John Barlow

Mr. Speaker, in his speech, my colleague talked about consultation, predictability and making hard decisions, but this is clearly the same old Liberal government. As part of this bill, for the third time, Liberals would be making extended interswitching just a pilot project. They have not been able to make the hard decisions of doing the right thing or they clearly have not consulted. Why would they not be making extended interswitching permanent? Why would they be limiting it to just the Prairies, avoiding or excluding critical grain corridors like B.C. and northern Ontario? Why are they not listening to shippers and grain growers and including interswitching as a permanent change to the transportation corridors in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, we had the Building Canada Act 18 months ago. Now we have the building Canada strong act. Nothing has been built or done in the interim. I cannot wait for when we have the “building Canada very strong act” 18 months from now. The key is repeal. Can the member tell me exactly which regulations and legislation this bill would repeal—

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the minister about real life for an Alberta farmer. Roy is having a tough day today. He is having a family meeting trying to figure out how they are going to pay this year's fuel bill. They usually budget about $50,000 for harvest. Last year, it skyrocketed to $130,000. This year, he is telling me it is going to be devastating, as diesel prices have doubled yet again to more than two dollars a litre. The out-of-touch Liberals have blocked east-west pipelines, leaving our food production exposed to a U.S. diesel export ban. Will the Liberals accept the Conservative diesel price relief action plan today so farmers have access to the fuel they need to keep affordable food on the table?

Mr. Speaker, I had a call from a dad in Claresholm. He is a small business owner. He was hoping to spend time with his kids this summer, but instead he was working 90 hours a week just to keep food on the table. He is mentally and physically exhausted. He is exhausted because instead of camping with his family in the Foothills, he was at his shop working just to pay the bills. How can the Prime Minister try to tell Canadians that affordability has never been better when a hard-working father is working 90 hours a week and still cannot afford the basics in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, if they understand the problems, why are they not doing anything to solve them? It is all talk and no results for real Canadians, including farmers. Ian, a farmer in Newfoundland, told me that he is paying more than $2.40 a litre in diesel. He said that if it gets higher, we all starve. Kate said that her family farm in Saskatchewan will not be profitable if she has to spend another $91,000 just in fuel this harvest. Melanie, a farmer in Alberta, said that fuel prices this harvest are hurting. Why is the Prime Minister not taking up our Conservative plan and eliminating all taxes on gas and diesel so that farmers can afford to feed Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, the president of Grain Farmers of Ontario warned that we cannot have affordable food if farmers cannot afford to farm. Fertilizer prices are crippling, and suppliers are now telling farmers they may not even have enough supply for next season. Canada is the only G7 country that has a tariff on fertilizer imports. Can the minister tell me exactly how much the Liberal government has collected from the 35% tariff and how much it has robbed from the pockets of Canadian farmers?

Madam Speaker, it is great to see you back in the chair today. It is a sight for sore eyes. In my colleague's comments, he was talking about trade, not just north and south but east and west, even though our trading partner to the south of us is the most important trading partner for our economy, and the Liberals are turning their backs on it. Regarding the east-west comment, the member knows that food transportation was exempt from the Liberals Canadian free trade agreement. We are talking about food affordability and food production and the importance of that issue. We have not had an opportunity to even talk about that and why it is exempt from their Canadian free trade agreement, when they are closing down seven critical research centres and experimental farms, which again will impact food affordability and food production here in Canada. The Prime Minister himself spoke of food sovereignty and how a country that is unable to feed itself has few options. Well, we have hardly been able to scratch the surface of the impact that the decisions in this budget bill would have on food production and food affordability in Canada. Would the member not agree that food affordability is a top priority for all Canadians, and worth some time to discuss?

Mr. Speaker, Foothills families are shaken. A local man was charged with more than 500,000 pieces of child exploitation material, and he was released. Ten-year-old Grace asked me why this man was not in jail. She does not feel safe playing outside with her friends, and that is not right. Okotoks families want to know why a man charged with such a heinous crime was released into the community. Conservatives offered a solution, jail not bail for serious offences, but the Liberals rejected it. When will the Liberals fix the bail system they broke so Okotoks families can feel safe again?

Mr. Speaker, well, that is no answer from the minister. We have 30 more of those. I sure hope they upped their game with the answers. The CEO of Farm Credit Canada last year, Justine Hendricks, spent more than $213,000 just on travel. She spent another $53,000 on hospitality, including one meal for more than $6,500. This is more than a third of what a family of four spends on groceries for an entire year. Can the minister tell me how much more out-of-control spending he is going to approve this year?

Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G20 country in a recession, and the business leaders who actually create the jobs and attract the investment are raising the alarm. The CEO of one of Canada's largest energy companies said the Liberals' industrial carbon tax and antidevelopment laws make investing in new projects “unfinanceable”. That is interesting, because a year ago the Prime Minister promised Canadians we would “build, baby, build”, but “build, baby, build” is now another Liberal broken promise. Will the Prime Minister just admit that his vision for Canada's energy sector is to tax it, regulate it and eventually kill it?

Mr. Speaker, it is clear they are not taking any lessons from the business leaders in this industry. The CEO of Cenovus was crystal clear that building a new pipeline and expanding oil production to fill it is “unfinanceable”. That means the Liberals' anti-energy policies and carbon tax make investing in nation-building projects impossible, but the Liberals supporting these anti-energy policies should not be a surprise. When he was Trudeau's fiscal adviser, the Prime Minister endorsed those policies and implemented the carbon tax. Why does the Prime Minister still support these policies that have plunged Canada into a recession?

