SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
November 29, 2023 09:00AM
  • Nov/29/23 11:30:00 a.m.

I must admit, it’s a little surprising hearing that question from that member from Kanata-Carleton, who, in this House in the last few weeks, has said the carbon tax is good for consumers.

The carbon tax puts the cost of everything up—everything: getting to the Legislature, driving your kids to soccer, food, businesses, public transportation.

This is a government that has been committed to working on affordability since we took office in 2018. I don’t even know where to start with all the programs we’ve put in place and the cost reductions we’ve done. Let me remind the member of just a few of those things that we’ve done—and I’ll certainly talk to more of them in the supplementary.

We put through the LIFT tax credit, which was the largest low-income tax credit in the history of Canada, helping those individuals in the lowest-income tax brackets reduce their taxes.

I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

The member opposite mentioned ODSP. Just last year, we brought through legislation which moved it up by 5%, and then indexed it to inflation, to 6.5%. That’s the largest increase in ODSP’s history. Did the member opposite and the team over there support us on that legislation? No, they did not.

But that’s not all. We’ve done a lot for affordability. We increased the minimum wage this year—the largest-ever increase in recent history—to $16.55 per hour. We’ve also brought about and extended the tuition tax credit for university students. We put through a 10% cut in tuition a few years ago, and we’ve extended that freeze for four years, putting tuition among the lowest and the most affordable, in the province of Ontario.

I hope the members opposite will join us, get some sense and support the fall economic statement.

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