Robert Gordon Kitchen

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are spending billions on pet projects, yet there are no jobs for Saskatchewan. They claim there is an increase in so-called infrastructure, yet there are no jobs for Saskatchewan.Now the Liberals want to force a carbon tax on the provinces that will kill more jobs in Saskatchewan. Forcing the provinces and the territories to adopt carbon taxes will cost families thousands of dollars.When will the minister stop taxing hard-working Canadians and end the job-killing carbon tax?

Madam Speaker, southeast Saskatchewan is in the midst of a jobs crisis and thousands of my constituents are out of work. The Liberals are making things worse by forcing a carbon tax on families that are already struggling to put food on the table. A carbon tax will increase costs for our farmers and ranchers. Middle-class Canadians will have to pay significantly more now just to keep operating. Why will the Liberals not stand up for hard-working Canadians and abandon their foolish carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, does the delay-and-study party, a.k.a. the Liberals, understand that the people of Saskatchewan are hurting? The downturn in the oil and gas industry has left thousands of Saskatchewanians out of work. I see the devastating effects every time I drive in my riding. Now the Liberals are scheming to impose a carbon tax, against the will of Canadians in Saskatchewan. Why are they imposing a job-killing carbon tax at a time when people in the energy sector are losing their jobs daily?

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious from the budget that the Prime Minister did not teach geography. He has no idea where the oil and gas industry in Saskatchewan is actually located. EI benefits will only be extended in Saskatoon and northern Saskatchewan, which is nowhere near the oil patch in the southeast. The Prime Minister then insulted us by telling us that we should be thankful they have not been hit harder. Why are these Liberals discriminating against Canadians who have lost their jobs in the energy sector in southeast Saskatchewan?

Mr. Speaker, last night, Ontarians rejected the Liberal carbon tax in their election of a Progressive Conservative government. They will join my province of Saskatchewan, and soon, Alberta, in rejecting the Liberals and their carbon tax. We in Saskatchewan know this plight all too well. We welcome our new ally in the fight against the Prime Minister's job-killing carbon tax.When will the Prime Minister stop his attack on middle-class families and axe his carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, I have a constituent who has been waiting over a year for his disability claim to be processed by Veterans Affairs. Dylan, a veteran, honourably and faithfully served our country, yet Christopher Garnier, a convicted murderer who never served a day in his life, continues to get his private PTSD therapy covered by Veterans Affairs, PTSD that was caused by his murdering of Constable Catherine Campbell. When will the minister stop disrespecting Canadian veterans and end this murderer's taxpayer-funded treatment?

Mr. Speaker, road bans are on in southeast Saskatchewan. Anyone who still has a job in the oil industry is now out of work, adding to the thousands who are already permanently unemployed. EI is starting to run out. In fact, 7,800 job losses happened last month alone in Saskatchewan.While the Liberals hobnob with the anti-energy activists and agree to study more studies, we know that this does not put food on the table for these families. When is the government going to take concrete steps to support those in Saskatchewan who are suffering from job losses today?

Mr. Speaker, in 2016, Saskatchewan lost 6,000 full-time jobs. Agriculture employment is down 19% year over year. At a time when my constituents are struggling to find work, the Liberals are forcing a carbon tax that will affect vulnerable Canadians. These constituents need to be able to feed their families and heat their homes without worrying about paying more taxes. Why are the Liberals trying to pay for their reckless spending at the expense of hard-working Canadians?

Madam Speaker, Bert Baxter Transport, a family owned and operated company in my riding, will deeply feel the consequences of the Prime Minister's failure to support small businesses in Canada. The forced Liberal carbon tax will increase the annual cost of diesel fuel for its trucks by over $400,000 dollars by 2022. It will have to choose between charging its customers more or laying off many of its employees. Where is its discount?

Mr. Speaker, during a debate on the carbon tax, the Minister of Environment stated that carbon capture and storage is a solution that will benefit everyone. This technology has existed for years at the Boundary Dam power station, where carbon capture technology has removed over two million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. The minister sings the virtues of this innovative, green, emissions-cutting technology yet is forcing a job-killing carbon tax on the people of Saskatchewan.Why is the only minister from Saskatchewan, the public safety minister, not championing Saskatchewan's clean energy initiatives?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal announcement to expedite the phasing-out of coal-powered electricity has created panic in my riding. For over 10,000 residents, mainly in Coronach and Estevan, this announcement is a death knell. There will be no jobs, which will cause mass exodus; property values will plummet; and the trickle-down effect will devastate families.When will the Liberals stop pretending to care about southeast Saskatchewan, and actually start creating jobs?

Mr. Speaker, as I speak for the first time in the House, I would like to thank the great people of Souris—Moose Mountain. Own the Podium was created by our Conservative government. It supported our athletes and contributed to their success. Could the Minister of Sport assure Canadian athletes, as they prepare for the Rio Olympics, that their funding will not be on the chopping block as the Liberals look for ways to contain their runaway deficit?

