QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Cost of Living
October 10, 2024
Government leader, fellow Canadians will once again struggle to put food on the table this Thanksgiving. The cost of living crisis, fuelled by the carbon tax, is still hurting families.
This morning, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, released yet another report which shows the carbon tax costs Canadians more than they get back from the NDP-Liberals, contrary to what you say all the time, leader. The third paragraph states:
In 2030-31, taking into consideration both fiscal and economic impacts, we estimate that the average household in each of the backstop provinces will see a net cost . . . .
I know you think it is partisan when we, the Conservatives, care about hurting families, leader. The Conservatives care about what is happening. Again, leader, this information is coming from the non-partisan PBO. Do you dispute his findings? Yes or no?
I don’t dispute his findings, and I consider questions of this kind — as I’ve deemed in other circumstances — to be regrettable, if not hyper-partisan.
I think you are being a bit selective in your quotes from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO. It is true that, after correcting an error, the PBO affirmed that in Canadian households — as I have been saying — 8 out of 10 will receive more than they actually pay. The PBO then made estimates and projections about what additional costs might accrue as a result of the price on pollution or impact on investment. Indeed, that is what they concluded. But absent from their report — and I don’t criticize them for this — was any calculation of the costs of inaction or any calculation of what removing or axing the tax, to be fairly simplistic about it, would impose on Canadians. We only have to look at the cost of environmental degradation and cost to our economy and society to see that it is an incomplete analysis.
Twist yourself into every pretzel you want, leader.
What’s changed for the better in Canada since last Thanksgiving? Food bank usage is at a record high. Rent is still too high. Crime is rampant. Anti-Semitism has become worse. We’ve seen more corruption and more waste from this incompetent NDP-Liberal regime. I could go on and on. Leader, is it not time for a carbon tax election?
What clearly has not gotten better is the quality of sloganeering. As we approach an American election, it sounds like you’re channelling a maple-flavoured version of MAGA. It does not do anything for this chamber.
