Mike Morrice

[Oil and Gas Industry, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am back tonight to continue calling on the Liberal government to get serious about the climate crisis, specifically with respect to investing in public transit, which it could do by taxing the excess profits being made by the oil and gas industry.

This is particularly timely because this very specific call could be included in the government's fall economic statement, whenever that comes out over the coming weeks. It is one of the reasons why this is one of six calls I have been making to the Minister of Finance over the last number of weeks. The stakes, in my view, really could not be higher when it comes to the climate crisis that we are in.

First of all, we need to recognize that we are the only G7 country whose emissions have gone up since 1990. This is at a time when we have already reached about 1.3°C of warming compared to pre-industrial times.

Back at the 2015 Paris climate conference, world leaders all agreed we would do everything possible to limit the increase to 1.5°C. They did this because climate scientists have told us, if we cross that threshold, it will lead to “leading to devastating and potentially irreversible consequences for several vital Earth systems that sustain a hospitable planet.”

What are we on track for? As of now, current pledges by countries around the world put us somewhere between 2.6°C and 3.1°C in global average temperature rise. We must do so much more as a country to do our fair share, to lead and to demonstrate what is possible when it comes to acting on the climate crisis.

At the same time, when it comes to proven climate solutions, such as public transit, there will be no new funding until 2026. That is after the next election. There is funding available, but operations, like a mechanic who needs to fix a bus, is not eligible. The funding being provided is pretty much the status quo.

However, at the same time, for proven climate distractions, such as carbon capture and storage, we are rolling out the red carpet. The government is giving another tax credit in Bill C-59, which is between $7 billion to $16 billion, and most of the Canada growth fund, so there is $15 billion there. If someone wants to expand the pipeline, there is $34 billion for them to do that.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry is making out like bandits. In 2022 alone, the five biggest oil and gas companies operating in this country made $38 billion, and that is after the $29 billion in dividends and share repurchases. They are doing it by gouging Canadians at the pumps to the tune of 18¢ a litre.

The solution should be pretty obvious. Number one, stop the subsidies. Number two, tax these excess profits by taking the Canada recovery dividend that was applied to banks and life insurance companies in the pandemic and apply it to oil and gas. Even for just 15% of profits over a billion, that would generate $4.2 billion a year, all of which could be put into proven solutions, such as public transit. They could add more funds, start the fund sooner or direct it towards operating funds. My question to the hon. parliamentary secretary is this: Will they do it?

[Privilege, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am rising on a point of order to understand the relevance of the current speech to the motion, which I believe is about SDTC. I wonder if you can give a comment on that.

[Privilege, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, as the member likely knows, the Greens supported the original motion back in June and we support the documents being provided, as the House has called for. We also want the House to operate. This is a significant amount of money, $400 million, but so too is the operation of this place.

The math I have, as recently as the beginning of this week, is that 160 Conservatives have spoken on this motion. If we assume it takes $70,000 or so per hour for the House of Commons to operate, that adds up to 80 hours, which is $5.6 million spent speaking on the same motion when many of us, myself included, would like to vote on the motion to send it to committee and have the committee report to the House on doing exactly, as I understand, what the Conservatives want to do, which is to get back to the original motion in June.

Can the member speak to any concerns he has with using this amount of taxpayer money to continue talking about the same motion when we could just vote on it?

[Petitions, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition on behalf of folks who note that residents from across Waterloo region have long expressed frustration with the unreliability and lack of access to GO Transit, particularly GO train service between Kitchener and Toronto.

The petitioners also note that our community has been promised two-way, all-day, GO train service every 15 minutes for over 10 years. They note that there is plenty of demand for this service and that research has shown that the demand will increase by 400% by 2031. The petitioners go on to note that the federal government committed 40% of the project cost, $752 million, back in 2017, and that as of today there are no timelines to complete the project, leaving folks on overcrowded buses.

The petitioners call on a number of items from the Government of Canada, most notably to demand timelines for project completion from the province and to report back to our community on those timelines.

[Points of Order, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is something you are currently reviewing. I think it is important for you to be aware that, as someone who wears a moosehide pin in the House on a regular basis, I wear the pin most days, all year round, including during the 16 days of action against gender-based violence. I also wear it when I speak in this place with respect to the epidemic of gender-based violence. Mr. Speaker, I encourage you to include that in your consideration of different members in this place who wear pins when they are in fact speaking about the topic related to that pin.