Mr. Speaker, vulnerable Canadians deserve better. We have ministers going out of their way to attack those who truly need help. The revenue minister is targeting single moms and denying legitimate benefits. The Minister for Persons with Disabilities is refusing to help, and worse yet, belittling those who dare ask. Does the minister understand that Canadians who reach out to him for help do not expect to be attacked for simply asking for it?

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the canola crisis, it is clear that the Prime Minister is letting China call the shots. His weak leadership and inaction are hurting Canadian farmers. One of my farmers has 400,000 bushels of canola in the bin, and it has lost $600,000 in value in the past few weeks. As the price of canola is driven down, farmers have no certainty as to what they should plant in the future. This is a crisis.When will the Prime Minister actually stand up for our canola farmers?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday TransCanada announced the cancellation of the energy east pipeline. To the dismay of my constituents in Mooseman, Saskatchewan, energy east was expected to create thousands of jobs, many of which would have been in Mooseman. Now, due to the Prime Minister's blatant lack of support for the Canadian energy sector, this pipeline has been cancelled and hundreds of job opportunities have disappeared overnight. When will the Prime Minister apologize to the people of Mooseman for his failure to champion this job-creating project?

Madam Speaker, this week is Small Business Week in Canada. One small business in my riding, which services oil rigs, contributes $340,000 yearly to the local economy in fuel. However, with its fleet of 20 trucks, and the Liberal carbon tax, this business will pay an additional $29,000 annually in fuel alone. The carbon tax is roughly the cost of employing one to two shop hands, one mechanic, or one labourer. Why are the Liberals forcing a carbon tax that will hurt the struggling oil and gas industry even further?

Mr. Speaker, this week Veterans Affairs confirmed that they have no idea what services are provided for veterans families and the number of people who are using them. It is the Liberals' responsibility to track those numbers and to ensure that those receiving services are deserving of them, unlike Chris Garnier, who still is receiving taxpayer-funded therapy for PTSD caused by his murder of Officer Catherine Campbell. Can the minister assure us that there are no other inmates receiving benefits intended for veterans? Can you answer the question, please?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have calculated how much revenue could be generated from a carbon tax, but they will not release that important information. The estimated cost of the tax is $2.5 billion in Saskatchewan alone. That is right, billion, with a “b”.In my riding, one trucking company estimates that this Liberal cash grab will cost him an extra half a million dollars per year. Why do the Liberals refuse to disclose the cost this forced carbon tax will have on Saskatchewan families and businesses?

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Prime Minister has already broken his campaign promise to stop fighting veterans' groups in court. As if that was not bad enough, he then had the audacity to look a wounded veteran in the eye and tell him that veterans were asking for more than his government could afford to give.How can the Prime Minister justify spending taxpayer dollars on his personal vacations, when he cannot even support the veterans who have sacrificed so much for him to have that privilege in the first place?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Finance stood in the House and claimed that an early administrative error was the reason he failed to disclose his offshore corporation to the Ethics Commissioner. Could the minister confirm that if any Canadian fails to disclose foreign companies to the appropriate government body, they can make the problem disappear simply by claiming it was an early administrative error, or does this only work if one is the Prime Minister's right-hand man?

Mr. Speaker, the only thing they have proven is that they can increase tariffs. Liberals think they are good with numbers, so let us try these on for size: 38%, which is the percentage of hopper cars provided by CN and CP combined; 3,965, which is the number of outstanding orders for hopper cars, which is 300 more than last week; millions, which is the amount of dollars in demurrage charges that are being passed on to our farmers. Farmers across Canada have bins full of grain, contracts to fill, and they need the cash flow to start preparing for seeding. Will the Liberals look at these numbers, do the right thing, and get this grain moving?

Mr. Speaker, the environment minister announced a just transition for coal workers and communities task force without notifying the mayors of the communities its decisions will affect. Nine out of 11 members on the task force are from large urban centres. One is an expert on tidal technology. Do they know where the Prairies are? None has lived in a coal mining community in my province. They cannot understand the way of life, as they have never lived it. Decisions they make will not affect them personally.Why does the minister think hard-working Canadians in remote and rural mining communities do not deserve multiple voices on this panel?

Madam Speaker, my constituent Dacan owns a successful local family business. He has managed to raise a family of six and has contributed to the local economy through employment. Dacan ruptured his patella and had surgery, with serious complications, which prevents him from walking. There were no benefits. There were no sick days. There are no vacations. His wife drives him to work and job sites. He continues to bid on projects, and he supervises while he is infirm. How is it fair that hard-working people like Dacan will have to now pay more taxes while the fortunes of the Prime Minister and the finance minister are unaffected?

