44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Dec/7/23 10:11:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a huge honour and privilege to table this petition today on behalf of constituents in my riding.
Farmers' markets are a key tool for COVID–19 recovery as small business incubators, domestic system and food security builders and local economy community builders. These coupon programs are a key support for new market development and for existing markets and their provincial associations. In B.C., the Association of Farmers' Markets, with its 135 member markets and 4,000-plus vendors, helps 16,000 vulnerable families, seniors and pregnant women to access weekly coupons.
The petitioners call for a national matching program that would support all provincial market coupon programs and would match provinces that already have contributing programs. This would help tackle poverty, support local farmers and help provide healthy food to the most vulnerable.
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- Dec/7/23 10:15:56 a.m.
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moved:
That the House call on the Liberal government to immediately repeal the carbon tax on farmers, First Nations and families.
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- Dec/7/23 10:46:16 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, through you, I would like to point out to my colleague that Quebec's agriculture sector is not regulated by federal carbon pricing or the Quebec carbon market.
If the Conservatives are so concerned about farmers, what is their game plan for fighting climate change, which is having a major impact on our agriculture industry?
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- Dec/7/23 10:46:58 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the people at the forefront of developing technology innovation are those working in agriculture. They have always been ahead of the curve with respect to using the best technology and best practices, because it helps them continue their operation; it helps them become sustainable. Those who are working the land in the agriculture sector need to have the best practices in order to keep their operation going.
We want to continue to make it feasible for young people to get into the farming sector, but when the government is making it harder and harder for the people growing our food to make a living, we have a bit of a problem. This is the whole argument about the price of food. It is getting too expensive. Farmers are having a harder time making a living, and when they cannot make a living, it is tough to get people into agriculture.
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- Dec/7/23 11:16:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North continues to spread his toxic rhetoric, rumours and innuendos, which have no basis in fact. Let us be factual here. These Liberals are going to increase the cost of food. We just learned today that the Canada food report said the price of groceries is going to go up $700-plus this next year.
We already know they are quadrupling the carbon tax on families, first nations and farmers. This individual does not understand how agriculture works. He is making our farmers less competitive. He is going to make sure we import more food from the United States, China and elsewhere because we will not be able to grow it cheaply enough here in Canada to provide healthy, nutritious food to Canadians. Will this member recognize that the Liberals are increasing food insecurity in Canada?
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- Dec/7/23 1:16:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest and humour to the member for St. Catharines, because he is certainly a good fabricator. What he needs to do is get his facts straight. Before he surmises that there was a drought in Manitoba, he should do his fact-checking instead of hypothecating about what he would have liked to happen.
There was no drought in Manitoba. The farmers in my region were experiencing bumper crops. I do not know what the member was talking about.
Why does the member want to increase the price of home heating? Why does he want to increase the price of food for first nations and families right across the country? Why does he want to do that to my residents of Provencher? Why does he want to make life more expensive for Canadian families?
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- 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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- Dec/7/23 1:37:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak to our opposition day motion. I want to start off with some basic facts, so I will read into the record this very important piece of information. This is the type of stuff we are actually discussing today:
Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, over 800,000 people in Ontario alone accessed a food bank. In total, there were 5.9 million visits to a food bank in this time period. Feed Ontario reported that “if the 800,822 people who visited Ontario’s food banks between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, became their own municipality, it would be the third largest city in the province ahead of Mississauga.”
This tells us we have a problem, yet we are back to this debate. As the member from the NDP stated, Conservatives are bringing up this motion for the 11th time. We are trying to bring some common sense and understand why over 800,000 people in Ontario alone are using a food bank.
Just this week, at the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, we heard it is forecasted that a food bank in Kelowna, B.C., is expecting its growth to be 100% in the next year. In addition, “More than one in six visitors say they are employed, which is an 82 percent increase over 2016-17 and a 37 percent increase over the previous year.” Now it is forecasted that, for 2024, there will be a hundred per cent increase in the use of food banks.
Why is this happening? It is very simple. It is because the cost of living is skyrocketing. Canadian mortgages have doubled, the costs of rents are increasing faster than the increase in wages and affordability is just absolutely out of control. We are in a broken economy right now.
We can try to paint a flowery picture, as we have heard from many parties here, and specifically the government's side. We can paint a pretty picture of all they have done. They can talk all they want about the Canada child tax benefit, refunds from the carbon tax and $10-a-day child care, but none of these policies are working to date.
This is why I am bringing this forward. We can talk about the Canada child tax benefit that was reformed in 2016, but we have to take into consideration what people received back in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Yes, I recognize there was an escalator to that, but the cost of living has continued to increase. Therefore, at the end of the day, Canadians are actually finding that they have less money in their pockets because of the cost of living. The more one spends, the more taxes the government is bringing in. This is the bottom line, and that is why it is so important that we axe the tax for farmers, families and first nations. It is desperately needed.
I am from the incredible riding of Elgin—Middlesex—London, where some of our key industry is farming and agribusiness. I will share a bit of information I received yesterday. When one starts receiving such things, one wonders if anybody from the government benches is doing any reading. Specifically, this comes from Dowler-Karn. I would really like to thank Dowler-Karn and the great people there who are servicing our farmers daily to try to make sure we get crops off and that grains are being dried and everything.
