Laurel Collins

[Oil and Gas Industry, May 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep bending over backwards for their friends in oil and gas. The Globe and Mail has multiple sources confirming that the Minister of Finance was considering a windfall tax on oil and gas in this budget, but then backed down in the face of strong lobbying from oil patch executives and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

If anyone was wondering whose side the Liberals are on, they are clearly not on the side of Canadians, who are facing unprecedented climate disasters, with wildfires, flooding and multi-year droughts. They are clearly not on the side of future generations, which deserve a climate-safe future, a future where ecosystems are not collapsing, where our food systems are not threatened. They are not on the side of farmers or indigenous communities, who are on the front lines of the climate crisis. They are on the side of big oil and gas. When the oil and gas lobby asks, there is almost nothing the Liberals will not do. They will buy a pipeline. They will water down key climate policies. They even invited oil and gas CEOs to help them craft their climate plan. That is like inviting the fox to help design the henhouse.

Once again, when there is a sound policy to tax the excess profits of oil and gas companies, something that the majority of Canadians are in support of, to disincentivize price gouging and fund climate solutions that would make life more affordable for Canadians, the Liberals side with the CEOs, who are fuelling the climate crisis while raking in record profits. As for the Conservatives, they cannot even agree if climate change is real. Canadians are getting delays and disappointment with the Liberals, and climate change denial with the Conservatives. Consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments have put us in the position we are in now, where we have missed every single climate target.

When will the government implement a windfall tax on oil and gas? It is time to choose: Will the Liberals stand with Canadian families or will they continue to side with big oil?

[Disability Rights Champions, May 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize two disability rights champions in my community.

Lembi Buchanan has worked for over 20 years to ensure that people living with severe mental health challenges receive the supports they deserve. She has helped improve the application form for the disability tax credit to include thousands of people who were previously left behind.

Joanne Neubauer passed away this year. She worked tirelessly for nearly 50 years to establish national policies and programs that emphasize justice and self-determination. As the founder for the Action Committee of Persons with Disabilities, Joanne lived her life with true compassion. May her legacy inspire us all to continue this important work.

We need a disability benefit that will truly meet the needs of Canadians with disabilities, too many of whom are living well below the poverty line. We need legislation that removes barriers for people with disabilities. We must keep working to ensure they get the dignity and the respect they deserve.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, May 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned orphaned wells. When a company goes under, I can understand potentially helping communities clean that up. However, I am curious why the government decided to give out money to companies that are actually making record profits right now and that could be cleaning up their own orphaned wells and why it has also refused to put in the conditions that would make polluters pay. Making polluters pay is a principle the government should stand behind, but instead, it actually pays polluters. It hands out billions of dollars to profitable oil and gas companies. The government is not getting support for the oil and gas industry right. It is buying pipelines, handing out fossil fuel subsidies and missing every single target.

[Climate Change, May 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, a recent report outlines the devastating impacts of the climate crisis over the next decade. We can expect ecosystems collapsing, our emergency responses overwhelmed and a scarcity of vital resources. In the face of this, the Liberals keep breaking their climate promises. In fact, they are still allowing big polluters to increase their emissions. Meanwhile, the Conservatives cannot even agree on whether climate change is real.

The Prime Minister is meeting with his youth council. Is he going to be honest about how he is fuelling the climate crisis and endangering their future?

[Canada Labour Code, May 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Bloc members have long held a similar position to ours on support for workers. I thank them for supporting workers.

Can the member tell us about the impact that this bill will have on people?

[The Environment, May 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, people in Victoria want to know that our coast and our endangered southern resident killer whales are protected. New reports show that cruise ships docking in Victoria are jeopardizing the orcas by dumping billions of litres of polluted waste water into the ocean. The United States has stricter laws, so under the Liberals' watch, cruise ships wait and dump in Canadian waters. They are even dumping in marine protected areas. The Liberals' regulations are woefully inadequate, and with the Conservatives, there would be even fewer rules.

Will the Liberals stop making the B.C. coast a dumping ground for polluted cruise waste?

[Canada Labour Code, May 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, workers at Cascadia Liquor in Victoria, and across Vancouver Island, are on strike for fair wages. Now Cascadia Liquor faces a legal complaint for breaking B.C. law by bringing in replacement workers. New Democrats have been fighting for federal anti-scab legislation for decades, but the truth is that the Conservatives and Liberals voted against it. This happened most recently in 2016, when the NDP brought it forward, but there have been dozens of times.

Conservatives pretend they support workers, but we will not see them on a picket line. New Democrats will keep fighting for workers. I joined Cascadia workers on the picket line last week. I will continue to stand in solidarity with them, because powerful paycheques come from powerful unions.

[The Environment, May 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, families saw their homes burned to the ground in northern British Columbia this week, and summer has not even started. However, the Conservatives do not seem to think that climate change is real, and the environment minister offers up nothing but empty words and delays.

The Liberals refuse to invest the billion dollars needed for a B.C. watershed security fund that would prevent wildfires and save lives. They knew this wildfire season was going to be devastating for communities, and yet they are leaving British Columbians to fend for themselves. Will the government fix its mistake and immediately establish a B.C. watershed security fund?

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, listening to the member's response on dental care, it feels like sometimes the Bloc is working for François Legault instead of working for Quebeckers. Fifty per cent of Quebeckers do not have dental coverage. I am curious how the member would respond to the Quebeckers who are enthusiastic about dental care, the 600,000 of them who have already registered for the program.

[Business of Supply, May 23rd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the mom told me she could barely think about anything except how much the medication and devices cost for her daughter who has diabetes. She is three or four years old. I do not know how anyone could look that little girl in the eye and say that she does not deserve access to life-saving medication.

Why does the member think that he and his family deserve coverage and that this family and families just like it across Canada do not?