QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Cost of Living
December 14, 2023
Senator Gold, I have a simple question. I hope that you do not resort to calling me “partisan” and saying how complicated it is.
Right now, we have a historic cost of living in this country. I’m of this view: When the Trudeau government quadruples the carbon tax, sets a record of systemic deficits over the last eight and a half years or doubles the debt of this country more than any other governments combined, I believe these are fundamental elements that have created a high cost of living in this country. You keep saying that it is too simplistic and complicated. Which part of those elements — which I believe are fuelling inflation — do you think is actually helpful? These are the policies of the government: carbon tax, debt, deficit and tax-and-spend.
Let me speak about the tax on pollution. It is a series of arm’s-length studies: — Whether it’s the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer or experts in our research institutions, they have pointed out on many occasions that, despite the rhetoric that surrounds the issue, the impact on food prices by the price on pollution is really negligible — so much so that to claim otherwise is either trading in ignorance or in the wilful spreading of misinformation.
It is also the case that, more generally, removing the price on pollution will benefit those in the highest income brackets who do not — and would not — receive rebates, and will take money out of the pockets of 8 out of 10 Canadians who are receiving the rebates. These are facts established independently of the government.
Senator Gold, as you claim, the tax on pollution is not hitting any of your targets. It has not hit any of your environmental targets in eight and a half years. But the carbon tax, as we see, is fuelling inflation.
I invite you, over the holidays or in the new year, to come with me: I sat down last week with stakeholders from the English Montreal School Board, or EMSB, which you know very well, and they told me that — for the first time in history — 20% of middle-class children are showing up to school without food in their stomachs. If you don’t start taking some of these measures, like getting rid of the tax and creating a fiscal anchor, this inflation will continue to grow and Canadian children will continue to go to school on empty stomachs.
It is terrible that children have to go to food banks, but it is simply not the case that the cost of food is materially affected by the tax on pollution. These are two separate things. You can meld them together for your purposes, which I shall not label, but it does not make them true.
