Discussion · Government Orders
Warren Steinley Conservative
“I want the House to pass our plan to cut diesel taxes and build more fuel projects. When you tax the fuel used by farmers and trucks, you make groceries cost more for everyone. The government spent years driving up food prices with fuel taxes, and now too many Canadians need food banks to eat.”
“Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac. It is a pleasure to share my time with him. He always gives great speeches, so I hope to live up to one of his good speeches as well. It is so interesting that we are talking about this motion. I am going to read out the motion so that all of the viewers around Canada know what we are talking about. It is our Conservative opposition motion that: the House, in the interest of saving Canadians money and fuelling our country at home, call on the government to adopt the Emergency Fuel Relief Plan that: (a) provides for emergency pre-permitting and tax relief for the construction of diesel infrastructure, such as refineries, pipelines, rail and storage; (b) eliminates all taxes on diesel consumption until at least Canada Day; and (c) permanently eliminates taxes on diesel production; and call on the government to set the goal of boosting Canadian diesel production to one million barrels per day, allowing every Canadian business and consumer access to Canadian diesel. I am not sure how everyone in the House could not get behind a motion like this. We know affordability is an issue from coast to coast. I believe there are not any Liberal members of Parliament, or Conservative or Bloc members of Parliament, who do not hear about affordability every day, because I hear about it in my riding in Regina—Lewvan. We all know that if we tax the farmer who plants the food, the truck that delivers the food and the grocery stores that sell the food, we tax the consumer who buys the food. We have said this many times in the House, and the Liberals are slowly dragging their feet to get to where we have been for years and years in trying to save Canadians money. First of all, the previous member, who is a new member, just got up and said they got rid of the consumer carbon tax. We have been talking about that on this side for a decade, and now the Liberals want to take credit for getting rid of the consumer carbon tax. It was their flagship program. Justin Trudeau could not say enough good things about how if we taxed people, the climate would change. How idiotic is it that? Are they kidding me? If people pay more in taxes, we are going to have better weather. Now, each and every one of those Liberals gets up, beats their chest and pretends getting rid of the consumer carbon tax is their idea. It is hogwash. They got dragged, kicking and screaming, and got rid of that consumer carbon tax. It was unpopular, it never worked in the first place and it was taking Canadians’ money out of their pockets each and every day. The Liberals said they were going to rebate it back, and we proved through the PBO that the rebates never covered how much Canadians were paying in the first place, so I will take no lessons from a Liberal saying they scrapped the carbon tax, when we fought for that in this very chamber for 10 years. I remember the former health minister, Mark Holland, in one of his epic rants during question period, talking about a family holiday in a car. He went over the top and said, “let the planet burn.” Mark Holland was very good at being over the top in question period. He thought they needed that carbon tax so badly or the world would burn. Now the member for Winnipeg North jumps up like Skippy and says they got rid of the carbon tax. He voted in favour of the carbon tax dozens and dozens of times and went back to the good people in Winnipeg. I am not a Blue Bombers fan, but there are some good people in Winnipeg. The member said they needed to pay the carbon tax to make sure that the climate gets better, and now, with the flip of a switch, he goes back and says to the good people of Winnipeg he got rid of the carbon tax for them, they never needed it and it was costing them way too much money. How does he go back and flip that fast on a policy that was the flagship for Justin Trudeau and all of his climate crusaders? I remember all of the climate crusaders, and there are still a bunch in the front row, saying we needed this carbon tax. Now we are having the exact same debate on the industrial carbon tax, the GST and all of the taxes on diesel fuel. They want to scrap them. They want to get credit now. We said to scrap the tax on diesel fuel months ago and years ago, and now they want to once again jump up and beat their chests, saying they are going to scrap the tax on diesel fuel until January 2027 like it is a novel idea. They are going to say they are heroes. This is not to mention that they are the ones who put the taxes in in the first place. They want to be heroes. The Liberals are going to go to their ridings and say they are going to scrap this tax until January 2027, and Canadians should thank them. Never mind that they were the ones to put the tax on them in the first place. Never mind that they were the ones who drove up the cost of food and everything farmers need to grow food. That was all them, but now Canadians should think they are heroes because they are going to scrap the tax they implemented in the first place. How hypocritical. They have literally taken good idea after good idea. The housing minister jumps up in question period and says they are going to take the GST off new homes. Where do the Liberals think they got that idea? It was from the Conservative platform in 2025, except that, once again, they have not gone far enough. They did a half measure, just as they are doing with the tax rebate on diesel. They are going halfway again because they just do not have, I would say, the ability to tell Canadians the truth and say they made a mistake. They should have done that with the carbon tax. Instead of beating their chests, they should have told Canadians they were sorry, they got it wrong and the carbon tax is a stupid policy, and apologized for foisting it upon the Canadian population for 10 years. If they had any credibility with their constituents, they would go back to their ridings this Thanksgiving