Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, my constituents will not be tricked by the Liberals' carbon tax. My constituents know that the Liberal leader has a serious spending problem. He has already made billions of dollars in spending promises to various special interest groups. Now the Liberals are trying to pay for all this irresponsible spending by tricking Canadians into paying a permanent new carbon tax.

The Environment  Liberals MPs are now admitting their plan is a carbon tax. The member for Halton, the Liberal leader's communication adviser, says that he has seen the details and it is a carbon tax. Liberals such as the members for Oakville and Scarborough—Agincourt, star Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau and Liberal strategist David Herle have been calling it a carbon tax.

Finance committee  Furthermore, there are ways to try to design a carbon tax that would take into account the competitiveness concerns, generally by imposing the tax on a destination basis like the GST, imposing a tariff on imports based on the carbon content, and unfortunately--but I think this is probably necessary, it's a short-term step--trying to strip away the carbon tax on exports.

Taxation  Speaker, Canadians can trust us as the party that cuts taxes. What we have on the other side is a party that proposes carbon taxes when it is convenient for it. It is a party that spends billions and raises taxes. Then, it comes around and tries to change it the other way. That party is trying to have an election simply for opportunistic purposes.

Price of Petroleum Products  I hope I am wrong and that is not their policy, but that is not what the Liberal leader has been saying for the last two weeks in the media. That is not what he is saying as he is running across Canada trying to sell his carbon tax plan. He cannot sell his carbon tax plan in his own caucus. His own caucus members came out of their Wednesday meeting fuming, let alone selling it to all Canadians. Those are the facts.

The Environment  There they are, saddled with a carbon tax they never wanted. That flip-flop is so dramatic that they have not caught up on the Liberal website. Today it still says “we do not favour a carbon tax”. I wish they would make up their minds.

Carbon Tax Proposal  This would also hurt farmers and increase the cost of everything transported by truck or train, including food. My constituents know that every carbon tax imposed in Europe has hit gas prices hard, very hard. The Liberal carbon tax plan would be a dirty trick and would hurt all Canadians.

Carbon Tax Proposal  They remember the dawn of the gun registry and the GST. Canadians will not be tricked. Even the leader himself said this carbon tax was simply bad policy. This plan for a carbon tax just reconfirms what we already knew about the Liberals. They never met a tax they did not like. They never met a tax they would not hike.

Carbon Tax Proposal  It's a revenue generating tax to finance objectives that are definitely not of the environmental kind”. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said, “We do not believe that carbon taxes can be truly revenue neutral. ...it will certainly not be revenue neutral for consumers.” The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association executive director said, “Transportation costs would rise with increased fuel costs as a result of carbon taxes, prices of consumer goods and food would rise....

Agriculture committee  I wonder if it's possible for us to ask the clerk to get a copy of that document talking about the Government of Canada's $65-a-tonne carbon tax, and distribute it to committee members.

Agriculture committee  The truth of the matter is that there's an awful air of desperation. I know the opposition wants to change the channel on this carbon tax, but boy, you're going over the top to try to change it. The truth of the matter is that what's embarrassing is the carbon tax. If you want to talk about things that are going to ruin food safety and agriculture, that's a carbon tax.

Committees of the House  This was said in committee because part of the poverty strategy talks about what other countries can inform us about how we can implement different strategies and examine other poverty strategies. It was a huge issue yesterday. Would the member support a motion to examine how a carbon tax could impact the poor, especially women? The Liberals would probably push very hard for that motion because they believe in a carbon tax.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Liberal MPs, senior Liberal strategists, commentators, members of the media, truckers, small business owners, provincial premiers, environmentalists, and working families have condemned the carbon tax as an ineffective and disastrous policy. Prior to this massive flip-flop, the Liberal leader himself said a carbon tax was “bad policy”. Just yesterday, three Liberal MPs voted with our government in favour of protecting our farmers from a carbon tax.

Agriculture committee  In the last day or two, I've read that there might be some consideration given to exempting certain areas from the carbon tax. I would like to move that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food urge the Government of Canada to ensure that Canadian farmers are not saddled with a carbon tax that would further increase their input costs and hurt their competitiveness vis-à-vis their American competitors.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Speaker, last week I tabled a motion at the finance committee which asked the committee to endorse the position of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, calling on the government to reject any notion of a carbon tax, which has been causing great nervousness among Canada's many entrepreneurs. Sadly, the Liberal and Bloc members combined to endorse a new carbon tax hike on everything small businesses purchase by defeating my motion.