Pierre Poilievre

[The Economy, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the difference is this: We created a million jobs when the world was in economic crisis. We did it while raising middle-class incomes more than any government before or since. We did so by increasing the amount people had in their pockets and making it possible to pay their bills. Right now, half of Canadians are $200 away from insolvency while their government drowns in debt.

Is that not really the Liberal agenda: more debt, lower incomes and a declining economy?

[Carbone Pricing, May 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, actually, the federal carbon tax rules do apply in British Columbia, because if the province wanted to cancel its carbon tax, the Prime Minister would reimpose it. Furthermore, he has used the Liberal carbon tax from B.C. as the model for the whole country, where the tax will rise another 250%.

Why will he not admit that the consequence will be the same right across the country as it has been in B.C.: $1.80-a-litre taxes on their gas and higher prices for Canadian families?

[Carbone Pricing, May 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, when we first raised concerns about the carbon tax, the Prime Minister said, “Don't worry, look how successful it has been in British Columbia.” Then he travelled there and said that $1.69-a-litre gas is exactly what we want. Now British Columbia has the highest gas prices in the history of North America.

Is this what the Prime Minister wanted to replicate when he announced his new carbon tax?

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2019]

Madam Speaker, we will do it with technology, not with taxes.

Let me give the member an example of the Liberal Party's flawed logic. The carbon tax will be levied on CO2 that a farmer in my riding emits to grow tomatoes, even though all that CO2 is absorbed by the plant. That farmer is paying for CO2 that will not even enter the atmosphere. As a result, Canadian tomatoes from my riding will be more expensive than Mexican tomatoes. Transporting tomatoes from Mexico to Canada will pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere so Canadians can buy a Mexican tomato in Canada for less than they would pay for a tomato from my riding. That is bad for the economy and the environment.

That is just one example of how the carbon tax will harm the environment and the economy. We will replace it with technology.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2019]

Madam Speaker, yes, I can give that answer. Right now a coalition of the high-tax NDP premier of B.C. and the high-tax Liberal Prime Minister of Canada have imposed this joint carbon tax on British Columbians. British Columbians are making clear that they no longer want to pay this tax, but here is the bad news for now. Even if their provincial government were to flip-flop and eliminate or reduce the tax, the Prime Minister has passed a law allowing him to reimpose it. Right now British Columbians do not even have the freedom to get rid of the carbon tax until they get rid of the Prime Minister.

Our plan is to get rid of both.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2019]

moved:

That the House call on the government to stop raising the price of gas by clearing the way for pipelines and eliminating the carbon tax on fuel.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.

If there were an energy paradise in the eyes of the Liberal Prime Minister, it would be Vancouver. There gas prices are higher than at any time anywhere in North America.

Recently the Prime Minister visited Vancouver, and a reporter asked about the then $1.69-a-litre price. He said that this “is exactly what we want”. He was thrilled to see high gas prices, because he believes that high gas prices are the only way we can save our environment.

Of course, he inherited a massive family fortune. He is a multi-millionaire. He drives around in a taxpayer-funded limousine, as he did for most of his childhood. He has no worries whatsoever about paying bills. Because he has never had to worry about money, he does not worry about Canadians' money. As such, he has admiration for high gas prices in British Columbia in general and in Vancouver in particular.

The Prime Minister's admiration for B.C.'s high gas prices is not new. It did not manifest itself only in that famous “exactly what we want” comment. Rather, it is the basis of his entire carbon tax program.

As the Prime Minister was beginning to roll out his plan to hike taxes on gas and other energy sources, he consistently pointed to British Columbia as the ideal model to replicate. He wants to do across Canada what the carbon-tax government has done in that province. That province has its own carbon tax regime, one the Prime Minister supports and one that he requires through a new federal law that mandates that provinces institute their own tax on gas and other fuels. The only difference between B.C.'s carbon tax and the one the Prime Minister is imposing in Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Manitoba is that B.C.'s is a little further along. The tax rate in B.C. is about $40 per tonne of carbon dioxide, whereas the Prime Minister's carbon tax this year starts at only $20.

Right now we can look to British Columbia to see the Liberal future. The Prime Minister has admitted that he plans to raise Canada's national carbon tax by 250% if re-elected. That is just by 2022. In the year 2023, which is not far off from now, it could go much higher than that. Internal government documents show that it could go as high as $300 a tonne, which would be more than 10 times higher than it is right now.

I say all of this as background, because British Columbia's tax rate is in line with where the Prime Minister wants to take the other provinces on which he has imposed the carbon tax in the next several years.

What has that meant? British Columbia now pays $1.79 a litre for gasoline. According to the records, this is the highest price per litre of gasoline ever recorded anywhere in North America. That is exactly what the Prime Minister wants.

