44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 14, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/14/23 2:26:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know where my colleague was this morning when the headlines were touting the federal-provincial health care deal. Newspapers across the country are reporting on this agreement. It is a good agreement that will improve access to family doctors.
I think it is worth it. It means having front-line physicians, investing in our health care workforce—the heroes, the men and women who make a difference every day in health care—investing in mental health, and ensuring the sustainability of the health care system.
This is a good deal. The Bloc Québécois might not like it, but it is a good deal.
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- Feb/14/23 2:27:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada reports that nearly half of Canadians, 44%, are reporting that they are struggling with paying their rents and groceries. On top of that, Canadians pay some of the highest cellphone and Internet fees in the world. The Rogers-Shaw merger will only make things worse. Canadians who are already struggling will have to pay even more for their cellphone and Internet fees.
The government has a choice today. Will it stand up for families and say no to this merger, or will it put billions of dollars into the pockets of billionaires? Which is it?
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- Feb/14/23 2:28:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very simple. We stand on the side of Canadians.
That is why, yesterday, my hon. colleague was saying we should direct it to the CRTC to lower prices for Canadians and bring more competition into the sector. The member knows, as I have said before, what matters for me is to bring down prices and bring in competition, and the best way we have done that in this country is to have a fourth national player. We will always act in the best interests of consumers in Canada.
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- Feb/14/23 2:28:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if I just heard the minister correctly, does that mean he will oppose the merger today?
We know the Rogers-Shaw merger will drive cellphone service prices up. Canadians already pay some of the highest fees in the world. This merger will make things worse and raise prices.
The minister has a choice today. Will he block the merger and stand up for Canadians, yes or no?
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- Feb/14/23 2:29:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question.
As my colleague knows and as Canadians tuning in today will be aware, we issued a new direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission yesterday, asking the CRTC to adopt policies to lower prices in Canada and increase competition.
I have been very vocal about this: It is in everyone's best interest to bring prices down and make sure there is competition. The best way to do that in Canada is to have a fourth national player.
Canadians watching us know this. We will always be there to protect consumer interests.
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- Feb/14/23 2:29:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister's incompetence, home heating has become a luxury. He said he could not find a business case to provide the world with clean Canadian energy and cancelled pipelines, making the cost of home heating double in this country, yet he found a business case to shovel billions of dollars to his Liberal crony insiders, giving them cushy contracts. Now, Canadians are having to turn down the heat and wear blankets right before he triples his failed carbon tax.
Will the Prime Minister come up with a real climate change plan and stop with the virtue signalling so Canadians can keep the heat on and take the tax off?
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- Feb/14/23 2:30:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that the policies we are putting in place will help Canadians reduce their dependency on expensive fossil fuels and replace them with Canadian-generated clean electricity, reducing their energy bills, which is why we have worked to help Canadians in Atlantic Canada and across the country reduce their home heating bills.
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- Feb/14/23 2:30:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem with that plan is that it is not an environmental plan. I looked for it and I could not find it. Can anyone else find it? Mr. Speaker, did you find it?
What I did find was a tax plan that made gas, groceries and home heating more expensive. It is a tax plan that has not helped the Liberals meet a single emissions-reduction target, and they have made emissions go up.
When will they stop their fake virtue signalling and cancel the failed carbon tax so Canadians can keep the heat on?
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- Feb/14/23 2:31:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is somewhat rich coming from the opposition that flip-flops on carbon pricing faster than I can flip my pancakes in the morning. One minute, the Conservatives are in favour of carbon pricing. The next minute, they are not. The minute after that, they are for carbon pricing. In the last election, the members of the opposition campaigned on carbon pricing and now they are saying they—
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- Feb/14/23 2:31:52 p.m.
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I am going to have to pause for a second. I am having a hard time hearing the answer up here because of the heckling going back and forth. I know that everybody wants to hear the response, just like they want to hear the question.
The hon. minister has 15 seconds left.
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- Feb/14/23 2:32:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Conservative Party of Canada, with its reckless policies, flip-flops on carbon pricing faster than I can flip my pancakes in the morning. It is impossible to know what its position is at any given minute because it changes its position so often.
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- Feb/14/23 2:32:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians are facing a generational cost-of-living crisis. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Canadians are now facing the biggest financial challenges of their lives, yet the Liberals continue to double down on increasing the carbon tax, which will occur again on April 1. Conservatives would keep the heat on and take the tax off.
Will the Prime Minister show some compassion and scrap the carbon tax?
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- Feb/14/23 2:33:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important in the House that we are actually not misleading Canadians. As the official opposition members know, eight out of 10 Canadian families—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/14/23 2:33:33 p.m.
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The hon. minister, from the top, please.
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- Feb/14/23 2:33:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition members know full well, even though they actually do not say it publicly, that eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back than they pay in the price on pollution. Certainly, affordability is a critical issue, but so is climate change. I would say it is enormously rich for a party that cannot even acknowledge the reality of climate change to be asking about the government's climate plan.
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- Feb/14/23 2:34:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals do not have an environmental plan; they have a tax plan. They are starting to sound like a broken record of broken promises and failed policies. The reality is that 38% of Canadians are nearly broke. This is according to the federal government's own researchers. Just this morning, I met with some students from Burnaby's Simon Fraser Student Society, who told me that students are missing meals because they cannot afford to eat.
Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for students who cannot even afford to feed themselves, or will the Conservatives have to fix what he broke?
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- Feb/14/23 2:34:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, certainly affordability issues are critically important for all Canadians. I think everybody in this House can agree on that.
Certainly this government is taking steps to address affordability concerns across the board, but one of those, to be honest, is a price on pollution where eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back. It is an important policy to reduce emissions and fight climate change but do so in a manner that promotes affordability.
My goodness, it is far past time that the official opposition actually acknowledged the reality of climate change and put forward a plan that Canadians can look at.
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- Feb/14/23 2:35:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that after eight years of the Prime Minister, one in four Canadians cannot afford a $500 unexpected expense. Nearly half of Canadians are concerned about affording their rent and their mortgage payments, which have doubled under the current Prime Minister, and too many Canadians are concerned about heating their homes, because it has become so expensive under the current Prime Minister.
Now, on top of that, the Liberals are going to triple, triple, triple the carbon tax. Will they help Canadians out by keeping the heat on and taking the tax off?
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- Feb/14/23 2:35:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy of the other side is astounding. We are talking about affordability, about helping Canadians to make ends meet, and members on the other side voted against a $500 top-up on housing. They voted against dental supports for 500,000 kids. They voted against rental supports. They voted against supporting Canadians at a time when they needed it the most. They have no plan. We do, and we will keep supporting Canadians.
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- Feb/14/23 2:36:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we voted against was putting more fuel on the fire. We cannot spend our way out of inflation.
The fact is that the Liberals' carbon tax plan is a failed plan that has not met any target that they have set. Even the Bank of Canada governor has admitted that the carbon tax is contributing to inflation, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that households will pay more in carbon tax than they will get back in rebates.
Will the Liberals help Canadians out by keeping the heat on and taking the tax off?
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