Mr. Speaker, I certainly understand that during question period there could be some heated moments. However, during the questions from my colleague, the member for Thornhill, who is a Jewish member of Parliament speaking about the very real threats to her community, the member for York South—Weston—Etobicoke called her a liar on a number of occasions. I would ask the hon. member if he would stand in this House, apologize and withdraw those words.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told Canadians he had a plan, but he did not say his plan was to plunge Canada into a recession. Every G7 country is facing global instability, economic headwinds and tariffs, but Canada stands alone as the only G7 country in a recession. Canada stands alone as the only G7 country whose economy has contracted in three of the last four quarters. Canada stands alone in a recession because of Liberal policies that have stalled our economic engines, like natural resources, agriculture and manufacturing. There are consequences, as more than 100,000 Canadians have lost their jobs over just the last few months. Canadians have already suffered through the lost Liberal decade. They do not need any more economic mismanagement, deficit spending and high taxes. Canadians want answers, not photo ops. That is why Conservatives are asking the Prime Minister to hold an emergency debate on this economic crisis, which his government has caused.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the remarkable life of the iconic Albertan Don Seaman. His influence in Alberta and all of Canada will be felt for generations, especially by his friends and family and by the business leaders he mentored. A visionary pioneer of Alberta's energy sector, Don helped build Canada's economy, but his impact will reach far beyond business. In the true spirit of “build it and they will come”, Don helped build a field of dreams in Okotoks, where Seaman Stadium is the crown jewel of Canadian baseball. He literally placed the building blocks not only of a stadium but also of the renowned Okotoks Dawgs Baseball program, which stands as a proud symbol of his commitment to youth, sport and country. Through the Donald and Eleanor Seaman Family Foundation, he supported education, health care and community development, and he improved countless lives. Now as we celebrate Don's beloved Dawgs' 20th baseball season in Okotoks, I will remember him sitting in the warm summer sun watching baseball, savouring a life well lived with thousands of friends in what we now call our field of dreams.

Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that our Liberal colleague does not believe that Canadians are going without and having to skip meals. We know that the facts tell a very different story. There was the Great Depression, World War I, World War II and the global recession, and never had a Canadian government had to borrow money to help Canadians buy groceries, but that has happened twice in the last three years as a result of Liberal policy that is driving Canadians to food banks. I would like to ask my colleague, after his excellent speech, about the impact Liberal policies are having on food inflation and grocery prices that are resulting in two million Canadians lining up at a food bank every single month.

Mr. Speaker, Canadian farmers expect the government to defend them at the negotiation table, not leave them behind, yet the Liberals constantly fail farmers in trade disputes. Canadian beef and pork exports to Europe and the United Kingdom dropped to zero last year, yet the Liberals are rushing into a Mercosur agreement despite the risk to Canadian cattle, pork and poultry. Mercosur countries do not meet our standards on animal health, food safety or the environment. Why are the Liberals rushing in to sign an agreement that puts our food security, our food safety and Canadian farmers at risk?

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, in reference to the study that is being tabled by my colleague, I think it is very important to highlight that of the recommendations in that report, which were unanimously supported by all parties, there is a recommendation to reverse the closures of those—

Mr. Speaker, with elbows firmly down, the Prime Minister made a promise to Donald Trump to invest a trillion dollars into the United States. The promise was kept. An RBC statement shows that a trillion dollars of investment has fled Canada. The Liberal policies have caused the largest exodus of capital in Canadian history. Canadians are paying the price, with 74% saying that fuel and food costs are straining their finances, and 43% saying they are $200 away from economic ruin every single month. Why are Canadians paying the price for the Prime Minister's promises to Donald Trump?

Mr. Speaker, as the Liberals make more promises and more announcements, they are driving farmers into the ground. Farmers lost $3.3 billion in 2024 and are expected to lose another $30 billion over the next decade, yet the Liberals continue to double down, closing research centres, imposing a fertilizer import tax and increasing the industrial carbon tax. This is why 75% of farmers are telling their kids not to take over the family farm, and 84% of farmers think the Prime Minister has been an epic failure. Why not remove all of the tariffs and all of the fuel taxes and give farm families a fighting chance?

Mr. Speaker, finally the Liberals have acknowledged that they are indeed the reason for and the cause of the affordability crisis Canadians are enduring. For years, the Liberals have tried to blame everyone else for the cost of living crisis that lays at their feet, and they know it. Donald Trump is not the one who asked them to increase the industrial carbon tax by 16% on April 1, driving up the cost of food and fuel. COVID did not ask them to put an escalator tax on beer, wine and spirits, which is devastating our wine growers, brewers and distillers and taking $1.2 billion out of the pockets of Canadians. The Middle East conflict did not ask them to put a 35% tariff on imports of fertilizer, causing a cost-of-input crisis for Canadian farmers. No, these are Liberal policies that they themselves put on Canadians, and now they have finally admitted that Conservatives have been right all along, but the contrition is not complete. The industrial carbon tax is still here and the GST on fuel is still here. Will the Liberals cleanse their conscience, go the entire way, ask Canadians for forgiveness and remove all the taxes on all the fuel?