44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 28, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/28/23 11:09:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, people often say flamboyant and outrageous things in the House, but today I would like to make an apology. I would like to apologize to the leader of the Conservative Party because I have accused him of never having a job. Apparently, he has had a paper route.
However, that is not fair of me to say because he did have a job. When Stephen Harper needed someone to defend the secret bribery of $90,000 to Mike Duffy, of all the members of the Conservative caucus, nobody wanted to take the job, but the present leader of the Conservative Party did not mind defending Mike Duffy, who might be the worst choice for senator since Caligula appointed his horse. He could be on a list of all the other Conservative hacks, bums and friends of the party who were there to raise money for Stephen Harper.
With the Conservatives now being led by the leader of the Conservative Party, the man who defended a secret $90,000 payout to someone who was facing bribery and fraud charges, it shows what the Conservative Party is up to. I am amazed that he comes here with the gall to talk about democracy.
There is nothing democratic about appointing bagmen such as Leo Housakos or Larry Smith, who was so bad as a candidate that Conservatives appointed him to the Senate. He ran in the election and lost, coming in third, and then Stephen Harper put him in the Senate for life.
I would ask my hon. colleague what it is about the Conservatives and their use of the Senate for friends, cronies, bums and corrupt allies, who the leader of the Conservative Party will stand up to defend day after day after day.
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Madam Speaker, I do not think I heard my Bloc Québécois colleague clearly state whether or not that applies to Quebec.
I am asking him again to clearly tell the House whether the carbon tax applies to Quebec, as claimed in the disinformation campaign by Conservative members from Quebec who have the audacity to rise in the House. I do not think they are very interested in talking about the Conservative government's record under Harper, which cut $200 million intended for farmers. That affected Quebec producers.
I am therefore asking my Bloc Québécois colleague again: does Bill C‑234 apply to Quebec?
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- Nov/28/23 11:43:35 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, before I heard the noise, I was saying that the member for Portneuf—Jacques‑Cartier stated that he would think long and hard about his future if the member for Carleton became the leader of his party. He said, “I will resign, or join another party in the House of Commons, or sit as an independent, or help form another party.” In other words, he was well aware of how the member for Carleton operates.
Here is another quote by my colleague for Portneuf—Jacques‑Cartier, who said, “I had a lot of respect for Stephen Harper as an economist, and I have a hard time understanding how he could support a candidate who wants to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada and base the economy on Bitcoin.”
Here is a final revealing quote by the member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier. He said, “I have never seen such an aggressive race or such vicious personal attacks”.
That is why I say that even members of the Conservative Party from Quebec warned us about the Poilievre approach, which consists of two main elements, intimidation—
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- Nov/28/23 12:24:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the issue of Conservative hypocrisy in the Senate is one of the reasons the Canadian people threw Brian Mulroney out. They gave him the bum's rush after he imposed eight senators to force through the most hated tax of all time, the GST. Canadians were stuck paying for these dudes until they were 75. They cannot be fired. The price of a Conservative sock puppet is enormous.
Stephen Harper came in and said he was going to reform the Senate. What did he do?
It is just one long list of pals and cronies. Let us talk about Larry Smith. Larry Smith gets appointed to the Senate, and he is outraged when he finds out how much money he is going to make. He says it is “a dramatic, catastrophic pay cut” that he had to serve the Canadian people. This is how out of touch the guy is. He then runs for office. Needless to say, the Canadian people want nothing to do with Larry Smith, so he comes in third. This man is unfit for public service. Stephen Harper puts him back in, a loyal sock puppet, and we are stuck with this guy until he is 75. He cannot be fired. He does not have to show up for work. All he has to do is be loyal to the Conservative Party.
When I see the member who is living in Stornoway, a 19-room mansion, talk about the common people and the Senate, I am amazed. Does he not meet with them every week and know exactly how entitled and how out of touch and what cronies of the Conservative Party they are?
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- Nov/28/23 2:31:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know that the NDP likes to say it is the workers' party. However, since 2015, we have demonstrated that we are here to work hand-in-hand with unions. We did that by reversing the Harper government's anti-union bills, in which the current Leader of the Opposition played a part. We have been doing it for eight years, and we are going to continue doing it.
