Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as a proud journalist for almost 25 years and having worked for Charles Clark newspaper in High River, I would say that journalists face, much like politicians nowadays, a lack of public trust. We saw that with the Liberal bailout of the media several years ago, and I know many of my constituents are questioning the integrity of journalists. When there are government subsidies or go…
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Madam Speaker, the member talked about the carbon tax not being paid in Quebec, but I know his producers buy fertilizer and fuel and transport their goods to other parts of the country. We heard the other day at committee that 44% of produce growers are selling their goods at a loss. The government always talks about sustainability. With $150,000 carbon tax bills on Canadian farmers, is that susta…
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Mr. Speaker, at committee there are pushes to increase these carbon taxes to reach our climate change goals, but we will not have any farms left. There will be no farms and no food. If we tax them into bankruptcy, then what? The most frustrating part is that the Liberals continue to ignore the accomplishments of Canadian farming, in terms of our standings with emissions, carbon sequestration, stew…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable for tabling this opposition motion today as it shows our farmers, producers and ranchers, as well as consumers across Canada, that the Conservative Party certainly understands food security and their economic viability. In my opinion, the Liberals have a stark decision to make in the next few months. The decision is either to continu…
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Mr. Speaker, I should have been prepared that this question was coming. Obviously, speaking as an Albertan, those energy companies are critical to our economy. They pay for those middle-class jobs and they ensure our economies, not only across Alberta but across Canada, are operating. I am not endorsing taking the carbon tax off large emitters. In fact Alberta was the first province in Canada that…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague should remember the NDP has already put in a motion, which was passed in the House several weeks ago and is being studied at committee.
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Mr. Speaker, I like the revisionist history in my colleague's speech and the colleague across the way. Positions change. It was only in 2009 when the NDP leader in B.C. was going to scrap the carbon tax. She felt that it was going to be punishing for B.C. residents. It is ironic that there is this massive change in position now. The New Democrats position on this upsets me a bit. They are going su…
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Madam Speaker, we would like a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what the Liberals are doing. They are forcing Canadians to the food bank. According to the Food Price Report, by 2030 a 5,000-acre farm will pay more than $150,000 in carbon taxes. Let me be clear: That will destroy the economic viability of the family farm. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois already said we are losing family farms because of the carbon tax. This is putting our fo…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague, the minister, was unable to or did not want to answer the question from my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, but the Auditor General's report today is quite clear that more than 10% of the $200 billion the Liberal government put out as COVID relief programs is unaccounted for and very likely went to people who were ineligible for those programs. I find it…
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With regard to the trip by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and her entourage to participate in the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting, held in Indonesia in September 2022: (a) what was the size of the Canadian delegation; (b) who were the members of the delegation; (c) what was the total travel and hospitality expenditures related to the trip; (d) what is the breakdown of (c) by amounts …
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer said tripling the carbon tax will do little to reduce emissions in agriculture. Why? It is because we are already among the most efficient in the world. What the carbon tax will do is punish farmers with more than $1 billion in additional costs. Now the NDP-Liberal carbon tax coalition wants to expand that punishing tax to include Atlantic Canadian far…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should read his own legislation. The farm tax rebate, through Bill C-8, gives farmers pennies on the dollar back on what they spend on the carbon tax. The result of that is Saskatchewan farmers just had the most expensive harvest in their history. Their on-farm costs exceeded $11 billion, the highest year-over-year increase since 2012. On-farm fuel has more than dou…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise and represent my constituents of Foothills on this important discussion today on the fall economic statement. We have heard from the government since this statement was released, and we have certainly heard in many of the speeches over the last few days, that the Liberals are bragging about being fiscally responsible and having fiscal discipline when it comes…
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Madam Speaker, that seems to be the answer for every Liberal problem that they create themselves. They just want to throw more money at it to solve the problem. They have not solved any problems. In fact, despite record levels of spending, the problems have gotten worse. The Liberals have broken Canada. This is a government, as any Canadian can tell you, that cannot offer the most basic services, …
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Madam Speaker, I would agree. I do not believe the fall economic statement added any new measures to try to curb inflation and end higher interest rates. In fact, I think the fall economic statement is doing everything it possibly can to accelerate inflation and raise interest rates by continuing inflationary spending, by continuing to go further and further in debt, and by tripling the carbon tax…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is right. I do care about my constituents, and all Albertans, passionately. It is frustrating to see what is happening, not only in Alberta but across the country, in terms of the condition of our health care system. Over the last few weeks, we saw the inability to purchase children's Tylenol, acetaminophen products, for example, and how it took the Liberal government w…
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Mr. Speaker, food inflation is at a 40-year high. Canadians are struggling to feed their families. The Liberals' response: “Let them eat cake.” If they cannot afford food, they can cancel the Disney subscription. I cannot even buy a pack of bacon for $13. When fruit and vegetable prices are up 12%, bread 13% and pasta 30%, the Liberals are out of touch, and it is only going to get worse. If we thi…
