44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 6, 2022 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, my colleague seems very pleased with his government's record on fighting climate change.
I do not know what world he is living in exactly, but it was pretty pathetic to see the Minister of Environment and Climate Change walk into COP27 with a retinue of oil company executives. It would have been entertaining, if not for his government's feeble track record.
Canada is the only G7 country to have increased its emissions since 2007, since the Liberals took office. It is the second-worst G20 country on average in terms of public investment in fossil fuels. I cannot believe the government is still patting itself on the back. I want to know what the plan is now.
We were talking about the carbon tax. At $50, the current price, it is not effective. It would have to be tripled immediately to achieve concrete results. What is the government's plan for dealing with the problems of climate change?
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad this elicits the same response from my colleagues, because it shows just how little they know about climate change and how they do not really take it seriously, which we have seen time and time again. Even at their national convention, they voted to say that climate change was not real. Who, in their right mind, these days could deny climate change is real?
I will go back to my point, which is our government entrenched our climate commitments in the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act to hold our government and every future government accountable. We have the strongest emissions reduction plan. We have implemented all kinds of initiatives that are making changes right across our economy. Every industry is fighting climate change at the same time. It is a big task to transform our economy to net zero and move people's behaviours over to a sustainable lifestyle. It is going to take time, but I am very proud of our record.
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- Dec/6/22 7:02:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising tonight to call out the hypocrisy of the government.
In the way it treats Canadians and the way it treats itself, there is, needless to say, a profound dissonance between those two things. On the one hand, we have a Prime Minister who clearly loves to travel. He went to London this year and he or a member of his entourage spent $6,000 a night on a hotel room. We have actually tried to get information from the government about the carbon emissions associated with all the Prime Minister's travel, because he is raising the carbon tax. In fact, he plans to triple the carbon tax on Canadians, while he benefits from a whole bunch of publicly funded travel.
It is part of his job to travel, but the government was not even able to provide to the public accounts committee information about the level of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the Prime Minister. We would think he would be willing to be transparent about the cost and the carbon emissions associated with his own personal travel, but he does not want to do that. Instead, he wants to impose burdens and extra costs on Canadians by tripling the carbon tax that they have to pay when they travel, on their own dime, to visit family members, to go to essential functions or to have some time away. Therefore, we see the hypocrisy already from the government on that.
While the Prime Minister has been travelling all over the world and staying in outrageously expensive hotels, we have the government imposing the ArriveCAN app on Canadians, which was making it very difficult to travel. The ArriveCAN app was full of glitches and, in cases I hear from constituents, people who met all the rules such that they should not have had to quarantine were nonetheless ordered to quarantine by this piece of technology that did not work. This app, despite all of its problems, cost $54 million.
The government spends $54 million on an app that does not work and that forces many Canadians to stay home, including, in certain cases, even Canadians who have complied with what are supposed to be the rules and are still being forced to stay home. Meanwhile, we have the Prime Minister being able to take advantage of all this publicly funded travel, so that is more hypocrisy from the government. The government is grounding Canadians, increasing their taxes and imposing the ArriveCAN app on them, while the government's own largesse is truly out of control.
In response to my questions about the government's outrageous spending, about the ArriveCAN app and other things, we were told by a member of the government that this app saved lives. He claimed the app saved lives, which is particularly bizarre because we have specifically asked the government, in a written question, to show us the data that supports the travel restrictions it put in place. It turns out, according to the government's own responses to questions, that it did not even track the travel-based transmissions of COVID.
Regarding the various restrictions the Liberals imposed on Canadians with respect to being in airports, being in train stations and going back and forth, on which they imposed all sorts of restrictions, we asked how many cases of transmission they had seen in these environments that would justify the restrictions they put in place. It turned out that the Liberals were not even gathering data on the level of transmission in airports, train stations, etc.
In other words, the government is making these outrageous claims that this glitchy $54-million app saves lives, and it does not even have the data. Will the government account for this complete hypocrisy?
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- Dec/6/22 7:06:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am thrilled to address this question in the adjournment debate.
Our government understands that many Canadians are worried about our economy as it faces a period of slower economic growth due to the global challenge of high inflation and higher interest rates.
We recognize that Canadians are feeling the pain of inflation when they go to the grocery store, fill up their tanks and pay their rent. However, my colleague opposite prefaced his question tonight on the basis of hypocrisy, so I am glad that earlier today I had the forethought to print off the campaign commitment that the member and all Conservative members made to Canadians in the last election in the platform that the then leader of the Conservative Party put out. It is entitled “Secure the Environment”.
The member wants to talk about pricing carbon. I just want to read the promise that he made to his constituents in the last election campaign. It reads, “We recognize that the most efficient way to reduce our emissions is to use pricing mechanisms. However, having a market-based approach means that we cannot ignore the fact that our” North American partner does not have one. That is a good point. We indeed do have pricing mechanisms. He also committed to suggesting they “will put a price on carbon for consumers” which is what we have. He also ran on a commitment to increase the price on pollution to $50 a tonne, which is the current price as well. As I flip through the commitments that my colleague made to his constituents in the last election, I find a lot of similarities between the commitments that he made and what is currently in place.
I do want to suggest that there is good news for Canada right now. Inflation is slowing down. It was 8.1% in June and now it is under 7%. That is less than we see in many peer economies. In the United States, just south of the border, it is still almost 8%. In the Euro area it is 10%. We agree that inflation at 6.9% in Canada is still far too high but the reality remains there are still some difficulties ahead for Canada's economy. That is why we are moving forward with targeted measures that are already putting money back in the pockets of those who need it the most when they need it the most.
For example, individuals and families receiving the GST credit started receiving an additional $2.5 billion in support last month. Over 11 million families will see support through that measure. I would point out, as we have a couple of times in this House, that the members of the Conservative Party voted against that measure to support Canadians and their families. It also means that Canadians without children are receiving up to an additional $234 and couples with two children are receiving an extra $467 this year. Seniors are receiving an additional $225 on average.
When the member opposite speaks of hypocrisy, I want to point out that not only did he vote against all these measures to support Canadians, which put hundreds of dollars back into the pockets of Canadians, he also ran on a commitment in the last election to price carbon at $50 a tonne, which is the current price. The arguments about how we are not supporting Canadians do not hold any water for me because, when given an opportunity to chime in, to provide amendments, to make some suggestions on a bill that is tangibly right now supporting Canadians with rental supports, dental supports and a doubling of the HST credit, he voted against it.
An analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates the recent increases in temperature and precipitation, combined with future changes in weather patterns, will reduce Canada's real GDP by almost 6% in 2100. That is an atrocious thing that we can curb. We can fight climate change. Our government understands that.
I hope that whenever there is another election, the member opposite will continue to run on a platform of carbon pricing and sound economic and environmental policy. It will create a better future for all Canadians.
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