Thanks to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha for the question this morning. It’s an important one, and he’s right: This is what people are talking about on the streets in our communities with the affordability crisis that is going on right now, where people are having to choose between heating and eating in some cases.

While we have put lots of different affordability measures in the window, it’s unfortunate that the opposition Liberals here in Ontario continue to support their federal cousins in imposing a carbon tax, which, according to the Bank of Canada and according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, is driving up the cost of everything.

I’m not going to say exactly which member it was earlier who, when I was answering a question about the carbon tax, indicated that we care more about bicycles in Ontario and riding bicycles than we do about driving. There are a lot of people outside of this city who drive vehicles and it is costing them more and more to drive vehicles. If this Ontario Liberal Party isn’t careful, they’re not going to be the minibus party or the minivan party; they’re going to be the bicycle built for two.

We are putting all of these measures on the table, Mr. Speaker.

The NDP’s plan to give heat pumps to everybody is uncosted; they said it would cost less than $1 billion. It’s that kind of half-baked policy that is going to result in massive, massive over-expenditures. If we were to give everybody who’s on natural gas or home heating or propane in the province a free heat pump, our back-of-the-napkin math would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $16 billion.

You can’t afford the NDP. And the Liberals won’t stand up for the people of Ontario.

Speaker, this seems like something that everyone in this House should be able to agree on. Especially with winter on our doorstep, everybody should be able to agree that the carbon tax needs to take a pause for a while. But if they can’t agree on that, I think everybody here should be able to agree that affordability is an issue right now, and it’s not because of anything that this government has done.

We brought forward so many different levers to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, including removing the HST off of home heating bills. That was a motion that was brought forward last week, and I was really happy that our government House leader brought forward that motion to ask that the harmonized sales tax be removed from home heating for all Ontarians. It’s something that everybody should be able to get by—especially at this time of year.

I commend our government for standing up for the people of Ontario. Why won’t the opposition Liberals do the same?

These Liberals are all about playing politics while our government is doing everything that we can to make sure that life is more affordable for the people of Ontario. That includes the government House leader’s motion to remove the harmonized sales tax from home heating fuel for all Ontarians.

Once again, the member opposite is correct. The Bank of Canada has confirmed that Canadians are paying more for carbon tax and they’re worse off because of the carbon tax than they were prior to its arrival here in Canada and in Ontario. The federal government has admitted so because of what the member opposite mentioned: They’ve realized that it’s costing Atlantic Canadians more, so they’ve carved out home heating fuel in Atlantic Canada, but they’ve left those who heat here in Ontario and the rest of Canada holding the bag with higher costs of living, Mr. Speaker.

The Liberals are fully aware that the carbon tax is costing Canadians more, so why won’t they do the right thing, Mr. Speaker? Why won’t they do what the member opposite is suggesting, make it cheaper for everybody across Canada to heat their homes this winter?

I wonder: This party is down to a handful of members; when are they finally going to come to the realization that it’s their job to stand up for Ontario families like this party is doing—

Interjections.

Speaker, as someone who’s had a pound or two of chicken wings over the years, I’d like to welcome Prince Edward county chicken farmer Jeremy Prinzen—all the way from the county this morning—to Queen’s Park.

Well, you did your hair this morning.

Mr. Speaker, it’s unbelievable what we’re hearing this morning from the Liberal Party of Ontario. The Liberal Party of Ontario, at every opportunity, has voted in support of a carbon tax, a provincial carbon tax and a federal carbon tax that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said is costing families in Ontario and Canada more. The Bank of Canada—it’s unbelievable.

Interjections.

It is unbelievable that they are trying to fool the people of Ontario into believing that they want to see the carbon tax reduced, when at every opportunity they voted for it to go higher. It’s on its way from 14 cents a litre on gasoline to almost 38 cents a litre on gasoline by the end of the month. It’s costing every Ontarian more now than before, and it’s only going to get worse.

