SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Glen Motz

Dec/7/23 10:57:30 a.m.
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No, we didn't, Kevin.

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Kevin

Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Glen Motz (Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, CPC)

Dec/7/23 4:05:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have it on good authority that the Prime Minister's favourite Christmas movie is The Grinch. In fact, it may be where the Prime Minister came up with the idea for his carbon tax. Just like the Grinch took the food off the plates of the Whos in Whoville, the Prime Minister is also a fan of taking food off the plates of Canadians. The Grinch took more of a hands-on approach to ruining Christmas by personally going into their homes and stealing the food. That may have seemed too much like real work for our ivory-tower Prime Minister. He simply used the CRA to collect his carbon tax, but the effect is still the same. He has removed the presents out from under the Christmas trees of Canadians and left the pantries of Canadian families empty. Here is a twist: Even the Grinch came to realize that what he had done was wrong and he remedied his ways. That is what we are doing here today. We are giving the Prime Minister and the NDP-Liberal coalition the opportunity to prove to Canadians before Christmas that their hearts are not two sizes too small and to remedy their ways. We all know that the next election will be a carbon tax election. Even this grinch of a Prime Minister knows that most Canadians will no longer vote for him and are rejecting the inflationary carbon tax, which really does nothing for the environment. Maybe, just maybe, the Prime Minister, in the Christmas spirit and all, will allow Canadian farmers, first nations and families to afford to eat and heat their homes this Christmas and will provide some relief from his Christmas-killing tax. Maybe he does not understand. We know that he refuses to listen to common sense, but maybe one of his ministers will be able to relay a message. Here is the message, so they should get their pens ready: A tax on farmers is a tax on food, period. It is pretty simple. However, it is worse than that. It is a tax on healthy, locally grown food. Annoyingly, it costs the consumer more to buy food, but that generally seems to sum up the Liberal approach. The carbon tax on healthy food is where this tax becomes even more nonsensical, but that is also not unlike the Liberals. Take, for example, the produce grown at Big Marble Farms, a large greenhouse operation just outside the city of Medicine Hat. Do members know that carbon dioxide is used to feed greenhouse horticultural crops? Big Marble, and all greenhouses, use CO2 generated from heating and operating their facilities to feed their crops. Just think about how nonsensical the carbon tax really is when considering that. The Liberals tax the very CO2 that enriches greenhouse crops to utilize their full photosynthetic potential. This environmentally friendly process of using the CO2 generated from greenhouse operations using natural gas helps grow plants. However, the Liberals claim that for environmental reasons, they need to tax the carbon that produces fresh vegetables. Just to illustrate this further, Big Marble Farms will pay over $500,000 in carbon tax this year alone. It will pay $500,000 for feeding the crops and produce that it grows in its greenhouses. Agricultural producers across my riding will each spend tens of thousands of dollars annually on the carbon tax. In order to remain in the business of supplying Canadians with fresh produce, grains, meat and other food, in most cases these costs are passed on to the consumer. It is a tax that disproportionately affects those in my riding trying to grow food and those wanting to eat healthy and local food. Let us take that same greenhouse-grown produce and compare it to the food we see in our grocery stores from other countries, which is not subject to a ridiculous tax. They grow it, ship it thousands of kilometres to Canada and sell it in our groceries stores cheaper than we do. Why? It is because they are not subject to the carbon tax on production or transportation. It makes absolutely no sense, none whatsoever. In fact, “Canadians are reducing their expenditures on groceries, either by reducing the quantity or quality of food they are buying or by substituting less expensive alternatives.” What does this lead to? For starters, projections for 2024 show a 2.5% to 4.5% increase in food prices. Notably, meat is projected to rise another 5% to 7%, vegetables will be up another 5% to 7% and bakery items will be up another 5% to 7%. Why are food prices rising? Rising production costs are contributing to these price increases, all because of the carbon tax. It hurts Canadian farmers, it hurts Canadian families and it hurts our first nations. In fact, a new food price report shows that a family of four will now pay $700 more on their groceries in the coming year. That is on top of the price increases we have already experienced in 2023 and 2022 Do members want to know why we should care at all about this? Let us start with the fact that we are experiencing the highest level of food bank use in Canadian history. In Medicine Hat, the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub is our food bank. It is currently feeding 4% of Medicine Hat and the area, which has a population of well over 75,000 constituents. It is a heartwarming level of generosity by the Root Cellar team and the community that contributes, but it is an agonizing statistic when we let it sink in. The decisions that were made in this chamber by the NDP-Liberal coalition government have led to hungry families in my riding and across this great country. I hope that if there are any members in this House, or in the Senate for that matter, who lack the self-awareness required to vote against farmers, first nations and families, they are reminded of this by their own families, by their own neighbours and by their own constituents while they celebrate this Christmas. Food Banks Canada's 2023 hunger count revealed there were nearly two million visits to food banks in a single month, a 78.5% increase over March 2019. It is unbelievable. With that many community members relying on food banks to eat, the NDP-Liberal members must know that some of these visits were made by their own constituents and by their own neighbours. They are going to have to face these people. I do not know how they are going to do that and justify their decisions in those moments they meet them. I am thankful that the Conservative leader put forward a motion to help them. I have the ability to speak to that motion today, thankfully, and will vote in favour of helping those in my community and across this country. How could the Liberal-NDP coalition government and the Prime Minister ever vote against the farmers, first nations and families growing our food, heating their homes and eating? To try to understand how they could even consider voting this way, I may have to look back to Dr. Seuss's book about the Grinch for the answer: No one quite knows the reason.It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of allMay have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Glen Motz

Dec/7/23 4:15:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, while I am a supporter of Ukraine, I know what it is really asking for is munitions, for things that can help it win the war. I want to focus back on my riding. I want to focus back on Canadians. What is driving their costs up is the high cost of production. The carbon tax is exactly part of that. The reality is that we have greenhouses that produce huge amounts of food and have to pay $500,000 in a carbon tax. The Liberals always talk about getting money back, but this is what the net cost is for the carbon tax. It is impossible for them to not pass that on to the consumer and still remain in business. Maybe what we should do is focus on the carbon tax and what it is doing to Canadians right here in our own country.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Glen Motz

Dec/7/23 4:17:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I do know, from growing up on a large farm and ranch in my youth, is that farmers and ranchers are the most amazing stewards of our land. I have witnessed it first-hand. I see it now as I travel in my riding. I see the thousands of people who make their living off the farm. They know that if we do not take care of the land, it will not take care of us. The complaints I am getting from people are not that they are concerned about some of the things my hon. colleague mentioned. What they are concerned about is that their costs are so exorbitant that they can no longer afford to stay in business. That is directly related to the carbon tax.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Glen Motz

Dec/7/23 4:19:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always great to interact with my NDP friend. I will tell members this. Plants in a greenhouse require carbon dioxide to grow. If they do not have it, they do not grow to the extent they need to. When we look at greenhouse farming across this country, whether it is in southern Ontario, southern Alberta or B.C., there is a need for our producers, who are using the latest technology possible on energy efficiencies, to use technology to pipe the CO2 from their facility operations into their greenhouses so those plants can feed on the carbon dioxide that is emitted. That—

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