44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 19, 2024 10:00AM
- Sep/19/24 2:23:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all knew that the NDP leader had sold out the people and signed on to a costly coalition with the carbon tax Prime Minister to tax people's food, punish their work, double their housing costs and unleash crime in their communities.
However, he claimed that he had torn up the carbon tax coalition so that Winnipeggers would not fire him in a by-election, but as soon as the votes were counted, he betrayed them too and taped back together the carbon tax coalition.
How can anyone ever believe what he says again?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Sep/19/24 2:38:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years under the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The Liberals and the NDP believe in quadrupling the carbon taxes to 61¢ a litre. This is at a time when two million Canadians a month are going to food banks, seniors are turning down their heat and people are living in RVs at truck stops. Canadians cannot afford this costly coalition.
When will Canadians have a carbon tax election so they can decide between the costly NDP-Liberal coalition and common-sense Conservatives?
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- Sep/19/24 2:39:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it would be nice if people actually used facts in the House. At the end of the day, a price on pollution is actually an affordability mechanism. To get rid of the carbon rebate would actually make people who live on modest incomes poorer. At the same time, it would imperil the future of our children, abandoning them to a future where we have runaway climate change. It is so ridiculous that, after 300 economists have said it and the Leader of the Opposition refuses to talk to any one of them, that Conservatives can get up and make up these fairy tales.
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- Sep/19/24 2:40:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not a fairy tale that people cannot afford to feed themselves in Canada. The NDP leader has voted 24 times for the carbon tax. The NDP members talk a big talk, but they cannot be trusted to do what is best for Canadian families. The NDP-Liberals tax people's food, punish their work, take their money, double their housing costs and unleash crime and drugs in their communities. Common-sense Conservatives will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Time is up.
When will we have a carbon tax election so Canadians can choose their future?
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- Sep/19/24 2:40:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, setting aside the fact that both the Parliamentary Budget Officer and 300 economists have said that eight out of 10 Canadians get more money than they pay in carbon pricing, we have a report today from the independent organization, the Climate Institute, which shows that emissions were down again in Canada in 2023. The report also shows that, without our plan, emissions would be 41% higher. The Conservative Party of Canada has a non-plan. It would be the equivalent, in terms of pollution, of an added 60 million vehicles on our road. That is what we are talking about here.
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- Sep/19/24 2:43:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is cold comfort to the people struggling to fill their gas tanks, put food on the table and afford simple basic necessities. We know the NDP members will only pretend to stand up for Canadians if they can be assured that they have the backing of the Bloc to keep this tired and corrupt government in power. In fact, 24 times the NDP voted in favour of the carbon tax while Canadians struggled just to get by. Once again, this is why we need a carbon tax election: so that Canadians can choose between our plan and the NDP-Liberal plan.
Why are they so afraid to give Canadians a choice at the ballot box?
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- Sep/19/24 2:49:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us review the facts about the carbon price for a moment. The carbon price reduces pollution and puts money back into the pockets of Canadians. In fact, eight out of 10 families receive more money back than they pay with an increasing price on pollution. It is the single best market mechanism known to reduce carbon footprints. We used to have a lot of parties in this chamber supporting that price. Unfortunately, we have seen a flip by virtue of the leader of the NDP's position. What that does is it signals voter cynicism. However, it also signals to progressives, including those in my riding of Parkdale—High Park, that if we want a party that is going to fight against climate change, our only choice is the Liberal Party of Canada.
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- Sep/19/24 2:50:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up, but instead of fighting for Canadians, the NDP leader sold out workers by voting to increase the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre. In fact, he voted for the carbon tax 24 times. We know that the NDP leader is keeping the Prime Minister in power to secure his own pension.
Will the Prime Minister listen to Canadians and call a carbon tax election?
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- Sep/19/24 2:52:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the member for Edmonton Strathcona. In June 2024, she said, “economists, journalists and members of Parliament have made it very clear that the carbon tax is not what is responsible for the cost of food increasing so much.”
I can also quote the member for Victoria, who said, “the PBO has put out a number of reports that confirm...that 80% of Canadians get more money back than they pay.” That was in March 2024. In September 2022, the member for Victoria also said that the carbon tax is a crucial part of any climate plan.
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- Sep/19/24 6:43:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country.
After nine years of the NDP-Liberals, housing, gas and groceries cost more, and hard-working Canadians increasingly cannot pay their bills, yet the NDP-Liberal government wants the carbon tax to continue to rise to add 61¢ per litre, driving up the cost of almost everything. When we tax those who farm, who transport, who warehouse and who retail, we tax the one who buys. Families will already be paying $700 more for food this year than in 2023.
The carbon tax has already been such a costly disaster for Canadian small businesses and for family pocketbooks that there are fewer politicians in Canada now defending it. In their latest desperate publicity stunt, both the leader of the NDP here and the NDP premier of British Columbia have tried to make Canadians believe that now, on the eve of, or with the possibility of, an election, they were opposed to the carbon taxes, which they have strongly supported their entire political careers. Who can believe their baloney? The NDP voted to defend the carbon tax 24 separate times in the House, even though 70% of Canadians wanted to cancel the increase earlier this year.
