44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 5, 2023 10:00AM
- Dec/5/23 2:00:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, President Zelenskyy gets it, the Prime Minister gets it, the countries of the European Union get it and Milton Friedman got it. A price on carbon is not just good environmental policy that will be responsible for up to one-third of Canada's emission reductions by 2030, but it is also good trade policy, especially for a trading nation such as Canada.
All member states of the European Union are part of the EU emissions trading system. Ukraine prices carbon too, because it wants to integrate into the EU market. The EU is implementing its carbon border adjustment tariff, which will penalize goods from countries that do not price carbon.
Why does the Leader of the Opposition want to shut Canadian companies out of the European market? Where is the common sense in that? Why does the Leader of the Opposition not get it? Canadians get it. They get that he is just not worth the risk.
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- Dec/5/23 2:33:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important that we focus on affordability for families. It is also important that we look at facts when it comes to the carbon price that we have put in place. It is also important to remind Conservative members that they ran on a carbon price. Carbon pricing is the most efficient and the cheapest way to lower our emissions.
With respect to food prices, particularly those facing lower income families, today, an article lists here that 94% of households with incomes below $50,000 received far more rebates, exceeding their carbon tax costs in 2023.
Lower-income folks are enjoying more rebates than carbon costs because our carbon pricing—
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- Dec/5/23 2:34:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I will focus my response on an economist's response to the rhetoric in the House with respect to the carbon price. He said that if we got rid of the carbon tax and the rebate, then this would harm a much larger fraction of lower and middle-income households than it would higher-income households. Very clearly, the economist from Calgary indicates that our carbon price sends more money back to 94% of families that earn less than $50,000.
It is an affordability measure and it fights climate change.
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- Dec/5/23 2:35:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at a time when the country is working toward reconciliation, the Liberals have saddled first nations communities with a punishing carbon tax.
First nations are so burdened by this unfair tax that they have decided to take the government to court. Canadians everywhere know that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
When will the Prime Minister finally remove the carbon tax from farmers, first nations and families?
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Mr. Speaker, farmers know they are the leaders when it comes to environmental stewardship.
Just imagine we are young producers. We have grown up on the family farm and our goal is to take over after our parents retire. We start looking over the bills and costs associated with farming and one of the highest line items is the carbon tax imposed by the Prime Minister. Rather than hiring a helping hand or upgrading our machinery, we are paying an increasing carbon tax.
Therefore, why will the Prime Minister not let his senators pass Bill C-234 and axe the tax for on-farm fuels?
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- Dec/5/23 2:45:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this NDP-Liberal government, two million Canadians are relying on food banks to feed their families.
The Prime Minister's punishing carbon tax is directly fuelling the affordability crisis in this country and still the Prime Minister plans to quadruple it. The Prime Minister and his failed policies are simply not worth the cost.
It is time to axe the carbon tax before it bankrupts all Canadians. Will the Prime Minister finally take off the carbon tax for our farmers, our families and our first nations?
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Madam Speaker, I previously asked a question about Bill C-234 and the exemption to the carbon tax that it would provide. My question has changed a bit because, earlier tonight, the Senate passed an amendment to exclude barns and buildings on farms from the carbon tax exemption. I will read the part of Bill C-234 that the Senate is now going to scrub from the act, which is in paragraph 3(3.1)(f), “property that is used for the purpose of providing heating or cooling to a building or similar structure”.
The environment minister went to the Senate and basically exerted his influence on the senators to get them to strip this bill bare; that way, it would provide a limited exemption for farmers. Farmers grow the food and have done way more to protect and steward the environment than the government will ever have a hope of being able to accomplish. That is what the government has decided to do. It was aided by the deputy leader of the progressive Senate group, the hon. Pierre Dalphond, who was the mover of the amendment that has stripped that part of the bill to exempt buildings and barns from the carbon tax. This is absolutely ridiculous.
Let us go back to when the carbon tax was first put in place and do the calculations on it. There are many farmers, ranchers and cattle feeders who use over 100,000 litres of on-farm fuels in a given year. Given the rate of the carbon tax right now on those on-farm fuels, that would be about $25,000 a year. The Liberals will say that there is a huge exemption for farmers and ask what everyone is complaining about. There is an exemption that applies in some cases, but not in every case, and certainly not for farmers and ranchers who are trying to keep their barns warm in the winter. As we know, winter is already here; it will be -30°C very soon. In the summers, it gets up to +30°C. With the wide variance in temperatures all across Canada, various temperature controls are needed in barns and shops for farmers to do their jobs.
If we think about the Prairies, with the snowstorms and blizzards that they regularly get, especially in calving season in February and March, farmers quite often have to bring their cattle into the barn. That way, they can calve without the threat of the animals being buried in snowbanks or freezing to death, never mind the threat of predators going after them and using the weather conditions to their advantage. A very important part of agriculture is farmers having these barns and buildings, yet the Senate has decided to gut this important key in the bill. It did so under the pressure that was put on it by the Liberal government, which is absolutely shameful.
When we look at the approach the government is taking, it is almost as though it were trying to reduce agriculture's impact and footprint in such a way that it will chase people out of the industry, much like what is happening in the European Union and other parts of the world. They have literally forced farmers and ranchers to reduce their herd sizes and the amount of crop they are able to grow.
What the government is doing is ridiculous. It is being aided and abetted by certain members of the Senate, and it is absolutely disgusting.
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