Today, I’d like to celebrate the 38-year career of Inspector John Lyons, because last Friday, John retired. He started his career way back in 1986, before I even had my driver’s licence. Back then, as part of his contract with the Peterborough police, he had to agree to live in the city limits in order to be a police officer.

He started with Peterborough police. There was a merger with Lakefield, and the service became the Peterborough Lakefield police. And then, eventually, it became the Peterborough Police Service again.

He joined the force after moving from Gananoque to attend Sir Sandford Fleming College in their security and administration program. He moved up through the ranks throughout his career and ended his career as an inspector.

When I was first elected, John was the officer who took me along for my very first ride-along. It was an interesting day, to say the least. Those who know John know he has a lot of stories to tell. I think I heard almost all of those stories that day in the cruiser.

John epitomizes what a community police officer should be. He loves his community. He loved his job. And everyone around him loved to be with him.

John, we’ll miss you on the beat, but I know that this really just frees up your time to give back to your community. Congratulations on your retirement.

My question is for the Solicitor General.

Since the introduction of the Liberal carbon tax in 2019, life has become more and more unaffordable for Ontarians. With the support of the Liberal members in this House, the federal government continues to punish Ontario families who are already struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes. It’s forcing Ontarians to pay more at the gas pump—a 14-cent increase just yesterday. This is not what the hard-working people of the province of Ontario deserve.

The carbon tax is costing everyone, including our front-line heroes.

Ontario deserves better, and our government must do all we can to fight this regressive tax.

Can the Solicitor General please explain the consequences of the federal carbon tax on our province’s public safety system?

It is truly disappointing to see the federal government ignore the significant financial burden the carbon tax places on all of our front-line heroes.

Unfortunately, both the NDP and the Liberal members in this Legislature continue to support the federal Liberals and their unjust carbon tax. They just have to make a phone call to Jagmeet and Justin and ask them to change it.

Speaker, since our government was elected in 2018, affordability has been one of our top priorities. Unlike the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, our government is fighting the carbon tax. We’ve frozen the gas tax, and we’re saving Ontarians’ hard-earned money.

We’re keeping the pressure on and calling for the carbon tax to be scrapped so that the first responders who keep our communities safe won’t be impacted by this regressive tax.

Can the Solicitor General please explain how the Liberal carbon tax is negatively impacting law enforcement and public safety agencies all across Ontario?