44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/5/23 2:59:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over my time as a parliamentarian, I have had the honour and privilege of getting to know the hon. member and I respect him deeply. However, I have to say that when we are dealing with the consequences of climate change at home, we know we need to reduce our pollution. We also know the most cost-effective way to combat climate change is to put a price on pollution.
With respect to this specific policy, eight out of 10 Canadian families are going to receive more. What the Conservatives are advocating for is to take that money away from families so they can give it to polluters. This is nonsensical policy. We are going to continue to advance an ambitious environmental agenda and make life more affordable at the same time.
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- Jun/5/23 7:28:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member talks almost exclusively in bumper sticker slogans that the Conservative Party recycles. Recycling slogans is the only environmental plan it has.
Why does he not mention anything about climate change, in terms of affordability, and its impact on food prices and impact on Canadians? However, I will not ask him that.
My question is this: Before standing up in this House and ignoring climate change, did he even go outside today to see the smoke in the air in the nation's capital from forest fires elsewhere, or is he just going to put his head in the sand and continue with the old ways of the Conservative Party?
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- Jun/5/23 7:29:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of smoke and a lot of hot air coming out of that member's mouth. The member fails to realize that all these events are taking place. How much has the Liberals' carbon tax actually helped? How many fires or climate events has it stopped from happening?
The Liberals do not even have an environmental plan. We looked for it everywhere. Can anyone say they found the Liberals' environmental plan? Mr. Speaker, have you seen it? I have not seen it yet, and I looked for it. I did not find it anywhere. What we found was a tax plan that made gas, groceries and home heating more expensive, and the Liberals doubled down. Their failed carbon tax scam 1.0 already made the cost of everything go up, and now they are going to pile-drive another one, with carbon tax scam 2.0.
They need to get serious, actually present an environmental plan and stop the hypocrisy.
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- Jun/5/23 7:34:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I am the wrong person to look to for a Tupac quote. However, in the rest of my speech, I will try to educate, enlighten and entertain members of this chamber.
I asked about this in my question. It was troubling this morning when I got a warning on my phone. I think we all would have if we looked at the weather. It was an air quality advisory in Ottawa, which was related to forest fires elsewhere. It is shocking to me that members of the Conservative Party could go outside this building, see it with their own eyes, and then go to their ridings. They stand from Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. They see these forest fires; they see the impacts of climate change so directly. It is impacting lives. I know they are passionate about their constituents. They get up, talk and ask what the government is doing, but they do not talk about the impacts of climate change on their residents.
The Conservatives do not put two and two together, despite scientists across the country, Nobel laureates and every credible scientist saying that these things are connected. However, the Conservatives stick their heads in the sand, even though they all, every single one, ran on a price on pollution during the last election. They can see it. We can see it with our own eyes. The hon. members can see, with their own eyes, the impacts of that.
What will these forest fires and floods cost Canadians? What do droughts cost farmers? The members talk about the impacts on Canadians, and that is the right thing to be talking about. What are the long-term impacts? What are the impacts going to be on our kids? If it is tens of billions of dollars now, what is it going to be for our kids? My kids are about to turn seven and five. What is it going to be like in 20 years?
We are seeing the planet get warmer. The Conservative Party of Canada is going to throw its hands up in the air and say, “We've tried nothing, but we're all out of ideas.” I do not know how they can look their kids and their grandkids in the eye.
There is a lot more work that we have to do. That is fair enough; there is not necessarily one way to get to a particular path, but the Conservatives are offering no solutions. We can see smoke in the sky outside. What do the Conservatives have? They have absolutely nothing but bumper sticker slogans. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the only part of the Conservative environmental plan is recycling their slogans. That is all they have.
When it comes to actually working for Canadians, the Conservatives talk a good game. All these slogans sound great; they are going to do this or that, all these things straight off the bumper sticker. However, where have they been in the last seven and a half years? The Liberal government and other parliamentarians have worked hard to help lift Canadians out of poverty. There are 2.7 million fewer Canadians living in poverty, than there were in 2015, when the Conservatives were in power.
Where were they when the Canada child benefit was discussed? They voted against it. They were against increases to the guaranteed income supplement and increases to old age security. The Conservative leader is fervently against day care, which means thousands of dollars in the pockets of families who are having a difficult time. The Conservatives were against the Canada worker benefit and the rental benefit. Time after time, Conservatives talk a good game, but that is all they have.
There is no policy plan, only cuts. We have seen this story before. They say, “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The government will not be there for you.” There would not be anything that the Conservative party would do to help Canadians, except make it free to pollute.
The cornerstone of their policy is that those who pollute the most will get the biggest tax break. They will cut the benefits to Canadians, cut the green rebate to Canadians, the climate action incentive, and transfer that money to the biggest polluters in this country. That is unbelievably shocking.
There is no ambition. There is no fear for our children on that side of the House, and there is no desire to do anything better for our kids. There is no view in terms of what the long-term costs are going to be on this because, again, they will do nothing. Let the fires burn. Let the floods happen. The Conservative Party of Canada will do absolutely nothing on climate change. We have heard from economists, from the insurance industry and from national security experts, who have said the greatest threat to this country is the impacts of climate change. The Conservatives do not care. It is really that simple. If they cared, there would be some kind of plan. They talk about having technology. Where is this magic box that the Conservative leader has that is going to solve this crisis? There is no plan.
They talk a lot about food banks, again, rightfully so. There are a lot of Canadians who are having a difficult time, despite the supports.
Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan: I wonder why.
Mr. Chris Bittle: The hon. member who is heckling me talked about food banks, but I am not hearing from my food bank that we should cut the price on pollution. That is not what they are talking about.
Conservatives are laughing. They think it is hilarious that there are 30,000 Canadians who have been evacuated from their homes. They do not care. They are laughing.
Mr. Damien Kurek: How shameful.
Mr. Chris Bittle: That is right. It is shameful, as the hon. member said.
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for his excellent speech.
One of the things he spoke to was employment insurance. I know that the topic is important to him. I would like to hear him speak about the environment as well.
Bill C‑47 is very short on environmental proposals, to put it mildly. In fact, it lets the oil companies use taxpayer money that they do not really need to invest in solutions that do not really work.
I would like to hear my colleague's opinion on that subject.
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- Jun/5/23 9:51:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, through you to the member, we are not saying that we have an issue with the climate crisis; we are saying we have an issue with the Liberals' tax plan, which has nothing to do with protecting the environment. They are collecting more money, which is leaving Canadians a lot less, yet they are meeting zero emissions targets. How is their tax plan, and so-called environmental plan, helping the environment? It is not.
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