“I support our motion to remove all federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year. Life is too expensive right now for families, seniors, and farmers, especially in rural areas where people must drive. High fuel costs make everything else cost more, including food. The government can help right now by cutting these taxes.”

“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the constituents of Portage—Lisgar. I rise today in support of our Conservative opposition day motion, which calls on the government to give immediate relief by ending all federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year, including the GST. The motion is very straightforward. For the millions who are being squeezed at the pump, at the grocery store, on the farm or simply when buying the essentials of everyday life, it is badly needed. Let us start with the fact that Canada cannot control everything happening around the world. We cannot control instability in the Middle East or just snap our fingers and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but that does not mean we are powerless. A nation is judged not by whether it can prevent every storm abroad but by how wisely it prepares for and adapts to the storms that it cannot prevent. As the great Stoic philosopher Epictetus stated, “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.” The government can and should do more to help. It can stop taxing people every time they fill up their vehicles, and it can stop making a bad situation worse. Families were already in a cost of living crisis before this latest spike at the pump. Groceries were already too expensive. Rent and mortgages were already too high. Utility bills were already eating up more and more of the family budget. Food banks had countless people walking through their doors for the first time. This is something that is happening in every corner of our country, and now the price at the pump is pouring fuel on that fire. What did the Minister of Finance have to say about it? He said, “We have already acted.” Excuse me, Mr. Speaker, but I am surprised he did not tell my constituents to go and eat cake while he was at it. I can assure him that the family filling up their minivan does not think that the federal government has acted enough on this issue, and it will come as news to the farmer who needs diesel to seed, to spray, to harvest and to haul everything. Canadians do not fill their tanks with Liberal excuses, but boy, I bet they wish they could. The government says it has acted already, but Canadians are still paying more. Gas prices are 13% higher in Canada than in the United States. That is about 22¢ more per litre on average. Many folks from my region, from the southern part of my riding, regularly head across the border to save those dollars and fill up their tanks, but they wish they did not have to. Life is simply so expensive that it is worth committing the extra time to travel internationally to fuel up. Gas now costs 50¢ more per litre than it did when the global oil prices were at the exact same levels in 2014. That is the point. It is not just global oil markets. It is not just events happening half a world away. It is about deliberate choices made right here at home by a government that kept adding costs and kept ignoring the consequences. The government has layered taxes, regulations, costs and waste upon everything else, and then, when people ask for relief, the Liberals just shrug it off and say they have already done their part. I represent a whole bunch of good, honest, hard-working folks who call rural Manitoba home. In rural Manitoba, driving is not optional. There is no subway from Winkler to Morden. There is no LRT from Carman to Portage. There is no magic electric bus that takes a farmer to the parts counter when he needs something, a nurse to a night shift or a senior living on an acreage to the nearest grocery store. For rural Canadians, the vehicle is not a luxury. It is simply how life works. When gas goes up, rural people do not have the option of just driving a little less. They have to eat the cost. They have to absorb it, and they have to cut somewhere else. That is why our Conservative team will continue to push on this issue. I think about the seniors who are on fixed incomes who have worked hard their entire lives. They have paid their taxes. They have raised their families. They have built our communities. They did what was asked of them and tried to follow the promise of Canada. I had the chance to speak with so many of them over the last couple of weeks back home in the riding, and a staggering number told me just how hard things are right now, that they are struggling to get by, that they cannot absorb yet another increase in the cost of living. They are looking at the price of meats. They are looking at the price of fruits and vegetables. They are making choices that no senior should have to make in our advanced first world country, in our beautiful nation of Canada. Do they fill the tank, or do they fill the fridge? Do they go to that appointment, or do they save the money on gas? Do they buy the healthier food, or do they just buy what is cheapest? Do they risk the perceived pain to their pride in asking their family for help if they need it, or do they visit a food bank for the first time? That is not dignity. That is not the Canadian promise. It certainly matters for parents. Every parent knows the feeling. The kids are growing, eating everything in sight, and the clothes they were hoping they could wear one or two more times simply do not fit anymore. Now the grocery bill looks like a car payment, the car payment looks like a mortgage, the mortgage looks like something from another planet, and we are faced with higher and higher fuel costs. These costs are baked into every product on every shelf. This is the part that the government does not seem to understand. Fuel is not just something that people buy at a gas station. Fuel is inside the price of absolutely everything we buy. It moves the seed, the fertilizer, the crop, the cattle, the potatoes, the groceries and the parts. It moves our economy. When diesel goes up, the price of food goes up. This is partly why we have the highest food inflation in the G7. When transportation goes up, the price of everything goes up. When the government taxes fuel, it is not just taxing the person standing and looking at the pump, wondering when it will ever stop. It is taxing the entirety of the supply chain, and our farmers are hit especially hard. Farmers do not have the option of just parking the tractor because the price of diesel is too high. The crop has to go in, crop protection products have to be applied, and the harvest must take place. The grain then has to move, and the bills just keep coming, and this was when fertilizer prices were already sky high. Farmers have faced huge increases in input costs. Fuel, equipment, repairs, parts, interest rates, transportation and taxes are all piled on, to over $160 billion in debt, with the government continuously piling on more red tape. Every extra cost eventually shows up somewhere else. Now, in my hometown of Portage, we have major food processors like Simplot and McCain. They are part of a food supply chain that reaches far beyond Manitoba. When fuel and diesel costs rise, their costs rise too. Those costs do not just simply vanish into thin air; they move down the line, and the consumer pays. That is why tax relief at the pump is not some narrow little measure. It is a broad measure of affordability relief for the entire economy. Let us talk about the hypocrisy of the carbon tax, but before I do, I would like to indicate I am splitting my time with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot. Members might recall that for years, Liberals told Canadians that the carbon tax had made them better off. They said the rebate covered it and more. They said anyone who disagreed was simply spreading misinformation. Then, when they finally removed part of their carbon tax, they bragged that it was saving families money. Well, which one is it? If removing the carbon tax saves families money right now, then it was costing families money before. The Liberals would never admit that, but both things cannot be true at the same time. For years, Conservatives said the carbon tax was making life more expensive. For years, this Liberal government denied it. Now the Liberals want credit for partially admitting what everybody else already knew intuitively. Canadians are not asking for a miracle; they are asking for relief. This House can give it to them today. If the government simply adopts our idea, it will immediately put money back into people’s pockets. Every MP in this place has a choice. They can defend keeping all of these taxes on, or they can stand with people, who are the ones paying the bill. Nobody is saying that this motion is going to solve every challenge in the country or our world. It would not, but it would lower costs and give people some breathing room that they so badly need. It tells Canadians that their government is not completely deaf to what is happening in their lives. Let us stop pretending that everything is outside of our control. There are things in our control that we can do to make a difference in the lives of the citizens we are here to represent: suspend the federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year, and give Canadians real relief, not another lecture. That is what this motion says. It would lower costs, it respects taxpayers, and it puts families first. That is why I am proud to support it.”