Dowler-Karn has seven locations from Windsor to Kitchener and services industry, agricultural producers, trucking companies and some residential home heating. It does not service gas stations or the mandatory residential home heating. I contacted Dowler-Karn in respect to its carbon tax expenses and was shocked to learn about the revenue that is leaving Elgin—Middlesex—London.
In a 12-month period, from November 30, $27.2 million in carbon tax was sent from Elgin—Middlesex—London to the federal government from Dowler-Karn alone, which is only one of the riding's providers. By April 1, 2024, rates will be going up 23%, so the carbon tax for 2024 is estimated by Dowler-Karn at $34 million.
Where does one think the $34 million comes from? It is added as one of the input costs to farmers. It is that simple. It is part of the business costs, so at the end of the day, when input costs go up, we are going to see the cost of food going up. It is really difficult for me to talk about food if we are not going to actually recognize that carbon tax plays a huge role in the production of food. It makes me very concerned that we are ignoring this.
Currently, the monthly average for Dowler-Karn is $2 million to $2.5 million in carbon tax. Recently, the Canadian Propane Association released a study that, on average, Canadian households are spending $300 to $350 monthly on home heating alone. Currently, the rate of carbon tax on diesel fuel is 17.4¢ per litre, with an estimate to 45.4¢ per litre by 2023. This is affecting all transportation of goods in Canada by truck or rail.
I also want to read into the record an email that we received. We are talking about families. We are talking about how people are being impacted. We recognize that there is absolutely an urban and rural divide on this, but people in the cities may pay less when it comes to the carbon tax because maybe their driving distance is shorter, or their homes may be different, like they might not being living in century-old farm homes. Barry Brigham of London wrote:
With several years of country wide tax contribution income now in place and recognizing rebates extended back to taxpayers, my personal question...[to you] Has there ever been a public release of an accountability statement to the current summary of the carbon tax ledger dollar amount to share with taxpayers. Information such as the current balance along with income generated from interest and details as to the disbursement of this carbon tax income ledger detailing the direction of funds for environmental improvement areas would be of great value and interest to review for a majority of Canadians.
Why do I bring this up? It is because when we talk about all of this money that is coming from the carbon tax, this psychological program that they are playing with Canadians, we are seeing that Canadians are paying a lot of money and they are absolutely desperate. They are asking where the government is taking the money it is receiving from the carbon tax, and are asking where it is investing it to ensure that we actually have climate solutions. That is what we see. The government continues to put its money into the general coffers so it has more revenue. This is a tax plan. It is all about bringing more money in, but we are not seeing the investments in technologies that we need to see.
On Bill C-234, let us turn to something that is really disgusting. I have an email here from some farmers in my riding. Currently, one livestock farmer has already spent approximately $38,000 in carbon tax alone to heat his barns, and will be spending approximately $12,000 in carbon tax to dry his grain.
Another large farming corporation that does some incredible work in the grain and oilseeds industry has already paid $80,000 in carbon tax. Where do people think this money comes from? It will come from the consumer at the end of the day because the input costs continue to go up.
I know I do not have a lot of time left. We have talked about the families, we have talked about the farmers and now we need to talk about our first nations. I think one of the greatest challenges I have seen here is the fact that the first nations have been left out of this. We saw Atlantic Canada get a break on the carbon tax. Why? It was not working and it was making people poor.
We are hearing the same things from our indigenous leaders. I want to read from a CBC article by Olivia Stefanovich. It states, “Ontario First Nations leaders are asking the Federal Court to exempt their communities from the federal carbon tax, a policy”—
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- Dec/7/23 1:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate that and I will correct the record. I recognize that indigenous people are a huge part of our Canadian history and are a huge part of our Canadian social work. They are a huge part of our history, so I do appreciate that.
The article states, “The First Nations argue that the imposition of the price on carbon is leaving their communities worse off than others in Canada and breaching the principles of reconciliation.” The Prime Minister, in 2015, stated that the greatest relationship is that with the indigenous people. How dare he say that when we know this is one of the greatest challenges? Why are people having difficulties? It is because they cannot put the fuel they need in their snowmobiles. Gasoline is being taxed. We know food is being taxed to get up there. It costs more money. Food costs more.
At the end of the day, I am asking that every parliamentarian in here supports Canadian families, supports Canadians farmers and supports first nations, and axes the carbon tax.
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- Dec/7/23 1:47:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do value the hon. member's input, but I have a question. In an era when big grocery is raking in massive profits, which, unfortunately, the opposition does not want to talk about, does the old Conservative idea of trickle-down economics square?
Can the member guarantee, if we take the tax off farmers and truckers, that it will trickle down to the consumer or will it simply absorbed by the folks up and down the chain?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Dec/7/23 1:49:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that the member for Kingston and the Islands loves to rise on points of order, so I would like to make sure I am getting my time back from his wasted point of order. I am, thanks very much.
