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House Hansard - 337

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 17, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24
Hon. Lawrence MacAulay (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.)
  • Sep/17/24 3:31:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House today to pay tribute to my old colleague the hon. Chuck Strahl. I am deeply saddened by his passing. Although I sat across the aisle from him for 18 years, I always had a deep respect and admiration for him. That is really the beauty of this place. There is a time for lively debate and different opinions, but we are all here to represent our constituents back home, and Chuck understood that as well as anyone else. In addition to serving as a member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011, he also served as minister of agriculture, minister of Indian and northern development and minister of transport. These jobs can often be challenging, but he stepped up in service to his country, and I thank him so much for that. Being Minister of Agriculture myself, I know full well what the job entails. Serving our farmers, producers and ranchers has been one of the greatest honours of my life, and I am sure Chuck felt the same way. I probably should not say this, but I think Chuck would understand and maybe chuckle a bit. Back in 2010, Chuck was serving as minister of transport, and as other previous and probably current ministers of transport know, I was a bit of a thorn in his side. I was grilling him one day in the House in question period about the Wood Islands-Caribou ferry service, which is vitally important to my riding. Eventually he said, “I know the member has asked this question every year for about 10 or 12 years now”, which was certainly true. Even though Chuck was from far on the other side of the country, and the ferry on the eastern end of Prince Edward Island was probably not one of his top priorities, he always showed a willingness to work with me on that issue and many other issues. He showed me and my constituents a great deal of respect, and I am deeply grateful for that. We were from different parties, but Chuck always had time for my concerns, and I truly believe that is how ministers and members of Parliament should act. We all want what is best for our constituents and Canadians. We may disagree on how we deliver that, but the country is best served when we all communicate and work together on things. I cannot help but look across the aisle and see Chuck's son, the member for Chilliwack—Hope. I have been in this place for quite a while, and it is quite something to be able to say that I have served with him and with Chuck. I am sure that Chuck was so deeply proud of his son, my hon. colleague, for being his successor. What a great honour the member has brought to his father. I might just break the rules here a little bit, but to the member for Chilliwack—Hope, Mark, I want to offer my sincerest condolences. It is very difficult. Chuck's wife, Deb; his other children, Karina, Loni and Kyla; and the rest of his family and friends are all in our thoughts. Losing a loved one is never easy, but I hope that Mark's faith, which I am sure was inherited from his father, brings him comfort in the days ahead. I truly appreciate the opportunity to rise in the House to honour my old friend Chuck Strahl. His tremendous service to his constituents, province and country will never be forgotten.
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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24
Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)
Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country. As this is my first opportunity to rise in the House since the summer, I would like to take a brief moment before starting my speech today to recognize the small businesses, in particular the farmers in my community and region, who work hard seven days a week, toiling the soil and pruning the orchards to feed our residents and beyond. They have had a particularly hard last few years due to many factors, and I want to recognize them and encourage everyone to support our farmers and small businesses and to buy local. This legislation before us is a Liberal private member's bill, Bill C-322. I serve as the vice-chair of the committee that studied this legislation, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Our committee had many witnesses appear with respect to Bill C-322 who are directly involved with providing food to people. During our questioning, Conservatives pointed out that Food Banks Canada came out with a report where it had seen a 50% increase in food bank usage since 2021. Witnesses who manage food programs that support families in need also told us that they had seen similar increases. Mr. Carl Nabein, the president and founder of Kids Against Hunger Canada, stated, “There's enough food to feed everybody, but our limitation is the funding or the donations that we need to get the food to where it's needed.” With respect to a question on the price of food, he stated: Yes, dramatically.... It's a bit of a double whammy. Our food prices have gone up. They've pretty much doubled over the last six or seven years. The cost of transportation.... [and] transportation companies were providing us with the shipping of the food at no cost, which they can no longer afford...due to the increase in the price of fuel. Even the cost of our materials has gone up. Mr. Nabein is right. In Canada, we are blessed with an enormous amount of agricultural capacity to feed Canadians. The problem this bill seeks to address stems from Canada's ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Farming, transportation and fuel costs on farms, whether to grow or process food, are all increasing, which ultimately increases the cost of food. Bill C-322 does nothing for any of these causes. Mr. Nabein stated that he has seen the cost of food double