44th Parl. 1st Sess.

June 3, 2024 11:00AM

Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

Jun/3/24 8:26:54 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, here we are tonight in a concurrence debate. There was a report from the finance committee on grocery stores and a recommendation to the House to create some kind of extra profit tax. It came out of the finance committee, but the Conservatives have a better solution that we have offered through an amendment to the report. We think that there is a more effective, more efficient, quicker and easier way for Parliament and for the government to improve the ability of Canadians to afford food than getting into the tax change they are proposing. In our motion, we “recommend a more efficient alternative to address food insecurity among Canadians this summer by calling on the government to eliminate the carbon tax, the federal fuel tax and GST on gasoline and diesel between now and Labour Day.” That is what we are debating tonight. I share concerns that have been raised about the concentration of grocery retailing in Canada. I am very concerned, under the current government, about the extent to which competition has been reduced in a variety of sectors, including banking and telecoms. The Canadian consumer would be better served, I am certain, with better and more competition for retail of groceries, but the government could fix or at least address the growing number of Canadians who are food-insecure, though let us not mess around with labels here and say “food insecurity”. Let us just get real. People are hungry. People are skipping meals. People are compromising on the quality of ingredients they buy. We have seen it. There are countless studies that have come out showing that it is affecting millions of Canadians. There are people hungry in Canada in 2024. The government could do something immediately that would improve the personal finances of Canadians and help consumers to afford more and better food, and that is to get rid of all the taxes. That would to bring down their transportation costs, which would free up more money for food, and it also would directly impact the price of food. We have been calling for relief from the carbon tax in many ways from the government. In fact, the House of Commons has passed a bill that would have taken the carbon tax entirely off farmers so they would not have to pay the carbon tax to heat barns and buildings and to dry grain, and for all of these kinds of things. The other place amended the bill, gutted it and took out one of the most critical parts of it: the buildings and the barns. That is something that could be done too, but if the government would just listen and accept the advice in a motion that we voted on today and get rid of the carbon tax, the federal fuel tax, the GST on gasoline and diesel, we could bring down costs for consumers. That would be so important for so many reasons. It would help both the producers and the consumers. A consumer has basic costs: shelter, food, clothing and transportation. The carbon tax directly impacts all of these things, but especially food and transportation. It does not matter whether someone owns a car or not; the carbon tax and the other federal taxes on fuel affect the ability of municipalities to run transit systems, so even if someone takes the bus, they would benefit from the proposal that the Conservatives have to send back to the finance committee. If someone does have to drive their car to get to the grocery store or to take their children to activities or school, then reducing their budget for transportation is going to help make up what is available for food, shelter or other needs. A Canadian who is at least able to get by, and can actually, on a month-to-month basis, afford the home they live in and afford to keep a car on the road and food in the fridge, might want to just take a little vacation this summer. The proposal would help Canadians who are struggling and who just want to put the kids in the car, as the health minister talked about in question period the other day, and drive out to the mountains, the lake or the beach, depending on where they live and what kinds of things they have nearby for recreation. This is Canadiana; it is what Canadians do. They get out and go to see the beautiful country that we live in. We live in such a beautiful land with so much to offer for summer recreation, or winter recreation for that matter, or any recreation at any time of year. Why not celebrate the outdoors and celebrate the people of this country? Why not be able to go visit a relative? I plan to go on a road trip this summer. I am not planning a major vacation or anything, but I hope to have a chance to visit relatives who live in other parts of the country and to maybe get out to the mountains west of Calgary. It is what Canadians do. The least the government could do is not make the basics more expensive for Canadians. A Canadian who can save a little bit of money on their fuel to go on a trip this summer is just going to have more money in their bank account for other things. However, the approach of the government has been to tax and regulate the economy to the point where we are at the very bottom of the G7 for per capita GDP growth, because our per capita GDP growth is not growth at all; it is contraction. Per capita, we are going backwards. Per capita, Canadians are getting poorer. Canadians are going backwards while life gets more expensive. It is a spiral that we need to get out of. The only way we are going to get out of it is with a change of government. It is the only way forward, so that we can fix the budget and be able to get serious about the basic core responsibilities of government, like national defence, public safety, and ensuring that health transfers will be there in the years ahead. We are spending more now on interest than on health transfers. We spend far more on interest than we do on national defence. We are going to need a strong economy. We are going to need new investment. We are going to need regulatory relief and tax relief to make these things happen. The only way we are going to get out of the spiral and see Canadians' per capita income go up instead of down in the years ahead is with a new signal for strong economic leadership. We have to get rid of the gatekeepers who are destroying the ability for anyone to get projects approved in this country. There has been capital flight. There has been the cancellation of projects, which has been ongoing for the last nine years. There is a carbon tax that continually goes up, is piled on Canadians and interferes with their ability to do basic things like afford groceries; get in their car, put some gas in the tank and go on a small trip; or even just get themselves to work and back on a day-to-day basis. We need to get away from the continual regime of further and greater red tape, regulation and taxes, and get back to a country that can work and where people's work is rewarded, where people can afford to live and where people can afford their homes, groceries and transportation.

1284 words

Hear!
Rabble!
add
star_border
share

SoVote

House Hansard - 323