Committees of the House  As a member of the agriculture committee, can he name one farmer he talked to, who has boots on the ground, planting, harvesting, dairy farming or poultry farming, who has come to him and said that carbon tax has helped their operation, that they are doing better, that it is a good thing that the Liberals implemented a carbon tax and that they cannot wait for it to go to $170 a tonne by 2030 to take $1 billion out of their pockets?

Carbon Pricing  Dawn, an independent, multi-generational greenhouse operator, was forced to sell because of the cost of the carbon tax coupled with rising interest rates. After she told the Minister of Agriculture her story directly and asked him to pass Bill C-234 unamended to reduce costs for farmers, he ignored her.

Carbon Pricing  On April 1, Liberals plan to increase the carbon tax by 23%, which is part of their plan to quadruple it. Conservatives have a common-sense bill, Bill C-234, which would remove the carbon tax for farmers, making food more affordable for Canadians.

Carbon Tax  Mr. Speaker, Bill C-234 is asking for a carbon tax carve-out for farmers. The PBO has stated that this bill will save Canadian farmers $1 billion by 2030. By fighting to keep the carbon tax on farmers, Liberals are voting to keep grocery prices high.

Carbon Pricing  Will the Liberals give people a break and stop their April 1 carbon tax hike?

Agriculture committee  Do other companies look at the landscape in Canada in terms of front-of-pack labelling changes, P2 plastic bans, carbon taxes? With some of the regulatory burdens that may be there, are they seeing that there is not a clear path to success in Canada?

Public Safety  A common-sense Conservative government would ensure that repeat violent offenders remain behind bars while awaiting trial, and we would bring back mandatory jail time for serious violent crimes. On this side of the House, we want to axe the carbon tax, build homes, fix the budget and stop the crime with jail, not bail. Let us bring it home.

Public Services and Procurement  They do not want to talk about how we are actually supporting affordability for Canadian families. They just want to keep saying the exact same lines: “after eight years”, “carbon tax this” and “carbon tax that”. They have not provided the House or Canadians with any reassurance that they have a plan for the future. In fact, all they are really doing is continuing to distract from the reality and to lobby on behalf of the very companies that are making life difficult for so many Canadians, from an affordability perspective.

Agriculture committee  As you mentioned, the single biggest cost we have around, in particular, our heating fuels is the carbon tax. One of our board members, who resides just outside Ottawa here—and I think many of you have probably heard from him—operates Carleton Mushroom. He's going to be paying $450,000 just in carbon tax alone next year.

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023  Even Elon Musk is jumping on board and saying the same thing. When it comes to the carbon tax, how out of touch are these Conservatives?

Agriculture committee  Very briefly, what I recommended to FINA, to the committee on finance, is to pause the carbon tax for all companies related to the food industry overall, because we don't know exactly how the carbon tax will impact the industry's competitiveness over time. We just don't know.

Agriculture committee  The rhetoric around the carbon tax is a bit misleading. Most people are talking about retail, but a lot of things can happen in retail. Consumer behaviour can impact food prices. The weather can impact food prices. It's very difficult to correlate retail prices with policies such as the carbon tax.

Agriculture committee  Things are improving, if you will. The year 2023 was a very difficult year for sure. When it comes to the carbon tax, we've done some studies at the lab. We can't correlate what's happening with the carbon tax with food prices at retail. However, I mentioned at the finance committee, I think it was three months ago, that we are concerned about competitiveness.

Agriculture committee  These exemptions must be available not just for grain drying but also for the heating and cooling of barns, greenhouses and other production facilities. Based on our survey of the impact of Canada's carbon tax on livestock, crop and greenhouse farms across Canada, we were seeing the carbon tax account for up to 40% of total energy bills in some sectors. Second, we've put forward a number of recommendations in our budget submission of 2024—this year—that would help drive down the cost of production and improve supply chain dynamics in the agriculture sector.

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023  However, all 109 Conservatives who were present for the vote opposed it back in November. Their official reason was that the bill would impose carbon taxes on Ukraine, but nothing could be farther from the truth. One does not have to take my word for it. Those are the words of New Pathway, that is, Marco Levytsky, an editorial writer.