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  “Gas prices are 13% higher in Canada than in the United States.”

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“I support cutting fuel taxes because families and the economy need relief. The government spends too much money and needs to lower taxes.”

“Mr. Speaker, only a Liberal could stand up and say that a tax cut providing relief on gas and fuel that is so important to not only families but the entirety of our economy is going to be a problem. Perhaps the government has a spending problem that it refuses to address. The government is so out of control with its bloated bureaucracy, paying for consultants, paying for everything that families are meant to provide, it forgets who we are sent here to represent. I will always stand up for lower taxes of any type for my riding and for Canadians.”

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“I want the House to vote for this motion. Government policies are causing high living costs, and this motion will help lower prices for Canadians.”

“Mr. Speaker, it seems as though Conservatives are the only ones who will ever stand up for lower prices and more affordability for the people we are here to represent. We should proudly do that. There are things that are outside our control. We can acknowledge them, we can accept them, but we do not need to focus entirely on them. When the problem is homegrown in this nation and the cost of living crisis is due to our own policies, we should seek to address them. This is one small measure that would do just that. It would have a tangible impact on the people we are sent here to represent, and we should vote for this motion today.”

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“A Liberal member said cutting taxes costs too much. But the Liberals caused high inflation and high fuel costs that make life hard for families. They only have to give out grocery money because things have gotten so expensive.”

“Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member could comment briefly on what the Liberal member of Parliament said about what a big problem giving tax relief to Canadians is going to be and what the cost is. He never once mentioned the mess he has put Canada and Canadian families in. On the taxes, we can look at the cost of the grocery benefit the government is putting out and why that has come to be. It has come to be because of all the inflation and the cost of fuel to get things shipped around the country.”

“Canadians are driving just across the border to buy cheaper gas in America. We can fix that today.”

“Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my friend to consult a map. No, they are not driving 10 hours to Minneapolis to get gasoline. They are driving right across to Walhalla or some other closer place, where they are seeing a tangible difference between what their credit card says they pay for gasoline north of the border and what they pay south of it. People are not stupid. The member should not treat them like they are. They know what they are doing. I wish they did not have to drive to America to get more affordable gas. We can fix that today.”

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“I want everyone to agree to give the deputy House leader an atlas so he can look at a map.”

“Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent for the Clerk to provide the deputy House leader with an atlas so he can consult the map. Today—”

“Gas prices are too high because of Liberal taxes and policies that weaken our dollar. I want the government to remove all taxes on fuel for the entire year to save drivers money. We can pay for this by cutting government waste, outside consultants, business subsidies, and foreign aid.”

