Thank you to the minister for his response and the great work he does within his ministry.

The people in my riding of Thornhill and across this province want an end to the Liberal carbon tax. They feel the impact every time they’re at the gas pumps, buying groceries or paying their heating bill.

Ontarians are looking for relief, not more tax hikes. While our government, under the leadership of our Premier, has spoken out against the tax since day one, the NDP and the Liberals have not done the same. We know that the carbon tax makes life more difficult and is unfair to all Ontarians. That’s why we won’t give up our fight until this tax is abolished.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax unfairly impacts the people of Ontario?

That was a disappointing answer. The minister’s answer should have been to order the immediate cleanup of the Wabigoon River and stop the ongoing mercury poisoning of Grassy Narrows First Nation.

A recent study confirmed that the mercury poisoning is worse than was thought—twice as bad, in fact. This a human and ecological disaster, and it has been going on for generations. For heaven’s sake, Speaker, the time for studies has well passed.

Last week, you, the minister, committed to immediate action. So my question: Why didn’t that immediate action include you, Minister, visiting directly Grassy Narrows First Nation so that you could see the devastating impact that this ongoing tragedy is having on the people that live there?

Our government will continue to take action to correct a historic wrong, and we’ll continue to work with the Indigenous community toward remediation of this historic site when it comes to remediating the mercury contamination.

As the member knows—and I spoke about it last week—ministry technical experts met with Dr. Branfireun and the Indigenous communities to review the reports as part of their work on the panel’s technical subcommittee. This was along with ministry representatives from Grassy Narrows as well as First Nations. Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, Eagle Lake First Nation, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation are participants in these discussions.

Dr. Branfireun also confirmed additional work is still needed to finalize a report, including field sampling.

Speaker, let me be clear: Remediation efforts for the English and Wabigoon Rivers will be guided by science and by the best technical expertise. Contamination of the English and Wabigoon Rivers is a complex issue, but let me be clear: We remain to be committed to solve this, and our government takes this very seriously. Our first order of business has always been to correct a historic wrong, and we will continue to do that.

As I already spoke about, the scientific and expertise work that is being done at the table is not the only thing we’ve just done. There is always additional work that is under way to really understand the extent and location of contamination in this river and system. This is something that was asked for. That is why the study is in place, to know the extent of the 250 kilometres downstream and what the impacts are on the historic contamination in Dryden.

This panel, as I mentioned, is funded in part with our government. It’s a project—there’s a project team that is doing the proper science. We’re taking the politics out of this and referring to the science because this government remains committed to correcting this historic wrong.

Supplementary?

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Thank you for the question from our great parliamentary colleague here from Brantford–Brant. He is doing a tremendous job.

This tax proves that they do not care about the people of the north who heat their homes with oil or propane while they make a living mining minerals to keep this province flourishing.

It’s time to learn from our colleagues in north Nova Scotia, who, across all parties, passed a unanimous motion in the Legislature calling on their federal counterparts to vote against the carbon tax hike. It’s disgraceful that the opposition and Liberals in this House do not have the same priorities as their Atlantic colleagues.

Make no mistake, Speaker: This Justin Trudeau tax on everything, supported by the Liberals and NDP members in this House, make it tougher for mining companies to operate. Mining companies in Ontario have had enough. Tell your friends in Ottawa to scrap this tax.

My question is for the Minister of Mines. In my riding of Brantford–Brant and across the province, families are feeling significant financial pressures due to the federal carbon tax. It is clear that the Liberal and NDP members in this House do not care how this costly tax impacts everyone in Ontario, especially in the north. They are shamefully choosing to ignore the concerns of people in their own ridings.

In contrast, our government is leaving no stone unturned to make life more affordable and to help keep costs down. But, Speaker, we cannot do it alone. The federal Liberals need to step up and do the right thing: abolish the tax.

Can the minister please tell this House why all members of the Legislature must push back against the federal carbon tax?

Life is already expensive for the hard-working individuals and families across our entire province. The very last thing they need to worry about is paying an ever-increasing Liberal carbon tax. Our government will continue to call for an end to this regressive vanity tax, attract more investments for our businesses and keep costs down for Ontarians, because we know that a better future is not created by hiking taxes.

Since the opposition is unable to understand this simple concept, can the minister please explain why the carbon tax hinders Ontario’s ability to grow? Thank you.

