I rise today to congratulate the organizers and participants in the Thunder Bay 2024 annual polar bear plunge. The polar bear plunge in Thunder Bay started in 2010 to raise funds for the Special Olympics. It was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID but returned in full force in 2022.

This year, 400 people participated, plunging into a hole cut in the ice on Lake Superior. Participants solicited sponsors and donors, and the 2024 total surpassed $155,000, more than double the goal of $75,000. Organizers stated that this year saw the most participants since its inception, and believe that they have raised the highest overall funds in Ontario this year in the polar bear plunge challenge.

The annual plunge is organized by the Roots Community Food Centre, a non-profit organization that focuses on creating a sense of belonging and supporting people through food awareness programs such as cooking, gardening and shopping. Every initiative at Roots is designed to help people learn and share new skills.

In addition to the Special Olympics, the funds will be distributed to the CNIB, the Roots Community Food Centre and PRO Kids.

Thank you to Roots Community Food Centre for your dedication and compassion to the people of Thunder Bay and for finding innovative and inspiring ways to support the less advantaged in our community.

I’d like to welcome Lorna Hudson and Stacy-Ann Dyer-McNish from YES Employment Services in Thunder Bay. Welcome to the Legislature.

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Minister of Northern Development. The Liberal carbon tax is making life more unaffordable for all Ontarians, especially those in northern Ontario. That’s not a publicity stunt; that’s reality. Northerners already pay more at the gas pumps than in the rest of the province. They need relief, not a punitive tax burden.

As many Ontarians continue to struggle with rising costs, the independent Liberals and opposition NDP remain silent. They don’t care that this regressive tax adversely affects Ontario businesses and our economy.

Speaker, everyone in the province has had enough of the carbon tax. The federal government must scrap the tax. Can the minister please elaborate on the negative impact the carbon tax has on northern Ontario?

Unlike other areas in our province, northern Ontario has distinctive challenges related to fuel costs that need to be considered. While the Liberal and NDP members opposite continue to ignore the repercussions of the carbon tax on rural, remote and northern communities, our government will not stop calling for an end to this disastrous tax.

Speaker, can the minister share with the House the detrimental effects that the carbon tax is having on northern businesses?