44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 30, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. People see it on their grocery bills and farmers who grow the food see it while paying for their fuel. A young producer showed me his propane bill for grain drying from the start of harvest. In the span of just 12 days, it cost him $950 in carbon tax alone, and the harvest was just getting going. He is still waiting to see the final bill from drying his crops.
Will the Prime Minister tell his appointed senators to stop delaying Bill C-234 and axe the tax for the farmers who grow our food?
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- Nov/30/23 3:11:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member is a very influential member of his caucus, and people watching would know that. If he wants to give a gift to Canadians before Christmas, why does he not convince his caucus colleagues to vote for the affordability bill? Canadians know that bill would reform competition, one of the most fundamental reforms in Canadian history. It would give more power to the Competition Bureau and we will make sure it can do the study.
Canadians know that the best way to stabilize prices in the country for the mid to long term is to have more competition. We are going to do the right thing for Canadians once and for all.
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Mr. Speaker, the fastest way to provide more affordability for Canadians would be to pass Bill C-234.
We have the receipts to show just how much the carbon tax costs farmers who grow the food. The natural gas bills for different months from a Saskatchewan farmer show that one month without grain drying is $135, but one month with grain drying is $6,400. That is why the House should pass Bill C-234 to give farmers tax relief.
Who does the Prime Minister think should pay that ridiculous cost: the farmer who grows the food or the families who are struggling to put food on the table for their kids?
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- Nov/30/23 3:12:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have two points. First of all, the only senators who are managed by anyone in this chamber are Conservative senators who sit in the caucus of the Leader of the Opposition.
The second point is that if members opposite were so concerned about food affordability, I would urge them to take a look across the pond at the instability that Vladimir Putin's illegal war is causing to food and supply chains around the planet. Ukraine is traditionally known as the bread basket of the planet. Food supply issues and the cost of food are directly related to that illegal war.
It would be great if the members opposite got behind supports like the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberals voted with the Bloc to keep the tax on farmers. This bill would have saved farmers nearly $1 billion between now and 2030.
This Christmas season, people are hurting. P.E.I. farmers are paying between $30,000 and $75,000 more a year due to the carbon tax. A farmer in western New Brunswick has had his cost increase by over 30% on freight alone. This is unbearable for our producers and consumers.
When will the Prime Minister finally hear the cries of our farmers and tell his senators to pass Bill C-234?
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- Nov/30/23 3:14:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the opposition Conservative Party does not have a plan for the environment.
People on Prince Edward Island are well aware of what the environment can do. With Fiona, we had winds of over 200 kilometres an hour. It destroyed barns and killed dairy cattle.
Quite simply, if one does not deal with the climate, one does not do anything with grocery prices. Our government has a plan for the environment, and we will lower and stabilize grocery prices.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, everyone is struggling. Farmers across Canada buy their goods retail and sell what they produce wholesale. Farmers are now paying $150,000 in inflationary carbon tax. They know the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
When will the Prime Minister tell his appointed senators to stop delaying Bill C-234 and axe the tax so people can afford their groceries?
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- Nov/30/23 3:15:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I tell my hon. colleague what his party and his leader need is a plan for the environment.
We have a plan for the environment. In fact, just two weeks ago I was able to make an announcement in Manitoba with the government in order to create the last living lab right across the country. In fact, what goes on with living labs is that scientists, farmers and the—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Nov/30/23 3:16:02 p.m.
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I am going to ask again. I have asked a couple of times for colleagues to please keep their voices down when they do not have the floor.
It is time for the minister to answer, and so we can all hear the answer, I ask the member for Brantford—Brant and the member for South Shore—St. Margarets to keep their voices down.
The hon. minister, from the top, please.
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- Nov/30/23 3:16:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I indicated quite clearly, if one is going to deal with the environment, one has to have a plan for the environment.
We have a plan for the environment. I will just use one of the many examples we have, which is living labs right across this country. What we do with living labs is make sure that farmers, scientists and the industry itself work together in order to make sure we deal with climate change. We produce better crops. We take carbon out of the air and into the soil.
We will continue to work with farmers and ranchers right across this country in order to make sure we stabilize food prices right across this country.
