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House Hansard - 257

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 28, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 257 - Nov/28/23
Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)
  • Nov/28/23 2:21:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is false. Seniors and Canadians are the ones who now have to make cuts to their grocery budget. The head of Food Banks of Quebec says it is an unprecedented and tragic situation, adding that organizations in his network are facing exceptional and growing pressure, with 71% of them reporting a shortfall of food. That is what misery looks like after eight years of this Prime Minister, who is driving up the price of food with his inflationary deficits and his taxes on our farmers. Will he finally reverse his inflationary policies so that Canadians can eat?
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Context: House Hansard - 257 - Nov/28/23
Mr. Eric Melillo (Kenora, CPC)
  • Nov/28/23 6:29:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise and address a very important issue facing people in northwestern Ontario and right across the country, and that is, of course, the cost of living and how that couples in with the carbon tax that this NDP-Liberal government is planning to quadruple. We know that inflation continues to rise as a result of inflationary spending from this NDP-Liberal government. It has made the cost of many things, especially many essential things like gas, groceries and home heating, rise to the point where Canadian households are in crisis. However, the higher taxes being brought forward by this government are making the situation even worse. People across the north are wondering how they are going to be able to afford to put food on their table. We have seen record numbers of people visiting food banks right across the country. People in northern Ontario are wondering how they are going to be able to afford to heat their home. Now, the government has put out a carve-out for some Canadians in certain regions of the country based on how they voted, but those in northern Ontario are continuing to have to pay a lot more for home heating. As winter is approaching and temperatures are getting cooler, many people are worried about what they are going to do in terms of paying for their home heating. To make matters worse, the GST is slapped on top of all of it. It is adding to these costs even more. It is a tax on a tax. We see that at the gas pumps when people go to fill up. In northern Ontario, of course, we must travel great distances to get to medical appointments and for essential shopping trips. It really is not an option. People need to pay for gas and need to be paying the higher carbon tax as a result of this government's plans. The government has made life more unaffordable for us in northern Ontario, and to make matters worse, its carbon tax plan has not done the job to protect the environment. Canada now ranks 58th out of 63 countries and “remains among the very low performers” on the climate change performance index. We continue to miss target after target. We have missed virtually every target, I believe, outside of the pandemic, which completely shut down our economy. The only way that this NDP-Liberal government was able to successfully meet a climate target was to shut down the entire economy during the pandemic. We have also seen recent reports from the environment commissioner that have shown that Canada will once again miss its targets this year and that we are not on track to meet our 2030 emissions targets. The government is making life more unaffordable and driving up the cost of living to the point where people and families are in crisis, and we are not seeing any of the benefits that the government purports should be coming as a result of this carbon tax scheme. It is simply all economic pain with no environmental gain, and Canadians want to know when this government will finally scrap its failed carbon tax.
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