We see this reflected right across the country. Carbon taxes have raised prices already in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, New Brunswick and elsewhere. These higher gas prices are only the beginning. The Prime Minister has made it clear that they will have to go up, up and away. Canadians will be paying the same $1.79 a litre right across Canada that British Columbia is experiencing right now.

That sounded wonderful to the Prime Minister in theory, but now, in practice, we see what it means. Single mothers who cannot afford to get to their jobs are going to struggle to feed their children. Seniors on fixed incomes who have to drive to get groceries are struggling to make ends meet. Small businesses, which enjoy no rebate of any kind for the carbon tax they pay, have no choice but to cut the wages or jobs of their workers. I had two of them in my office a couple of weeks ago. They lay foundations for homes. They said very clearly that they cannot pass the carbon tax cost along to their customers, because people cannot afford to pay more. Housing prices are too high already. These two gentlemen do not know what they are going to do. Right now, these two very middle-class guys are paying a heck of a lot more for a tax the Prime Minister has imposed here in Ontario.

Back to the British Columbian example, the Prime Minister claims that his tax will make Canadians better off, that somehow they will get more from paying the tax than it will cost them in the first place. He wants us to believe that if we give him our wallets, he will put more money back into it than we had before. When we ask where this has ever been done, he says, “In British Columbia”. That is where the whole idea of the so-called revenue-neutral carbon tax was first invented. Now we know that this was a fraud. Subsequent studies have shown that British Columbians are now paying more in carbon taxes in B.C. than they are getting back in any other form of compensating rebate or tax relief. In fact, of all the jurisdictions that have introduced their own carbon tax in Canada, in all those cases, the government has won and the taxpayers have lost. That is true not only in British Columbia but in Alberta, formerly in Ontario, under the previous Wynne government, in Quebec and in any Atlantic province that has its own tax. In every single case, the government is taking more and the taxpayer is keeping less. These are not opinions; these are mathematical facts. The reason is that politicians are with money the way bears are with honey. Once they get their hands on it, they just cannot stop.

The Prime Minister's strategy is a good one. It is a good electoral strategy. He gives us a small cheque before the election and a massive bill after the election. He gives a few hundred dollars in enticements before people vote and many thousands of dollars in costs after they vote. We know this because the Prime Minister is running out of money. He has a $20-billion deficit. The cost of government has risen by 25% in just over three years. There is no way he can keep paying the bills without collecting more taxes. Therefore, he will raise taxes. He will ensure that he collects more than taxpayers keep. However, he will do it after the election, when he no longer needs voters but still needs their money.

Another way he is costing British Columbians is by having blocked pipelines. Most of the gasoline British Columbians use comes through the Trans Mountain pipeline, which was supposed to triple in capacity but for his bungling and obfuscation.

We will clear the way for pipelines. We will axe the carbon tax to make life more affordable, not just for British Columbians but for all Canadians, so that people not only get by but get ahead.

[Finance, May 2nd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, The Globe and Mail says that the Asian Infrastructure Bank is part of “China's One Belt One Road policy of expanding its international influence through infrastructure.” This means pipelines, roads and bridges will be built in China with Canadian tax dollars.

Yesterday it was revealed that buried in a previous omnibus budget, the amount of money available to the government to give to the bank was actually $480 million, not the $250 million previously admitted.

What is the maximum amount Canadian taxpayers will be forced to pay to China's Asian Infrastructure Bank?

[Finance, May 2nd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the Chinese leadership has called the Prime Minister a name that is so insulting that you have ruled it unspeakable in the House. I will put partisanship aside and say that I will not stand for that kind of treatment of the Prime Minister.

In retaliation, will the government do the right thing and cancel the quarter-billion dollar gift to the China-controlled Asian Infrastructure Bank?

[Foreign Affairs, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, green infrastructure? Since the Prime Minister announced his quarter-billion-dollar gift to the China-controlled Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China has quietly resumed construction on dozens of previously shelved coal-fired plants, according to satellite images. It is going to increase the production of coal-fired electricity by 50,000 megawatts since he announced his quarter-billion-dollar gift.

Now that we know this has nothing to do with development or helping the poor, but instead with helping the wealthy and the well connected in China, will he do the right thing and cancel this quarter-billion-dollar gift?

[Foreign Affairs, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister reciprocated by giving a quarter of a billion Canadian tax dollars to the China-controlled Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a bank designed to build pipelines, roads and bridges in China, the same country that is punishing our farmers and imprisoning our citizens.

Will the Prime Minister show even a modicum of respect for Canadian taxpayers and cancel that wasteful expenditure of our tax dollars?