Pierre Poilievre

[The Environment, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that the millionaire and billionaire CEOs he cites are just fine with a few extra thousand dollars in taxes, but it is the working families who cannot afford higher costs who we are championing on this side of the House of Commons. I would note that the very companies he pointed to are divesting themselves from Canada and investing in other places around the world, so, of course, they will not be affected by the taxes that the government supports. When will the Liberals stop siding with the CEOs and start siding with working families?

[The Environment, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, what they are going to do is drive business out of the country to other jurisdictions which have lower environmental standards. That is not only bad for the economy and jobs, but bad for the environment itself. Let us get back to the real issue

The government wants Parliament's approval to impose a new tax on Canadian households. How much will it cost the average Canadian family?

[The Environment, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, they talk about clean, green companies. I have one in my riding, SunTech tomatoes. They have greenhouses that produce delicious tomatoes, the “miracles of Manotick” they are called. However, they cost four times as much to produce here as they would in Mexico, which means we ship tomatoes from Mexico to Canadian consumers, emitting greenhouse gases all the way through North America. The higher taxes imposed by Liberal governments contribute to environmental degradation. How much will SunTech have to pay in extra taxes under this scheme?

[The Environment, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the only thing the government's plan will grow is the bills of average Canadian households. They admit that gasoline prices will go up by at least 11¢ a litre. They admit that the cost of heating one's home will go up by over $200. However, they will not tell us the overall cost to an average Canadian family, because they do not want people to know what this scheme will cost.

I will give the member another chance. How much will this Liberal carbon tax cost the average Canadian household?

[The Environment, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, why do we not try a thought experiment to help the government end the carbon tax cover-up? Imagine if I were holding a document right now, and imagine that document promised to explain to the reader how much that carbon tax would cost the average Canadian household. Now imagine that there was whiteout blocking out the numbers on that page, but imagine that a member of the government removed that whiteout. What number would be on that document?

[The Environment, April 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, if this scheme were really about ending climate change, the minister would have been able to answer, when she was asked about a half dozen times in committee, how many tonnes of greenhouse gases this tax would reduce. She could not, because she knows, which she is not admitting, that this tax is about one simple thing: cold, hard cash.

How much will it cost?

[The Environment, April 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, the minister seems to be arguing that this tax is worth the cost. However, how can we possibly know that as parliamentarians if we do not know the cost? She would not even answer how many greenhouse gas tonnes would be reduced as a result of the tax. Therefore, we do not know the cost, we do not know the benefit, yet somehow we are supposed to do a cost benefit analysis.

Why will the minister not come clean, end the carbon tax cover-up, and tell us what this tax will cost the average Canadian?

[The Environment, April 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, try as they might, these Liberals cannot silence our efforts to expose the carbon tax cover-up.

The cover-up began when the government provided me with documents that had calculated how much the average family would have to pay in new taxes under this scheme. The only problem is that it covered up the numbers. Ever since, I have been asking the Liberals to tell the truth, end the carbon tax cover-up, and tell Canadians what this tax will cost them.

Will the Liberals do that today?

[The Environment, April 26th, 2018]

All right, Mr. Speaker, this question is for the justice minister.

The justice minister will be appointing lawyers to fight Saskatchewan and the people of Saskatchewan in a court of law. Obviously, people from that province are standing up, fighting for their rights, and opposing this nationally-imposed carbon tax.

The justice minister will be heading up the litigation. Will she provide evidence to the court so it can carry out a proper deliberation on how much this carbon tax will cost the average Canadian taxpayer?

[The Environment, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it will be further news to the Premier of Saskatchewan that provinces have full discretion about this carbon tax, as the minister has just indicated. Rather, he has been forced to go to court to fight against the Liberal government's national imposition of a carbon tax. Ironically, the participants in that lawsuit will be deprived of information on what the tax will cost.

For the sake of our legal system, will the Liberals at least reveal how much the average Canadian family will have to pay?