Taylor Bachrach

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 16th, 2024]

With regard to locomotive inspections conducted by Transport Canada (TC): how many inspections did TC conduct in British Columbia since 2019 related to locomotive spark arresting devices referenced in Section 15.1 of the Railway Locomotive Inspection and Safety Rules Locomotives Design Requirements (Part II), broken down by the (i) date and location of the inspection, (ii) owner of the locomotives, (iii) number of locomotives inspected, (iv) presence of deficiencies, (v) remedial actions ordered?

[Haida Nation Recognition Act, June 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to ask that Bill S-16, an act respecting the recognition of the Haida Nation and the Council of the Haida Nation—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 18th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek for those comments. I enjoy sitting on committee with her.

I was thinking back to another minority Parliament that saw a tremendous amount of progress when it comes to iconic policies that are now an integral part of the fabric of our country. They are things like the Canada pension plan, Canada student loans, the 40-hour work week and two weeks of vacation time, and a new minimum wage. Many of these things were put in place despite the opposition from the Conservative Party.

Is the member not worried that she is on the wrong side of history when she rails against things like a national dental care plan and universal pharmacare for people who need prescription medication? Is it not clear that these things will make our country stronger?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 18th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I have appreciated the member's work on the mighty OGGO committee and his chairing of that esteemed committee.

My question is about housing, and the member did run through some of the really startling increases in rent across the country, but the communities I represent are rural communities. I read his party's proposed housing legislation with interest, and I found that it was silent on the needs of rural communities when it comes to getting housing built. A lot of the strategies in there do not speak to communities of 10,000 people or 5,000 people.

I wonder what the Conservatives have to offer when it comes to building housing in rural communities where the problem is not the municipality, and it is not density near transit stops. The need is core infrastructure funding from the federal government.

[Air Transportation, June 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Air Canada made $2 billion in profits last year, but apparently that was not enough, because now Canadians are facing steep summer price hikes at a time when they can least afford it. WestJet is even charging people $25 just to book a ticket by phone. These costs affect northern communities super hard, because flying is often the only option for people there. The government's response has been crickets.

Whether it is grocery chains, oil and gas companies or airlines, the Liberals seem perfectly fine with corporations gouging Canadians. Why is that?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I applaud my colleague for his work on natural health products in particular.

I was interested to hear him deride the use of omnibus budget bills, because omnibus bills are a bit of a dark art that has been perfected by successive Conservative and Liberal governments. In fact it was a government under Stephen Harper that tabled a budget bill that was 880 pages in length. By comparison, the budget we are debating is 416 pages, including the annexes.

My question is a simple one: Has the Conservative Party decided to oppose the use of omnibus budget bills?

[Labour, June 12th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, everyone wants to avoid a shutdown at Canada's two biggest railways, and rail workers deserve the time needed to negotiate a fair deal. However, CP and CN seem to be trying to orchestrate a simultaneous work stoppage in order to force the workers' hand. Now, the union has suggested staggering the negotiations in order to minimize the impacts. This seems to be in everyone's best interest, but the companies have rejected it outright.

What will the minister do to support the union's very reasonable request?

[Air Transportation, June 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, air passengers who have been grossly mistreated by the big airlines are having to wait years to have their complaints heard. The backlog of complaints is over 70,000 right now. We just learned of a couple from British Columbia who finally received compensation, only to have Air Canada turn around and sue them. The Liberals promised the strongest air passenger protections in the world, but the reality is the new rules make it easier for the airlines to sue their customers.

Strongest in the world? What world is the minister on?

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to pluck away on this one-string banjo about the carbon price and its effect on what they say is the price of everything.

There is a small impact. People have dug into these numbers and there is actual evidence as to the impact of the carbon pricing on things such as food. Professor Trevor Tombe from the University of Calgary looked into this and found that the overall impact is about 0.3% per year. We saw with grocery prices, at the height of it, that it was around 11% per year. At 0.3%, it would mean that, if a bag of groceries goes up a dollar, that is an infinitesimally small amount. A third of a cent on that dollar would be the impact of the carbon tax.

I think we need to keep things in perspective. It is not that there is no impact, but when we look at the profits these companies are raking in, the effect of that on the prices that people are paying is dozens of times higher.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, while the numbers I have show that France has seen a 21% increase in food prices in just two years, in Canada we have seen food price inflation of more than 20% in three years. Maybe there is a slight difference there, but what we are talking about is unreasonable food price inflation. Whether it is 20%, 30% or 15%, we are talking about food price inflation that is far in excess of the overall rate of inflation.

When we dig into the numbers, we see massive profits, which have grown substantially, and that is because companies are taking advantage of a situation. I think everyone accepts that companies are going to pass along their increased costs to consumers, and sometimes those increases are inevitable. However, what we are seeing in this case is profit-taking that is not inevitable, but a conscious choice being made by these CEOs to take advantage of consumers, and that is wrong.