Canada-Jordan Free Trade Act  I share with the hon. member his concern that allowing the Americans to effectively determine their approach to carbon pricing and then impose it on us is irresponsible from a national sovereignty perspective as Canadians, but it is also very dangerous economically. Part of the consideration the Americans are going through right now is potentially a carbon tax being applied to transportation fuels, cap and trade on utilities. We should be engaged in the discussion with them.

Political Activism  Speaking of views that are out of touch with mainstream Canadians, that member authored the Liberal carbon tax, which was rejected as a radical job-killing initiative by Canadians.

Political Activism  I wonder if he will berate them with the same vitriol as he blames himself for authoring an out-of-touch, radical, job-killing carbon tax, which led to his party's humiliating defeat in the last election.

Taxation  Speaker, opposition members have never met a tax they did not like. Given the chance, they would raise the GST and introduce a job-killing carbon tax. Yesterday the NDP introduced a bill to tax MP3s and iPods. Both the Bloc and the Liberals support their coalition partners on this tax on Canadian consumers. Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell the House our government's position regarding this new tax on Canadians?

Environment Canada  Speaker, my hon. friend and his colleague seem trapped in arrested development back in 2007-08. These are dated allegations that go back some time. They seem to be back with their carbon tax and these matters from several years ago. I think it is because they do not want to focus on what this government has achieved with the Copenhagen accord. I advised the House yesterday that, in fact, 106 countries had ratified the accord.

The Economy  Canadians should ask the Liberal leader more about his plan for the economy. How many jobs would be created by the Liberal leader's GST hike or his carbon tax on everything? How would the Liberal plan for massive and reckless new spending encourage economic growth? How would the Liberal plan for a higher deficit create the jobs of tomorrow?

Liberal Party of Canada  He says a job-killing GST hike is on the table. He brags he was the first Liberal to call for a carbon tax on everything. All his MPs and advisers talk about is the need for higher taxes. What would the Liberal leader do with the billions of new taxes that he would ask Canadians to pay?

Carbon Tax Policy  Speaker, while our Prime Minister is championing the economic action plan, a plan that cuts taxes, includes job-creating stimulus and protects those hardest hit by the recession, the leader of the Liberal Party is trying to back away from the job-killing carbon tax, a policy that he introduced and campaigned on. The issue is experience. The issue is judgment. Imagine if we had gone the way of the carbon tax. Would we have more jobs or fewer jobs?

The Budget  First, unlike the opposition, we understand that a competitive economy requires competitive lower taxes, not hiking business taxes, not imposing a job-killing carbon tax. Lower taxes support businesses by providing them with the freedom to grow and invest. This creates the foundation that will over the long term bring sustained economic growth and increased employment.

Taxation  Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is a proudly self-described tax and spend Liberal. He believes the GST should be raised. He brags that he was the first Liberal to tout a carbon tax. If he becomes prime minister, he says he will “have to raise taxes”. The member for Parkdale—High Park even says, “Canadians are prepared to pay more taxes”. The Liberals want higher taxes for everything: taxes for grandiose uncosted environmental plans, taxes for more Liberal social engineering programs, and taxes for megaproject after megaproject.

Taxation  He said that he would even reverse the Conservative government's cut to the GST, taking more out of the pockets of Canadians when they need it most. The leader of the Liberal Party is also pushing his job-killing carbon tax, a carbon tax that the Liberal Party voted to make one of its main policy commitments. This does not come as any surprise. After all, the leader of the Liberal Party even refers himself as “a tax-and-spend Liberal”.

Transport committee  Asian imports are up between 13% and 15%. People are opting to purchase Asian cement because they don't have to pay the carbon tax on it. They only have to pay the carbon tax on cement that is manufactured within British Columbia. So there must be some misunderstanding. There is no problem fulfilling the demand, because 40% to 50% of our product goes to the United States today.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada  Speaker, in May 2008, Craig Oliver asked the Liberal leader, “Do you still believe in a carbon tax? Of course you do”. The Liberal leader replied, “I do, Craig”. Of course he does; he invented the Liberal carbon tax. Now he claims he knows nothing about it. When the Liberal leader is in America, he is an American.

Taxation  Speaker, last May, CTV's Craig Oliver asked the Liberal leader, “Now you were the first leader as a candidate leader to talk about a carbon tax, and you took a little bit of heat for that. Do you still believe in a carbon tax? Of course you do?” The Liberal leader replied, “I do, Craig. I learned that there's no punishment more severe in politics than being the first guy with a good idea”.

Taxation  This is the same Liberal leader who describes himself as a “tax and spend Pearsonian-Trudeau Liberal”. He fathered the Liberal carbon tax. He said, “We have also got to have popular, practical, believable policies that may involve some form of carbon tax”. He is also considering a hike in the GST, saying, “I am not going to take a GST hike off the table”.