“Mr. Speaker, because he is so bad with geography, he just received a demotion. With the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, with the price of oil at $100 a barrel and the price at the pump at $1.38, and I am not talking about today; I am talking about 2014. During the Harper years, global oil prices were higher than they are today, and there were wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, but the price at the pump was 40¢ a litre lower than it is today. There is no doubt that the price Canadians pay at the pump is indeed influenced by global conditions. However, that does not explain the current situation, because the conditions were exactly the same in 2014. Oil prices were actually higher than they are today and the price at the pump was 40¢ a litre lower than it is today. That is about 25% less. There must be other factors at play. These are not global factors. They are Liberal factors. What Liberal factors are affecting the price of gas? First of all, taxes are going up faster. There is a new carbon tax, renamed the clean fuel standard, which already adds another seven cents a litre and applies more broadly than the previous Liberal carbon tax. There are no exemptions for farmers, fishers or other food producers. Second, the GST rises every time the price of oil goes up, because it is a percentage-based tax. Lastly, we have a weak dollar. The Liberal Prime Minister holds himself up as a brilliant economist, but ever since he took office, the dollar has been extremely weak, even as the value of the main resources we have here has gone up. Our dollar is worth 72¢ to 73¢ U.S. When our dollar is weak, we pay more for the goods we buy on the world market. When our dollar is weaker than the U.S. dollar, we pay more for products priced in U.S. dollars. How did we get here? First, the taxes that the government charges on gas raise the price people pay at the pump. Anti-development laws are preventing us from developing our resources, leading us to have the second-longest waiting period for mining approvals, for example. These laws are reducing the number of dollars that foreigners have to spend to be able to buy our goods. This makes our dollar weak, which in turn makes our purchasing power very weak. At the pump and at the grocery store, Canadians are paying for the Liberal government’s “weak dollar” policies, which have not changed since this Prime Minister has been in power. He is following the same policies as Justin Trudeau, the same policies he advised on five years ago, the same policies that he promoted as a member of an anti-oil banking alliance. Canadians are paying the price with a higher cost of living that just keeps going up month after month. The Conservatives are proposing concrete measures to make life more affordable. We propose eliminating all fuel taxes for the whole year, which will save Canadians 25¢ per litre, $20 per fill and $1,200 by the end of the year. We are calling on the Liberal government to scrap its taxes and leave more money in Canadians’ pockets. How are we going to pay for it? We will cut red tape, which has ballooned by 7% a year. We will cut back on consultants, because the Liberals spend $20 billion in that area—twice what was spent in Stephen Harper’s final years. We will cut back on corporate welfare and the big cheques the Liberals hand out to large corporations that they have ties with and that have good lobbyists. We are going to cut foreign aid, because if we cannot pay the bills here in Canada, we do not have money to send overseas. We are going to cut back on waste and fraud, the fraudulent money we give to fake refugees. Just today, the Parliamentary Budget Officer revealed that the government is pouring billions of dollars into rejected refugees, not actual refugees. These are five examples of things we can eliminate to reduce the cost of living at the pump without increasing the Liberal deficit. Canadians are paying too much because we have a government that spends too much. An affordable government will give us an affordable life. That is what a positive solution to fulfill Canada’s promise looks like: Working hard leads to a good life, an affordable life where people can provide for their children and have the means to enrich their life. Let me just recap the global situation. There are wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, we have an oil price around $100 a barrel and the price at the pump is $1.38. I am not talking about now. I am talking about 2014. Former prime minister Stephen Harper was in power and wars were raging in the Middle East, in both Syria and Iraq. The Russians had just invaded Crimea and the global oil price was $100 a barrel, $10 higher than it is today, and yet the price of gas at the pump was 40¢ a litre cheaper than it is today. What explains the difference? Let us go further. In the United States right now, south of the border, Americans are paying, in Canadian dollars and in litres, 17¢ a litre less than Canadians. They have the same global oil price and the same global factors like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and yet it is 17¢ a litre cheaper south of the border. Why? Sure, there are global effects that have influenced prices lately, but the bigger and longer-term costs are the Liberal government effects. One, it continues to impose a newly renamed and rebranded carbon tax, this time seven cents a litre rising to 17¢, but a broader tax that, unlike the earlier one, does not exempt farmers, fishers or other food producers. Two, the GST rises on the cost of a litre of gas as that cost goes up because it is a percentage-based tax. Three, we have an extremely weak dollar, and this is very unusual. Normally, when the world has high oil prices, Canada has a strong dollar because we have so much oil to sell on the world market. However, because the share of our economy made up of our oil exports is down, the link between oil prices and Canadian dollars is reduced, which removes the protection that consumers had from global shocks 10 years ago. Now, with a weak dollar and everything priced in U.S. dollars, globally priced commodities like oil and gas become far more expensive in Canadian dollars. A weak dollar means weakened purchasing power. Almost every foodstuff has either a North American or a global price. When we have a weak Canadian dollar, the ability of Canadian consumers to buy those goods is also weakened. A weak dollar means higher prices for Canadians. It is amazing that the Liberal Prime Minister, who has been wrong on every single economic issue of the last decade, has now delivered us a weak monetary base in this country. By printing cash and continuing to block resources, he has given us a weak dollar, which is incredible, because that was supposed to be his incredible forte. However, if we look back, he has been wrong on every single economic issue of the last decade: wrong on the carbon tax, wrong to oppose oil and gas, wrong to oppose the pipeline to the Pacific and wrong to support money printing during inflation. He is wrong again today by continuing to impose taxes on our gas. Conservatives have a motion with a very simple and obvious solution, which is to take all taxes off all gas for all of the year to save consumers 25¢ a litre, 20 bucks a fill-up, which is $1,200 by Christmas. Let us lower the cost at the pump to re-energize our economy, move the parts that make up our economy more quickly, create jobs, relieve families and unleash the power of our economy to restore the promise to our people.”