Mr. Speaker, between 2001 and 2014, 40,000 Canadian Forces members served in Afghanistan, including 158 who made the ultimate sacrifice. These brave men and women deserve recognition, yet the Minister of Veterans Affairs has not confirmed when or if the national memorial for Canada's mission in Afghanistan will be built.If the minister claims to treat our veterans with care, compassion, and respect, then why is he refusing to give them the recognition they deserve?

No it doesn't. Get a map.

Mr. Speaker, does the delay-and-study party, a.k.a. the Liberals, understand that the people of Saskatchewan are hurting? The downturn in the oil and gas industry has left thousands of Saskatchewanians out of work. I see the devastating effects every time I drive in my riding. Now the Liberals are scheming to impose a carbon tax, against the will of Canadians in Saskatchewan. Why are they imposing a job-killing carbon tax at a time when people in the energy sector are losing their jobs daily?

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the canola crisis, it is clear that the Prime Minister is letting China call the shots. His weak leadership and inaction are hurting Canadian farmers. One of my farmers has 400,000 bushels of canola in the bin, and it has lost $600,000 in value in the past few weeks. As the price of canola is driven down, farmers have no certainty as to what they should plant in the future. This is a crisis.When will the Prime Minister actually stand up for our canola farmers?

Madam Speaker, this week is Small Business Week in Canada. One small business in my riding, which services oil rigs, contributes $340,000 yearly to the local economy in fuel. However, with its fleet of 20 trucks, and the Liberal carbon tax, this business will pay an additional $29,000 annually in fuel alone. The carbon tax is roughly the cost of employing one to two shop hands, one mechanic, or one labourer. Why are the Liberals forcing a carbon tax that will hurt the struggling oil and gas industry even further?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday TransCanada announced the cancellation of the energy east pipeline. To the dismay of my constituents in Mooseman, Saskatchewan, energy east was expected to create thousands of jobs, many of which would have been in Mooseman. Now, due to the Prime Minister's blatant lack of support for the Canadian energy sector, this pipeline has been cancelled and hundreds of job opportunities have disappeared overnight. When will the Prime Minister apologize to the people of Mooseman for his failure to champion this job-creating project?

Mr. Speaker, vulnerable Canadians deserve better. We have ministers going out of their way to attack those who truly need help. The revenue minister is targeting single moms and denying legitimate benefits. The Minister for Persons with Disabilities is refusing to help, and worse yet, belittling those who dare ask. Does the minister understand that Canadians who reach out to him for help do not expect to be attacked for simply asking for it?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Finance stood in the House and claimed that an early administrative error was the reason he failed to disclose his offshore corporation to the Ethics Commissioner. Could the minister confirm that if any Canadian fails to disclose foreign companies to the appropriate government body, they can make the problem disappear simply by claiming it was an early administrative error, or does this only work if one is the Prime Minister's right-hand man?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are spending billions on pet projects, yet there are no jobs for Saskatchewan. They claim there is an increase in so-called infrastructure, yet there are no jobs for Saskatchewan.Now the Liberals want to force a carbon tax on the provinces that will kill more jobs in Saskatchewan. Forcing the provinces and the territories to adopt carbon taxes will cost families thousands of dollars.When will the minister stop taxing hard-working Canadians and end the job-killing carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, as I speak for the first time in the House, I would like to thank the great people of Souris—Moose Mountain. Own the Podium was created by our Conservative government. It supported our athletes and contributed to their success. Could the Minister of Sport assure Canadian athletes, as they prepare for the Rio Olympics, that their funding will not be on the chopping block as the Liberals look for ways to contain their runaway deficit?

Mr. Speaker, this week Veterans Affairs confirmed that they have no idea what services are provided for veterans families and the number of people who are using them. It is the Liberals' responsibility to track those numbers and to ensure that those receiving services are deserving of them, unlike Chris Garnier, who still is receiving taxpayer-funded therapy for PTSD caused by his murder of Officer Catherine Campbell. Can the minister assure us that there are no other inmates receiving benefits intended for veterans? Can you answer the question, please?

Mr. Speaker, the only thing they have proven is that they can increase tariffs. Liberals think they are good with numbers, so let us try these on for size: 38%, which is the percentage of hopper cars provided by CN and CP combined; 3,965, which is the number of outstanding orders for hopper cars, which is 300 more than last week; millions, which is the amount of dollars in demurrage charges that are being passed on to our farmers. Farmers across Canada have bins full of grain, contracts to fill, and they need the cash flow to start preparing for seeding. Will the Liberals look at these numbers, do the right thing, and get this grain moving?

