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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 245

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 2, 2023 10:00AM
  • Nov/2/23 2:35:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, do we know what she will do? She will stand with the folks who are having an affordability challenge related to heating oil. It will apply in every province and territory in this country where provinces step up to co-deliver with the federal government. It is a plan that will address the short-term issues for those folks who are most pressed, but it will do so in a manner that will save significant dollars in the long term. It will address it in a manner consistent with fighting the existential threat of climate change. I say this again in the House: It is a shameful thing that, in this country, we still have a political party that does not believe in the reality of climate change and has no plan to address it.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:36:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is actually shameful is how the Liberals continue to divide Canadians every chance they get. Now it is about heat. Sigi from Dufferin just paid $100 in carbon tax to heat his home for one month. In the Maritimes, Sigi would pay zero. That is dividing Canadians. Sigi is on a fixed income. He cannot afford it. They are basically saying he should freeze in the dark. Why do the Liberals not stop dividing Canadians? Will they take the tax off so Sigi can keep the heat on?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:36:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the only folks in this chamber who are dividing Canadians are from the Conservative Party of Canada. We are focused on addressing a significant affordability challenge. Heating oil costs two to four times what natural gas does, and it appreciated by 75% in 2022. It is time that the Conservatives stop playing partisan games and focus on good public policy that addresses the critical issues that Canadians are facing, but in a manner that protects affordability and addresses climate change. Once again, I say it is shameful that they have no policy to address climate change.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:37:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a minister making $300,000 a year, who gets driven around in a limo, says it is a political stunt when I talk about a retired senior who cannot pay the carbon tax. This behaviour by the Liberals is disgusting. Not all Liberals have to behave that way; on Monday, there will be a common-sense Conservative motion to axe the tax. They do not have to behave like a limousine Liberal minister. They can stand up for their constituents. They can vote to take the tax off, so people like Sigi can keep the heat on.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:38:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am in the awkward position of contradicting my colleague in the House. In fact, on the other side of the House, they do have a plan. Some of them owe their seats to that plan. It was a carbon tax plan. It was the Erin O'Toole Christmas wish book of green things that the Conservative Party will pick out just in time for the holiday season. Once again, with the price on pollution, we put cold hard cash back into the pockets of Canadians, not the O'Toole Christmas wish book.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:39:04 p.m.
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Order. Colleagues, I am sure all members would like to hear the question. The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:39:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to lay out some facts. The carbon tax affects the price of food in Quebec. The second carbon tax will apply in Quebec. The Bloc Québécois wants to radically increase the Liberal taxes on fuel and food. Quebeckers are turning to food banks in record numbers every month. The Prime Minister announced a break on the carbon tax, but only for the Atlantic provinces. It is unfair, it is illogical, and it is enough. Will the Liberals vote with us in favour of our common-sense motion to get rid of the carbon tax on all forms of heating for all Canadians?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:39:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, the price on pollution puts more money in the pockets of people in the middle class. Second, the price on pollution reduces pollution. Third, climate change is real. We know the Conservative leader does not believe in what I just said. Would my esteemed colleague be willing to invite him to Baie‑Saint‑Paul to see the effects of climate change and meet with my former colleagues from Université Laval for a crash course on why a price on pollution is important?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:40:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell my colleague from Quebec that his Atlantic colleagues had a different take on what he calls the price on pollution. What we saw in the Atlantic provinces is that people were being financially squeezed. They were forced to ask the Prime Minister to flip-flop, change his policy and cancel the carbon tax. What we are asking him to do now is just to be fair to all Canadians, including Quebeckers. Let us not forget that the federal carbon price is driving up the carbon market, which has doubled in the past two years. I mention this in passing to my hon. friends in the Bloc Québécois. Can the Prime Minister confirm that, on Monday, he will be voting with the Liberal members, and perhaps the NDP gang, to scrap the carbon tax across Canada for heating?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:41:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I count not just one, two or three members of the Leader of the Opposition's caucus who supported a price on pollution in Quebec, but four. How many others are hiding and have changed their minds since he took over as leader of the Conservative Party? My message to them is to not be afraid of their leader and to respect their own opinion.