Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues who have been waiting for my impassioned speech. I will begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with the member for Kings—Hants.

We are talking about carbon pricing and the Bloc Québécois motion. I would like to begin by saying that what has been eliminated is carbon pricing at the consumer level. One might wonder why this was done. I think that it was the right thing to do and that it was good policy. Even though it was offset by individual rebates, consumer pricing was rather poorly received by the public. It also resulted in a lot of widely circulated disinformation. This unfortunately helped create a great deal of mistrust toward the government's policy and its use, to the point where we realized that it would be more constructive to scrap carbon pricing for consumers but maintain the industrial carbon tax. I think it is extremely important to maintain it, and that is what we intend to do.

My Bloc Québécois colleagues have rightly pointed out that this could hinder Canadian exports. In the current climate of a trade war with the United States, a partner that we thought was very reliable but is no longer, we need to look for new markets. We need to be able to diversify our trade opportunities. If we export manufactured goods to Europe, for example, we could be penalized if we do not have a carbon tax for the industrial sector.

The planet is moving forward. Carbon pricing is an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because we still need to reduce those emissions. I am always surprised when Conservatives, people who generally believe in market mechanisms to change behaviour, suddenly think that a market mechanism that has an effect on prices is no longer good when it comes to carbon emissions. I am surprised by that. We can bring together the most conservative economists on the planet, and they will all say that a pricing mechanism is the most effective way to change behaviour. That surprises me a bit.

We are therefore going to keep carbon pricing on the industrial side, because I think it is useful, especially at this time. The global economy is changing. It is becoming less carbon intensive.

I would like to raise another point before returning to the main thrust of the Bloc Québécois motion. It has also been mentioned today and in recent weeks, if not before, that the carbon tax has caused inflation in Canada. No, that is not how it works.

Let us talk about inflation. Perhaps our colleagues have heard about the pandemic and how it completely disrupted mechanisms, supply chains and international trade? Every OECD country and every developed country had to quickly and abruptly shut down its economy in 2020, then gradually reopen it. Then, in 2021‑22, as we were gradually reopening the economy after the pandemic emergency passed, we realized that the pandemic-induced supply chain disruption resulted in very high demand. Unfortunately, supply could not keep up, which threw the whole system out of whack. That is what triggered inflation in Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, Mexico and everywhere else. It was not Liberal policy, for crying out loud; it was a global phenomenon that was then exacerbated.

Perhaps our colleagues have also heard about the war in Ukraine? It set off an oil crisis and disrupted Russian oil exports, which rapidly drove up energy prices as well as grain prices, because shipments were down. Ukraine was a very large grain producer. All of these factors caused global inflation.

That was where we were in 2023 and 2024. The central banks reacted appropriately. The Bank of Canada did what it had to do. I would remind you that our colleagues across the floor were saying at the time that if they came to power, they would fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada. Let us be serious: What kind of banana republic would we end up in? That is not something that is done, especially since the Bank of Canada was one of the first to successfully control inflation. We are now back within the 2% range, and the inflation peak of a few years ago is behind us. It is always important to avoid confusing inflation with the cost of living, because they are not quite the same thing. Past price increases are still there, but inflation is now well under control. The Governor of the Bank of Canada is fortunately still in office, because he has been one of the most successful members of this fraternity of central bank governors.

Let us return to the Bloc Québécois motion. Our colleagues said that Quebec has been punished and robbed. Those are very harsh words that I find difficult to follow and understand. We live in a confederation, where there is a fairly elaborate system of federal revenue transfers. That is what we have done. I think that it has been done very well and that, no, Quebec has not been punished or cheated.

Carlos Leitão

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