The Environment  They said there would not be any taxes on gasoline in it, but what did the Liberal finance critic say yesterday? The member for Markham—Unionville acknowledges that a full carbon tax would be “devilishly complicated, and that a Liberal government might begin with something a great deal more straightforward, such as a tax on imported oil”. Let us guess what that means: higher gasoline prices in Ontario, in Quebec and in all the Atlantic provinces.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Leader of the Opposition launched a new debate. It is a debate about building a richer, greener and fairer Canada. The Liberal Party believes that it is time we put a price on pollution and put every single penny back into the hands of Canadians. Polluters will pay and Canadians will gain.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, yesterday in The Chronicle-Herald, the Liberal member for Cape Breton—Canso suggested that he too is worried about the massive Liberal tax hike. I quote: When you cross the street and get hit by a car, it doesn't matter if you were in the crosswalk. You're still dead.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, a Liberal dirty tax trick by any other name, say, a green shift, is still a Liberal dirty tax trick. The Liberal leader gleefully announced he would permanently up the cost of gas, electricity and everything Canadians buy, killing Canadian jobs. Peel back the green veneer and this permanent new Liberal tax is not about the environment.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, when I was in university earning my graduate degree in environmental studies, the future of our planet seemed mighty grim. Eagles were disappearing and rivers did not freeze in the winter because they were so contaminated with mercury. Since that graduation, I have been working on many environmental causes, as a councillor, as a mayor and as a member of Parliament, but yesterday, it all came together.

Points of Order  I did read from one document, which was a citation from the Leader of the Opposition saying that a carbon tax is simply “bad policy”. I would be delighted to table that.

Aboriginal Affairs  We have made a lot of progress, but I must warn the House that a lot of that progress is at risk if the Liberals go ahead with their carbon tax. Did they consult with aboriginal people? Is there a word about aboriginal people in their document? There is not a single word. The Liberals want to get the gold mine. Aboriginal people will get the shaft.

Human Resources and Social Development  What is surprising, though, is that the Bloc members seem to accept that this is an area of federal responsibility and they actually support it. That is very strange. However, what would not help, of course, is to implement a carbon tax and raise the heating costs in all the day care centres across the country. That is the Liberal plan. We are not going to go there.

The Environment  The Liberal answer for the poor folks at Air Canada who will be losing their jobs because of high jet fuel prices is that it will be raising fuel prices even further. It is understandable that the Liberal leader was opposed to a carbon tax, but the strange thing is that so were all of his Liberal leadership contenders: the members for Willowdale, Kings—Hants, Vancouver Centre, Vaughan, Eglinton—Lawrence and Toronto Centre.

National Security  However curious he may be about those questions, we do not think that is a matter of important public policy that justifies a public inquiry, although I am sure he would rather be talking about that this summer than the carbon tax his leader announced today.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, we agree with the Liberal Party leader's statement that “a carbon tax...is simply bad policy”. That is what the Liberal Party leader said just months ago. Why has he changed his mind? Why does he change his mind as often as he changes his shirt? Yesterday in Montreal, Air Canada laid off 2,000 workers because of the rising cost of airplane fuel.

The Environment  Here is what Don Drummond, chief economist for the TD Bank, says, “It's never going to be revenue-neutral for any individual or any corporation”. Andrew Coyne, columnist for Maclean's said, “The Liberals have used the carbon tax to fund their spending ambitions”, and the plan is “not remotely “revenue neutral””. This is what the experts are saying. Neither they nor ordinary Canadians will be fooled by this Liberal tax trick.

The Environment  Let me begin that debate by quoting a so-called expert on environmental policy who said that a carbon tax “is simply bad policy”. This expert went on to say, “In the energy market, in particular, soaring prices make anything but a prohibitively high tax a mere nuisance for large producers”.

Carbon Tax Proposal  The hon. member for Fredericton.

Nuclear Liability and compensation Act  One of them, I believe, is the expansion of nuclear energy. Another one is what was just tabled today by the Liberal Party of Canada, this carbon tax notion, which is a distinctly bad idea. When we are talking about energy, we would be negligent if we did not speak about the consequences of production of energy, and that is the greenhouse gases that we now know are strangling our planet.