[Points of Order, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a separate point of order. It was raised by the member for Edmonton Strathcona yesterday with respect to pins that are worn in this place. Briefly—

[Petitions, November 6th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, in the second petition, the petitioners note that Canada has committed harm towards indigenous people and communities through historical and ongoing colonization and genocide. They go on to note that indigenous peoples continue to face systemic racism, including in the health care, education, housing, child welfare and criminal justice systems. They go on to note that the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission laid out 94 calls to action and that the federal government is responsible, jointly or primarily, for 76 of these. Only 13 of those have been acted on to date.

The petitioners have several direct calls for the government, which include implementing all 94 calls to action of the TRC; urgently adopting all 231 calls for justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls; and prioritizing funding and policies that advance the process of Canadian reconciliation and justice.

[Petitions, November 6th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present two petitions.

The first petition is with respect to petitioners who continue to be concerned about Canada's first-past-the post electoral system, noting that the results do not reflect the number of votes cast for each party. They go on to note the lower voter turnout in Ontario's last election as a trend of reduced voter engagement. They note that voters who support all parties in all age demographics across the country support the principle of proportional representation.

The petitioners go on to name a particular solution, the national citizens' assembly, which would give citizens a role in building consensus on a specific model to improve our electoral system in Canada. They note that citizen assemblies have been used in jurisdictions around the world, including Australia, Belgium, France and a number of others.

The petitioners have three calls to action for the government. They call on it to, first, establish a national citizens' assembly on electoral reform consisting of citizens reflecting the diversity of Canadian society; second, mandate that assembly to propose a specific design for an electoral system tailored to Canada's needs, which could make every vote count; and third, work across party lines to implement the changes before the next federal election.

[Persons with Disabilities, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the government can move swiftly. It did so with the Canada emergency response benefit, CERB, in the midst of the pandemic. Within weeks, a framework was designed. When it came to people with disabilities, though, the promise was made over four years ago and the current session of Parliament is now nearing its end.

There is a really critical economic document coming out in the coming weeks. It is an opportunity for the government to show the disability community that it has actually been heard, and an opportunity for the government to see persons with disabilities and the reality of how insufficient what the government has proposed is. A maximum of $200 a month, limited to those people who can get through the burdensome disability tax credit application process, is not what the government promised in the throne speech years ago or in its platform.

Will the Liberals take this moment to reflect on the feedback they have heard from the disability community and demonstrate they have heard the disability community by doing better and fixing the Canada disability benefit?

[Persons with Disabilities, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am back tonight to continue calling on the government to fix the Canada disability benefit. It is particularly timely because we are now nearing the time when we would expect to see its fall economic statement. It is an opportunity for the government to right a wrong. The stakes are pretty high: 1.5 million folks with disabilities are living in poverty across the country, which is 40% of all of those living in poverty in Canada.

It was the Liberal Party's own platform in 2021 that said that a re-elected Liberal government would implement the Canada disability benefit, saying, “this new benefit will reduce poverty among persons with disabilities in the same manner as the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Child Benefit”. Both programs are in the order of tens of millions of dollars. I think it is around $15 billion for the Canada child benefit.

The minister, at the time, said that this would be a generational program, a sleeper legacy piece, if we do this right.

We are now nearing the end of the government's mandate. The fall economic statement is likely the last opportunity to fix the benefit before we head into an election. If nothing is done, here is the reality: The proposed benefit amount is currently capped at a maximum of $200 a month and would not even start until July 2025. It is going to be limited to those who can access the incredibly burdensome disability tax credit.

Recent modelling from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that only 10,000 people will be lifted above the poverty line by the benefit, as is currently laid out. Here is Inclusion Canada commenting on it: “Our disappointment cannot be overstated”.

The government has got to fix the benefit, and the disability community has been calling for specifically seven things to address to fix the Canada disability benefit: first, remove the barriers to application by automatically enrolling recipients in provincial and territorial disability programs as well as those who currently receive CPPD in the Canada disability benefit and remove the requirement for a DTC; second, remove the additional barrier of another application that it has proposed in the regulations with a simple opt-out option for those who do not wish to receive the Canada disability benefit; third, support the dignity and the independence of each person with a disability by means testing the benefit against an individual's income; fourth, increase the maximum amount to lift folks with disabilities above the poverty line, taking into account the added cost for those who live with a disability; fifth, raise the income threshold so that it takes into account the added cost of living with a disability; sixth, fast-track the implementation and delivery of the benefit; seventh, issue retroactive payments dating back to when the legislation was passed in June 2023.

The government could pay for this easily if it redirected the subsidies it currently gives to the oil and gas industry every single year. That was about $18.5 billion in 2023 alone. This is about honouring the government's own promise. It is about addressing poverty. It is about listening to the disability community.

My question to the parliamentary secretary is this: Will the government do it?