44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 8, 2022 10:00AM
- Dec/8/22 5:16:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, yes, we have to launch many infrastructure projects. One of the big Liberal failures is that the Infrastructure Bank has hardly done any projects at all.
We also have to make our economy more resilient through innovation through the private sector, and we have been doing that. Agriculture is a perfect example. All the innovations done through technology and better seeding practices have all been done through the private sector. Whether it is precision ag, zero tillage, crop rotation or crop cover, it was all done by private entrepreneurial agriculture producers.
There was not one government program that said, “Thou shalt do zero tillage.” It was done through private innovation, technology and the sharing of best practices. That is how we get ahead and create a more resilient economy, not by continuous government intervention.
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- Dec/8/22 5:17:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will start by recognizing, as the member said, that families and all people are suffering right now with the rising prices of food and inflation. It is true; it is happening, and unfortunately, as families and regular Canadians are suffering, large corporations are taking home outsized, massive profits that are not being fairly taxed.
Does the member agree with the NDP that large corporations should pay their fair share and that those outsized profits that grocery chains and the oil and gas sector have gained over this time should be redistributed to people to help pay their bills?
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- Dec/8/22 5:17:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the NDP continually tries to have this class warfare, whereby it pits companies against employees, westerners against easterners and urban against rural. It continually tries to divide Canadians. It learned that from its Liberal counterparts.
Everyone should be working together in Canada to make our economy work better. I have never seen a company without employees, and I have never seen employees without a company. They should work hand in hand. We should stop trying to pit them against each other, because that is a recipe for failure. That is what the NDP did in Saskatchewan, and that is why it is relegated to having 10 seats in that province, because it did not understand the economy or that we need to work together to grow our economy.
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Madam Speaker, that was a most interesting exchange. Maybe we can get into it later in questions.
Our Conservative Party motion we are debating today is an opportunity for all members of Parliament, even those in the Liberal backbenches, to stand up for their constituents. I know it would take courage, but I urge each and every one of them to do the right thing. If we can pass this motion, it would send a clear message and a strong signal to the Prime Minister that his government needs to get serious about the dramatic rise in the price of food. It would also send a signal to our entire agriculture and agri-food sector that the House of Commons will not sit idly by. We must do everything in our power to stop the Liberal government from making it more expensive for them to produce the food that Canadian consumers rely on.
There is a cost-of-living crisis for millions of Canadians. Our Conservative team gets up every single day in this House to fight for them, and sadly all we hear are empty Liberal talking points with no solutions. Just yesterday the Bank of Canada raised the interest rate another half a percentage point. First-time homebuyers are now paying $500 more a month in monthly payments for the same mortgage they had a year ago, and it now takes 67% of their income to service a traditional mortgage.
With these relentless rate hikes, more and more already struggling Canadians will have to choose between paying their mortgage and putting food on the table. Canadians are out of money, and the Liberal government is out of touch. We can just look at the number of credit card applications this year over last year. A report the other day had it at a 31% increase.
Like all MPs in the House, I am getting emails and calls from moms and dads who are struggling to pay their bills and put food on their tables. I am hearing from seniors who worked decades to save for their retirements, only to see inflation eradicate their income and their financial security. Every time families and seniors go to the grocery store, they get sticker shock. It is expected the average family will pay an additional $1,065 for groceries next year. It is no wonder that one in five Canadians is already skipping meals and a record one and a half million Canadians are visiting food banks every single month.
Our Conservative opposition day motion would not only help reduce the cost of food for families and seniors, it would pour water on the fire of government-induced inflation.
I farmed all my life. It is what I know best. I also represent countless farm families and hear from them every day. They find it reprehensible that the Liberal government is determined to make it more difficult for them to produce the food we eat. It is simply unconscionable that their own government is implementing policies that are making it more expensive for them to farm and stay competitive.
Farmers will never forgive the Liberals for calling them tax cheats, and they will never forget how the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture voted against my private member's bill, Bill C-208, which my colleague referred to earlier, that made it easier to transfer their farm to the next generation. The one little correction is that it is working. It is out there today and farmers are taking advantage of it, but they are only 3% of the small businesses in Canada. There are 97% of the small businesses in Canada that are not farms, and they are also getting the opportunity to level the playing field, because nobody is getting an advantage here. It is just a levelling of the playing field under Bill C-208.