It’s absolutely ludicrous. We all know that the carbon tax is hurting the people of Canada. That’s why the federal government has adjusted their position on the carbon tax, Mr. Speaker. Talk to any farmer in this province. Talk to the people in northern Ontario.

If these shrinking Liberals over here—and they’re down to, what, nine now?—keep up this kind of talk, they’re not going to have party status in the Legislature anymore. They’re not even going to have a party in the Legislature. It’s time for Liberals across the country to wake up.

Interjections.

The specific question was about farming and the effect on agriculture. Obviously, the price of carbon is increasing the cost of diesel for the tractors. It’s increasing the cost of gasoline for the trucks that take the products to the grocery stores and the processing facilities. It has increased the cost for the grain dryers, and the propane and gas that are used in that process. Mr. Speaker, it’s driving up the cost of everything, but these Ontario—

Interjections.

Speaker, thanks for the question. When the Ontario Liberal Party was in power here in Ontario, we saw them make so many mistakes on the energy file. Admittedly, after the fact, they announced that, “Yes, we were wrong in making so many of these choices, driving up the cost of electricity in the province and driving up the cost of fuel.” And we’re watching in real time as their federal counterparts, the federal Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau, are doing the exact same thing.

First, with the carbon tax: We warned them that it was going to drive up the cost of everything, Mr. Speaker, and the Bank of Canada now confirms that that is the fact. We’re seeing inflation rise and we’re seeing the cost of everything rise. Now, we’re worried that the next shoe to drop from the federal Liberal government is on the way. It’s called the Clean Electricity Regulations. It is going to make our electricity across not just Ontario, but across the country more expensive and less stable.

I look to give you some more details on the Clean Electricity Regulations.

Like with the carbon tax, the federal government is on the verge of making a costly and short-sighted mistake because they won’t listen to their provincial counterparts and, more importantly, they won’t listen to those who operate the systems. We hope that the federal government will work with us so that we can build a 100% clean grid while supporting reliability and protecting ratepayers. Mr. Speaker, if the federal government won’t listen to those who operate our electricity systems, we’re in for more big problems in our country and in our province.

Line 5.

You never ask me any questions, though.

Thanks to my colleague the member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington and my neighbour in eastern Ontario.

Do you know what else doesn’t work? The federal carbon tax. It doesn’t work for anybody. It doesn’t even work for the federal government. The federal government told us, when they implemented the carbon tax, that it was going to reduce emissions and that people were going to get back more than they put in through the carbon tax rebate. We now know that both of those things aren’t true. The Bank of Canada has confirmed that the carbon tax is driving up inflation across our province, making things more expensive. And we now know that a federal agency, the Commissioner of the Environment, has reported that the federal government is going to miss their own emissions targets.

So what have we accomplished here? All we have accomplished with the federal carbon tax is driving people into energy poverty. They didn’t drive down emissions; they drove up the cost of everything. They’re 0-for-2, Mr. Speaker.

It’s time to scrap this tax.

We know that the federal carbon tax is just driving up the cost of everything. It’s making it more expensive for that mom taking her kids to hockey practice. It’s making it more expensive for our local police services to operate because the price of rolling vehicles through our streets to make sure they’re safe is driving up the cost for them.

For people that are heating their home, this is having a negative impact. The federal government chose to carve out Atlantic Canada from the carbon tax, yet the federal Liberal caucus makes up half of their caucus in Ottawa. Why are they not carving out home heating costs for the people of Ontario? It’s a very, very fair question. And why is the Ontario Liberal caucus, as small as it is, continuing to support their federal cousins in Ottawa? It’s time to scrap this tax once and for all.

Thanks to the member opposite for the question, Mr. Speaker.

Since we took government, we’ve been doing everything we can to try and make life more affordable for the people of Ontario as the federal government continues to jack up the carbon tax year over year over year. We brought in a number of initiatives, including removing 10 cents a litre off the price of gasoline; bringing in the Ontario Electricity Rebate, lowering electricity bills by 15%; taking the tolls off highways; sending people back a rebate on their licence plate sticker fees and eliminating those fees—and so much more: the CARE, the LIFT and the staycation tax credits, just to name a few.