and say they got it wrong and they never should have put taxes on diesel fuel, because it costs Canadians more money to purchase what gets trucked in this country, which is almost everything. The people in northern Saskatchewan should be the maddest at their members of Parliament, because everything in northern Saskatchewan gets trucked there. They truck in food and milk. Why does milk cost so much more in northern Saskatchewan? It is because it gets trucked so far, and the people there are paying the price of the Liberal government’s taxes on diesel fuel each and every day. They know that. I think those members are going to get a bit of a surprise when they go home for Thanksgiving. Speaking about Thanksgiving, the member for Whitby gave an average speech. It was from 2024, I believe. He talked about lowering grocery prices. This is the exact same thing the Minister of Finance, then the minister of industry, committed to in 2024. He said grocery prices were going to drop by 2024. He brought in all of the CEOs of the big grocery companies, made a big to-do, had a wonderful photo op, which is the thing the government can do best, and said he was going to make sure that grocery prices drop. I asked the member for Whitby how much lower grocery prices are now after that photo op, and he never answered the question. He never said a word about grocery prices in Canada being the highest in the G7 again, because the Liberals did not fulfill any of those commitments. The most frustrating thing as I sit here each and every day is listening to outrageous Liberal speeches. They beat their chests and say they will take no lessons from the Conservatives. I am not going to take lessons from a government that put 2.2 million people in the food bank line. They never talk about that. I am not going to take lessons from a Liberal government that says it is going to help parents feed their kids. Why can parents not feed their kids? It is because the Liberals have taxed them to death. That is why they cannot afford groceries. The Liberals taxed the diesel that gets the groceries to the grocery stores. That is why parents cannot feed their kids. The Liberals jump up each and every day, talking about a school food program and a groceries benefit. The Liberal government is proud that it makes 12 million people use food stamps because they do not have good jobs. They cannot afford groceries because of the policies the Liberal government has put in place for the last 10 years. The Liberals should be ashamed that they have to give food stamps to Canadians, not brag about it each and every question period. If that was my record in government, I would be embarrassed to stand up and talk about a program because Canadians cannot afford food under my watch. Those are the policies each and every one of these Liberals put in place, and now they are bragging about Canadians needing to use food stamps to feed their families and kids. On this side, the Conservatives are going to work as hard as we can to save Canadians money and put more money back into their pockets so that they can feed their families and get good-paying jobs. That is what this motion is about. It is about getting diesel production and good jobs back in our country so that families can afford to feed themselves and not have to rely on the government.”
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac. It is a pleasure to share my time with him. He always gives great speeches, so I hope to live up to one of his good speeches as well. It is so interesting that we are talking about this motion. I am going to read out the motion so that all of the viewers around Canada know what we are talking about. It is our Conservative opposition motion that: the House, in the interest of saving Canadians money and fuelling our country at home, call on the government to adopt the Emergency Fuel Relief Plan that: (a) provides for emergency pre-permitting and tax relief for the construction of diesel infrastructure, such as refineries, pipelines, rail and storage; (b) eliminates all taxes on diesel consumption until at least Canada Day; and (c) permanently eliminates taxes on diesel production; and call on the government to set the goal of boosting Canadian diesel production to one million barrels per day, allowing every Canadian business and consumer access to Canadian diesel. I am not sure how everyone in the House could not get behind a motion like this. We know affordability is an issue from coast to coast. I believe there are not any Liberal members of Parliament, or Conservative or Bloc members of Parliament, who do not hear about affordability every day, because I hear about it in my riding in Regina—Lewvan. We all know that if we tax the farmer who plants the food, the truck that delivers the food and the grocery stores that sell the food, we tax the consumer who buys the food. We have said this many times in the House, and the Liberals are slowly dragging their feet to get to where we have been for years and years in trying to save Canadians money. First of all, the previous member, who is a new member, just got up and said they got rid of the consumer carbon tax. We have been talking about that on this side for a decade, and now the Liberals want to take credit for getting rid of the consumer carbon tax. It was their flagship program. Justin Trudeau could not say enough good things about how if we taxed people, the climate would change. How idiotic is it that? Are they kidding me? If people pay more in taxes, we are going to have better weather. Now, each and every one of those Liberals gets up, beats their chest and pretends getting rid of the consumer carbon tax is their idea. It is hogwash. They got dragged, kicking and screaming, and got rid of that consumer carbon tax. It was unpopular, it never worked in the first place and it was taking Canadians’ money out of their pockets each and every day. The Liberals said they were going to rebate it back, and we proved through the PBO that the rebates never covered how much Canadians were paying in the first place, so I will take no lessons from a Liberal saying they scrapped the carbon tax, when we fought for that in this very chamber for 10 years. I remember the former health minister, Mark Holland, in one of his epic rants during