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Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. While 1.5 million Canadians go to a food bank in one month, the Liberals answer to that is to triple the carbon tax on food production. We have farmers from across Canada in Ottawa this week begging the Liberals for some sort of sanity and to drop this tax. Thanks to the opposition, Canadian farmers will get some relief from the carbon tax on natural gas and …
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Mr. Speaker, the only help the Liberals are offering Canadians is the triple threat: they have tripled the debt; they are tripling the carbon tax, and in less than two years, they have tripled interest rates. This is a threat that Canadians cannot afford. Soup is up 30%. Bread and potatoes are up 17%. Margarine is up 38%. These are not luxury items from a Liberal cocktail party. These are staples …
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Prime Minister has become too comfortable with the luxuries he has not earned. He does not understand the burdens that are on every Canadian, burdens that the Liberals are tripling by tripling the carbon tax, tripling the debt and now tripling the interest rates. Will the Prime Minister end his planned tax hikes on food, fuel and home heating, or is he yearning fo…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, farmers across Canada are wrapping up their harvest and there is a sense of pride and accomplishment, but also stress, stress because the Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition is taking an average of $45,000 from the pockets of every single Canadian farm family; stress because Liberal inflation is driving up interest rates, making it harder for farmers to manage their debt and putting thou…
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Mr. Speaker, food prices are up 11% and Canadians are struggling to put healthy food on the table because of Liberal inflation. The Liberals could throw Canadian families a lifeline by cancelling their planned tax hikes on food, fuel and home heating. Instead, it seems the Liberals are determined to increase the cost of living with bad policies like failing to establish a Canadian vaccine bank for…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for highlighting that Saskatchewan has only Conservative MPs, because they are the ones standing up for their constituents and Canadian farmers. I would be remiss if I did not say that we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the end of the Canadian Wheat Board, which I know my constituents are very happy with. The hon. member, in his presentation, tal…
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Madam Speaker, it a difficult task to follow the leader of the official opposition, but I will do my best to carry on with our message about the NDP opposition day motion, which I also agree does not go far enough. It does not put a lot of the blame on the inflationary crisis we face where most of it belongs, which is on government spending. We cannot say that CEOs, corporate Canada or global comp…
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Madam Speaker, as I said, we agree with the portion of the motion about CEOs paying their fair share. As we said, every Canadian should pay their fair share. His colleague, the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, in his opening speech asked why the Conservatives are moaning about taxes all the time. Well, what our constituents are telling us every single day is that the tax increases by the Libe…
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Madam Speaker, I would argue that the Conservatives, especially under the leader of the official opposition, have been talking about affordability every day in this House for the last two weeks. I do appreciate the motion brought forward by the NDP, but it is the Conservative Party that has addressed and highlighted that Liberal policy, Liberal tax hikes and planned new tax hikes are making life u…
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Madam Speaker, as a brief answer, we are not the government. The Liberals are. If the member has an issue with tax havens, he should take it up with the government.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister realizes that they will not succeed. The biggest threat facing our farmers is the triple threat offered by the Liberals: fertilizer tariffs, higher interest rates and higher carbon taxes. This has put thousands of family farms on the brink of insolvency. Even Canadian consumers understand the threat of the triple threat, as grocery prices are up 10%, which is drivin…
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Mr. Speaker, Michel and Jeannette farm in beautiful Embrun, Ontario, but a quarter of their fuel price was carbon taxes. If the Liberals triple that carbon tax, they have said they are going to be paying $18,000 a year. Now, unlike what the Prime Minister is saying, that is not revenue-neutral. They will get pennies back through the Liberal rebate. I have heard from farmers across the country who …
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Mr. Speaker, I speak to farmers every single day. I am not sure if my colleague can say the same, but here is where the Liberals are so out of touch. We have the Liberal Minister of Agriculture saying farmers are in support of a carbon tax. We have the previous Liberal minister of agriculture saying farmers are in support of a carbon tax. However, I can tell members that I have not talked to a sin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would have to question the premise of his question that this is one of the tools the government has that is working. It is obviously not working. Emissions under the government have gone up every single year, despite it increasing the carbon tax, so I am not sure what data he is looking at that says the Liberal carbon tax, which is supported by the NDP coalition government here, is …
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Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my colleague, and if she keeps talking like this, she may as well cross the floor and join the Conservative Party. In all seriousness, I do want to thank her for supporting Bill C-234. I agree with her. I do believe that is how this came about. However, it was not flukey weather, it was winter, and our farmers face winter every single year. When temperature…
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Mr. Speaker, it truly is an honour to speak in support of our opposition day motion for the Liberals not to increase the carbon tax. I want to read a couple of quotes from agriculture producers I met with this summer, including a farmer in Ontario who told me the only threat to the success of his family farm is Liberal government policy. A Saskatchewan farmer said, “When it comes to farming, I fee…