I was asked a very important question. Instead of questioning whether farmers are going to put money in their own pockets, we should ask the government why it keeps putting it in its pockets. The question that keeps being asked is what will happen if the carbon tax is not taken off and it is added on. We will be throwing our money to the government that continues to just waste it. Perhaps we should trust farmers way before we trust the government.
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- Dec/7/23 1:52:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as a daughter of a farmer, a niece of a farmer and a member of my community, I am absolutely disgusted that we would ever try to question farmers on putting money in their pockets. They, like any other business person, have the right to make a profit. They are working hard to make sure there is food on the table.
I very much question questioning farmers. We have a program that is not working. At the end of the day, we need to axe the tax. It is on the entire cost of food production, from the input to the consumer. We know it goes along the entire way.
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- Dec/7/23 2:13:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House and speak about some very pressing matters. Times are hard for Canadians. A new food report out today shows that Canadians will be paying an extra $700 next year to feed their families.
The Senate amendment to Bill C-234, which would have provided farm families with a much-needed break from the carbon tax, now has its passage in limbo after the Prime Minister lobbied his appointed senators in order to protect his minister.
The Prime Minister could not care less about how his policies have created two classes of Canadians, those who pay the carbon tax and those who do not. First nations are taking the government to court, arguing that the carbon pricing regime of the Prime Minister unjustly and disproportionately impacts their communities and that they will be worse off. It is time to take the carbon tax off farmers, first nations and families.
After eight years of the Prime Minister, it is time for common-sense Conservative government. The Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
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- Dec/7/23 2:17:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a news flash: While Canadians across the country struggle to make ends meet right before Christmas, the Liberals are making it worse as food and home heating costs continue to rise.
The Prime Minister's inflationary spending has caused a cost of living crisis, forcing millions of hard-working Canadians to visit food banks so they can feed their families. In fact, this is the highest level of food bank use that this country has ever seen.
A new report released today shows that a family of four will pay $700 dollars more next year on groceries, with meat up 7%, vegetables up 7% and bread up 7% in price. Rising production costs have contributed to these price increases, yet the Prime Minister refuses to remove the carbon tax from farmers. This means the tax trickles down to the consumer, leaving Canadians struggling to put food on the table. The solution is simple: Take the carbon tax off farmers and families.
Prices are up and taxes are up, and the Liberal Prime Minister's time is up.
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- Dec/7/23 2:20:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, families, farmers and first nations from across Canada are struggling because of the Prime Minister's ideological carbon tax crusade. Food bank usage is up 100%. We learned today that the average grocery bill will go up by $700 dollars next year. His senators are blocking relief for Canadians struggling to eat. First nations communities are taking him to court because of the carbon tax.
Conservatives have proposed a motion to axe the tax, and we will stay here as long as it takes.
Will the Liberals finally listen to Canadians and vote with us to scrap the punishing carbon tax?
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- Dec/7/23 2:21:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those are his talking points, but I will take that as a no. Not only are they going to vote against our motion, but they are also going to quadruple the carbon tax on gas, groceries and home heating.
Instead of voting to take the tax off farmers, the desperate Prime Minister spent his weekend calling Liberal senators to manipulate a vote that he had already lost in this House. Senators gutted the bill, betraying farmers, and then his caucus members lost their minds over a plan to make them work overtime unless they axe the carbon tax.
Why will they not keep their hands out of everyone else's pockets and finally axe the tax so Canadians can put food on the table?
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- Dec/7/23 2:22:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is the exact opposite of what the minister said yesterday. Because of ministers like this, more Canadians than ever will use food banks, and more simply will go without any food at all. For the new year, everyone is going to spend $700 more on groceries.
While the Liberals fight for a few extra days of Christmas vacation, we are going to fight for Canadians, and then we will send the Prime Minister on the permanent vacation that Canadians desperately want him to take.
Why will the Liberals not axe the tax for families, for farmers and for first nations, for good?
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- Dec/7/23 2:23:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 98% of farm fuel emissions are already not impacted by the price on pollution. Farmers, though, are on the front lines of climate change. They understand the critical importance of addressing the climate issue. There are many factors that are contributing to the rise of food prices in Canada and around the world, including the war in Ukraine.
While the Conservatives continue to vote against Ukraine and oppose the free trade agreement they need in their fight against Russia, we are taking action to reduce, to ensure affordability for Canadians and to support the government of Ukraine.
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- Dec/7/23 2:30:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, Canadians are learning the hard way that the Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost. The latest food price report shows that Canadians are bracing for another devastating blow next year, with families being forced to pay over $700 more for groceries. That is on top of all the price increases the Prime Minister's carbon tax and inflationary deficits have already caused.
Instead of making food more expensive with planned tax hikes, why do the Liberals not support our common-sense plan to take the carbon tax off families, first nations and farmers?
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- Dec/7/23 2:33:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, farmers are protesting, first nations are taking the Liberal government to court and families literally have to choose: “Do we eat, or do we heat our homes?” This is Canada after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, and now Canadians get to pay $700 more for food. Merry Christmas, brought to them by the Liberal government. Canadians would have preferred a lump of coal.
Will the Prime Minister finally listen to Canadians and take the carbon tax off farmers, families and first nations?
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