My question is for the Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Municipalities across Ontario, especially in rural, remote and northern communities, face unprecedented economic challenges due to unforeseen additional costs arising from the carbon tax. Increasing cost to heat buildings and rising fuel costs for front-line municipal vehicles create economic and budgetary challenges for our municipal partners. This is especially true for northern municipalities and Indigenous communities who feel the effects of the federal carbon tax more significantly than other municipalities.

While the NDP tries to confuse everyone as to where they stand on this punitive and regressive tax, our government’s position has always been clear: It’s time to scrap the carbon tax. Can the minister please explain how the carbon tax negatively impacts northern municipalities and Indigenous communities?

It is difficult to understand why the independent Liberals and the opposition NDP continue to disrespect the north by supporting the federal government’s imposition of this regressive tax. Can the minister please elaborate on how the carbon tax is making life more expensive and more costly for northern Ontario?

At a time when Canadians are seeing costs go up everywhere, the federal Liberals, supported by their provincial counterparts, are raising taxes on families across the province. The federal Liberals will increase it from $65 per tonne to $170 per tonne by 2030. If we think gas is expensive now, it’s going to get a lot worse. It’s going to get harder for families to take their kids to soccer practice. It’s going to get even more expensive for us to afford food.

It’s about time that the federal Liberals and the provincial Liberals stand up for drivers and appreciate the unique needs of those in communities that don’t have rapid transit and subways. Families cannot afford higher taxes. We have to be serious about reducing emissions and addressing affordability, and they need to take leadership and scrap the carbon tax.

The Scarborough subway extension: a project, Mr. Speaker, that the provincial Liberals spoke about for 15 years and did absolutely nothing and ignored the people of Scarborough. Under this Premier and his leadership, we’re building the Scarborough subway extension.

We look at LRTs across this province. The Hazel McCallion Line: We were just there with the Premier and the hard-working construction workers on the line, making sure it’s ready to go.

We’re going to change the face of transportation across this province. We’re going to change how people are moving. We’re going to build highways, we’re going to build public transit, and we’ll take no lessons from the official opposition on that.