We’ve been trying our best to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario. The federal Liberals continue to drive up the carbon tax. These Ontario Liberals haven’t learned a darn thing. Liberals driving people into energy poverty at the federal level and the provincial level—not only are they happy with the current carbon tax; they want to see it triple by 2030.

We’re surrounded by police officers here this morning, I can only imagine the impact that the carbon tax is having on our police services and our municipalities when they go to fill up their police cruisers to make sure our communities are safe.

We’ve heard from the agriculture minister the impact it’s having on the price of food because of increased costs on farmers.

But these Liberals in Ontario are rock solid in their support of the federal carbon tax. It’s making it more expensive for the people of Ontario every single day.

It’s a bit like Groundhog Day, listening to the member from Ottawa South talking about the things that we can do to reduce the cost of living, when he votes against every single thing that we bring forward. The member from Ottawa South was a part of the caucus that introduced the Green Energy Act, one of the most harmful pieces of legislation in this province’s history. Their energy minister told us, at the time, that it was going to cost a dollar more a month on electricity bills. We know that drove people from every part of our province into energy poverty and reduced his caucus to a minivan caucus—

Interjections.

All right, so this one is for Ron this morning, down in Prince Edward county. Listen, I’m pleased to talk about all of the initiatives that our government has undertaken, not only to make life more affordable, but also to drive down emissions across our province. You don’t have to do what the Liberals did and are doing, in making life more affordable, to drive down emissions.

We’ve introduced the Clean Home Heating Initiative, which makes hybrid heat pumps available to natural gas customers in various locations across the province, something we think the federal Liberals should support us on as well. We’ve introduced the ultra-low overnight rate for those who have and are considering buying an electric vehicle, so they can charge at off-peak times in the overnight period, saving themselves money. We’ve introduced the Green Button standard right across the province at local distribution companies, giving customers the opportunity to reduce their bills, by having the data they need, by up to 18%.

What else have we done? We’ve reduced the electricity rate through the Ontario Electricity Rebate for customers, between 15% and 17%, and of course taken 10 cents off a litre at the gas pumps, too—

Interjection.

Speaker, to the member from Carleton: It’s pretty obvious the federal Liberals have looked at the polls and they didn’t like what they saw, and that’s why they acted. After years of saying that it would return more in benefit to those across the country, they’re now realizing that that’s simply not the case; that the carbon tax is driving up the price of everything, as the member mentioned.

But to exclude only home-heating oil, which affects a vast majority of residents in Atlantic Canada and only 2.5% of those who use home-heating fuel in Ontario, while ignoring the 70% who use natural gas or propane, is just unforgivable. It’s an open admission, first of all, that the federal government wasn’t telling us the whole cold truth for years.

And for all those years, our government’s been standing up, time and time again, fighting the federal carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. We’ve been making life more affordable for the people of Ontario by driving down heating costs, by driving down the price of gasoline, by making electricity more affordable. When will the opposition parties stand with us?

We’re not done fighting for the people of Ontario. The good member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston is going to be presenting a motion a little bit later on this month to give the opposition parties another chance to stand up for the people of Ontario. He’s bringing forward a motion to eliminate the carbon tax on fuels and inputs for home heating for people across Ontario. I want to know—they’ve got time to think about it: Will they be supporting the member of the PC caucus’s motion to eliminate the federal carbon tax?

Like the member from Essex, I can’t understand why the federal government is leaving Ontario out in the cold. It just doesn’t make sense, especially when half of the federal Liberal caucus comes from the province of Ontario. It’s quite shocking.

The Prime Minister, though, this time last week, did finally admit what everybody in this House should know: that the carbon tax is making life more unaffordable for the people of Ontario and more unaffordable for people from coast to coast to coast across this country. As the Premier said in the House on Monday, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated that it’s costing significantly more for the people of Ontario and the people of Canada, and it’s only going to get worse as the carbon tax goes up and up and up.