Mr. Speaker, last night, Ontarians rejected the Liberal carbon tax in their election of a Progressive Conservative government. They will join my province of Saskatchewan, and soon, Alberta, in rejecting the Liberals and their carbon tax. We in Saskatchewan know this plight all too well. We welcome our new ally in the fight against the Prime Minister's job-killing carbon tax.When will the Prime Minister stop his attack on middle-class families and axe his carbon tax?

Madam Speaker, my constituent Dacan owns a successful local family business. He has managed to raise a family of six and has contributed to the local economy through employment. Dacan ruptured his patella and had surgery, with serious complications, which prevents him from walking. There were no benefits. There were no sick days. There are no vacations. His wife drives him to work and job sites. He continues to bid on projects, and he supervises while he is infirm. How is it fair that hard-working people like Dacan will have to now pay more taxes while the fortunes of the Prime Minister and the finance minister are unaffected?

Mr. Speaker, between 2001 and 2014, 40,000 Canadian Forces members served in Afghanistan, including 158 who made the ultimate sacrifice. These brave men and women deserve recognition, yet the Minister of Veterans Affairs has not confirmed when or if the national memorial for Canada's mission in Afghanistan will be built.If the minister claims to treat our veterans with care, compassion, and respect, then why is he refusing to give them the recognition they deserve?

Mr. Speaker, road bans are on in southeast Saskatchewan. Anyone who still has a job in the oil industry is now out of work, adding to the thousands who are already permanently unemployed. EI is starting to run out. In fact, 7,800 job losses happened last month alone in Saskatchewan.While the Liberals hobnob with the anti-energy activists and agree to study more studies, we know that this does not put food on the table for these families. When is the government going to take concrete steps to support those in Saskatchewan who are suffering from job losses today?

Mr. Speaker, during a debate on the carbon tax, the Minister of Environment stated that carbon capture and storage is a solution that will benefit everyone. This technology has existed for years at the Boundary Dam power station, where carbon capture technology has removed over two million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. The minister sings the virtues of this innovative, green, emissions-cutting technology yet is forcing a job-killing carbon tax on the people of Saskatchewan.Why is the only minister from Saskatchewan, the public safety minister, not championing Saskatchewan's clean energy initiatives?

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Prime Minister has already broken his campaign promise to stop fighting veterans' groups in court. As if that was not bad enough, he then had the audacity to look a wounded veteran in the eye and tell him that veterans were asking for more than his government could afford to give.How can the Prime Minister justify spending taxpayer dollars on his personal vacations, when he cannot even support the veterans who have sacrificed so much for him to have that privilege in the first place?

Mr. Speaker, in 2016, Saskatchewan lost 6,000 full-time jobs. Agriculture employment is down 19% year over year. At a time when my constituents are struggling to find work, the Liberals are forcing a carbon tax that will affect vulnerable Canadians. These constituents need to be able to feed their families and heat their homes without worrying about paying more taxes. Why are the Liberals trying to pay for their reckless spending at the expense of hard-working Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal announcement to expedite the phasing-out of coal-powered electricity has created panic in my riding. For over 10,000 residents, mainly in Coronach and Estevan, this announcement is a death knell. There will be no jobs, which will cause mass exodus; property values will plummet; and the trickle-down effect will devastate families.When will the Liberals stop pretending to care about southeast Saskatchewan, and actually start creating jobs?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have calculated how much revenue could be generated from a carbon tax, but they will not release that important information. The estimated cost of the tax is $2.5 billion in Saskatchewan alone. That is right, billion, with a “b”.In my riding, one trucking company estimates that this Liberal cash grab will cost him an extra half a million dollars per year. Why do the Liberals refuse to disclose the cost this forced carbon tax will have on Saskatchewan families and businesses?

Madam Speaker, southeast Saskatchewan is in the midst of a jobs crisis and thousands of my constituents are out of work. The Liberals are making things worse by forcing a carbon tax on families that are already struggling to put food on the table. A carbon tax will increase costs for our farmers and ranchers. Middle-class Canadians will have to pay significantly more now just to keep operating. Why will the Liberals not stand up for hard-working Canadians and abandon their foolish carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, the environment minister announced a just transition for coal workers and communities task force without notifying the mayors of the communities its decisions will affect. Nine out of 11 members on the task force are from large urban centres. One is an expert on tidal technology. Do they know where the Prairies are? None has lived in a coal mining community in my province. They cannot understand the way of life, as they have never lived it. Decisions they make will not affect them personally.Why does the minister think hard-working Canadians in remote and rural mining communities do not deserve multiple voices on this panel?

Madam Speaker, Bert Baxter Transport, a family owned and operated company in my riding, will deeply feel the consequences of the Prime Minister's failure to support small businesses in Canada. The forced Liberal carbon tax will increase the annual cost of diesel fuel for its trucks by over $400,000 dollars by 2022. It will have to choose between charging its customers more or laying off many of its employees. Where is its discount?