Louis Villeneuve

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Beauce for the excellent speech he just gave and join in congratulating him on his appointment to the committee. I rise today to speak to Bill C-38 at a time when our country is experiencing an affordability crisis that is hitting every Canadian family hard. Across the country, especially in the regions of Quebec, people are forced to cope with an increasingly difficult reality as the cost of living rises, bills pile up and families’ purchasing power is stretched to the limit. As everyone knows, buying groceries is more expensive. Getting to work is more expensive. Transporting goods is more expensive. For our farmers, producing the food that we put on our tables is an escalating financial challenge. It is in this context that we must examine the measures proposed in Bill C‑38 and ask ourselves a fundamental question: Will these measures provide Canadians with sufficient, lasting relief? That is the question. The Liberal government has finally decided to extend the suspension of the federal excise tax on fuel and postpone its reinstatement until early next year, in 2027. This relief is, of course, welcome news for car owners, workers and businesses. However, one fact should be kept in mind: This decision comes after months of pressure from Conservatives calling on the government to reduce the tax burden on gasoline and diesel. For months, we urged the Liberals to give Canadians some relief. We repeatedly called for the suspension of this tax to be extended at least until Canada Day, July 1, 2027. However, time and again, the Liberals voted against our proposal. Today, the Minister of Finance announced that the government will extend a measure that it had said itself would be temporary. I find it interesting to hear the Bloc Québécois pleading with the Liberal government to reinstate the gas tax today. The Bloc is asking when the government will reinstate the gas tax. I do not know whether the Bloc Québécois members are living in the same province as I am. This weekend, Quebeckers were telling me that they are struggling to make ends meet, that things are not working and that they need some breathing room. One way to give them that breathing room is to eliminate this gas tax. However, the Bloc Québécois is currently pleading with the government to keep it in place. We are saying that Canadians need more relief. They need practical measures that will help them regain real purchasing power. It is important to understand that gas and diesel prices do not just affect car owners. When we talk about fuel prices, we are also talking about food prices, the cost of materials, transportation costs and, ultimately, the cost of almost every product that Canadians need and buy on a daily basis. Fuel is present in almost every stage of our economy. Let us take a simple example: a can of vegetables at the grocery store. Before it reaches the shelves, the vegetables will be grown, harvested, packaged, transported and distributed. The farmers use tractors, combine harvesters and many other machines that run on diesel. The transporters then use trucks to move crops to distribution centres and businesses. Each of these stages involves energy costs. When the price of diesel increases, the cost of production and transportation increases. That pressure ultimately affects the price that consumers pay. In other words, Canadians are not just paying the high fuel prices at the pump; they are also suffering the consequences at the grocery store checkout. This happens every week. Families have to watch every dollar of their budget. What are they going to do? I would like to draw the House’s attention to the realities facing Quebec farmers. A few weeks ago, I spoke here about Nick Majeau, a farmer from Quebec. His story is a perfect example of the challenges that agricultural producers face. During harvest season, he has to spend $2,000 a day on diesel to power his farm equipment. That is twice as much as it cost him the previous year. Imagine what that means for this farming business. I spoke with other farmers in the Centre-du-Québec region of my riding. They told me that for some farmers, the costs are much higher than in Mr. Majeau’s case. For some, the costs are three times what they used to be. This money is not being spent to expand the business, hire more workers, or invest in equipment. It has to be spent just to continue production. As my hon. colleague, the member for Beauce, said earlier, farmers cannot opt out of farming next week just because the price of diesel has gone up. They cannot say they are going to take a week off until the price goes back down. That is not how it works. They have to go out to the fields and cannot just decide to leave their tractors in the garage. Unlike other businesses, they cannot always pass on all of these costs to their customers right away. They have to absorb the increase and cover the expenses to stay competitive. These men and women work tirelessly to feed our communities and contribute to the economic strength of our regions, our food sovereignty and Quebec’s prosperity. I am talking about our farmers. I see that my Bloc Québécois colleague does not like hearing me talk about this, but when I hear the Bloc Québécois calling for the tax to be reinstated as quickly as possible, my thoughts turn to our rural communities and the farmers who fight every morning to make a living. Morning, noon and night, agriculture is on our plates. Without these men and women who get up every morning to work their fields, we would not enjoy the harvests that feed us day in and day out. Now they are getting some breathing room. We are calling on the government to make that relief permanent. When I hear the Bloc Québécois calling for the excise tax be reinstated, it leaves me shaking my head. There are also parents who must choose between filling up their gas tank and buying groceries. I am not exaggerating. They have a limited amount of money and have to decide whether to fill up the tank or put in just 20 dollars’ worth so they can still afford groceries. That is the reality for many right now. There are seniors living on fixed incomes who are seeing the cost of essentials continue to rise. The government now recognizes that cutting fuel taxes can help ease costs in several sectors of the economy. In its announcement, it acknowledged the benefits of tax relief for truckers, farmers and people working in the construction, housing and delivery sectors. That alone is an important acknowledgement, but it also raises an important question: If the government now recognizes that cutting the fuel tax helps Canadians, why not extend it even further? Why end this measure so soon when families continue to struggle with the rising cost of living? Why not offer farmers more predictability? Farmers run businesses. They are businessmen and businesswomen. What businesses need most is predictability, which the government is not giving them at this point. That is why we, the Conservatives, are asking the government to do more. We are calling on the government to suspend all federal taxes on gasoline and diesel at least until July 1, 2027. I look forward to answering my colleagues’ questions because this issue really matters to me. Ordinary people are going through tough times. Folks are struggling, and this is one way to give them a bit of breathing room. I am convinced that permanently eliminating the gas tax would give Canadian families a chance.”