My question is for the Minister of Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs.

It’s no secret: The carbon tax is making everything more expensive for everyone, especially for the people who live in the communities throughout northern Ontario. These communities are already feeling the pressure at the gas pumps, where fuel costs are significantly higher, in comparison, than they are anywhere else in the entire province.

But the opposition NDP members and the independent Liberals continue to support the carbon tax. They continue to support carbon tax hikes. They actually agree with the federal Liberals’ plan to increase the carbon tax on gasoline seven more times before 2030.

The people of the north deserve better.

Can the minister please explain how the carbon tax negatively impacts individuals and families in northern Ontario, as well as Indigenous communities?

Speaker, it is absolutely shocking that the federal government continues to force this terrible tax on northern communities that are already paying more for fuel. It’s even more shocking that the members opposite who represent these northern communities continue to support the carbon tax.

Northern Ontario faces unique barriers when it comes to fuel costs, and these have to be considered before we impose these further taxes on them.

Clearly, the federal Liberals don’t care about the adverse effects of carbon tax on northern communities. They clearly don’t care about the northern communities at all.

I’m wondering if the minister could please elaborate a little bit more for us on how the carbon tax is negatively impacting not only the residents in all of the communities, but the businesses as well, throughout the region, in northern Ontario.

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. The carbon tax is essentially a tax on everything, Speaker. It’s on your groceries, your gasoline, your home heating and every other day-to-day essential.

For over a year now, the Chiefs of Ontario have been calling on the federal government to consult with them on the impact that this harmful tax is having on all of their communities. Due to the federal government’s failure to address the First Nations’ concerns, the Chiefs of Ontario filed for judicial review into the application of the carbon tax in Indigenous communities. They have called this tax anti-reconciliatory and discriminatory.

Can the minister please tell the House how this carbon tax is disproportionately impacting northern Ontario communities?

Instead of helping northern Ontario foster economic growth and to reach our full potential, the federal government is bringing one tax hike after another after another after another. It is clear that neither the Liberals nor the NDP understand, respect or care about the financial hardship that many individuals and families are going through.

Northern and Indigenous communities should not be paying the price of this harmful and regressive tax. Speaker, can the minister please explain further why the carbon tax has such detrimental effects on northern Ontario and especially First Nation communities?