QUESTION PERIOD — Environment and Climate Change
Carbon Tax
December 15, 2023
Senator Gold, yesterday, while listening to you answer the questions in regard to the Trudeau carbon tax, it became evidently clear that you think we just don’t understand — that we’re not as smart as the Trudeau government to understand how the carbon tax works — and that we’re exaggerating the impact on the cost of living.
Actually, listening to you during the exchange you had with Senator Coyle, it’s as simple as saying the following: Pierre Poilievre has removed his glasses, while he’s smiling and repeating a thousand times, “Axe the tax,” and he’s hypnotized Canadians from coast to coast.
Well, this is my question to you, Senator Gold: Premiers are calling to axe the tax. First Nations organizations are calling to axe the tax. Small businesses are calling to axe the tax. The farming and agricultural sector is calling to axe the tax. If we believe some of the polling, millions of Canadians are asking to axe the tax. Are all of these people stupid and just not as smart as the Trudeau cabinet when it comes to dealing with the carbon tax, or understanding it?
Never — in any answer that I have given to you — have I accused Canadians of not being smart, nor have I ever asserted that this government is smarter than anybody else. I will simply assert this, because it happens to be factual: I give your leader and your party credit for being intelligent. That’s why I have called the consistent invocation of the tax on pollution as a cause of all the ills — including food prices — to be misinformation.
Your leader knows better. You know better. You have read the independent reports. You have access to the economists who have, at length, described not only the virtues of the tax, but also its marginal impact on food. I’m giving you credit for being intelligent, and I’m calling you out for misinformation.
Then, I’ll call you out for misinformation because, at the end of the day, the carbon tax is just one of the many things your government does that has led to a higher cost of living. Since you’ve acknowledged that our party and our leader are intelligent, in the spirit of Christmas — and in order to give some relief to middle-class and poor Canadians who are being pummelled by your policy — will you agree to do two things? Pause the carbon tax for 12 months so that we can actually see what the real impact is. And, second, will you invite Senator Marshall and Pierre Poilievre to the next cabinet meeting before a budget is tabled so that they can give you some lessons on what a fiscal —
— because that’s the second element of your policy that’s missing the cost —
Senator Housakos, thank you. Senator Gold, your response?
Well, in the spirit of Christmas and transparency, I think, no, it’s not up to me to invite those people to a cabinet meeting. But I should say this: There is a difference, senator, between being intelligent and being wise, and there’s a difference between being intelligent and wise and responsible. The government that I represent has a credible climate change policy. It’s on the table in detail. You may not agree with it, but I’m sure that Canadians are looking forward to hearing the policy from the Conservative Party —
Thank you, Senator Gold.