over the last six or seven years, and we have seen the federal carbon tax increase, which makes the costs of growing or producing food in Canada increase. During his appearance on C-322, when Mr. Nabein was asked whether getting rid of the carbon tax would help Kids Against Hunger Canada, he stated, “It definitely would help.” Conservatives at the human resources committee sought to amend the legislation to speak to this proposed solution and help Canadians. To improve food security and reduce costs, I moved the following amendment to Bill C-322, clause 3, adding, after line 15 on page 3, the following: “examine the applicability of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to food and the transportation of food sourced under the school food program and, where applicable, examine ways to exempt them from the application of that Act.” In addition, I moved an amendment in clause 4 of this legislation, replacing line 18 on page 3, so that the proposed national framework in this Liberal private member's bill “includes a projection of transportation and production costs that would be incurred by the school food program under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act”. These amendments would have given the legislation real teeth toward reducing the cost of food being provided to families while exposing the real costs the carbon taxes are having on feeding children. Without these amendments, there is very little in this legislation except creating reports in government departments. Reports, reviews and more photo ops do nothing to help hungry Canadian families because none of these things can feed them. Still the Liberals, with the support of the supposed opposition parties of the NDP and the Bloc, voted against these amendments. This bill now contains no mechanisms for actually tracking costs or reducing the cost of food. When this legislation was first debated here in the House last November, I noted many frightening food security statistics that proved how many Canadians are driven to food banks because of the NDP-Liberal government's inflationary policies. Almost a year later, things have only gotten worse under the NDP-Liberal government. According to Statistics Canada, nearly a quarter of all Canadians will use a food bank just this fall. In the report, it says that “findings from the current analysis show that certain groups are experiencing greater financial strain due to rising prices, including those with lower incomes, younger adults, households with children, and persons with a disability.” In a survey of families with young children, the very group this legislation is meant to help, Statistics Canada found that “over half (55%) of households with children reported that rising prices were greatly affecting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses”. Throughout this summer, I heard from many Canadians in my community of Kelowna—Lake Country and across British Columbia who told me how the rising costs of groceries have put a strain on them and their families. Just recently, Food Banks BC reported that for the first time ever, it had served 100,000 food bank users in a single month. It warned that the high cost of living and rising prices of groceries are creating a “perfect storm” for record food bank usage. The Greater Vancouver Food Bank reports a 30% increase in clients and a 24% increase in families since last year. The Central Okanagan Food Bank has seen similar numbers. Because of the increase in demand, food banks in Surrey are having to reduce the amount of food they give per person. Another report, by Feed Ontario, revealed that over a million Ontarians used a food bank this year, an increase of 25% from last year and a record-breaking number. Feed Ontario said in a news release, “This represents a continued trend in the rise of food bank visits,” marking an eight-year all-time high. That is the same period the Liberals have been in office. These are the effects of the government's inflationary and high-tax policies. It is no different from the announcement that carbon tax Mark Carney was appointed to do the work of a finance minister. He has been asked to create a report advising the government on the economy. I should mention that no member of Parliament will be able to question carbon tax Mark Carney on this forthcoming report, because he will be writing economic policy for Canadians from the boardroom of the Liberal Party of Canada instead of from a government office and will avoid federal ethics rules that would require him to disclose conflicts of interest or investments. The Liberals continue increasing carbon taxes, making Canadians poorer, and they have missed emissions reductions targets while the Prime Minister's transport emitted 92,000 air kilometres' worth of carbon emissions in just the last three months. The Prime Minister, carbon tax Mark Carney and Bill C-322 are full of empty promises. Liberal ideology is their priority, rather than looking at the effects of their ideology, their policies and their legislation, including tax increases. The government taxes the farmer who grows the food, taxes the trucker who transports the food and then taxes the stores that sell the food. Ultimately, the person who buys the food pays for it. Under the failed policies of the Liberal government, Canadians are hurting from coast to coast to coast, and the shelves of food banks and many family homes are running out of food. There are more government frameworks and reports of reports, like Bill C-322 seeks to do. This can only be done through bringing down food costs by addressing the causes. Hard-working Canadians want to feed their families. They want powerful paycheques to buy groceries, but the government and its high taxes impose more misery and suffering on them. Conservatives will axe the tax, stop tax increases and stop wasteful inflationary spending to bring down costs for Canadians.
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