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Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Dec/7/23 10:10:57 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the third petition asks for an inquiry to be called into the foreign interference in our elections by the People's Republic of China.

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Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Dec/7/23 10:11:04 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the fourth petition from my constituents calls for Bill C-50 to be abandoned, as the unjust transition act targets them specifically.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/7/23 10:11:15 a.m.
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I want to remind members who are having conversations to please take them outside. They may not think it is loud, but I have my speakers on and I can still hear the conversations.

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Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Dec/7/23 10:11:15 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my fifth petition calls for the Government of Canada, and the Speaker specifically, to give royal recommendation to Bill C-318 so that adoptive and intended parents are able to better support their families.

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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 10:12:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of the community around Enterprise Public School in Kingston. The petitioners call on the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to prioritize funding for a national school food program through budget 2024, for implementation in schools in the fall of 2024. The petitioners bring to the government's attention the new Statistics Canada data from 2022 that indicates one in four children in Canada lives in a food insecure household. They remind us that Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program and that school food programs are recognized around the world as essential to the health, well-being and education of students, with over 388 million children in at least 161 countries receiving food or subsidized school meals at their school.

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Mr. Eric Melillo (Kenora, CPC)

Dec/7/23 10:13:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition recognizing that maternity and parental benefits provide parents with critical financial supports and that adoptive and intended parents are currently at a disadvantage under the EI system. The petitioners are calling on the government to support the adoption of a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-318, which would deliver equitable parental leave for adoptive and intended parents. This must be done by way of royal recommendation.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 10:14:03 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to table a petition today signed by Manitobans regarding the important issue of health care. The petitioners amplify the importance of recognizing the credentials that immigrants bring to the country with respect to health care and recognizing our post-secondary facilities and the need to better support our health care providers, who are really the backbone of our health care system.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/7/23 10:14:37 a.m.
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Again, I want to remind members that if they wish to have conversations while somebody else has the floor, they should take them outside. I just mentioned that. I think we need to afford the same type of respect to other members that we afford our own members. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): Order. There is no chance for debate on this matter. I am asking members on both the government side and the official opposition side to respect each other and respect this House to ensure that we maintain decorum and that the House can function properly.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 10:15:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand, please. The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, CPC)

