Luc Berthold

Mr. Speaker, their styles may differ, but this Liberal Prime Minister has the same obsession with grand theatrical announcements as his predecessor. This is just like the solemn promise to buy and build in Canada. It was all just hot air, because he has done exactly the opposite ever since making that promise. Government procurement from American companies has increased by 50%, and $8 billion of our money—money that belongs to workers, mothers and the unemployed—is boosting the American economy. It is like watching the same play against a different backdrop. When will he stop grandstanding and actually invest in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, all of this government's ministers are following the Liberal Prime Minister's lead. They are giving us words, slogans, announcements and theatrics but never any results or real answers for Canadians. On August 22, the Prime Minister said that Canada was at war with the United States. When we asked him why, he simply said that it was because the Americans had attacked us. Is it because 90% of the Prime Minister's personal investments are in the United States that he is sending $8 billion of our money to help the United States government wage war against us?

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my speaking time with the member for York—South Simcoe. The price of diesel is still extremely high in Quebec this week. For farmers, truck drivers and all the businesses that depend on fuel to survive, this means having to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars more every day just to be able to keep on working. Where does every price hike at the pump end up? It ends up as part of their expenses. It ends up making transportation and production costs higher. Eventually, it ends up taking money from families' pockets. We know that diesel, which is what we are talking about today, powers the tractors used to grow our food. It powers the trucks used to transport our purchases far and wide because we do not live next door to the factories. It is also essential for manufacturing. In short, diesel is everywhere in our lives, even if we do not put a single drop into our own vehicles. When farmers and truck drivers pay more, who ends up footing the bill? It is always Canadians. That is precisely why we, the Conservatives, decided to take action. With the motion we are moving today, we want to introduce and offer an emergency relief plan to bring prices down at the pump for Canadians and Quebeckers right now. We want to produce more fuel here in Canada. We want to better protect our country from future energy crises. Our plan is simple and has two parts. First, we will save Canadians money by reducing the taxes that are driving up diesel costs. Second, we will increase supply at home by accelerating refining, storage and transportation, while encouraging investment in those areas. The truth is that the current situation makes no sense. Not many people know this, but Canada has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world. We have the resources, we have the workers and we have the know-how. Unfortunately, after 11 years of Liberal government, Canadians and Quebeckers continue to pay far more for their fuel than they should. A country with such abundant oil resources should be better shielded from energy shocks. We should be increasing production when markets are under pressure, refining more of our own oil, and helping to boost supply so that we can become a true energy power. However, the opposite has been happening over the past 11 years. Liberal taxes have multiplied, Liberal delays have multiplied, and Liberal bureaucracy has multiplied. As a result, refining, storage and transportation projects still take years to obtain the necessary approvals. Neither Bill C‑5, nor Bill C‑38, nor Bill C‑39, nor any other bill the government may introduce will change the speed at which projects are actually delivered, because these are Liberal bills. Unfortunately, it is all hot air and political theatre, while nothing is really happening. The Liberals will point to wars, geopolitical tensions and market volatility to explain increases in diesel prices, and they are not wrong. Yes, it is true that these events have an impact on prices, but there is one thing they do not explain: Why are Canadians paying more than Americans? Why are Canadians paying more than the global average price of oil? As far as I know, Americans, along with everyone else in the world, are facing the same wars and the same price volatility. That is the question we should be asking ourselves. Why do we continue to pay more here in Canada, when we have the fourth-biggest oil reserve in the world? Meanwhile, other countries are looking at us and saying that they will not invest in our country. I agree that the Liberals cannot control what happens abroad. They are having a hard enough time controlling what is going on at home. However, there is something they can do. They can control the taxes they impose on Canadians. They can also remove the barriers, the bureaucracy and the red tape they created here. They had 11 years to strengthen our refining capacity, improve our infrastructure and make Canada less vulnerable. They did not do so. Who pays for all those wasted years? It is Quebeckers, Canadians, families, the unemployed, people waiting in line at food banks, and young people who have lost hope of ever owning their own home because housing prices have become unaffordable. That is the reality. Our plan aims to improve the lives of Canadians, young Canadians, and