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:41:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at 11:30 a.m., the Quebec minister of immigration, francization and integration said she had not had any discussions on immigration targets with her federal counterpart. At 3:30 p.m., the federal minister in question voted in favour of a motion calling on him to review the targets, after consultation with Quebec and the provinces, based on their integration capacity. At 4 p.m., he released the new targets for 2024. If the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship processed applications as fast as the minister reneges on his votes, the two‑million-case backlog would be a thing of the past. Will he abide by his vote, consult Quebec and review his targets?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:42:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member opposite has brought this up. I am proud to stand in the House today and re-echo that, yesterday, we tabled our new immigration levels plan for 2024-26. Our plan will ensure that immigration continues to grow our economy and to provide stabilized growth, while balancing pressure on housing, infrastructure and essential services. Immigration is important to Canada, and we will continue to embrace newcomers and ensure that they have the support they need in their new communities.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:43:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec confirmed that no consultation took place. More to the point, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship admitted it yesterday at his press conference. He explained to journalists that he had spoken to Christine Fréchette about foreign workers and refugees, but never about the 500,000 immigrants per year. The minister promised to consult Quebec before setting his targets, but he confirmed that he had not done so. When is he going to get back to work and finish the job?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:43:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows full well that Quebec sets its own immigration thresholds in consultation with various stakeholders and organizations. It does so according to its own needs. Obviously, when we set our targets, we discuss them with Quebec. What I find odd is that the Bloc Québécois is never satisfied. Its members are always trying to pick a fight. They are upset when we vote against their motion. Now they are upset because we are voting in favour of their motion. They come off as a bunch of Grouchy Smurfs. Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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  • Nov/2/23 2:44:16 p.m.
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Order, please. I am sure everyone would like to hear the question from the hon. member for Saint-Jean. The hon. member for Saint-Jean.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:44:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in a response to a question from the Bloc Québécois yesterday, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said that questioning Quebec's capacity to integrate immigrants showed bad faith and was essentially a refusal to listen to what is going on. Let me tell members what shows bad faith: setting record immigration thresholds without even trying to determine our integration capacity. Let me tell members a refusal to listen really is: refusing to consult Quebec. “Bad faith and a refusal to listen” could have been the title of the plan the minister unveiled yesterday. Will the minister scrap his plan and consult Quebec in order to present thresholds that are based on reality?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:45:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Bloc Québécois wants to pick a fight with the federal government. Our government is making investments in French, even in Quebec. We have invested tens of millions of dollars in additional funding as part of our action plan for French integration. We have also given the province of Quebec $500 million to invest in immigration each year. Does the leader of the Bloc Québécois disagree with giving Quebec that money? We have a plan to support Quebec and operate with investments in French integration across the country and in Quebec as well.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:45:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday, we will be voting on a common-sense Conservative motion to axe the carbon tax on home heating for every single Canadian. It is snowing in southern Alberta; it is cold. It should not be a luxury to heat our homes, yet when the Prime Minister quadruples his carbon tax, Mountainview Farms in my riding will be paying $480,000 a year in carbon taxes. The Prime Minister says that there is no carbon tax relief for Alberta. However, on Monday, the Liberal members for Calgary Skyview and Edmonton Centre have a chance to defend Alberta and vote with us to end the tax and keep the heat on. Will they do it?
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  • Nov/2/23 2:46:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend across the aisle is forgetting some facts. One is that the price on pollution works in such a way that there is a rebate, where 80% of Canadians get more money back. In fact, an Alberta family of four gets $386 per quarter. It is more than what people pay in terms of the price on pollution. The pause for three years for home heating oil is based on the specific issue around the cost associated with home heating. It is done in a manner that is consistent with continuing to fight climate change, which is what a price on pollution is all about.
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  • Nov/2/23 2:47:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the NDP will have the opportunity to show who they work for: the Prime Minister or Canadians who want the tax off and the heat on. It is cold in Edmonton, yet Edmontonians are being penalized as a result of this NDP-Liberal government's punitive carbon tax on home heating. Is the Liberal minister from Edmonton going to order the NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach to once again vote against his constituents, or will he be permitted to vote with Conservatives to axe the tax and keep the heat on?
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