SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 257 - Nov/28/23

Nov/28/23 6:37:11 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, there is a lot in that answer that I would like to respond to, but I do not have the time. The member spoke of the cost of inaction, and Canadians are seeing that cost right now under the government. Canada is 58th out of 63 on the climate index for performance under the government's plan. It continues to miss climate target after climate target. All the while, the government is driving up the cost of living, making life more unaffordable for Canadians. It is clear that the Liberals' plan has not worked, but their only answer is to say to continue following their plan. It is not working. When is the government finally going to recognize that?

121 words

Plan
Climate

Mr. Adam van Koeverden

Nov/28/23 6:37:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, Canadians are starting to recognize what the Conservative Party is all about. It was really highlighted last week when, en masse, they voted against the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, using carbon pricing as a wedge against it, suggesting that it was because the agreement mentions carbon pricing. It is worth noting that the agreement does not insist that either country have a carbon pricing plan. It is also worth noting that Ukraine has been pricing carbon since 2011. This is nothing new for it. Despite the fact that President Zelenskyy himself, the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce begged Canadian members of Parliament to vote for that agreement, Conservatives used carbon pricing as a wedge and decided to vote against it. Apparently, this “axe the tax” strategy that they have put forth over the last couple of months is more important than the rebuilding of Ukraine. Ukrainian Canadians see that and are extremely disappointed in the Conservative Party, as am I.

177 words

Ukraine

Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

Nov/28/23 6:39:02 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, three weeks ago, I asked the government if there would be a free vote for its backbench for the upcoming Conservative motion on removing the carbon tax from all forms of home heating for all Canadians. I had singled out the member for Calgary Skyview. The response I got from the parliamentary secretary was a justification rooted in concern about the cost and efficiency of oil furnaces and the tired pretense that the carbon tax carve-out was somehow not only for Atlantic Canadians. The parliamentary secretary apparently thought that Canadians would somehow believe that, since there are a few Canadians in remote areas of northern Ontario, and a few other places here and there that have oil furnaces, somehow Canadians would think that the carbon tax carve-out was not just for Atlantic Canadians, which is the only part of Canada where oil furnaces are commonly used. There are two problems with the parliamentary secretary's spin. The first is that the Minister of Rural Economic Development confirmed on national television that it was, in fact, a political position aimed at Atlantic Canadian voters in response to an Atlantic Canadian backbench revolt. She told Canadians that, if people in the Prairies wanted a carbon tax carve-out for their heating bills, their solution would be to vote for more Liberals. There it is. The policy is a regional exception, rooted in political desperation, and has nothing to do with the relative efficiency of various heating sources. How could it? The rest of their standard answer has always been that the carbon tax does not make life unaffordable. In one fell swoop, the government admitted that the carbon tax is crushing Canadians by inflating their heating bills and that the solution to fixing this is to remove the tax from home heating, but it is only willing to do it in one region of the country. The second problem with the response is what I want the government to address tonight. I asked whether the member for Calgary Skyview would be allowed to vote freely on the Conservative motion to remove the tax for all Canadians. I know the riding of Calgary Skyview pretty well. It is in my city, and I know that virtually everyone of his constituents has either a natural gas forced air furnace or a gas-fuelled central boiler. We know for a fact that Calgary is cold enough that everybody in the city needs a reliable source of heat to keep their homes at a safe temperature in the winter, so we are left to wonder. Atlantic MPs obviously fought for their constituents to get a break on the carbon tax, but what about the member for Calgary Skyview? Is he totally indifferent to the people in Calgary? Does he care if they cannot afford to heat their homes? Does he think that, since they have a natural gas furnace, they should have to pay the carbon tax? Does he think that all the people in his riding should be glad that the carbon tax is there and that the government's other anti-Alberta policies, which have killed investments and jobs, are a good thing? Does he think that they sent him to Ottawa to impose the carbon tax on them and to run interference for the government at the natural resources committee? If the member for Calgary Skyview had a free vote to keep the tax, then shame on him. If the member for Calgary Skyview said nothing, but was whipped into line, then shame on him and on the Liberal government. If the member for Calgary Skyview actually did demand the carbon tax carve-out for people in Calgary and he was ignored, then shame on the Prime Minister and the government for cynically playing region against region and forcing Canadians, who cannot afford rent, food and fuel, into paying a carbon tax when all they want is to not freeze during a cold Canadian winter. I will ask this again: Did the government allow the member for Calgary Skyview a free vote when he voted to punish his own community by voting against the Conservative motion for a carbon tax carve-out?

703 words

Mr. Adam van Koeverden (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, Lib.)