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/7/23 10:15:56 a.m.
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Today being the last allotted day in the supply period ending December 10, the House will proceed as usual to the consideration and passage of the appropriation bill. In view of recent practices, do hon. members agree that the bill be distributed now? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Dec/7/23 10:16:40 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are hungry for Parliament to pass today's common-sense Conservative motion that the House call on the government to immediately repeal the carbon tax on farmers, first nations and families. When I say they are hungry for us to pass this motion, I mean it literally. Here are the facts: Two million Canadians used a food bank in a single month in Canada. Since 2016, there has been an 82% increase in the number of workers in Ontario using food banks. A single mother of two in Sydney, Nova Scotia, said this: “Well, this month, I had to choose between eating and having heat. My kids are getting fed, but my house is freezing.” For the first time in 60 years, according to the Bank of Montreal, rents in Canada are outpacing income. Halifax now has 35 homeless encampments. Ironically, this is in the province of the Prime Minister's own housing minister. According to an article, Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab says that buying holiday foods this year will be “an expensive proposition”. A growing number of Canadians are forced to work two jobs. Rafid Khan is a full-time student who works full-time for a not-for-profit and has a second job at a car rental company. He said, “You can just hear your body scream for more rest”. As I travel this country, I see the young, emaciated working-class people who clearly have lost weight and have black bags under their eyes from fatigue. I bump into them in airport lobbies at 11 p.m.; they tell me they are entering their 16th or 17th hour of work that day. It is not because they are squirrelling away for a down payment on a home; they have long given up on that. It is because they must work non-stop just to feed themselves and to pay their rent to avoid becoming homeless. In the meantime, they are hopeless; they see no light at the end of the tunnel. Trevor Moss, CEO of the Central Okanagan Food Bank, talked about food bank usage in his community. He said that they are projecting another 100% increase in the next three or four months because of inflation. Cynthia Boulter, chief operating officer of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, said, “We see parents who are skipping meals so that their children can eat. We see people who haven't eaten in days. We see seniors who haven't had produce in months”. Christine MacCallum, a resident of Marshfield, P.E.I., said that they do not buy orange juice as often as they used to; that is a luxury after eight years under the Prime Minister. Patrick Gallagher is a part-time worker living in a homeless shelter. He said, “‘I lived in my car six, seven months and then came here,’ adding that he is not sure how he will ever afford his own place.” He said, “The rents are really high. It’s hard to find places”. This is someone who still works part time. I have met carpenters who live in parking lots. When we have an economy where the people who build our homes cannot afford to live in them, it is a fundamentally unjust system; something must change. Indeed, Canadians are literally hungering for that change. This is life after eight years under the Prime Minister and the Liberal government. This is the misery that Canadians are living. This is eight years after he promised he would help the middle class and those working hard to join them. Do members remember those people? We do not hear about them anymore. Now that he has their votes, he does not need to worry about them. The reason he would never mention the middle class and those working hard to join it is, obviously, that the whole nation would break down into simultaneous laughter and tears. The irony that this man would talk about the middle class after he robbed people of their birthright in Canada, to own a home if they worked hard and nourish their family with good food, would be both hilarious and tragic. These are things we took for granted eight years ago. Now, Canadians are forced to desperately cling to these things. What is the Prime Minister's promise now? It is to quadruple the carbon tax on the farmers who feed our people. Let us talk about the impact this is having. Just today, we have a new report from Canada's “food professor”. Professor Charlebois of Dalhousie University produced a report indicating that, next year, Canadians will spend 701 more dollars to feed their families. This is on top of the 20% food price inflation we have had just in the last couple of years. Next year, the average family of four will need to spend $16,297 to feed their children and themselves. Projections from this report indicate that, for the coming year, food inflation will be between 2.5% and 4.5%, on top of the pre-existing food price increases. Liberals will say inflation is coming down. Prices are going up. The 20% increase in the cost of food is not going away. The 2% to 4% increase that will come this year will be compounded on top of the previous increases. The Prime Minister said he might be quadrupling the carbon tax on farmers and truckers who bring us our food, but we should not worry. He is having meetings with CEOs of grocery chains. That clearly has not worked, because food prices continue to go up again after the dozens of promises that he would make food more affordable. The report reads: In 2024, it is probable that Canadians will continue to experience the strain of food inflation, compounded by increasing costs of housing, energy, and various other expenditures.... Canadians are facing stricter budgets as they contend with higher costs of living as rent continues to increase, interest rates have risen, and household debt is up. Food and beverage retail data shows that between 2022 and 2023, Canadians reduced the amount they spend in food and beverage retail by 3.26%. They are paying more to eat less; they are cutting back on their nutritional budgets, buying less-nutritional food. They are buying smaller portions, where the nutrition is literally stripped out of it and replaced with manufactured oils, artificial sweeteners and flavours, so they can trick their palate into thinking that they are nourishing their bodies. The Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie further notes, “A recent report by TransUnion found that the average Canadian has a credit card bill of $4,000 and a 4.2% increase in household debt compared to last year”. The problem is getting worse. That increase in household debt is on top of the fact that Canada already has the highest household debt in the G7 by a country mile. No one else is even close. We now have approximately $1.80 in debt for every dollar in household income. That is all rolling over into higher interest rates, which the Prime Minister's deficits have caused. The report continues: Food prices are not the only increase in expense that Canadians are facing as other commodities are still feeling the effects of inflation, and household expenses like rent and utilities are also increasing year over year. The last two months have been the fastest months of increase in rent. I will be sharing my time with the member for Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, who comes from a farming community The Prime Minister proposes to quadruple the carbon tax on the farmers who make the food and the truckers who ship the food. Conservatives are going to fight tooth and nail to stop the Prime Minister from getting on his surfboard and leaving this place until he agrees to pass our common-sense proposal to axe the tax on farmers, first nations and families heating their homes. Can the Prime Minister put his ego and his ideological obsessions aside, so Canadians can feed themselves this Christmas? It is the common sense of the common people, united for our common home.

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Mrs. Jenica Atwin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 10:26:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting that there is so much attention being paid to first nations in this country, though I wish it were in a more positive light. How many first nations were consulted about including them in this opposition day motion? We have heard from Ontario chiefs on this issue, but there are over 630 in the country. What kinds of consultations and conversations have been had?

