44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 1, 2023 10:00AM
- Jun/1/23 12:54:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I join with my colleague, whom I work with on the agriculture committee, in wishing everyone a happy Filipino Heritage Month. We have a large Filipino community in Regina, and I say hi to all my friends back home.
I have a simple question for my hon. colleague. Could she tell me how much carbon taxes 1 and 2 will reduce emissions in Canada? Is there a number that the Liberals have? They have not met many emissions reduction targets yet, so what will carbon taxes 1 and 2 do? What is the number in terms of how much emissions will be reduced?
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- Jun/1/23 12:54:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I enjoy working with the hon. member on the agriculture committee.
I just want to state that, from the national inventory report that was recently published, Canada's climate policies are starting to bend the curve on greenhouse gas emissions. Canada is leading the G7 emissions reduction since 2019 and produced 53 million tonnes less of carbon in 2021 than in 2019. That is the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off Canada's roads. Our plan is working. We are taking action to ensure that we push toward our 2030 emissions reduction target.
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- Jun/1/23 1:25:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we no longer know how to put it, but I will repeat the question that I have asked many times and to which I have yet to receive a response: Are the member and his party aware of the existence of climate change?
As we speak, there are towns in Quebec that have been evacuated because of forest fires. Now the Conservatives want to remove any incentive that will improve our performance and say that, since climate change exists, then the tax serves no purpose. The carbon tax was just created. We have to give the transformation time to take effect.
We agree with the fact that measures are needed for low-income Canadians. However, if the Conservatives get rid of this tax, what are they going to do? That is my big question.
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- Jun/1/23 1:26:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, does the Conservative Party believe that climate change is happening? Yes, to answer his question. However, do we believe that taxes are the way? Well, the Liberals, the Bloc and the NDP are proof that charging more to Canadians for a carbon tax scam is not working when emissions go up. They have not met a single emission target that they set for themselves. It is these failed policies that continue to not help the environment, the economy or Canadians. We are going to turn that all around and we are going to bring hope over this hurt that this collective has brought on Canadians.
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- Jun/1/23 1:38:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me to speak. It is so very kind of them.
I heard many Conservative members talk about relying on technology. The Liberals have had a plan for seven years, but as many people have pointed out this morning, it is not working. Some of my Conservative friends are saying they are going to rely on technology, but what technology are we talking about?
In the budget, the Liberals introduced tax credits to help the five biggest oil companies, which made $220 billion in combined profits in 2022, to engage in greenwashing and carbon capture. However, carbon capture does not work.
What technologies are my Conservative colleagues talking about when they say they are going to invest in technology?
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- Jun/1/23 1:39:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me talk as a chemical engineer about some of the things I have seen that are very effective at reducing emissions.
When I was the director of engineering at Suncor, for example, we had emissions reduction programs in place for all the refineries. We were able to reduce our GHG emissions by 25%. We were basically capturing the emissions and recycling them. Then there is carbon sequestration. Canada is a leader in this technology. It is a great carbon sink. That is a way of getting there.
In terms of energy, 40% of the energy in Ontario is nuclear. Of course, nuclear is carbon-free, so expanding into small modular nuclear reactors, especially in the emerging world, which is on coal and heavy carbon fuels, is a great idea. I also mentioned LNG supplanting coal. It is a lower-carbon fuel and is environmentally responsibly produced here.
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- Jun/1/23 1:40:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the last time the Conservative Party had a costed and modelled climate plan, it included both a price on carbon and a low-carbon fuel standard, two policies they are now saying they would not proceed with. My question to the member is this: When is the Conservative Party going to release a new modelled climate plan that replaces those policies with policies she claims are going to be effective?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Mr. Taylor Bachrach: Madam Speaker, I cannot hear if they are—
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- Jun/1/23 1:41:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, maybe I will start again so I can clearly articulate the question.
Given that just two years ago the Conservatives ran on a platform that included carbon pricing and a clean fuel standard, what do they intend to come forward with that would replace those, which just two years ago they said were adequate policies? I do not understand.
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- Jun/1/23 2:42:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is World Milk Day, and I would like to recognize the hard work of all the dairy farmers and processors from coast to coast.
These farmers work very hard. However, the second carbon tax this government is proposing is putting farming prospects at risk across the country. Canadians need farmers to put food on the table.
When will the Liberals wake up and cancel the second carbon tax, so Canadians can feed their families?
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- Jun/1/23 2:51:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, mothers in the north are having to make very difficult decisions because of the Prime Minister's first carbon tax, and now it is even worse with the new carbon tax 2.0. This is from Northwest Territories MLA Jackie Jacobson: “we're really hurting.... Single mothers are having to choose to buy Pampers or pay their cell bill, or pay their power bill, or pay to buy food, and people are going without.” No mother should ever have to make the difficult decision between buying food and keeping their children warm in winter.
When will the Prime Minister finally axe his cruel carbon tax?