“Gas prices are higher now than they were in the past, even though oil costs less. Liberal taxes and a weak Canadian dollar are causing high gas prices, not the global price of oil.”

“Mr. Speaker, I am aware that the price dropped, but the price at the pump that I quoted was aligned with a $100-a-barrel price at the time. Apparently, the member was not aware of the fact that gas prices do not pre-emptively drop before oil prices drop. I think they need to get another economist over there to explain the basics to this guy. Obviously, when oil prices were 100 bucks a barrel under Stephen Harper, at that very moment gas prices were $1.38. Today, oil prices are, I think, $92 WTI, which somebody can look up, and gas prices are up around $1.80. The reality is there is obviously something other than the global price that is driving the cost at the pumps. It is Liberal taxes and the weak Liberal dollar. The fact that the member is as ill-advised as his leader, who was an incompetent bank governor in England and caused inflation and housing crises there, demonstrates that they still have not figured out that money printing causes inflation. They will never learn.”

“This Prime Minister has doubled the deficit and spends too much money. We need to cut government spending so we can lower taxes and bring down the cost of living.”

“Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right: This Liberal Prime Minister has doubled Justin Trudeau’s deficit. It is twice as high now. No one thought it possible that anyone could spend more irresponsibly than Justin Trudeau, but this Prime Minister has managed to do just that. He has been wrong about every economic problem for the past decade. I have already listed five or six different government expenditures that we can eliminate to reduce the cost of government and bring prices down by cutting taxes. Apart from during COVID‑19, this government is spending more on the economy than any government since 1996. This is the biggest, largest government since 1996. We can cut government costs to lower the cost of living for Canadians.”

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“The Liberals say cutting these taxes only helps the rich. I want my leader to explain how cutting them actually helps low-income people with the cost of living.”

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for providing a very common-sense approach to deal with the cost of living crisis. The Liberals keep saying that one of the reasons they cannot axe this tax is that it will disproportionately benefit the rich, and that the people who have a low income will not benefit nearly as much from axing the taxes we are talking about in this motion today. I am wondering if the leader could explain to the Liberal Party how axing these taxes would actually benefit low-income earners and do well for them with respect to the cost of living.”

“The Prime Minister hides his money in tax havens to avoid paying taxes. At the same time, he raises fuel taxes that hurt poor Canadians the most. It is wrong for him to tell regular people to pay more while he dodges his own taxes.”

“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister is really rich when he says he cares about making the rich pay their fair share, but stashes his cash in an offshore tax haven. He took his millions of dollars from Brookfield and put them in a Caribbean tax haven in a fake office above a bicycle shop so that he could avoid paying the same taxes he charges Canadians. It is incredible, when we think about how someone who is literally invested in what Toronto Star called the biggest tax-dodger in Canada, Brookfield, then turns around and lectures single moms about paying their taxes when they fill up at the pump. Energy is a much bigger part of the household budget for low-income people than it is for high-income people. That is why these Liberal taxes at the pump hurt the poorest people the most. Liberals turning up their nose at working-class Canadians and telling them to pay more and more while the Prime Minister dodges paying his fair share is the height of Liberal hypocrisy.”

“The government controls all taxes on gas and diesel. If it wants to focus on what it can control, it should cut all of those taxes like we asked.”

“Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned that the government was focusing on what it can control. The government controls all of the gas taxes, such as the industrial carbon tax and the GST on both diesel and regular gas. If it is only focusing on what it can control, why does it not reduce all of the taxes, as we have suggested in this motion?”