Reported by Richard Coffin
Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus is calling on the federal Liberals to take action on high gas prices.
Angus says prices are so high that working-class families have been forced to make tough choices about their food budget and shelter costs.
“So as the Finance Minister is hanging with the uber-rich at The Empire Club this Liberal government does nothing as working class Canadians are held hostage at the pumps,” he told the House of Commons during Question Period Thursday. “When is this government going to tax these obscene oil profits and put the money back into the pockets of working class Canadians?”
Angus says ‘big oil’ made close to $100 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2022, triple what they made last year.
Randy Boissonnault, Federal Minister of Tourism and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, says their budget takes serious measures to address affordability.
He says it introduces the Canada Recovery Dividend, a one-time 15% tax on Canadian-based income over $1 billion in 2021.
“The banks made money, we’ve asked them to pay more, that’s how we’re going to make sure we have affordability for all Canadians,” Boissonnault says.
At The Empire Club on Thursday, Chrystia Freeland, Federal Minister of Finance, announced Ottawa will spend $8.9 billion to help renters, seniors, and low-income workers deal with inflation.
