Thank you to the minister for his response. The carbon tax is failing on all fronts, except driving up the cost of basic necessities. The federal Liberals can reduce the cost of food today for children, for seniors and for everyone who is going hungry by eliminating this punitive tax. But unfortunately, it seems they’re all willing to let Ontario suffer under this carbon tax.

The Liberal and NDP members sitting in this House are content to see the carbon tax triple—triple—by 2030. This is unacceptable, and this Premier and our government will continue to fight this punitive tax.

Minister, can you tell this House why the members opposite must come to their senses and join our government in fighting this carbon tax?

Interjection.

I think everyone is just excited for my question this morning. I’d really like to ask a question to the Premier, but unfortunately, my question is to the Minister of Energy.

The Liberal carbon tax is driving up the cost of food and everyday essentials. It continues to force individuals and families across our province to choose between cooling and eating. Just last week we learned that grocery prices in Ontario have increased by an additional 1.4% compared to last year. At the same time, food bank usage in our province has increased by 38%.

Speaker, the Liberals, under the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, along with the opposition NDP, persistently ignore the effects this tax has on our food supply chain. They should meet with the grain farmers who are here today and hear about how much this tax costs our farmers.

As the opposition champions the carbon tax, our government will keep costs down for the people of Ontario, and we will not stop until this regressive tax is scrapped. Minister, can you please explain—

Thank you to the minister for his response.

As a young member in this place, I know the carbon tax has done nothing for the environment but instead has driven up the cost of basic necessities and made it difficult for food banks and other non-profits to serve our most vulnerable citizens.

Food banks across the province are now paying more for gas and diesel to transport the food, more for natural gas to heat their buildings, and more for the food on their shelves. Speaker, 69% of food banks are concerned that they don’t have enough food to meet the demand, and the carbon tax is forcing them to stretch their already limited budgets even further. What’s worse is that this tax burden is only going to rise every single year.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to protect our food banks and other non-profits from this disastrous carbon tax?

My question is for the Minister of Energy.

Speaker, last year’s Feed Ontario report saw a 38% increase in food bank usage in Ontario, with over 800,000 Ontarians having to access a food bank. This is the single largest increase ever recorded. Sadly, Ontarians are being forced to visit food banks because the regressive and harmful carbon tax is driving up the cost of food.

Interjections.

Interjections.

The independent Liberal members in this place and the federal Liberal government need to understand that if you tax our farm families who grow the food and the truckers who ship the food, you end up taxing the Ontario families who buy the food.

This regressive tax is a disgrace, and it must be scrapped.

Can the minister please explain how the Liberal carbon tax is making life harder and more expensive for hard-working Ontarians?

Thank you to my friend from Chatham-Kent–Leamington for that supplementary question.

As the member mentioned, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, may think a 23% increase on April 1 was an April Fool’s joke, but Ontario families are not laughing.

Speaker, as I mentioned in my earlier response, the carbon tax is on everything in your house: on the two-by-four, on the drywall, on the barbecue in your backyard, and on that food you put on the barbecue in the backyard.

Not only did Bonnie Crombie have an abysmal housing start record, but in the last month that she was mayor, she supported increasing the cost of building materials for our homes, increasing the cost on the gas of our construction workers building those homes, and increasing everything that goes into a home.

When will the independent Liberals get in their minivan, go to Ottawa and demand that the federal Liberal government scrap this—

Interjections.

Thank you to the great member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington for that great question.

As the members know, our government is taking an all-hands approach, ensuring that we’re getting shovels in the ground and increasing our housing supply. But the federal Liberal carbon tax is hurting these efforts.

Speaker, let me paint a picture for everyone in this place today. When our men and women in our forestry industry go into the forests in the north to cut down that tree for a two-by-four, they use gas and fuel in their chainsaws, carbon tax. When the forest equipment takes that log out of the forest, carbon tax. When the trucker takes that log to the mill to be processed, carbon tax. When the mill processes that log into two-by-fours, carbon tax. There is a theme here. When that truck takes that two-by-four to the Home Hardware or the Home Depot, carbon tax. And when the contractors come to pick up that two-by-four carbon tax. That is seven times, just right there.

When will the—

My question is to the Minister of Energy.

People in my riding of Perth–Wellington tell me they want an end to the Liberal carbon tax. Ontarians are not fooled by the Liberals’ renaming tactics. A tax is a text is a tax, plain and simple. They feel the impact of this disastrous tax every time they are at the pumps, at the grocery store and paying their heating bills. They have had enough.