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Dec/7/23 10:27:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the answer is approximately 133 first nations. That is the number taking the government to court because the carbon tax violates their constitutional rights. Now first nations are fighting the Prime Minister in court again. They are forced to spend their limited resources hiring lawyers, not because they want to but because they know their people will not be able to heat their homes in their cold, and often remote, communities. They will not be able to fill up their pickup trucks to go to work, which they need if they are going to work in rural and remote areas in logging, fisheries, mining and agriculture. Naturally, these first nations are fighting for their constitutional rights to heat their homes, feed their families and travel to work. I would add that I also stand with first nations against the Prime Minister's plan to ban hunting rifles. First, he wants to tax the food that first nations buy, and now he wants to take away their ability to use hunting rifles to feed themselves. We will stand with first nations for their right to hunt, their right to heat and their right to eat.

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Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Dec/7/23 10:29:03 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I feel like I am in a kind of parallel universe this morning as I listen to the Conservatives talk about the carbon tax yet again. I have no idea what universe the Leader of the Opposition is living in. I toured Quebec in recent months and met with over 400 housing organizations, including the Réseau québécois des OSBL d'habitation, the Réseau Solidarité Itinérance du Québec, and technical resource groups that work with homeless persons and women who are victims of domestic violence or that build social housing. No one ever talked to me about the carbon tax. What these people want is for governments to invest. They want the failed national housing strategy to be reviewed. They want the government to send Quebec a cheque so it can build real housing that people can live in. That is what people want. No one ever brought up the carbon tax to me. What universe are the Conservatives living in?

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Dec/7/23 10:30:03 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I live in a universe where people need their trucks to go to work. That is the reality in Saguenay and throughout the regions of Quebec. The Bloc Québécois has forgotten the regions of Quebec because the Bloc is obsessed with Plateau-Mont-Royal, where the lefties are completely obsessed with taxes and the concentration of government powers. I find it ironic that the Bloc wants to radically increase taxes on Quebeckers in the regions, only to put all the money in the hands of the federal government. That means more power for the federal government and less power for Quebeckers. That is the Bloc's real agenda. The Bloc is out of touch with Quebeckers. It is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois, very costly indeed.

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Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Dec/7/23 10:31:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I still remember what the Conservative leader said on the day that the Prime Minister delivered an apology to residential school survivors. He said he was not sure Canadians were “getting value for all of this money”, referring to the compensation for residential school survivors. He suggested that, rather than compensation, residential school survivors “need a stronger work ethic”. That is racism, and he apologized for those comments, but the harm and hurt of those comments resurfaced again this year. What does he say to the first nations, Inuit and Métis people who would like him to apologize for when he spoke at a luncheon for residential school deniers?

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Dec/7/23 10:31:52 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I addressed those remarks 15 years ago. Here and now, Conservative Party is the only party fighting for first nations, while the NDP wants to quadruple the carbon tax on first nations communities, take more money away, cause more poverty, increase the cost of food, cause more food insecurity and cause more paternalism and colonialism. A colonialist carbon tax imposed by the NDP-Liberal government in Ottawa on first nations without their consent is the last thing we need. It runs against reconciliation. Only the common-sense Conservatives will stand up for farmers, families and first nations.

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Mr. Jamie Schmale (Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, CPC)

