SoVote

Mr. Stephen Ellis (Cumberland—Colchester, CPC)

Mar/22/22 12:57:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that was more of the repetitive discourse, the government narrative, they want to bring forward, this NDP-Liberal coalition. The question I have is this. I spoke to Bev this morning. Bev is having a very difficult time. She lives in rural Nova Scotia. As a lot of our members have pointed out, she does not have access to transportation and a mass transit system. She relies on her vehicle to get to doctor's appointments, to buy her groceries and to attend the events she needs to get to and the appointments she needs to have. The government talks about targeted opportunities. What more targeted and time-limited opportunity could this NDP-Liberal coalition have than to reduce the GST portion of the tax on fuel for Canadians suffering today?

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Context: House Hansard - 43 - Mar/22/22

Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)

Mar/22/22 1:02:10 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I am happy to be here today. It is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola on an issue that is so incredibly important. Kelowna has seen high gas prices of about $1.84 a litre. In Merritt, an area that often has protests for high gas prices, it is at $1.93. These are challenging times, and these prices aggravate many problems we have in our country right now. Before I go any further, I will say that I will be be splitting my time with the wonderful member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington. I hear from pensioners who say the cost of groceries is going up all the time. Those high costs are going to be aggravated by increased transportation costs because of the high cost of both gasoline and diesel. Commuters need to be able to get to work, and because of rising house prices in this country, people are now living farther and farther away from where they work. There is a price to be paid for that, and these record highs in gas prices are making life less and less affordable. In fact, the Conservative Party of Canada was talking about these issues in the 2019 election, when my friend from Winnipeg joined us. We talked about it being time for people to get ahead. As a party, we have been speaking to the very real pressures Canadians have been feeling, but the Liberal government has simply been adding to the pain. Liberal members may say they added an inflationary clause on this program or that program, but the rank and file, the working poor and those low-income families who do not have children are paying higher Canada pension plan contributions. As of April 1, they are going to be paying higher carbon taxes, whether in my home province of British Columbia as it goes to $50 a tonne or in any of the other regimes we have in Canada, including the backstop. The government continues to add and add and add. It is incredibly important for us to be proposing things that will help make it better. Someone told me once that sometimes life cannot be easy, but it can always be made easier, so this common-sense plan for a 5% reduction in GST or its harmonized equivalent across this country to give every Canadian a break when they fill up at the pumps will be incredibly important for many reasons. The first reason is that obviously we are seeing large increases in gas prices. Contrary to some of the rhetoric we hear from the NDP and others, who suddenly say it is big oil that is causing this, we know there is international instability that has to do with the situation in Ukraine. Again, my heart goes to those people who are suffering in Ukraine right now and fighting for their very freedom and their very sovereignty. This has caused international prices to go up, and therefore that variable, when we are adding up the bill, goes up as well. Then we have fixed gas taxes, such as the excise tax that goes toward municipalities. Then we have the carbon tax on top of that. What sits at the very top and multiplies and compounds all the pain is the GST. The GST on gasoline and diesel is multiplying and compounding that pain, making it absolutely intolerable and worse. Inflation hurts people, especially the most vulnerable. It affects rural and remote communities that are totally dependent on food and basic goods that have to be trucked in. The Liberal government has not yet responded to our calls for action to make the cost of living more affordable. Because of the high cost of crude oil, the GST on gas and diesel is one way for the government to boost its revenue. I have to stress this. This is windfall revenue that the government is receiving. Usually it gets between $3.5 billion and $5 billion depending on the year, but that is under regular conditions and not what we see today. As I said earlier, on April 1, the carbon tax will increase in British Columbia and in all provinces that have their own systems or are subject to the federal carbon tax. The GST will be added to that. In other words, it is a tax on the tax. This will add to the pain caused by high gas prices and the increase in the carbon tax. That is why we want a 5% decrease. That way, every Canadian will have more money to deal with the highest inflation rate in 30 years. Those are 30-year highs, the highest I have seen in my lifetime, and the government just seems unmoved. Some may say it is a stoic quality; I would say it is just indifferent. More needs to be done. Again, this is a common-sense measure that would deal with the escalation of gas prices caused by the costs of crude. Also, while I am on my feet, I will point out the issues we have in our country with pipelines. In British Columbia we actually have a net deficit every day, a structural deficit of gas that is not refined in British Columbia, and that raises the price there. Having pipelines and having a proper system would help with that. Unfortunately, the government has been relatively indifferent to this problem. It may say that it has bought a pipeline, but again, it is billions upon billions of dollars. I think the original estimates were $5.5 billion for the original and around $12 billion for building the expanded TMX, but guess what? It is now over $21.5 billion and counting, and the government still will not say when it is going to get finished. All those costs get incorporated and magnified by the GST. If we want to see how truckers could get foods to stores as cheaply as possible so that pensioners and families could buy affordable, nutritious food, they need to see a break. In previous years when we have said the government should defer or cut the carbon tax, it has been completely opposed. I hope that the government will. When I first came here in 2011, the first thing I noticed was that often it is not whether an idea is good or not; the merit of an idea is often based on who proposes it. I do hope that members opposite in the government and in other opposition parties, including the Bloc, recognize that ultimately a good idea is a good idea. I cannot say what the NDP is anymore; maybe NDP members could clarify their position for me. Across this great country, people in all our ridings, not just mine, are feeling the pinch. If we want to get them to continue to support other measures that are important to members, they need to feel that we are taking care of them, that we are thinking of them as we walk and chew gum, that we are trying to support them as we have supported people internationally, and trying to make sure that our children and our pensioners have affordable access to nutritious food. Do not even get me started on our northern communities. Again, rural and remote areas always pay through the nose. I am not sure how much time I have left, so let me just sum up. Please, to all members in this place, take a look at the proposal. It is for a 5% reduction at a time when government is getting so much windfall. Whether it be through inflationary means or a higher carbon tax or higher crude prices, the government is loading up and receiving a ton of revenue, so let us just say, “Stop. Pause. Give a temporary reduction. Zero-base the 5% and let Canadians keep a little more of their money when they go to fill up with gasoline at the pumps.” It is a simple suggestion, and I look forward to questions and comments. I always love hearing what my colleagues have to say.

