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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 270

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 29, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 270 - Jan/29/24
Ms. Lianne Rood (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, CPC)
  • Jan/29/24 8:02:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the report from the public accounts committee entitled “Protecting Canada's Food System During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. In this report, we learn that the NDP-Liberal government spent $515 million, more than half a billion dollars, in various funding envelopes “increased risk of food insecurity”. This is the key question: How much food security did Canadians get for more than half a billion dollars? Well, the short answer is that Canadians got less, not more, food security. They are getting less, thanks to policies of the NDP-Liberal government, which continue to increase food production costs, food transportation costs, food spoilage and food prices and reduce food supply, food variety, food freshness and food security. First, I ask members to cast their mind back to the pandemic. During the NDP-Liberal COVID lockdowns, despite Conservatives sending a warning, along with Canadian producers, processors and suppliers, the NDP-Liberal government failed miserably to plan ahead. It had no plan for getting temporary foreign workers nor seasonal agriculture workers in and out of Canada when and where they were needed. There was no plan for bringing workers into Canada for greenhouse producers starting in January 2021 nor for field producers throughout their planting and harvesting seasons. At the end of the season, some farmers were even faced with the challenges of workers who were not able to return to their home country, for example, Trinidad and Tobago, and there was little or no diplomatic help available for those Canadian producers. That was an epic fail thanks to the NDP-Liberal governing party. Sadly, it does not end there. For the past two years or more, food prices have increased by 8%, 9% or more year over year. Vegetables are seeing the biggest price increases. As a result, Canadian families are cutting back on purchases of vegetables and other healthy foods for their children, and about 20% of Canadians are reporting skipping a meal each day. Food banks across the country are seeing record numbers of visits by Canadians to the tune of over two million families. This is the very definition of food insecurity. The costly coalition of NDP-Liberals has been sleeping at the wheel as Canadian families pay more and more for the necessities of life. With the carbon tax one and carbon tax two combined by April Fool's Day 2030, the Prime Minister and his NDP-Liberal government want to charge Canadian farmers and truckers 61¢ for every litre of fuel they put in their farm implements and trucks in carbon tax. It is not rocket science. It is basic math that the NDP-Liberals just do not seem to get. If it costs more to grow food and it costs more to ship food, it is going to cost Canadian families more to buy food. The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, said that the carbon tax announcements that have it going up, that increases inflation each year. The lead author of Canada's Food Price Report 2023, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, has pointed out that the carbon tax has made business expenses go up. Up and down the food chain, Dr. Charlebois points to a “compounding effect” as the supply chain is exposed to increased costs from the carbon tax. Again, if it costs the farmer more to grow food and truckers more to ship food, it is going to cost Canadians more to buy food. How do we solve the problem of rising food prices and this Prime Minister's costly coalition? Well, first things first, we need to axe the carbon tax. The leader of the opposition and those of us on this side of the House want to offer Canadian families relief from the carbon tax. We want to put an end to possibly the most out-of-touch-with-reality, regressive, punitive and unfair tax Canadians have been asked to pay. However, there is more. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change has added plastic to the list of toxic substances. Yes, members heard that right. Plastic is a toxic substance according to the environment minister. Although the courts recently struck down the NDP-Liberal government's single-use plastics ban, the environment minister has another evil trick up his sleeve. Last August 1, the environment minister issued a notice for his proposed ban on primary plastic packaging, meaning the packaging for produce and meats that we see in the grocery stores. At meetings of the agriculture committee on December 7 and 11, 2023, I asked the chief executive officers of Walmart Canada, Loblaw and Metro what the impact would be for them and their customers if this ban were to be implemented. The CEOs of both Loblaw and Metro said that, if the NDP-Liberal government proceeded with a ban on primary food packaging, it would increase food costs by approximately $6 billion a year, severely impair competition, threaten the availability of food and increase spoilage, meaning more food waste. Primary plastic packaging serves as a hygienic barrier to contaminants; it delays spoilage, extends best before dates, reduces waste and optimizes perishables' nutritional value. Plastic packaging is lightweight, and it reduces the amount of fuel used in transport compared with other alternatives. What most consumers do not realize is that the job that plastic does for fresh fruit and vegetables is done long before it ever hits the grocery store shelves. According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, on average, Canadians spend about $1 billion per month on fruit and vegetables. Only about 12.5% of the fruits and vegetables Canadians consume are produced in Canada. Canadians consume seven times as much imported fruit and vegetables as domestically produced fruit and vegetables. I am sure part of that is because of our weather patterns here. Imported produce can take weeks to reach us by ship. Plastic packaging plays a crucial role in keeping food from overripening and spoiling before it gets to Canada. At this time, there is no cost-effective alternative solution to plastic packaging that is available on a global scale. If the NDP-Liberal government were really and truly concerned about