So despite having all of this information and that knowledge that the carbon tax is making life more unaffordable, why does the current Ontario Liberal caucus of nine continue to vote against motions calling on the removal of carbon tax from grocery—

Fortunately for them, the Liberals have a cherished history of saying one thing and doing another. The Prime Minister once told us that families would get more back from the carbon tax than they would pay. We now know, thanks to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, that that’s not true. Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault once said it wouldn’t be fair for the rest of the federation if we started carving out exceptions for provinces, but that’s the direction that the federal Liberals have gone.

My question for the members of the Ontario Liberal caucus and the federal Liberal government is, why are they so opposed to making life more affordable for the people of Ontario?

Thank you very much, to the member opposite, for the question. Just yesterday, the Premier was out talking about the fact that we’re extending the gas tax rebate by 10 cents a litre. We know that the federal carbon tax is driving that up by 14 cents a litre every year.

Our government is the one that removed licence plate sticker fees, saving motorists all across the province a significant amount of money every year. That’s something that the federal government can’t get their hands on, so that was a tangible thing that’s in the pockets of the people of Ontario.

The Ontario Electricity Rebate, which was announced a couple of weeks ago, is reducing the cost of electricity for customers all across the province by 15% to 17%. That’s farmers, small businesses and homeowners. And we also have the CER, which reduces the cost of electricity for our industrial customers.

It was very disheartening on Thursday last week when the Prime Minister came out and announced a carve-out from the carbon tax for only Atlantic Canadians.

Green steelmaking, Mr. Speaker: We have a great track record on reducing emissions and reducing the cost of business, and putting Ontario back on the map. But the federal government has to come to the table and realize that they’re not just hurting Atlantic Canadians, they’re hurting Canadians from coast to coast to coast, and that includes here in Ontario. It’s time to scrap the tax.

I think the one thing we can agree on is that there’s an affordability crisis across Canada right now, and it’s because of the carbon tax.

What did the federal Liberal government do last week? They carved out their staple policy, the carbon tax—but only in Atlantic Canada—off home heating oil, which affects 2.5% of Ontario residents; over 70% are using natural gas. The carbon tax is adding $300 on a natural gas bill; it’s adding $250 on propane users’ bills across the province.

We’ve been doing everything we can, on this side of the House, to make sure that life is more affordable, just yesterday, the Minister of Finance and the Premier announcing that we are extending the gasoline rebate to 10 cents a litre until mid-next year.

While we’re doing that, the feds are continuing to drive up the cost of gasoline by 14 cents a litre this year with the carbon tax, and plan to triple it over the next number of years.

We’re working closely with the federal government. Let us help you get this right. Reduce the carbon tax.

It’s obviously impacting the price of everything that we buy, from gasoline at the pumps to our home heating fuels to the groceries in our grocery stores. It’s costing more because of the federal carbon tax. And as we heard earlier this week from the governor of the Bank of Canada, it’s also having a massive impact on inflation.

Work with us. Help us help you, and reduce the carbon tax on everything, everywhere—

Interjections.

That’s a great question from the member from Essex, who is standing up for his residents down in southwestern Ontario.

Absolutely—we’ve heard from all of our members and our ministers today just what an impact the carbon tax is having on constituents in their communities and small businesses in their communities.

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board and I were talking earlier this morning about a request from Dalhousie University to ask the Bank of Canada to take a look at just how much impact the increased carbon tax was having on the rate of inflation across the country. They revised their numbers, and the figure is a staggering 0.6%. And when considering the compounding impact of the carbon tax, the Bank of Canada now contends that it contributes a whopping 16% to the rate of inflation.

The federal government has to wake up. My counterpart, the federal minister of NRCan, said yesterday that there weren’t going to be any more carve-outs. They have to start being the government of Canada and treating all Canadians fairly.

