SoVote

Mr. Larry Maguire (Brandon—Souris, CPC)

Dec/7/23 1:14:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a correction. We said there was no drought in Manitoba. There were small areas, but no drought in Manitoba—

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

Mr. Larry Maguire (Brandon—Souris, CPC)

Dec/7/23 1:22:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share my time today with my colleague from Elgin—Middlesex—London. Our Conservative motion to axe the carbon tax, as we have heard so much from the Liberal government about today, is an opportunity for all members of Parliament, even those in the Liberal backbenches, including the my colleague from Winnipeg North, to stand up for their constituents. I know it will take courage, but I urge every one of them to do the right thing. Like all MPs in this House, I am getting emails and calls from moms and dads across Canada who are struggling to pay their bills and put food on their tables. I am hearing from seniors who worked decades to save for retirement, only to see inflation eradicate their income and financial security. As someone who represents a large rural constituency, I know how the carbon tax disproportionately impacts the people who call Westman home. If we can pass this motion, it will send a strong signal to the Prime Minister that his government needs to get serious about the cost of living crisis in Canada. If the Liberals have not yet figured it out, the Conservative team will never back down from its mission to axe the carbon tax once and for all, no matter how long it takes. We will stand up for the families, seniors, farmers and indigenous Canadians who are being crushed by the drastic cost of living. Nothing was more insulting to the millions of Canadians trying to heat their homes this winter than when the Prime Minister decided to temporarily pause his carbon tax on only 3% of households. It is no wonder that provincial governments are up in arms. Even the NDP government in Manitoba is explicitly asking the Prime Minister to exempt home heating from his carbon tax. As for the top-up for rural Canadians, it is not even enough money to pay for the gas to take their kids to hockey practice on the weekend. Our common-sense Conservative motion today is simple. It is not a gimmick and there are no temporary measures. It is time to axe the inflationary carbon tax for good and bring home lower prices. Every single member of Parliament knows constituents are hurting. It does not matter if people live in rural Newfoundland or North Bay, Ontario, inflation and rising Liberal taxes are taking their toll. People are struggling to stay afloat, and the carbon tax is a giant anvil dragging them down. We found out this week, as an example, that more than 50,000 Manitobans are now regularly using a food bank, the highest number ever recorded in the province, and while we can get bogged down in statistics, we must never forget that we are talking about people. These are seniors, students, children and indigenous Canadians who cannot afford to go the grocery store. When people do have money in their pockets, they are decreasing the quantity and sometimes the quality of the food they are buying. This is not normal and it weighs heavily on the minds of moms and dads trying to pack their kids’ school lunch boxes. It weighs heavily on the senior whose fixed income is not keeping up with the rate of inflation. It weighs heavily on the young person who is trying desperately to pay for their education or save for a home but can barely afford their daily necessities. I know first-hand the challenges food banks are having. I have visited the Samaritan House in Brandon and it is struggling to keep up with demand. I cannot say enough about the good work that Barbara McNish and all the volunteers do for those in need, but we as policy-makers cannot just turn a blind eye to these startling numbers. As another example, I know the food bank in Killarney, Manitoba, is facing challenges. It recently contacted my office, as it now needs to hire a manager to run the operation as the demand on volunteers is too great. Under the Liberal government, small rural communities need to hire a manager to run a food bank. In all my years of living in Westman, I never thought in a million years that a very progressive community like Killarney would ever need to hire staff to run its food bank. It is a testament to the struggles that many are facing and it is undeniably heartbreaking. If this is not a warning sign of how bad things have gotten out there, I do not know what is. What will it take to finally wake the Prime Minister up and get him to change direction? The rising costs of food cannot be divorced from the Liberal government's tax-and-spend policies. The carbon tax is driving up the cost of everything. It is contributing to the costs of growing our food. Let this sink in for a moment. While the cost of groceries has never been higher, Liberals have shown no compassion for those who cannot afford to put food on the table. The carbon tax is being applied all along the entire food supply system. It gets passed down until every Canadian gets stuck with the bill. It is no wonder the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that families are seeing a net loss under this measure. Families and seniors are getting crushed, and it is time for action. They are tired of Liberal gaslighting about how much better off they are under the carbon tax rebate scheme. The good people of Westman are not falling for the Liberals' talking points; at the end of the day, they do not have more money in their wallets. Just this morning, Canada's Food Price Report stated that the average family of four is expected to spend $16,297.20 on food in 2024. As we have heard my colleagues say in this House before, that is seven hundred and some dollars more than what they had to spend last year. I want to finish my talk today by just saying that this is an outlandish tax that the government is trying to place on everyone in Canada and their cost of living today. The government could have passed Bill C-234, which was a bill to take the carbon tax off heating barns and greenhouses in Canada and drying grain. The cost of food is directly proportional to the cost of the inputs that it takes to grow these products. We are talking about greenhouse produce that is extremely healthy and is exported all over the world, particularly to our neighbours in the United States to the south of us. Maybe some of my colleagues are not aware of what really happens when farmers are drying grain. It is not just a luxury; it is an absolute necessity, because farmers need to be able to store that crop when they take it off. If they do not, that grain could spoil, costing the producers millions of dollars across the country. It could be billions. This is something that is very much a necessity.

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Carbon

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

Mr. Larry Maguire

Dec/7/23 1:31:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was just saying that, with respect to the cost of drying this grain, the government is basically saying that it will take the risk of forcing farmers to, in some cases, not be able to afford to store their grain properly. That would lead to great devastation in regard to our ability to be a reliable nation in our export markets, as well as putting some of the best food in the world on the table.

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

Mr. Larry Maguire

Dec/7/23 1:32:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if he does not think that the carbon tax impacts him in Quebec, then he has not been listening to my colleagues in the Conservative Party or many of the people in his home province. Obviously, attacks placed anywhere in Canada affect the food prices in our whole nation. That is a big part of the problem that the Bloc has not recognized.

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

Mr. Larry Maguire

Dec/7/23 1:34:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really heard the enthusiasm of the colleague from Halifax sitting behind the member, who just had his carbon tax cut by the Prime Minister, starting in the new year. The member's question is relevant, but it is interesting to see how the Liberals have changed their tune; it used to be that everybody was getting back more than they paid. Then it went to 80%. Let us face it: They would not be getting anything back if it were not for the pressure the Conservatives put on them to have a rebate on the carbon tax in the first place. The difficulty with this whole process is that it is not true. The Parliamentary Budget Officer himself said that it costs the average family more than $1,000 more than they are getting back in the rebate. Some of the points that came out this morning in the food report showed that, in Ontario alone, there is a $2,600 cost, and $800 does not square that.

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

Mr. Larry Maguire

Dec/7/23 1:36:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the only ones running here are the New Democrats on Vancouver Island, who are running for their seats. I just explained to the member from the island, my hon. colleague, about the Parliamentary Budget Officer's findings. There is $1,000 more in costs. If one only counts the price in gasoline and heating fuels in one's diagnosis of this whole process, then one will leave out all the costs of the redistribution of products across Canada.

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