Canadian families. The first part of the plan is to help Canadians save money, as I mentioned. We propose eliminating all taxes on diesel sales, at least until July 1, 2027. That means extending the excise tax reduction until that date and eliminating the GST on fuel purchases. When Canadians are already paying so much for gas, the government should not keep taking even more from them every time they fill up. It should leave more money in their pockets. As we saw, it was pressure from the Conservatives that forced the Liberals to suspend the federal fuel excise tax. We asked for this many times, and the Liberals laughed at us. Suddenly, they decide to adopt a Conservative idea. There were even two motions in the House, but they voted against them. In the end, they did it anyway. Recently, they announced that they would keep this measure in place a little longer, but they also officially announced that fuel prices will go up in February and will go up even more in March. They had already anticipated both increases, and they decided against a 10¢ hike in favour of two five-cent hikes. They figured that it would be less obvious and that Canadians would not notice. However, Canadians are not fooled, especially when they get to the grocery store checkout and see the total. Today, we are asking the Liberals to go further. We want them to get rid of the taxes that increase the cost of producing diesel, including the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel regulations. They say they want to make life more affordable. The Prime Minister even said that affordability in Canada is the best it has been in a decade. I have not heard that from anyone in my riding. I asked my constituents if they felt that life was cheaper than it had been in a decade. I asked them if they felt that they had saved money across the board this year. Everyone said no and that it was the opposite. The Prime Minister is literally out of touch. I assume he is going to tell his people not to vote in favour of our motion this week, because he does not know just how much families are struggling to make ends meet. That is the reality of an out-of-touch Prime Minister who spends more time flying around burning gas than down here seeing how every family is living and is struggling to pay their bills at the end of the month. Canadians do not need another explanation or another theatrical announcement. They want their bills reduced, period. We want the price gap with the United States to shrink, and we want to get that done in the next five years. Canada is going to have to increase its diesel production. Its production of other refined fuels is going to have to be ramped up to about a million barrels a day. That is a lot, but we can do it. In fact, we have the capacity to do it: We have the oil, the workers and the know-how. There is no reason to put up with the United States buying our oil at a discount and then selling us diesel at a higher price. The second part of our plan is to source more domestically. Projects take a long time, and the government slept through the past 11 years. Now it is time to get projects into production faster, cut red tape and avoid supporting bills that stand in the way of these projects. We were presented with Bill C‑5, which was supposed to fast-track projects at a speed never seen before. However, there has been an 18-month delay, because the Liberals have had to bring in a second bill to do the same thing. They changed one word in the title, but that does not produce more results. We want to fast-track projects and establish Canada as an energy powerhouse. We want Canadians to be able to save money and have more money in their pockets. That is why we are calling on the House to support our emergency plan to reduce prices at the pump, lower costs for Canadians and Quebeckers, accelerate investments and strengthen our energy security. It is simple: We want to save families money, develop our resources, produce more energy and better protect our country from the next crisis. That is the emergency plan, and we urge the Liberals to support it. I challenge them to do this for Canadians.

Madam Speaker, can my colleague predict when the conflict in Iran will end? Can she do that? The answer is no. What the Liberals are telling us is that they will wait and see what happens later. For months and months, they are going to keep taking money out of the pockets of Canadians, and then maybe, when the price of gas and diesel comes down enough, they will decide to do something about it. We Conservatives are calling for immediate action by maintaining the suspension of the excise tax and eliminating the industrial carbon tax, the clean fuel tax and the GST. These are measures that can be implemented immediately to save Canadians money right away. This is not about predicting the future; it is about the immediate reality that Canadians are actually facing.

Madam Speaker, I support any proposal that leaves more money in consumers' pockets, but there is one aspect that troubles me. The problem with the approach proposed by my colleague is that it creates more bureaucracy, because people are needed to do the counting and the calculations. We Conservatives say that all taxes should be suspended quickly, immediately, until Canada Day next July. I understand that it will not be presented that way, but I believe that is the simplest and fastest solution and the one that would require the least paperwork while putting money back into people's pockets right away, especially for those at home who are struggling to pay for groceries.