John-Paul Danko

“Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies. Before I begin my speech, I would like to recognize our parliamentary staff who are sitting here late into the evening, the clerks, the recorders, the Sergeant-at-Arms and the technicians, as well as the Parliamentary Protective Service. I want to thank them for putting in the extra time to make sure that Canadians can exercise their democracy in the House. I am honoured to speak to Bill C-38, the Canadian fuel affordability act. I would like to start where a lot of Canadians start their day, which is at the gas pump and the gas checkout. At the end of September, a litre of diesel across this country cost $2.60, according to Natural Resources Canada. In the weeks before that, diesel had peaked at about $2.75 a litre nationally, which is about 80% above the roughly $1.40 to $1.50 that Canadians were paying a year ago. That is an 80% increase in 12 months. Let me say this plainly. Conservatives will vote for this bill. Any measure that lets Canadians keep more of their own money at the pump, we will support. We supported it when it was proposed, and we support it today, but if the government expects a round of applause, I would remind the House how we got here. When the fuel excise tax was suspended in April, the pause was set to expire on Labour Day. That was the plan, to put taxes back on gas and diesel just as Canadians were heading into the fall with prices still soaring. It took months of pressure from this side of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, truckers, farmers and families before the government changed course. I am pleased it did, but Canadians should not have to drag relief out of Ottawa one reluctant extension at a time. Let me tell the House and the Canadians who are watching what this bill does. It extends the suspension of the federal fuel excise tax until January 31, 2027. It then cuts the regular rates in half until the end of March, with full rates returning on April 1. For the average driver, that means about five dollars saved on a typical 50-litre tank of gasoline. That is it. It is still something, but it is only five dollars per fill. Let us look at what we are up against here. Stats Canada reported yesterday that inflation rose to 3.1% in September, driven by gasoline prices that were up 27.8% from a year ago. Without gasoline inflation, it was about 2.2%. In other words, the cost of living crisis is not some mystery. One input is dragging the whole bucket up. Energy prices are up 19%, and fuel oil and other fuels are up 57.8%, which is how much more a family in Atlantic Canada will pay to stay warm this winter. Grocery prices are still up 33% from September of 2020. Families have not recovered from that. Now they are being asked to again absorb a fuel shock on top of it. Here is where the bill falls short. Gasoline is up about 28% from a year ago, and diesel is up 80%. The excise tax relief is 10¢ a litre on gasoline, but only four cents a litre on diesel. That is four cents against a price of $2.60, which is about a penny and a half on every dollar of fuel. For the farmers who produce our food, the people who move this country’s food, fuel and building materials, and the contractors who build our infrastructure and homes, four pennies a litre is a rounding error. The Liberals need to get serious. Consider the long-haul trucker. That is a real person driving an 18-wheeler. A long-haul truck holds about 1,000 litres of diesel fuel. Back in March, with prices well below where they are now, filling one in Toronto would cost roughly $2,300, and that was about a $700 increase from the prior year. At today’s prices, it is about $2,600, which equates to more than $1,000 per tank above last year. What does this bill save on that fill-up? It is about $40 on $2,600. It is only 40 bucks on 1,000 litres. It is still 40 bucks, but that is all it is. I want the House to hear the voices behind those numbers. One Ontario owner-operator told reporters his fuel costs have risen by about $1,000 per truck every month and that his credit cards are filling up. His trucks haul food to northern communities. A small business owner is putting the groceries for remote northern communities on his credit card while the government calls four cents a litre relief. Consider the Maritimes and the Atlantic provinces. Trucking associations say that 90% of the food, forestry products and manufactured goods used in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick move there by truck. There’s no other way to get them there. The pain is uneven. Last week, the average fuel price ran from $2.94 a litre to $2.47 a litre in Grande Prairie. Consider the farmer who is in the field right now. The Grain Growers of Canada calculated that a single combine running through a 30-day harvest costs an extra $15,120 in fuel. That is one machine. Farmers cannot pass that cost along because the market sets the price of their crop and the commodities that they produce. By my math, the excise relief on that same combine is worth about $670, roughly 4% of that added cost. It does not stop at the farm gate. Researchers at Dalhousie have modelled a half-point to seven-tenths of a point bump in grocery inflation if elevated diesel prices persist, not increase but persist. A tax on fuel is a tax on everything that moves by truck, which is everything on a grocery store shelf and everything in new homes. What would real relief look like? Conservatives have been clear. We would extend the full excise holiday until Canada Day 2027. We would remove the GST from fuel purchases. At current prices, the GST accounts for roughly 13¢ of every litre of diesel, a tax collected on top of a tax. The higher the price goes, the more Ottawa takes in. We would permanently scrap the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standard, which the Leader of the Opposition has called “carbon tax 2.0”. Conservatives calculate that, together, these measures would save Canadians up to 25¢ a litre, as much as $1,200 a year per families. That is what real relief looks like. That is a long way from the four cents a litre that the Liberal government is offering in the bill. Canadians deserve to know why this country, one of the greatest energy producers in the world, is paying so much to fill a diesel tank. The Leader of the Opposition has pointed out that Canadian diesel prices are about 32¢ a litre higher than in the United States, our neighbours to the south. Conservatives say that Canada produces enough diesel to meet national demand but transportation bottlenecks leave some regions dependent on U.S. imports. We should be using our own energy to power our own people. Canada should be refining and delivering its own fuel, not leaving truckers and farmers at the mercy of global pressures. Last week, we gave the House a chance to act. On October 7, Conservatives tabled a motion calling for an end to all federal taxes on diesel fuel until Canada Day. It was defeated. Only Conservatives voted in favour. The Liberals, the Bloc and the NDP all voted against. Canadians should remember that vote. When the people who produce and move our food ask for help, those parties in the House said no. As for what comes next, the Minister of Finance has said that whether relief continues past March will depend on global conflict, oil prices and the state of federal finances, without naming any price threshold or formula. Farmers cannot plan a planting season around waiting and seeing. Truckers and contractors cannot price a contract that way. Families cannot budget on hope. After a decade of Liberal government, Canadians are tired. They are tired of being told that tax relief is a gift from Ottawa rather than their own money being returned. They are tired of half measures and of relief that arrives late, shrinks on schedule and comes with no plan. Here is the Conservative plan. We will vote for the bill because of the current affordability crisis, as Canadians need every cent they can get, but we will keep fighting for the rest, for no GST on fuel, no industrial carbon tax, no clean fuel regulations and a Canada that produces and refines its own diesel. A tax on fuel is a tax on everything, and Canadians have already paid enough. To the truckers sleeping in cabs on the long road home, to the farmers in the combine long after sunset and to the parents doing math at the grocery store or gas station, we see them. They should be assured that Conservatives are fighting for their jobs. We are fighting for their families, and we are fighting for them.”