Back to the minister: I appreciate the agreement in this House on women in the trades, but we need a little less money to end bad contracts for beer and we need a little bit more money in the college system to make sure that a program as successful as this one continues.

This program, the hairstyling and aesthetics program, is so popular that in the last two weeks, when the program found out abruptly that their program would be suspended, they have a petition of over 5,000 signatures. There are students in this program, in businesses affiliated to this program, that literally—I tell this House sincerely—cut the Prime Minister of Canada’s hair; cut the federal Leader of the Opposition’s hair; that are active in our community. This is a success story. If we forward more money from Queen’s Park, we can save this program.

Again, plaintive appeal to the minister, because I know she cares about skilled trades and women in the trades: Can we commit today to Algonquin College that money will flow to save this program, yes or no?

My question is for the Premier. Speaker, the provincial debt is higher than it has ever been, almost $100 billion in five years. We have historic deficits. Government spending? By all accounts, it’s out of control. Even the Premier’s office budget has more than doubled in five years. That gravy train? Well, it just keeps on rolling.

Meanwhile, the services that Ontario families depend on? Well, they’re failing, yet it’s this Premier’s newest priority to spend $1 billion to get beer and wine in corner stores a little more than a year earlier than planned.

I’m not exactly sure what planet the Premier thinks that this would all be okay on, so maybe the Premier could explain to us—Speaker, through you—who exactly benefits from his billion-dollar boozedoggle.

Meanwhile, 2.3 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor and that number keeps going up. Emergency rooms are closing. Rural hospitals are closing down. Seniors are waiting and not getting the care they need to live in their own home. And every day—every day, Speaker—more and more Ontario families are having to use their credit card instead of their OHIP card to access basic care that they need.

Interjections.

Well, Mr. Speaker, let’s put this into context. When we came down here, we walked into a bankrupt company—that’s what I call it. Three hundred thousand jobs were lost. Taxes went up through the roof. They increased the debt by $100 billion alone.

What we’ve done is something that no other government has ever done that I could ever remember—federally, provincially, municipally. We increased revenues by $64 billion, but we’ve never raised a tax. We’ve never raised a tax on the backs of people. We’ve reduced the burden of tax on the backs of people.

We reduced the cost of doing business by $8 billion each and every single year. We’ve created the environment for 700,000 new people to be employed. We’ve seen $43 billion of investment in the EV sector, $20 billion in the tech sector and $3 billion in the life science sector. We created more jobs than all 50 US states combined last year. That’s what we’ve done.

But you’re okay with raising taxes. They’re okay with raising taxes. They don’t mind that. I’ve never seen a Liberal government, ever since I’ve been alive, that doesn’t believe in one thing: Tax the people to death. Tax businesses to death until they leave the province.

We don’t believe in taxation. We believe in growth through new revenues, new opportunities and more jobs. That’s what we believe in. We will never raise a tax on the backs of the people, unlike you.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. At a time when affordability is already top of mind for many Ontarians, the Liberal carbon tax is continuing to drive costs up and up and up. And it’s not just energy costs, Speaker. The cost of food, housing and much more are all being pushed up higher by this terrible tax. That’s why it should be a given that all members in this Legislature oppose this tax. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Rather than joining our government in calling for an end to the carbon tax, the NDP and the Liberals want to see this tax tripled by 2030.

Speaker, could the minister please explain what steps our government is taking to support our clean energy future without resorting to a carbon tax?

Thank you. Next question? The member for Ottawa West–Nepean.

Today, the Algonquin College board of governors is considering a motion to suspend the hairstyling and aesthetics programs for financial reasons. These programs graduate skilled trade workers, mostly women. The hairstyling program is so successful that it has a wait-list of 57 people, enough to open a second class. It is an affordable program that gives students a path to a stable career with a good income. That includes Indigenous students who choose Algonquin College because it welcomes their culture.

Speaker, this program is a success story that is in jeopardy today because of the lack of financial support for post-secondary institutions in Ontario. The member for Ottawa Centre and I wrote to the Minister of Colleges and Universities last Friday asking for more funding to save this program. Will she deliver that today?

Speaker, thank you again to the member for the question. The mining industry is driving a major economic shift to EVs, the likes of which we have not seen since the oil boom at the turn of the last century.