Our province has done everything we can. We’ve removed the stickers for licence plate fees. We got rid of the tolls. We’re lowing the price of gas by 10 cents a litre—so many different programs to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, but the federal government keeps digging in.

And then they announce a break for Atlantic Canada, but they are the government of Canada. I have some advice for them: If they don’t make a change and provide the same carve-out for the people all across Canada, including in Ontario, they’re going to end up like this bunch did, like Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals did. They’ll lose party status on—

Interjections.

Thanks to the member for the question. What our government recognized right from the start was that this tax was going to have a harmful impact on our economy and for the people of Ontario. That’s why we fought it. It’s not a choice; it’s a necessity in this province. A family shouldn’t have to decide. I almost feel like back in my opposition days, when we were criticizing the provincial Liberal government for making people choose between heating and eating. That’s what that same crop of Liberals have now done on Parliament Hill. They haven’t just done it for Ontario, though; they’ve done it for all of Canada.

A construction worker has no choice on how they’re going to get to work. They’re driving their truck and they’re paying the carbon tax on that. The mom who’s taking her son or daughter to school has to pay the carbon tax on their fuel.

While we’ve been busy on this side of the House making life more affordable for the people of Ontario when it comes to electricity prices and fighting the carbon tax every step of the way, getting rid of tolls, getting rid of licence plate stickers—

Interjections.

But the answer to the member’s question is, no, the federal government didn’t reach out to talk to us about how we could expand this program across Ontario. It’s unfortunate, because it is working for the people of Ontario. They chose to only expand this type of program for the people of Atlantic Canada. I’m not exactly sure why they would do that, Mr. Speaker, because it’s not just Atlantic Canadians that are hurting with the impacts of the carbon tax in that jurisdiction; it’s people right across this country, and that includes all of the people in Ontario, who are suffering with an affordability crisis because of the federal government’s carbon tax. We need to—

It’s so disheartening, when we’re doing everything we can in Ontario to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, when the federal government and members of the Liberal opposition and members of the NDP opposition and that Green guy in this Legislature want to drive up the cost of everything.

We’re taking tolls off toll routes in Ontario. We’re giving people back their fees on licence plate stickers, Mr. Speaker. We’re doing all of this, and at the same time—

The member’s question is a pretty difficult one to answer, because the federal government’s approach to scrapping the carbon tax doesn’t make much sense at all. The federal Liberals have decided to pause the carbon tax on one type of home heating fuel, but continue to increase the costs for those who use less emitting types of home heating fuel, like natural gas and propane.

Most of the people here in Ontario, as I have already said, more than 70% of the people in Ontario are using those lower-emissions fuels. Ontario families just shouldn’t be punished because of a decision made by the Prime Minister and his team in Ottawa. The feds need to expand this pause for all people across Ontario. They’re the government of Canada and they should be putting a pause on this for all residents across Canada, not just in Atlantic Canada. It’s time that the opposition parties stand with us and oppose this federal carbon tax once—

When it comes to home heating and natural gas, we need the federal government to come to the table and join us in trying to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, not just the people of Atlantic Canada but for people across Canada.

As the Premier said this morning, this tax is wrong. It’s hurting people in Ontario. It’s hurting people right across Canada. It’s not fair to the people and we should—

As the Minister of Agriculture has been saying for a couple of years now, Mr. Speaker, it’s driving up the cost of fruits and vegetables in our grocery stores. And it’s pretty simple, because the carbon tax is applied to the fertilizer that the farmers are using. The carbon tax is applied to the fuel that runs their tractors. The carbon tax drives up the cost of the distributors’ trucks to get it to the grocery store. Then, the carbon tax also drives up the cost of energy at those grocery stores, and it drives up the cost of the individual’s fuel to go to the grocery store to get the fruits and vegetables.

This is a terrible tax. We’ve been fighting this tax here on this side of the House since 2018. We need the federal government and we need opposition to come together to make life more affordable for Ontarians.