We are very pleased with the replacement worker bill. We are happy that the NDP is supporting our bill, and we hope that the Conservative party will understand that building a stronger middle class requires union support. We need to support the unions, too.
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- Nov/28/23 2:32:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know to what extent strong unions and collective bargaining are essential to the prosperity of the middle class in this country. That is why, from 2015 onward, the government has been a friend to organized labour and has worked with it to overturn the anti-union legislation that the Stephen Harper government brought in, including the Leader of the Opposition as a minister in that government.
We have continued to stand with workers. We are very pleased that the NDP is supporting our replacement workers bill. We really hope the Conservatives will understand that supporting workers means supporting unions. We hope the Conservatives will stand up and support our anti-scab legislation.
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- Nov/28/23 4:06:21 p.m.
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Karma is tough, Madam Speaker. During the Harper regime, Conservatives appointed members to the Senate whose only qualifications were that they were defeated Conservative candidates. They did not delay bills; they killed them. They killed Jack Layton's climate accountability act. They killed bill after bill. Now the Conservatives are concerned about the Senate. It is too rich to even contemplate.
We spend $100 million every year for the unelected, undemocratic and, under the Conservatives, under-investigation Senate. Would the member agree with me that it is time to abolish the Senate now and forever?
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- Nov/28/23 6:33:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this very important issue.
I first have to, unfortunately, correct the record on a couple of things. Back in 2015, Canada was trending to exceed 2005 emission levels by 10%, but by 2030, we will have effectively bent the emissions curve. We had a lot of work to do, since the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper completely ignored climate change and denied that the existential threat of climate change even existed.
I again have to correct the record. Our plan is working, and experts have indicated that up to one-third of current reductions are a result of carbon pricing. I would remind the member that, in the last election, in 2021, when the Conservative leader was Erin O'Toole, all Conservatives ran on a plan to price carbon. It was this sort of Zellers green catalogue where one could choose some green products, perhaps. It was also affectionately titled “The more you burn, the more you earn” by experts. It was not likely to achieve very good results, but our plan has achieved results. We have an 8% or 9% reduction already since 2005. That curve has required some time and effort to bend since 2015, but we are on track to reduce our emissions by 34% by 2035.
I agree that we need to do more to reach Canada's ambitious 40% reduction target, but not by just repeating slogans in the House of Commons. It might be fun to say “axe the tax”, because it rhymes and fits well on a T-shirt or a bumper sticker, but it is not an environmental plan. It will not do anything to reduce emissions in this country. I would urge the member and all Conservatives, if they have really good ideas for how to fight climate change and lower emissions, to bring them to the House, because that is what these longer debates are all about. Unfortunately, we are still debating whether we should fight climate change rather than how to fight it.
As I said, we have more work to do. We have to be more ambitious. The environment commissioner said that we are moving in the right direction, perhaps just not fast enough. A 34% reduction by 2035 is not enough. We need to reduce our emissions by 40%, and our reduction target is still in sight. A price on carbon pollution is an integral part of that plan. As has been said over and over again, up to a third of our carbon pricing to date is responsible for our reductions. Let us also not forget that our plan, unlike the Conservatives' Zellers green catalogue, sends more money back to 80% of households that are under the backstop program with the federal government.
It is also always worth noting that provinces and territories under the federal backstop plan do not have a plan to fight climate change and lower emissions. British Columbia, Quebec and others have their own plans, which work well too. However, it is incumbent upon all provincial premiers to have a plan to fight climate change and reduce our emissions. Canadians in northern Ontario and across Canada understand the cost of inaction. It is extremely stark. If we ignore climate change entirely, by 2025, we could see a $25-billion annual slowdown in our economic growth. That is why our climate plan is not just a plan for the environment but also a plan for the economic stability of Canada's future.
A climate plan today is one of the many ways to make life more affordable for Canadians. I would again encourage my Conservative colleagues to come up with some good ideas. Canadians used to look to members such as the member of Parliament for Wellington—Halton Hills for a little climate leadership; unfortunately, it seems all that climate leadership and ambition has dried up with the Conservatives.
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