BNN reported that the world is going to need to mine five times more copper than we have ever mined in history in the next 30 years, and 20 times more nickel. This will be a monumental effort, but it is also a generational opportunity to reshape our economy and create thousands of new jobs for the next generation.

Yet, the Liberals and NDP seem to be actively chasing away companies and major investments with the terrible taxes and tone-deaf statements like, “We don’t need more roads.” Well, Speaker, I’ve got news for them: Continue down this road and you will destroy not only the jobs and opportunities today, but also the hopes and dreams of the next generation.

It’s long past for the NDP and Liberals in this House to stand with us and tell their buddies in Ottawa to stop taxing the people into poverty and chasing away life-changing business opportunities—

Thank you to the minister for that response.

We hear it time and time again: The Liberal carbon tax only hurts Ontario families. As people in our province continue to struggle with high interest rates and rising cost of living, all governments should be putting forward measures that provide financial relief for individuals and families. Instead, the federal Liberals, supported by their provincial counterparts, are choosing to drive up the prices of day-to-day essentials like gas in the tank and groceries.

Speaker, Ontarians have had enough. They want to see this tax scrapped. Could the minister please explain to the House why this federal government must end the carbon tax today?

The supplementary question.

Supplementary?

The Eglinton Crosstown was supposed to be completed by 2021. It’s now 2024. This project has no end date in sight and is costing Ontario taxpayers billions of dollars in cost overruns.

Will the government tell us when the Eglinton Crosstown will finally be open for service, or just admit that they have no idea when and how much more we have to pay?

It’s impossible to get real answers on the Eglinton Crosstown. That’s because this government and its transit agency are actually spending thousands and thousands of dollars on lawyers to hide information from the public. Will the government finally come clean and tell us just what they are hiding and how much the costs have ballooned under their mismanagement?

Thank you very much to the member for that question. We’re embarking upon the largest expansion in public transit in all of North America, and we’ll continue to do so. The Eglinton Crosstown project—we’re all frustrated by it, but we know that construction is complete on it and we are now in testing mode.

If it was up to the NDP, they wouldn’t want any of these projects to be built. They actually voted against the Eglinton Crosstown West extension. They voted against the Ontario Line. They don’t support our investments in public transit, where we’ve brought forward measures on affordability—$1,600 saved by transit users each year in the GTA and across.

We’re going to continue to invest in public transit. We’re going to continue to build and get shovels in the ground, like the Ontario Line and the Scarborough subway extension.

Let’s talk about those opportunities that the NDP have had to support important projects, like the Eglinton Crosstown West extension that’s going to put over 26,000 people within walking distance of public transit; the Ontario Line—40,000 people every single day. And these members, the NDP, are voting against that, not supporting that. The Liberals as well: For 15 years, they did absolutely nothing to build transit in this province. They voted against every one of our measures as we support public transit in this province.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’re embarking upon the largest expansion of public transit in all of North America.

Supplementary.

Thanks to the member from Markham–Unionville for the question this morning.

There’s no question about it; the carbon tax is impacting the cost of anything that gets delivered. Anything that comes from our farmers is going up in price. Groceries; household goods; the price at the pumps, obviously; home heating—it’s all going up. It’s all making life more expensive. So it’s unreal to hear this phony outrage that comes from the opposition parties, or phony concern, when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis, when they support this punitive carbon tax that’s coming from Justin Trudeau and the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie.

Madam Speaker, we have a plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth. It’s a plan that’s ensuring we continue to grow the economy, like the Premier was just talking about. Multi-billion-dollar investments from Windsor all the way to Ottawa and north into Sault Ste. Marie and far beyond, as we develop the Ring of Fire—there’s so much happening in Ontario.

We don’t need this punitive carbon tax.

That’s why we’ve taken a different route, bringing in One Fare so transit riders can save up to $1,600 a year, cutting the price at the pumps by 10.7 cents a litre on the Ontario gas tax, making sure we’re eliminating the licence plate sticker fees, and so much more.

We also have this plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth, which is ensuring that we’re getting competitive investment in new generation in our province, unlike what the Liberals did previously with the very costly, punitive Green Energy Act. It drove up the price of energy in our province, making 300,000 manufacturing jobs leave for other jurisdictions. We’re not doing that. We’re lowering taxes. As a result, we’ve seen jobs roar back into Ontario—700,000 new jobs.

Let’s scrap this tax today.