Dec/7/23 10:32:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to speak in this place, and of course to follow the leader of the official opposition, the member for Carleton, and his wise words. He did end on the issue of first nations, which are now taking the government to court, at least 133 of them, bands represented by the Ontario chiefs, to fight what they are calling the discriminatory carbon tax. First and foremost, I think we can all agree it is crucial to recognize the undeniable commitment of indigenous peoples to environmental stewardship and sustainability. Of course, many communities have deep connections to the land, and have for generations practised a harmonious relationship with nature. It comes to that, which is supposed to be the allegedly most important relationship for the Prime Minister, the one with indigenous peoples, but there are now 133 Ontario chiefs taking the government to court. It is not necessarily something they want to do; it is something they are forced to do. The following is a headline from APTN: “Chiefs of Ontario ask for judicial review of a carbon price regime.” I will read the first paragraph, because it highlights quite perfectly exactly what I want to speak to: “First Nations leaders in Ontario say Canada needs to fix what they call a ‘discriminatory’ carbon price system, arguing the federal government failed to address their repeated concerns and blocked their exemption request only to then issue a carveout [to other parts of] Canada.” That is quite clear. The next quote builds on what the leader of the official opposition was just saying about the fact that first nations leaders are not consulted despite the repeated comments of the government. It reads, “A First Nation leader called the move ‘completely avoidable’ if the federal government had only ‘showed up to the table.’” That is a quote from Abram Benedict, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the head of the Chiefs of Ontario's environmental portfolio. There are Ontario groups saying that they are disproportionately hurt by the carbon price tax. They are saying that they are willing to work with the government to come to a solution, yet the government does not even want to have that conversation. It will call anyone else “colonial”, but that is peak colonialism right there. The government refuses to show up at the table and negotiate with first nations communities, which have to pay the carbon tax that is causing the price of heating, eating and travelling to go up unnecessarily. However, they are not getting the break if they live on reserve. They do not get the rebate, so they are paying more and getting less. What is even worse with the government is that its department of Indigenous Services Canada has actually doubled in bureaucrats. There are almost 9,000 people working in the department, yet according to its own departmental data, it is hitting only 18% of its stated goals. In what other place on this planet can one get away with hitting 18% of one's goals? We have asked the minister many times to answer that question. There is no clear answer, but I can tell members what happens: The targets are actually moved down the road, so if it is not completed this year, it is just moved to next year and the year after that. The lives of indigenous peoples, under the current government, are not getting any better. The move by the Ontario chiefs proves that. The claim by the government that people are better off, with more money in their pockets because the rebates give them more, is not true. The Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that. The Ontario chiefs lawsuit proves the example yet again. The government's plan to continue to increase the carbon tax year after year is not making people better. Emissions are going up. The government does not have an environmental plan; it has a tax plan, one that is making the lives of Canadians, whether indigenous or non-indigenous, miserable. It is spreading the misery around. It is probably easy for the government. Under its policies, it cannot seem to encourage more people to start businesses because, under this tax system, the more one makes, the more the government takes, so it will just keep spreading the misery and bringing people down. Those people are the middle class. Those are the people who are hurting the most. The environment minister decided to take a nice trip to the UAE to talk about reducing emissions. It is interesting that he can sit and lecture others about trying to live their lives, pointing his finger at others who are trying to maybe take a vacation if they work all year around, and trying to feed their families, for crying out loud. Nowadays, food bank usage is through the roof. Expenses are through the roof. Rent and mortgages are through the roof. The minister has the audacity to look at others and say, “How dare you get on that plane?” He bemoans the wealth of others for maybe creating a job through a small business or two, creating opportunity in their community, then tells them they cannot see the fruits of their labour. He will take all that life has to offer. I bet that the environment minister ate at the best restaurants and stayed at the finest hotels. Now, there are 133 Ontario chiefs taking the government to court because it would not sit at the table and negotiate on a way forward, something that should be common sense to the government. It had to get to the point where these communities have to use money that would be better spent on providing services for their people. They now have to use it to go to court just to try to stop the misery the government is inflicting. In April 2022, the Auditor General, in what is called by many a scathing report on carbon pricing, found that indigenous groups were disproportionately burdened by the Liberal carbon tax. In section 5.60, the report states: Indigenous groups and small- and medium-sized enterprises were still disproportionately burdened. [The Auditor General] also found that Environment and Climate Change Canada had not established any criteria for their assessment of provincial and territorial systems in the federal benchmark to consider the potential disproportionate burden of carbon pricing for all jurisdictions. Unfortunately, in February of this year, a press release read: The reality in First Nations communities is poverty stricken conditions along with substantially higher costs for all goods and services in rural and remote communities. The Fuel Charge program has added a costly burden on First Nations, who experience far greater poverty and substandard housing and infrastructure than the “average” Canadian as a result of colonialism. The Fuel Charge cost to First Nations citizens amounts to another cash grab for Canada, removing several million dollars a year from those [people who are] least responsible for the climate crisis. That pretty much says it all. The hurt is real for first nations communities. There is not more money in their pockets because of the current government. The housing crisis has not gone away. The government leaves opportunities and passes them by. Leaders from Germany and Japan came to the government, saying that they would like to buy our energy. Who would benefit from that energy, in a lot of cases? First nations communities would, through jobs, opportunity, investment and equity stake. The government just fluffed off the Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Minister of Japan, saying, “No, you can buy your energy somewhere else.” Selling our energy would have provided some much-needed relief for indigenous communities, but the government, like the carbon tax, ignores the needs, wishes and desires of first nations communities. In our motion, we are calling for the carbon tax to be taken off for families, families and first nations.

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