44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 5, 2023 10:00AM
- Dec/5/23 2:47:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, the ag minister and the environment minister are simply not listening to farmers.
A pork farmer with a pork farm just down the road from where I grew up had a natural gas bill in February that was $4,300. His carbon tax was $3,300, or 75%.
How can any farmer make a living when farmers have to pay that much carbon tax on the natural gas they use on their farms? When will the Prime Minister take the tax off farmers' families and make it fair for farmers?
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- Dec/5/23 2:47:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's concern, but the fact of the matter is that farmers are concerned about the environment. Farmers who are on the front lines understand that we have to take care of the environment. When we have winds of over 200 kilometres an hour destroying all the infrastructure on the property, that adds, no doubt, to the farmers' costs. It adds to the price of food. It adds to everything.
That is why it is so important that our government has an environmental plan to make sure that our agricultural sector will continue to thrive.
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- Dec/5/23 2:48:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment is not only leaving for COP28 with a record number of oil lobbyists, but this seems to be a pathological habit. For those close to power, the Prime Minister's Office is only too happy to pay. Guess who the Liberals will meet with and listen to the most. Bingo: the oil and gas companies. According to a TVA report, the Liberals meet with fossil fuel representatives three times more often than they meet with environmentalists.
If the Liberals miss all their greenhouse gas reduction targets, might that be because they are the puppets of the major polluters?
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- Dec/5/23 2:49:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, we have meetings with participants from every sector of the economy. Of course, that includes the oil sector, but it also includes the automotive sector and many others.
As I also said, we announced something that is a first in the world. Yesterday, we announced that we will bring in regulations to reduce methane emissions by 75%. We are the first country in the world to do that.
That is climate change leadership.
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- Dec/5/23 2:49:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are experiencing the horrific impacts of the climate crisis while Liberals delay, disappoint and fail to protect our planet. Young people are not only worried about their future; they also want to be part of the climate solution. Hundreds of them just delivered mock cover letters applying for a youth climate corps. Two out of three young people would consider enrolling in this program to respond to disasters, to create climate-resilient infrastructure and to reduce emissions.
Today, I tabled a motion to create a youth climate corps, like President Biden did. Will the Prime Minister listen to our future leaders and establish a youth climate corps?
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- Dec/5/23 2:50:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would just like to take a moment to welcome my friend and colleague back to the House. It is good to have her back, not only because it is good to talk about how we fight climate change and not whether we fight climate change in this House.
I think the idea of having a youth environment corps to fight climate change and bring forward great ideas is an awesome one. I am looking forward to talking with the member.
It also gives me great pleasure to announce in this House that Canada is the first country ever to commit to an oil and gas methane emissions target reduction of 75%. Other countries will follow in our footsteps. We will bring down our methane emissions by 75% by 2030.
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- Dec/5/23 2:51:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as Quebeckers and Canadians, we are proud of our culture, our French language and our commitment to protecting the environment for future generations.
In the face of Conservative policies that would send us back to the Stone Age, can the Quebec lieutenant and Minister of Transport tell us what initiatives the government is taking to safeguard and enhance our commitments to the environment, language and culture?
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for his excellent work.
Quebeckers are proud to participate in the energy transition with the battery industry. Our government is proud to support it.
The Conservative leader thinks that investing in Quebec is a waste. Quebeckers know that Radio-Canada is vital for our language, our culture and our democracy. The Conservative leader wants to destroy Radio-Canada. He does not like difficult questions.
With Bill C-13, we strengthened the rights of francophones across the country. The Conservative members do not even let their colleagues work in French. We will continue to advance the priorities of Quebeckers. We will not let the Conservatives send us back to the Stone Age.
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- Dec/5/23 2:52:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, workers know that they cannot rely on the NDP. The NDP leader initially called for the release of EV contracts, but last night the NDP flip-flopped and voted with the Liberals to bury them. These contracts will cost taxpayers over $40 billion. That is about $3,000 per Canadian family and the money will be used to fund foreign replacement workers instead of Canadian paycheques.
The NDP-Liberal government betrayed workers and is complicit in a cover-up. What did the Liberals offer the NDP to get the NDP members to change their position and abandon workers and taxpayers?
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- Dec/5/23 2:53:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, investments like the LG and Stellantis EV battery plant represent a win for the economy, a win for Canadian workers and a win for the fight against climate change, but the Conservatives are so committed to their doomsday narrative that they just cannot admit that anything good is happening.
In a recent article in The Globe and Mail, a journalist writes that the Conservative leader “has not said he opposes subsidizing these battery makers. Rather, he is seeking to rile up working-class voters by falsely suggesting foreigners might be stealing their jobs.”
While the Conservatives are blinded by their self-induced rage, we are focused on realizing a positive vision for the future of our economy.
