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House Hansard - 50

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 31, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22
Ms. Julie Dzerowicz
  • Mar/31/22 1:06:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we had a very important discussion and debate around the increasing price of oil and gas in this country. We had an important debate around implementing a tax holiday. Our government will continue to be very concerned about gas prices and prices overall in this country and we will continue to support Canadians—
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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22
Mr. Mark Gerretsen
  • Mar/31/22 4:40:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, although I am pretty sure we can refer to trademarked or copyrighted material in the House, he is correct. I am being facetious when I call it “Air Miles”. What were they calling it? I believe it was the carbon rebate program, where people stacked up points and got neat prizes. Whatever it is called, it is what it is. I was going somewhere with this. I want to congratulate the Conservatives because they are finally at the point where they are able to have the words come out of their mouths that acknowledge the fact that money is being given back to people. They raise important questions. They brought up a couple of times lately during question period about how much money is going back, whether is it eight out of 10 Canadians or six out of 10 Canadians and who is benefiting from it. Those are the conversations we should be having in this House, because at least those conversations start from a point of factual accuracy. They start from a point of understanding the concepts before we start engaging in the discussion. Now I can have a discussion with them. Now we are going to discuss whether the math is lining up and whether the money is going to the right places, as opposed to just obtusely ignoring the fact that the money is distributed to Canadians in the first place. I am really thrilled. I particularly want to mention the member for Kenora, who was willing to talk about that in his speech, and I heard at least one other Conservative member talk about it as well. At the end of the day, when it comes to this particular program, I am in favour of the model that has been created. It is important to point out that not all provinces have the price on pollution that was implemented by the federal government. In many areas, it can be done by the provinces. The Province of Quebec does it, as we heard earlier from the Bloc. As a matter of fact, a member brought it up earlier, the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, who talked about the program in Quebec specifically. He talked about how it was a deal that was set up with California. He is right. I know this because my father was the environment minister in Ontario when that was put in place. Ontario was actually in that same program with Quebec and California, but, unfortunately, on day one, Doug Ford bailed and got rid of Ontario's participation in cap and trade. That is why the federal government had to implement its program, as it has had to do in several other jurisdictions, such as Alberta, which had a program in place that was removed. I am glad that we are talking about an important issue today. I am glad that the Conservatives seem to be taking seriously their role as it relates to bringing forward motions of actual substance. This is a good discussion to have. I do not agree with a lot of what is in this motion. I will not be voting in favour of it, and I do not think I am surprising anybody by saying that. Nonetheless, I appreciate the position that Conservatives are taking, and hopefully we can find compromise on something else.
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