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- Nov/30/23 3:17:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is unanimous. This morning, with one voice, the Quebec National Assembly spoke out against Ottawa's decision to give Boeing the contract for surveillance aircraft without a call for tenders. All of the elected officials in Quebec have spoken out against this deliberate choice to discount our aerospace industry.
Ottawa's contempt is not just depriving our industry of a $9-billion contract. Ottawa is also undermining the sale of Quebec aircraft abroad by thumbing its nose at our aerospace industry for all of our trade partners to see. That is a pretty stupid sales strategy.
Do the Liberals realize that they are harming our industry around the world?
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- Nov/30/23 3:17:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague said, further developing our aerospace industry is exactly what this morning's announcement will allow us to do, while also, obviously, giving the Canadian Armed Forces the tools they need to protect us at home and defend Canada's interests abroad, throughout the world.
That is why companies like CAE, Héroux‑Devtek and L3Harris Technologies in Montreal, Mirabel and elsewhere in Canada will benefit from significant spinoffs from this morning's announcement.
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- Nov/30/23 3:18:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us be serious. To offer $9 billion to Boeing without an open competition is to abandon our aerospace industry. The Liberals are abandoning our primary export sector.
It was not enough for them to abandon our major corporations. Last week, there was nothing in the economic statement to help SMEs that are on the verge of bankruptcy if the CEBA repayment is not deferred. They are also abandoning our local businesses. That is the Liberal record over the past two weeks. They are hurting Quebec's businesses, large and small.
How can we not conclude that they are hurting Quebec's economy?
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- Nov/30/23 3:19:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, benefiting Quebec's economy and the aerospace sector across Canada is precisely one of the objectives of this morning's announcement. That is why we are moving forward over the next few months with the procurement announced today, which will be good for 3,000 jobs, or 3,000 workers, over the coming years.
The spinoffs in Canada, including in Quebec, will be roughly $400 million a year, which will help even more of our workers in the aerospace sector in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada.
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- Nov/30/23 3:19:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning, the Chiefs of Ontario joined the chorus of Canadians decrying the failure of the Liberal carbon tax. This burden inflicted upon first nations, allegedly the most important relationship for this Prime Minister, has forced 133 chiefs to take the government to court in order to get relief.
It is clear indigenous communities are not better off after eight long years of this government, nor is more money being put back in the pockets of the people who pay this tax.
After yet another failure, will the Prime Minister realize that the carbon tax has failed indigenous peoples and finally axe the tax?
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- Nov/30/23 3:20:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this summer we saw a record wildfire season raging across the country. I, as Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, worked with first nation leaders all across the country as they did the most unimaginable to protect their communities, with evacuations, people displaced for weeks if not months, and land, property and infrastructure destroyed.
We will continue to work on fighting climate change and protecting people as we see this astronomical threat bearing down. I look forward to doing that with first nations leaders.
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- Nov/30/23 3:21:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, actually, the Auditor General had a plan for that. It was to approve the 112 infrastructure projects sitting on that minister's desk that would deal with the effects of climate change, adaptation and mitigation. In fact, it was indigenous projects that talked about dikes, dams and culverts, things that would give indigenous communities a fighting chance to stay on their land in the event of an extreme weather event. However, the minister would rather waste money instead of investing one dollar to save six, and rather than the current plan of evacuation, relocation and rebuilding.
When will the minister get serious about helping indigenous communities, listen to the Chiefs of Ontario and axe the tax?
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- Nov/30/23 3:21:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that the former leader of the opposition did not listen to the Chiefs of Ontario for over a decade as the infrastructure gap grew and grew, as children suffered with discriminatory first nations child welfare, as education rates and levels were underfunded per capita—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Nov/30/23 3:22:10 p.m.
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I am having trouble, once again, hearing the hon. member. There are a number of voices close to the Speaker.
I will ask the hon. minister to please start again, because I would like to hear the answer.
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- Nov/30/23 3:22:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves how that infrastructure gap got so big, and it was a decade of neglect. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition, on the day of the apology from Prime Minister Harper, said that what people really needed to do was actually get to work and show work values. These are the kinds of ethics that these Conservatives hold in terms of first nations.
We will continue to work with first nations on rights and in respectful ways in closing gaps. That is what responsible governments do.
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