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- Dec/5/23 2:54:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a simple proposition for the member. If the NDP-Liberal government is genuinely proud of its work, then release the contracts. Let all of us see them so that we can know, but the NDP is complicit with the Liberals in trying to bury these contracts. Why? Every Canadian family will pay $3,000 for these deals, so they want to know. What is in these deals for them?
Again, what did the Liberals offer the NDP members to get them to change their position, abandon workers and hide these contracts? What are they hiding?
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- Dec/5/23 2:54:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to share positive news. Canada is number three in the world in foreign direct investment, which is something that we should all be proud of.
Brendan Sweeney from the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing talked about the “specialized expertise workers” needed from outside of Canada to help set up the giant facility. He said, “There are hundreds, if not a thousand Windsorites, going off to the U.S. to help set up, test and service machinery in assembly, engine and Tier 1 plants. It’s a little hypocritical to fail to take into account the way...foreign direct investment works”—
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- Dec/5/23 2:55:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to help pay for overseas replacement workers, the NDP-Liberal government is going to send every Canadian family a bill for $3,000. The formerly pro-worker NDP has refused to stand up to the Prime Minister and demand the release of contracts that detail the number of foreign replacement workers that are going to take Canadian jobs. The Prime Minister clearly is not worth the cost to Canadian workers after eight years and neither is the NDP.
Will the Prime Minister finally stand up and tell Canadians how many foreign replacement workers $40 billion buys?
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- Dec/5/23 2:56:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is curious to listen to the Conservatives after their eight years in opposition and hear how little they have learned on foreign direct investment, which is clearly nothing, how little they understand about free trade deals, which is clearly nothing, and how little they understand about creating good, middle-class jobs. What they are clearly against is 2,500 full-time jobs at the Stellantis plant and 2,300 construction jobs there.
It is clear that under a Conservative administration, Canada would be closed for business, but, guess what, not on our watch.
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- Dec/5/23 2:56:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about what has happened under the Liberals' watch.
Canada's Building Trades Unions says that so far, this NDP-Liberal government has cost $300 million in wages. If the Liberals are so proud of their record and so proud of these great deals that are going to cost every Canadian family $3,000, why will they not just release the contracts? They know that releasing those contracts will expose that $40 billion is buying a lot of foreign replacement workers that should, instead, be funding Canadian paycheques.
Why will the Liberals not release the contracts today?
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- Dec/5/23 2:57:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are smart people on the Conservative benches, including trade lawyers and people who understand that contracts between nations and countries need to stay confidential because of important trade secrets.
What do the Conservatives have against the fact that Canada is now third in the world in foreign direct investment? After the United States and Brazil, who is next? It is Canada, ahead of China.
Clearly the Conservatives are against Dow in Fort Saskatchewan. They are against Stellantis. They are against Bécancourt. When are the Conservatives going to be on the side of workers? I do not know. Maybe they do.
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- Dec/5/23 2:58:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, less than two weeks after the economic update, CBC/Radio-Canada, a Crown corporation, the public broadcaster paid for mostly with our money, is cutting 800 jobs and announcing that 600 people will soon be fired. The media crisis that was affecting the private sector has now spread to the public broadcaster. This will inevitably affect the quality of news. It will also affect our TV series and soaps and our ability to tell our own stories.
How long has the minister known about this? Did she agree with this decision? If not, what is she going to do to stop the carnage?
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- Dec/5/23 2:58:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concerns regarding the future of CBC/Radio-Canada and our media in general. That is why our government worked to modernize the Broadcasting Act in order to implement new support measures for broadcasting across Canada.
With regard to CBC/Radio-Canada, when we came to power in 2015, we restored the $115 million in funding that the Conservatives had slashed.
We were also there during the pandemic. We will continue to be there and to fight for the future of CBC/Radio-Canada.
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- Dec/5/23 2:59:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Radio‑Canada outperforms CBC. From news and current affairs to television series and soaps, Radio‑Canada is doing better than CBC. That is certainly not because there are more francophones in the country. We know that for a fact. However, Radio‑Canada, which has fewer employees and higher viewership, is being cut just as much as CBC. If anyone wanted to sabotage the French network, that would be the way to do it.
There is no way the Minister of Canadian Heritage did not know about what was coming. Did she alert her colleague, the Minister of Finance, before the economic update?
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- Dec/5/23 2:59:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are certainly concerned about the future of CBC/Radio‑Canada. That is why we provided an appropriate level of support, particularly during the pandemic, but also when we returned to power after the Conservatives, who had slashed the public broadcaster's funding. We will continue to be there, to work with the Crown corporation and to respect its independence.
We invite management to be transparent about the situation and about upcoming decisions. For our part, we will work to ensure the public broadcaster's future and long-term survival.
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