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Context: House Hansard - 43 - Mar/22/22

Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)

Mar/22/22 3:42:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to start where I left off. When I speak to people in line at the grocery store or bump into someone at the gas station, it would be difficult and quite frankly embarrassing to list off the inflation rate in Denmark or to tell them everything is okay and that we should not upset the government or take down the Canadian economy. When we tell people that global supply chains are the reason that home heating is up 26%, they are rightly perplexed. We have 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in Canada. That domestic energy supply provides heating for Canadian families and has nothing to do with the global supply chains. When we tell someone that global supply chains are the reason a family pays an extra $1,000 a year for groceries, their reaction is, rightly, confusion. This country ranks third in the world for the amount of farmland per capita. We have the capacity to produce our own food, and this has nothing to do with the global supply chains. When we tell someone that global supply chains are the reason that gas prices have gone up in some places 50%, they are, well, stunned. We have that right here in Canada. We have the second-largest oil and gas reserve in the world. In this case, it is a question of why we are relying on the global supply chains. When we tell someone that everything is okay when four-fifths of Canadian families are already cutting back and scratching their budgets, their reaction is one of fear: fear they will not be able to keep up and fear they will not be able to afford to live in their own communities. We have an opportunity here to stop saying that everything is okay, because it is not—

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Context: House Hansard - 43 - Mar/22/22

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

Mar/22/22 4:51:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is unfortunate the hon. member does not know my situation as a single mom with six children, but I appreciate it. It is very important that we recognize that everybody needs a break right now. Without a healthy economy, we do not have a surplus to put back into social services. That is not how it works. We need a healthy economy. If people cannot afford to spend money at local businesses and people cannot afford to buy groceries, there is no surplus to put back into social services. The compassionate thing to do here is to help people with their ability to pay their bills so that they do not have that stress at night. This is a mental health crisis.

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