question period, talking about a family holiday in a car. He went over the top and said, “let the planet burn.” Mark Holland was very good at being over the top in question period. He thought they needed that carbon tax so badly or the world would burn. Now the member for Winnipeg North jumps up like Skippy and says they got rid of the carbon tax. He voted in favour of the carbon tax dozens and dozens of times and went back to the good people in Winnipeg. I am not a Blue Bombers fan, but there are some good people in Winnipeg. The member said they needed to pay the carbon tax to make sure that the climate gets better, and now, with the flip of a switch, he goes back and says to the good people of Winnipeg he got rid of the carbon tax for them, they never needed it and it was costing them way too much money. How does he go back and flip that fast on a policy that was the flagship for Justin Trudeau and all of his climate crusaders? I remember all of the climate crusaders, and there are still a bunch in the front row, saying we needed this carbon tax. Now we are having the exact same debate on the industrial carbon tax, the GST and all of the taxes on diesel fuel. They want to scrap them. They want to get credit now. We said to scrap the tax on diesel fuel months ago and years ago, and now they want to once again jump up and beat their chests, saying they are going to scrap the tax on diesel fuel until January 2027 like it is a novel idea. They are going to say they are heroes. This is not to mention that they are the ones who put the taxes in in the first place. They want to be heroes. The Liberals are going to go to their ridings and say they are going to scrap this tax until January 2027, and Canadians should thank them. Never mind that they were the ones to put the tax on them in the first place. Never mind that they were the ones who drove up the cost of food and everything farmers need to grow food. That was all them, but now Canadians should think they are heroes because they are going to scrap the tax they implemented in the first place. How hypocritical. They have literally taken good idea after good idea. The housing minister jumps up in question period and says they are going to take the GST off new homes. Where do the Liberals think they got that idea? It was from the Conservative platform in 2025, except that, once again, they have not gone far enough. They did a half measure, just as they are doing with the tax rebate on diesel. They are going halfway again because they just do not have, I would say, the ability to tell Canadians the truth and say they made a mistake. They should have done that with the carbon tax. Instead of beating their chests, they should have told Canadians they were sorry, they got it wrong and the carbon tax is a stupid policy, and apologized for foisting it upon the Canadian population for 10 years. If they had any credibility with their constituents, they would go back to their ridings this Thanksgiving and say they got it wrong and they never should have put taxes on diesel fuel, because it costs Canadians more money to purchase what gets trucked in this country, which is almost everything. The people in northern Saskatchewan should be the maddest at their members of Parliament, because everything in northern Saskatchewan gets trucked there. They truck in food and milk. Why does milk cost so much more in northern Saskatchewan? It is because it gets trucked so far, and the people there are paying the price of the Liberal government’s taxes on diesel fuel each and every day. They know that. I think those members are going to get a bit of a surprise when they go home for Thanksgiving. Speaking about Thanksgiving, the member for Whitby gave an average speech. It was from 2024, I believe. He talked about lowering grocery prices. This is the exact same thing the Minister of Finance, then the minister of industry, committed to in 2024. He said grocery prices were going to drop by 2024. He brought in all of the CEOs of the big grocery companies, made a big to-do, had a wonderful photo op, which is the thing the government can do best, and said he was going to make sure that grocery prices drop. I asked the member for Whitby how much lower grocery prices are now after that photo op, and he never answered the question. He never said a word about grocery prices in Canada being the highest in the G7 again, because the Liberals did not fulfill any of those commitments. The most frustrating thing as I sit here each and every day is listening to outrageous Liberal speeches. They beat their chests and say they will take no lessons from the Conservatives. I am not going to take lessons from a government that put 2.2 million people in the food bank line. They never talk about that. I am not going to take lessons from a Liberal government that says it is going to help parents feed their kids. Why can parents not feed their kids? It is because the Liberals have taxed them to death. That is why they cannot afford groceries. The Liberals taxed the diesel that gets the groceries to the grocery stores. That is why parents cannot feed their kids. The Liberals jump up each and every day, talking about a school food program and a groceries benefit. The Liberal government is proud that it makes 12 million people use food stamps because they do not have good jobs. They cannot afford groceries because of the policies the Liberal government has put in place for the last 10 years. The Liberals should be ashamed that they have to give food stamps to Canadians, not brag about it each and every question period. If that was my record in government, I would be embarrassed to stand up and talk about a program because Canadians cannot afford food under my watch. Those are the policies each and every one of these Liberals put in place, and now they are bragging about Canadians needing to use food stamps to feed their families and kids. On this side, the Conservatives are going to work as hard as we can to save Canadians money and put more money back into their pockets so that they can feed their families and get good-paying jobs. That is what this motion is about. It is about getting diesel production and good jobs back in our country so that families can afford to feed themselves and not have to rely on the government.