food costs and food security, one might think that it would conduct a regulatory impact analysis. However, one would be wrong. At the agriculture committee on November 30, 2023, I asked the deputy agriculture minister if a regulatory impact analysis on a primary plastic packaging ban for produce had been done. She testified that it had not. This is irresponsible. The Canadian Produce Marketing Association, or CPMA, did a regulatory impact analysis of the proposed primary plastic packaging ban. It found that the NDP-Liberal environment minister's ban on primary plastic packaging could increase the cost of fresh produce by 34%. It could also reduce the availability of fresh produce for Canadians by more than 50%, including the near total elimination of all value-added products, reducing market value by approximately $5.6 billion. The ban could increase fresh produce waste by more than 50%. Furthermore, it could increase the production and release of greenhouse gases from the produce supply chain by more than 50%. The environment minister should take note. Another finding from the CPMA impact analysis suggests that increased fresh produce costs will lead to reduced availability and reduced consumption, therefore increasing health costs by over $1 billion each year. Furthermore, the ban will have a disproportionate impact on the cost and availability of fresh produce in rural and remote regions of Canada. When presented with the consequences of the NDP-Liberal environment minister's ban, almost two-thirds of Canadian consumers expressed concern. Finally, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's regulatory impact analysis reported that the proposed regulations will lead to an increased risk of food safety incidents and food-borne illnesses. In short, the NDP-Liberal environment minister is painting a target on the back of every single Canadian with the threat posed to their health and well-being by his ill-advised, non-evidence-based, irresponsible ban on primary plastic packaging. As I conclude, I want to move: That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following: “the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, presented on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, be not now concurred in, but that it be recommitted to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts for further consideration, with a view to recommend that the agriculture sector be exempt from any federal carbon tax in order to maintain food-security and preparedness for future emergencies.” It is always an honour to rise here on behalf of the people I represent in Lambton—Kent—Middlesex and the farmers and producers who produce the great-quality food that we feed Canadians. I want to thank them for what they do.
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Context: House Hansard - 270 - Jan/29/24
Mrs. Rosemarie Falk (Battlefords—Lloydminster, CPC)
  • Jan/29/24 8:40:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, the cost of living is unaffordable in this country. Hard-working Canadians are struggling to put food on their tables and gas in their tanks, as well as to keep a roof over their heads. This is the devastating reality across the country; prices on food, home heating, gas and just about everything continue to go up. The most recent food price report predicted that the amount of money spent by the average family on food increases would go up by another $700 this year. That is on top of year-over-year increases. Canada is in an affordability crisis, and it is a direct result of the incompetence and the failed policies of the Liberal government and, of course, its costly coalition. It is continuing to fuel this with its inflationary deficits and its costly and ineffective carbon taxes. The carbon tax scheme is making Canadian families choose among eating, heating and other necessities. Food insecurity is soaring. In a country such as Canada and a province such as Saskatchewan, which has incredible, hard-working and innovative farmers and a wealth of agricultural opportunities, the reality that food insecurity is at a point of crisis in this country is truly unbelievable. However, this is the reality when we have a Prime Minister who is intent on punishing Canadians with his nonsensical and ideologically driven carbon tax policy. In clinging to this disastrous policy, which has proven to do nothing for the environment, the Prime Minister has essentially told Canadians that it is more important for him to collect the carbon tax and to check a box than for a Canadian to earn a paycheque to be able to afford the basic necessities. In fact, the cost of his carbon tax is jeopardizing farm businesses; ultimately, this could further impact food security not only in our country but also across the world. This is why my Conservative colleague put forward a bill that would have removed the carbon tax that farmers pay on farm operations, for a cost savings of nearly a billion dollars by 2030. That is billion with a “b”. However, the Prime Minister leaned on the senators he appointed to gut that bill and to use every trick in the book to stop it. This impacts more than our farmers, because when we tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who ships the food, the processing facilities and the stores that sell the food, it is only common sense that the cost for Canadians to buy food goes up. The carbon tax scheme does not even end here. The NDP-Liberal coalition intends to quadruple the carbon tax. When I asked the Prime Minister to axe the carbon tax before it bankrupts all Canadians, his response demonstrated to Canadians how clearly out of touch the government is with reality. Its band-aid solutions to food security are useless when it is contributing much more significantly to the crisis at the same time. Its costly carbon tax is driving Canadians to food banks in record numbers. In fact, in just one month alone last year, Food Banks Canada reported two million visits. Lower prices on groceries and other basic necessities will give Canadians much-needed relief and relieve pressure on the many incredible food banks and charities that are oversubscribed across this country. The carbon tax-obsessed Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost. It is time to axe the carbon tax on everything permanently. In this way, we can lower prices for Canadians and start to address the affordability crisis in this country.
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