Returning to the farming industry, farmers are livid that the Liberals recently voted against the Conservative bill to completely exempt them from the carbon tax. We live in Canada, where it gets cold and wet. Farmers need to dry their grain and heat their livestock barns. Farmers are getting punished through no fault of their own.
As the recent “Canada's Food Price Report 2023” stated, a typical 5,000-acre farm, which has been alluded to today many times and of which there are many across the Prairies, will have to pay $150,000 in carbon taxes per year, once the Liberals triple their carbon tax.
When I was a farm leader, I recognized that there is 100 million acres of arable farmland on the Prairies. If that was an average rate, it would require that $3 billion be taken out of the farm pockets and added to the cost of food. I want to remind the Minister of Agriculture that every time the cost of growing food, processing food and transporting food goes up, we see those costs borne out in our grocery store receipts.
Our Conservative motion aims to resolve the long-standing issue of the Liberal carbon tax being one of the cost drivers that is making Canada less competitive and making food more expensive. On the first issue, farmers have seen their input costs soar, which includes energy and fertilizer. With the Liberal carbon tax being applied to many aspects of our agriculture and transportation sectors, it is making farmers less competitive on the world stage.
Lots of farmers in my region experienced a wet spring and had to rely on aerial application services. Those companies pay the Liberal carbon tax, which is passed down to the farmer.
Many farmers get custom haulers to take their grain, oil seeds and pulses to the elevator or their final destination. Those companies pay the Liberal carbon tax, and it is passed down to the farmer.
Most farmers use fertilizer to increase their yields. Those companies that produce and transport the fertilizer pay the Liberal carbon tax, which is passed on to the farmer.
I could go and on, but it is clear that the Liberal government does not know how farmers operate. Almost every product that a farmer needs to purchase to plant a crop, maintain a crop and then harvest a crop gets transported in from somewhere, and the Liberal carbon tax is applied to all of it.
The beef and pork producers in my riding also feel the brunt of the Liberal carbon tax. The trucking companies that haul the supplies they need to run their farms and ship their livestock pay the Liberal carbon tax, and it is passed on to the farmer.
If members are starting to see a trend, it is that a significant portion of our agriculture sector is paying the carbon tax.
As our leader said, our Conservative team wants to repatriate food production by standing with our farmers here at home. The Liberal government's high energy taxes and proposed fertilizer emissions cuts will only drive food production abroad to higher-polluting foreign jurisdictions, which would have them then burn fuel to send that food by ship, train and truck back to us. Our Conservative team wants to repeal these taxes and fertilizer mandates to get out of the way and get off the backs of our farmers.
It is no wonder the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that families are seeing a net loss thanks to the Liberal approach. Families and seniors are getting crushed, and it is time for action. They are tired of the Liberals gaslighting about how much better off they are under the carbon tax rebate scheme.
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- Dec/8/22 5:27:06 p.m.
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It being 5:27 p.m., and today being the last allotted day for the supply period ending December 10, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question to dispose of the business of supply.
The question is on the motion.
Shall I dispense?
Some hon. members: No.
[Chair read text of motion to House]
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division or wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
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- Dec/8/22 5:29:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we would like a recorded division.
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- Dec/8/22 5:29:08 p.m.
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- Dec/8/22 6:12:26 p.m.
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I declare the motion defeated.
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- Dec/8/22 6:12:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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- Dec/8/22 6:12:26 p.m.
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If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division or wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
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- Dec/8/22 6:12:26 p.m.
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moved:
That the supplementary estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, be concurred in.
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- Dec/8/22 6:23:39 p.m.
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I declare the motion carried.
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moved that Bill C-36, An Act for granting to His Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, be now read the first time and printed.
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- Dec/8/22 6:25:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
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moved that the bill be read the second time and referred to committee of the whole.
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- Dec/8/22 6:25:00 p.m.
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If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.
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Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to apply the results of the previous vote to this vote, with Liberal members voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, we agree to apply the vote, with Conservative members voting against.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois members unanimously agree to apply the results of the previous vote to this vote, with Bloc members voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour.
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