not sure if the member has read the notes, but the bill before us is not about the carbon tax. Bill S-5 is about dealing with toxic chemicals, which apparently the Conservatives are very supportive of, but it has nothing to do with the carbon tax.

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, this is such an obvious motherhood statement. I find that the Conservatives are mistrustful of people having a right to a clean environment. It really does worry me about what they are thinking over there. Certainly, when they were going to dump the toxic sludge from Toronto's garbage into our water system in my region, we stood up and fought that, because we have a right. Every citizen has a right to a clean environment. I would hope that the one thing Conservatives could agree on with us is that, if nothing else, we should have a clean environment. Apparently that is not so.

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important we pass the bill, and I am shocked the Conservatives, of all things, are embracing toxic chemicals as a fight against the Liberals.

I would have spoken much more about the middle class, but the Liberals sure have done a pretty good job over the years with their neo-liberal policies of kicking the middle class back into the working class. We need to maintain that, but part of that is certainty. The Conservatives are talking about mining projects getting off the ground in three years. That is ridiculous.

I come from mining country. Mining development requires consultation with indigenous communities. It requires doing the heavy lifting. Once we have done that, we have certainty. I will talk about many mining companies and how that certainty is essential for reassuring the long-term development and that investors understand we are doing it right. We need to have that climate in Canada.

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, imagine someone asking me to defend the legacy of Brian Mulroney, but that is the state of politics in our country today.

The one thing we could say about the Conservative Party, the then Progressive Conservatives, is that it understood that protecting heritage and environment mattered. We do have a Prime Minister who is supposed to be the environmental feminist Prime Minister, and yet oil production has gone up under his watch and I think, if we look, subsidies to oil have gone up over the Conservatives. We are seeing a disconnect on both sides.

What is missing in the House is that we do not have a Progress Conservative Party anymore. We have the convoy party. We have the World Economic Forum disinformation team, and it has formed government in Alberta, which is scaring investors away because it is coming up with some of the most crazy stuff we have ever seen.

I would take any of the Robert Stanfields, Joe Clarks, the Flora MacDonalds, the Conservatives who could actually stand up. However, on the other hand, we are still dealing with those Liberals and they are like Teletubbies. They keep bouncing up with more promises, but they are not delivering the jobs we need in western Canada and in the oil patch.

[Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, October 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

I know it really bothers the Greens that the New Democrats are talking about a vision of moving ahead, because we believe in jobs as well as in economy that is based on sustainability. I know it get their backs up a little, but this issue is about where we are going as a nation with respect to a coherent strategy.

Bill S-5 is part of that. We have to be sending a message to the nation, but also to the investment community that Canada gets the fact that we need to have proper standards. We need to have those standards in order to draw investment, in order to create a transformative economy. Nice words alone will not cut it. Nice words from the Prime Minister will not cut it. Crazy talk from Danielle Smith will definitely not cut it. We need to do better.