My question is for the Associate Minister of Transportation.

The carbon tax is punishing the hard-working people of Ontario. Residents in my riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke tell me every day that this regressive tax is adding further strain to their household budgets. It’s raising the price of everything, from groceries and services to the cost of fuel. And with next week’s 23% hike, drivers across the province will be paying even more at the pumps.

The dire effects of the carbon tax are felt by our trucking industry, which serves a critical role in transporting the goods that we need in our daily lives.

Can the minister explain the impact of the federal carbon tax on Ontario’s trucking industry?

It is clear that the federal carbon tax is affecting the everyday lives of truckers across Ontario.

Up until this point, the federal government has increased the carbon tax on fuel not once, not twice, but five times. To make matters even worse, they plan on increasing it another seven times by 2030.

The opposition NDP and independent Liberals continue to ignore the harmful effects the carbon tax is having on our industries. Rather than standing up for their constituents, they’re choosing to support the federal government’s unjust tax. Our government will continue to advocate for Ontarians and call for the elimination of this tax once and for all.

Can the minister please further explain the lasting impact that this punitive tax will have on Ontario’s truckers?

I want to thank the minister and the associate minister, this having been his first opportunity to rise in this House and address the house as the new associate minister. Congratulations on a wonderful speech this morning.

When our government was elected in 2018 under Premier Ford, we embarked, led by Premier Ford, on a mission and a commitment to make historical investments and bring transformational change to public transportation here in the GTA, which is such an important part of our great province of Ontario. At every step along the way, we have made massive improvements—and I want to thank you for articulating in your speeches this morning just what they’ve done, because sometimes we take them for granted ourselves. We forget from time to time just how many advancements and improvements are ongoing. So I really appreciate that.

But what bothers me is, for everything we have brought forward to this province in public transportation, our friends on the opposite side vote against it. I’m asking you—maybe you understand better than me—why it is, when we are bringing forth such progress in—