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- Jun/1/23 2:52:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to admit that it is very disappointing to hear my hon. colleague opposite oversimplifying the issue. He knows full well that the carbon pricing system does not apply in Quebec.
Let us talk about carbon pricing. In 2021, not only did all members of the Conservative Party campaign in favour of carbon pricing, but 19 members on the other side campaigned in 2021 and 2008 to implement carbon pricing. They have reneged on their promise twice. They are breaking the promises they made to Canadians.
That is not what we are doing on this side of the House. We are working for Canadians. We are fighting climate change.
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- Jun/1/23 2:56:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' first carbon tax hikes the cost of gas and diesel, doubles heating and makes groceries more expensive. A record 1.5 million Canadians had to go to a food bank in one month, and one in five Canadians skip meals just to get by. The Liberals will hit struggling Canadians with carbon tax 2 anyway. It will add 17¢ a litre at the pumps, and it will hurt the working poor and people with low incomes the most.
Why do the Liberals not care and will they not axe their costly carbon taxes?
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- Jun/1/23 2:57:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, setting aside the fact that the members opposite all campaigned to put in place carbon pricing in Canada, let us look at what they are saying no to.
They are saying no to clean air and clean water. We were evacuating people in New Brunswick and in Quebec. We had to airlift people outside of Fort Chipewyan last night because of climate change. The Conservatives are saying let us make pollution free again, and let us move away from the economy of the 21st century. We are saying no.
We had the strongest economy of all G7 countries last year and we are the country that has reduced its emissions the most of all G7 countries. We can fight climate change and have a strong economy.
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- Jun/1/23 2:58:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say the carbon taxes are supposed to reduce emissions, but after eight years, they have missed every target and they only went down slightly once when governments locked Canada down.
To really help lower global emissions, Canada could export LNG, but after eight years and 18 proposals, the only one getting built was approved by Conservatives before. From oil and gas, to critical minerals, to tidal power and to offshore opportunities on every coast, the Liberals hold Canada back. The world wants Canada's energy and technology. The Liberals are out of touch and Canadians are out of money.
When will the Liberals axe their harmful, failed, costly carbon tax?
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- Jun/1/23 3:00:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I quote from the 2021 Conservative Party platform. It says, “Our plan will ensure that all Canadians can do their part to fight climate change, in the way that works best for them, and at a carbon price that is affordable...increasing to $50/tonne”. The document further states, “We will assess progress...[so] carbon prices [can be] on a path to $170/tonne”.
Either the Conservatives believe that climate change is real or they do not, but there is one thing that is for certain: Canadians in this country cannot believe a word that side says.
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- Jun/1/23 3:00:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the carbon tax has been in place in some jurisdictions in Canada now for nearly 15 years. The commissioner of the environment admitted at committee recently that Canada has no metric by which to measure whether there has been any reduction in carbon as a result of its implementation.
With no results other than its diminishing effects on Canadian pocketbooks, why in the world would the government place an additional carbon tax on their already weary and burdened backs?
When will the government finally listen to the common sense of the common people and scrap this useless, regressive, ineffective and punitive tax?
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- Jun/1/23 3:12:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that he campaigned during the last election on putting carbon pricing in place.
He is saying no to billions of dollars of investment already happening in Canada, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alberta and southern Ontario, in the new economy. That is what Conservatives are saying no to.
We are saying yes to fighting climate change. We are saying yes to having a strong economy.
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- Jun/1/23 3:38:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives do not talk about it because that is who their base is. That is who donates to them. When they put forward 10 motions about getting rid of the carbon tax, that is who they are targeting with those motions. When the Leader of the Opposition comes in here to speak to that issue, clips it afterward and puts it out there in an email blast, he is talking to those people. That is why they will not talk about it.
To the member's other question about a windfall tax, I think it is a very good discussion to have. I am completely open to it. I think we need to look at absolutely every possible solution to fight climate change, and I am more than willing to work with my colleague and other members of the House to see how we can go about doing that.
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- Jun/1/23 4:24:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the question I have for my colleague regards affordability. One thing we are hearing over and over again from Canadians is that they cannot afford another carbon tax. They cannot afford any more taxes as they try to just basically feed their families.
Would he not agree that it would be better, instead of doubling down on the carbon tax, which has not produced the desired results they were expecting, to look at other ways, such as what the U.S. and Australia have? Why would he insist on doubling tax on a carbon tax again when it is not working?
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- Jun/1/23 4:39:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in the House we often hear the Conservatives argue against carbon pollution pricing by saying that the continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions is proof it does not work. I have explained to my Conservative colleagues on several occasions, in the lobbies, that emissions could have risen even more if not for the carbon tax, but that does not seem to have worked.
I know that my colleague is a talented educator. He knows that I hold him in high regard because we have worked together in committee for a long time. I think that if he explained it in his own words, the message might get across.
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