The Fraser Institute reported that a carbon tax that continues to increase to 61¢ per litre would cost the average Canadian worker $6,700 by 2030. It is estimated that it will also reduce Canada's GDP by 6.2% by 2030, resulting in 164,000 fewer jobs. The federal carbon tax will also have a negative economic impact on Canada's real gross domestic product, the GDP, of $25 billion by 2030, according to the government's own figures, numbers the government tried to hide even from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. That is just carbon tax one.
Recently, Conservatives forced the government to turn over documents on its second carbon tax, which show carbon tax two will cost the Canadian economy an additional $9 billion by 2030.
The carbon taxes are not an environmental plan, but a tax plan. Forcing carbon taxes on Canadians has not stopped a single natural disaster. Meanwhile, the NDP-Liberal government killed green energy projects, such as Sustainable Marine Canada's tidal energy project and continued to import dirty oil from foreign dictators with poor environmental standards. Canada fell to 62nd out of 67 countries on the climate change performance index.
Canadians are not going to be fooled. The phantom finance minister, carbon tax Mark Carney, may now be writing government policy from the boardroom of the Liberal Party of Canada, but it was just one year ago that he wrote that the Prime Minister was wrong even to exempt home heating fuels from the carbon tax.
Canadians face a clear choice between a continuing cost-of-living crisis with the costly coalition or a Conservative government that would axe the tax.
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- Sep/19/24 6:47:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have been here before and we have talked about this before, with the member opposite and with many other members.
The last I checked, Kelowna—Lake Country, a beautiful place, is in British Columbia. There is no federal price on pollution in British Columbia. In fact, it was a Liberal government in British Columbia that brought forward Canada's first carbon pricing system. It has been in effect for over a decade and it has been drastically reducing the emissions of British Columbia since then.
For the first time since the 1990s, Canada has our emissions under check. Just recently, yesterday in fact, the Canadian Climate Institute said that, once again, in 2023, Canada's emissions had fallen. In addition to that, they said that one of the chief reasons for that was because of carbon pricing. Whether it is on the industrial side or the consumer price, carbon pricing works.
I do not have a Nobel Prize, and last time I checked, there were no Nobel Prize winners in this House of Commons, but one person has, in fact, won a Nobel Prize for carbon pricing. He has said that Canada's carbon pricing system gets it right.
The Conservatives have been using these lines about what is up. Instead of talking about what is up right now, I would like to talk about what is down. Currently, inflation is down to the target range of 2%. Canadians are still having a difficult time financially, no mistake about that. However, when inflation comes down, that means prices are on their way down as well. With that 2% inflation rate, which is right in line with the Bank of Canada's goals, we also have seen that interest rates are down.
With inflation coming down, one of the chief causes of that is lower gas prices. Gas prices have hit lows that we have not seen since around the pandemic when they fell because people were not driving as much.
If, as the Conservatives say, carbon pricing is causing inflation, the price on pollution in Canada has gone up every year for the last four years and over the last four years, our inflation has steadily come down. Either the Conservatives cannot do math, or they think Canadians are so stupid that they cannot do math, or both. I actually would not put it past them that they might just be willing to treat Canadians with no respect and will keep using these tired tag lines instead of putting forth some actual policies that would grow our economy and reduce our emissions.
Gratefully, we are doing just that. We are following the lead of British Columbia. My colleague from Manitoba loves to heckle me, he does it all the time and it does not impact me whatsoever. Again, they are not very good arguments that he puts forward.
We have made it very clear, Canadians get more money back through the price on pollution, the Canada carbon rebate, than they pay. That is true and has been clearly stated by the PBO, by 300 economists across this country, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer. That means that low- and medium-income households benefit the most.
I know I am talking to a Conservative right now, and they do not typically care too much about low- and medium-income households, usually just focusing on corporations, millionaires and which oil and gas CEO is asking them to do one thing or another. However, we did just finish a debate on a guaranteed livable income, and things like this, the Canada carbon rebate, the Canada child benefit and the GIS mean more money in Canadians' pockets and that actually helps Canadians. What does not help Canadians is tired three-word slogans from the Conservative Party of Canada.
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- Sep/19/24 6:51:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, for the member to insinuate that I do not care about residents in my community who are low- or middle-income is pretty awful and pretty shameful.
This Liberal member has made the Liberal Party position very clear about the carbon tax, well, unless it is carving out exceptions due to fear of losing elections, like it did in Atlantic Canada.
Conservatives and most Canadians, including those in my community, do not want to keep paying the carbon taxes. The facts are clear that Canadians are forced to eat less, they are skipping meals and they are buying less healthy food. There is lots of information on this. There are more lineups at food banks, in the millions, just to make ends meet. Just recently, Food Banks B.C. reported that it had served 100,000 food bank users in a single month for the first time.
Canadians cannot afford to endure 12 more months of this cost of living crisis. They should be given the choice to axe the tax and have a carbon tax election.
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