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Mr. Speaker, conversations are not enough, and they cannot be the fallback position of AgriStability and advance payment programs, because we know that the impact of this hurricane has been profound. Farmers in Annapolis Valley have significant losses in the apple orchards. They cannot meet the threshold of many of these programs. Even if they did meet the threshold, they do not get payments for m…
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Mr. Speaker, farmers in Prince Edward Island have been sending me photos of collapsed buildings, livestock without shelter and acres of crops under water. P.E.I. farmers are still reeling from the Liberals' self-imposed export ban on potatoes from last year and now, with harvest set to begin this week, another potato crop is in jeopardy. Their financial and mental health is deteriorating and many …
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first: their homes, their paycheques, their retirements, their country. By contrast, under the Liberals, Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, fuel in their cars and heat in their homes. Rising housing prices and interest rates have made the dream of home ownership impossible for young Canadians. Our seniors are watching their r…
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Mr. Speaker, the price of groceries is rising at a forty-year high, and the Liberals are fuelling food inflation with nonsensical fertilizer policy and tax hikes on farmers. Food security and affordability are critical issues for Canadians, and our farmers offer a solution by growing affordable and sustainable food. Instead, the Liberals are attacking our producers with nonsensical fertilizer poli…
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Mr. Speaker, the biggest threats to Canadian farmers are the Liberal government and its devastating policies. The minister is misleading Canadian farmers in the House, and she knows it. For example, the Liberals said that the carbon tax would be revenue neutral, and they know that it is not for Canadian farmers. In fact, a Grain Farmers of Ontario study showed that they get less than 20% of their …
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With regard to the government's financial and other participation in the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council: (a) what is the total amount of funding given to the members of the council to date; (b) who are the current and past members of the council; (c) what, if any, trackable metrics have been met by the council; and (d) which, if any, of the council's proposals have led, or will lead, to gov…
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Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Liberals, Canada will be the first jurisdiction in the world to put warning labels on ground beef and pork. Imposing these warning labels means a single ingredient, wholesome protein, that most Canadian families rely on will be unaffordable. How nonsensical is this? They are putting on a warning label despite the fact that once this food is cooked, it does not exceed the…
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Madam Chair, my colleague has incredible experience in agriculture. One of the other things we have been talking about today is the impact the carbon tax is having on Canadian farmers. The idea of that is to transition farmers into using a different fuel for grain drying and heating barns and buildings. What other fuel source are the Liberals asking farmers to transition to? Does it actually exist…
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Madam Chair, I want to say at the beginning of my intervention that I am encouraged by the words of the minister that the Liberal government now understands the importance of things like fertilizer and gene editing and seed technology and the role they will play in the future for food security, because I would think we are in the midst of a food security crisis. This is not something that will hap…
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Madam Chair, my colleague is exactly right. We now know that this is going to cost Canadian farmers about $150 million. We support sanctions against Russia. It is very important that it is held accountable for its illegal actions. However, we do not want those actions to be paid for on the backs of Canadian farmers. We have asked the Liberal government to exempt that tariff on any fertilizer from …
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Madam Chair, I had the honour of travelling to Guatemala a couple of years ago before COVID with the World Foodgrains Bank. What is really impressive with programs such as that is that it is not necessarily always about the money. It is about going to those communities and teaching them how to grow their own food, providing them with the assets, resources and technology they need to grow their own…
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Madam Chair, I am really happy that my respected colleague asked that question because it gives me the opportunity to reiterate the fact that there is, what I will call, a misconception that Canadian agriculture is the problem, when I would profess that Canadian agriculture is the solution. We have seen how Canadian farmers have improved their operations and the technology and innovation that has …
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Madam Chair, if farmers can find ways to be efficient and more cost-effective while protecting their land and improving their yields, they will do it. They use fertilizer as efficiently as possible through programs such as the 4R stewardship program. To my colleague's question, it is critically important that if farmers are using less fertilizer, yields will go down. It is a simple fact. When we a…
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Mr. Chair, the minister talked in his speech about the importance of fertilizer. Not only is it access to fertilizer, but I think the other issue about fertilizer is affordability. We have seen the cost of fertilizer in many parts of the country go up 100%. Canada is the only G7 country on the planet that is charging a 35% tariff on Russian fertilizer. Many times we have asked the Liberal governme…
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Madam Chair, he is exactly right. Through this illegal invasion of Ukraine, Canada is seeing we have two very important geopolitical tools in our tool belt, and those are energy and agriculture. We should be doing everything we possibly can to build those two industries up to play a critical role around the world. Unfortunately, the government is taking a much different approach to those two criti…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his intervention. I certainly have a lot of respect for his experience. From his experience as a prosecutor, what kind of message does he think it sends to criminals, as well as to the victims and their families, when we have bills like Bill C-21, which attacks law-abiding firearms owners, and Bill C-5, which would lessen mandatory sentencing? What kind of mes…
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