Our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has spoken out against this tax since day one, because we know that a carbon tax makes life more difficult. That’s why we fought this carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and we won’t give up until this tax is abolished.

Can the minister explain how the carbon tax unfairly impacts the people of Ontario?

The carbon tax does nothing—I say again, nothing—to reduce emissions. It only punishes the hard-working people of this province. But shockingly, at a time when families are struggling to put food on the table, the Liberals decided to hike the carbon tax even further. They want to increase this carbon tax until it reaches $170 per tonne. That is unacceptable.

Speaker, during these challenging times, all governments should be working together to make life more affordable for everyone.

While the provincial Liberals support their federal counterparts, our government will continue to have Ontario’s back and end this punitive tax.

Can the minister please explain how the provincial Liberal carbon tax is creating financial hardship for everyone?

My question is to the Minister of Energy. We all know that the people of Ontario are struggling with the rising costs of food, fuel and everyday essential items because of the federal Liberal carbon tax. However, when Premiers of all political stripes—NDP, Liberal, PC—

Interjections.

When I speak to farmers in my riding of Perth–Wellington, I constantly hear about how the production—

We know that the rising expenses for our hard-working farmers are only making food more expensive for all Ontarians. The federal government needs to act now and get rid of this regressive tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is driving up the costs of everything for Ontarians, especially—

Speaker, our farmers need our support, and that’s why our government continues to fight this disastrous Liberal carbon tax every step of the way. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, has never seen a tax she does not like. To this date, the Liberals in this place still refuse to stand up against this carbon tax.

Can the minister please tell this House why Ontario families cannot afford this tax increase that Bonnie Crombie is planning for?

Just for the record, I’m a roast beef guy, so I’ll thank you for that.

My question is to the Minister of Energy. Speaker, the federal carbon tax—

Interjections.

The federal carbon tax makes life more expensive for the people of Ontario. After years of punishing energy costs that are sky high, the Prime Minister announced that he was pausing the carbon tax but only on home heating oil and only for three years.

Families and businesses in my riding of Perth–Wellington that grow the food, that build our province every single month are being punished by this carbon tax. They can’t afford the high taxes of the opposition and the NDP members. Our government understands this, that the carbon tax only takes money out of hard-working people’s pockets. That’s why we fought this ludicrous tax all the way to the Supreme Court, and we will continue to fight it, keep going forward.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House why the federal government’s selective carbon tax exemption hurts Ontarians?

As families across Ontario continue to struggle with the rising cost of living, our government continues to do everything we can to make life more affordable. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and the independent Liberals don’t seem to care about the harmful impacts the carbon tax has on the lives of our constituents. We need members on the opposite to work with us. In fact, the member from Kanata–Carleton is the caucus liaison to the Liberal Party of Canada and the federal Liberal caucus, but she refuses to call her federal Liberal colleagues to halt the carbon tax.

Thankfully, our government will continue to act to keep costs down for families in Ontario. Can the minister please share with this House what we are doing?

My question is to the great Minister of Energy. The federal carbon tax is raising prices on everything, from energy bills, groceries, into everyday essentials. That’s why this Premier and our government fought this punitive tax all the way to the Supreme Court. Our government will always fight for the taxpayer in Ontario.

Last fall, the federal government chose to merely suspend the carbon tax on home heating oil, a source of higher emissions utilized only by 2.5% of Ontarians. But the tax on natural gas, which I use and 70% of Ontarians use, is going to go up. It’s unfair that the federal Liberals and provincial Liberals—who don’t call their colleagues in Ottawa—are ignoring the burden being placed on most Ontarians.

Can the minister please tell this House why the federal government’s selective exemption on the carbon tax is unfair?

Home heating is not a luxury; it is a necessity in Ontario. However, many Ontarians cannot afford to pick and choose what heating fuel they can use. Whether it’s home heating oil or natural gas or other forms of gas, like propane—and they were here last week; great propane members and businesses in my riding—Ontarians should not be unfairly forced to pay additional costs to stay warm during the winter months. And it’s unfortunate that the only party in this Legislature that is focused on providing real relief to Ontarians is this party on this side and the missing middle over there, Speaker.

While the Liberals and NDP are content with the carbon tax going up on April 1, as you can hear in this place, our government continues to keep costs down for the people of Ontario. Can the parliamentary assistant please share the steps our government is taking to provide more affordability for home heating as the federal carbon tax skyrockets?