Nov/28/23 6:43:09 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, what an absolutely out-of-touch question this is from an urban member of Parliament who clearly has no idea what it is like living in a rural part of the country. There are lots of members in our society who live too far away from a natural gas pipeline, who still use home heating oil to heat their homes. It is not a regional thing. There are lot of people in Atlantic Canada who still use home heating oil, but there are over 150,000 Ontarians, and hundreds of people in my riding of Milton, who still use home heating oil. It continues to be the dirtiest and the most emissions-intensive way to heat homes. It is also the most expensive by far. The market-based instrument that is used to nudge people away from certain products, like home heating oil and other emissions-intensive products, work best when there is a clear alternative. That is what we are doing, we are creating that alternative for Canadians. We are providing free heat pumps. We are working with provinces to get people off the dirtiest form of home heating in favour of an electric option. It is really disappointing to continue to hear this from members. The Conservatives have become a one-issue party. They are really focused on carbon pricing, when they all ran on a promise to price carbon. The member talked about accountability, why we were sent here and under what pretense we were sent here. I hate to tell the member again, for the third or fourth time, but he ran on a promise to price carbon. It was in the Zellers sort of catalogue of green options, “the more you burn, the more you earn” was the byline that a lot of people gave it. The continued insistence that this is a regional program and that carbon pricing does not work is categorically false. Our emissions are dropping in Canada. We are making great progress. We had a lot of work to do from 2015 when we got elected, because the previous Conservative government was completely oblivious to climate change. It did not believe it existed, and it did not want to lead around the world. With this fall economic statement, released just last week, our government is taking further action to support the middle class and to lower our emissions. Our economic plan is all about building a strong economy that works for everyone, with more homes built faster and great jobs that Canadians can count on. As we have seen the rapid rise in interest rates, they have started to really have an impact on Canadians' wallets. That has been a significant financial challenge, but tying it all to climate action and carbon pricing is not just misleading Canadians, it is also completely false. I am glad that, last week, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced some new targeted measures to help stabilize some prices and make life more affordable, and protect people who have mortgages to pay. We are meeting the moment. There is an affordability challenge out there, so we are finding solutions to actually help Canadians while the Conservatives just wear their t-shirts, slap their bumper stickers on the back of their trucks, and say “Axe the tax.” That is not a climate solution. That is not an economic solution. That is not a solution for affordability. It will not help Canadians. It certainly will not help lower- and middle-income Canadians who get more money back than the price on pollution actually costs them. It is a very well-known thing. It is not surprising to see the Conservatives always standing up for people who earn the most money. That is what they did with their universal Canada child tax benefit. They sent cheques to millionaires. It was a completely ineffective way to lower poverty. The Conservatives have never really been that focused on lowering poverty. They are focused on supporting oil and gas companies, sending cheques out to millionaires, and taking us years back on climate action and fighting climate change. In his rebuttal, I would just beg the member that if he is so insistent that we stop pricing carbon and he does not want to go back on the solutions that he provided in his—

731 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Nov/28/23 6:47:12 p.m.
Watch

The hon. member for Calgary Rocky Ridge.

7 words

Mr. Pat Kelly

Nov/28/23 6:47:14 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, talk about who is out of touch here. Are people who cannot afford food and rent so angry that they put bumper stickers on their trucks? He is going to dismiss that as not being a reflection of deep problems that exist in Canada. On the point about the regional carve-out of this, a member of his government admitted that this was a regional carve-out. She told a national television audience that the reason for the carve-out was because Atlantic Liberal MPs asked for it, and that if Prairie Liberal MPs asked for it, maybe they would get a carve-out for their constituents who do not use oil furnaces. The Liberals admitted that it is a regional carve-out.

125 words

Mr. Adam van Koeverden

Nov/28/23 6:48:21 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, allow me to say it again: The affordability challenges being faced by Canadians right now are a top concern of the government. We are putting forward real solutions to help meet the moment and make sure that they can afford things such as home heating, groceries and rent. Finding real solutions means meeting the moment and finding ways we can actually help Canadians. However, if the lowest-income Canadians are getting more back than they put in on carbon pricing, then taking it away is not a solution. Our government's pollution pricing program is working. It is responsible for up to a third of our current emissions. Climate change is causing wildfires and natural disasters across this country. For the Conservatives to continually come back into the House, repeat their cheesy slogans, insist that is their only affordability measure and offer no solutions to fight climate change, shows they have taken quite a few steps back from when Erin O'Toole was the leader of the party and they had a plan to fight climate change. It is disappointing.

182 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Nov/28/23 6:49:18 p.m.
Watch

The hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon not being present to raise during Adjournment Proceedings the matter for which notice has been given, the notice is deemed withdrawn. The motion to adjourn the House is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1). (The House adjourned at 6:50 p.m.)

68 words