Committees of the House  While I am on that, I should mention from an agriculture point of view how even the thought of a carbon tax for agriculture producers has them shaking. For agriculture and rural Canada, the extra costs of production from a carbon tax are going to be just horrendous. However, let us go back to tobacco instead of talking about what could be wrong with a solution that includes a carbon tax.

The Environment  Speaker, it is not even Halloween, but the Liberal leader is offering Canadians a major trick, a big, fat, permanent carbon tax. Never mind he vehemently opposed a carbon tax when running for leader. Never mind he recently called it bad public policy. Never mind he said “there will be no carbon tax”. He has now given it a green disguise.

Budget Implementation Act, 2008  Mr. Speaker, I could not resist. I believe I heard the hon. member defend the carbon tax. I would like some clarification. As he mentioned, the hon. member is on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food along with my other hon. colleague. If the hon. member can stand there and hear the carbon tax is going to devastate agriculture and the hon. member is suggesting that he believes in the carbon tax--

Automotive Industry  We are actually working to partner with General Motors to see if we can get a new car mandate, a new investment into Oshawa. One of the things we will not do though is to put on a carbon tax. I would like the member to stand and let us know if he supports his leader's carbon tax which it is said will be the nail in the coffin for the auto industry. Is he supporting his leader's carbon tax, yes or no?

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada  At its recent convention, the Liberal Party reaffirmed its commitment to imposing a job-killing carbon tax. The Liberal leader said he would raise the GST and the Liberal Party said it would eliminate the universal child care benefit. Based on his statements, we now believe him when he calls himself a “tax-and-spend Liberal”.

The Economy  This is in stark contrast to Liberal plans to deal with the recession. The Liberal Party recently reaffirmed its commitment to a job-killing carbon tax. We also know that the Liberals want to increase the GST and end the universal child care benefit. As if that was not enough, the Liberal leader recently shocked Canadians by saying, “We will have to raise taxes”.

Environment committee  Well, there's cap and trade, there's cap and dividends, there are carbon taxes, there are lots of mechanisms, and I myself am actually not wedded to any particular one. I really am not. The second one is regulation. Sometimes regulations are appropriate--car regulations, emission regulations, that kind of thing.

Petitions  Speaker, my final petition is from residents of Ontario, calling on the Government of Canada to institute and support a carbon tax.

Fisheries and Oceans  We have increased funding to science, enforcement and aquaculture. In contrast, the Liberal Party's main platform policy is to introduce a carbon tax which would kill the fishing industry. Our Conservative government has defended the seal hunt with a strong and united caucus and will continue to do so, while a Liberal senator works to ban the hunt.

The Economy  The Liberal leader is calling for a 45-day work year; he wants to implement a job-killing carbon tax; and he did say, “We will have to raise taxes”. Canadians do not want an election and neither do we. On this side of the House, our primary focus remains the economy. We hope that the Liberal leader considers the interests of Canadians instead of personal interests, and we hope he drops his threat to block our economic action plan.

Climate Change Accountability Act  I especially want to thank him for keeping an open mind. I know he came out strongly against the notion of a carbon tax shift at first, but yesterday he came some way back in recognizing that a carbon tax shift would be considered an invaluable tool as we took on the challenge of bringing greenhouse gas emissions back down our country.

The Economy  He wants to raise taxes on hard-working Canadian families at a time when they need more money in their pockets. The Liberals want to raise the GST, impose a job-killing carbon tax and eliminate the universal child care benefit. These Liberal policies are not what Canadians are looking for. That is why they so clearly rejected the Liberals in the last election.

The Economy  On April 14, he said, “We will have to raise taxes”. Furthermore, he would hike the GST. He is the father of the job-killing carbon tax. He called the forestry sector a basement industry. He criticized the auto sector. He said that Canada had become the laughingstock of the world. He called our flag a pale imitation of a beer label.

Business of Supply  He wants people enjoying their life a lot less and paying a lot more tax so he can spend it because we all know he has made $72 billion in promises and a $10 billion promise just tonight. Could the finance minister please share with me what a disaster the Liberal carbon tax would be and can he tell my constituents in Peterborough how much the Liberal carbon tax would take out of their pockets and how much it would hurt the people of Peterborough?

Business of Supply  Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, we know about him, says: Forget about the fact that it is unfair to people on fixed incomes (like the elderly) and the poor (who have to heat their homes and buy food, too), and is therefore profoundly un-Liberal. What does the Liberal member for Vaughan say? He says: It [carbon tax] is certainly not an option for me. What do we hear from Gerard Kennedy? He is a Liberal, I think, now. He says: I think a carbon tax is the clumsiest of the options that we've got so far,-- What does Bill Graham say?