Thanks to the member from Oakville for the great question. The carbon tax is a terrible tax, and it’s hurting us right now, but the worst part of this tale is that the tax is going to go up and up and up every April 1.

Our good friend from Quebec is here as well: La taxe de carbone va augmenter de plus en plus en plus, and that’s bad news. That’s bad news for the people of Ontario. It’s bad news for the people in Quebec. It’s bad news for the people right across our country.

Our government is doing things differently.

The queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is in full support of the Prime Minister and the federal carbon tax. The NDP are in full support of the carbon tax. Mr. Green over here is in full support of the carbon tax, as well.

The Premier and our government are not in support of a carbon tax. As a matter of fact, we’re continuing to lead the country in driving down emissions without a carbon tax.

We are investing in our hydro facilities. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been in Cornwall, with the great member from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry, and down in Niagara at the Sir Adam Beck facility, announcing refurbishments of our hydroelectric fleet.

We just had the largest procurement of battery storage in Canada’s history last week, to make sure that our non-emitting resources are working more efficiently and that we have the power we’re going to need to continue to attract the multi-billion dollar investments, like the ones that are being made today down in Niagara,

Our Minister of Transportation has explained this on many occasions in the Legislature, but I’m happy to join in the chorus of two thirds of the people across Canada who are saying they cannot afford another increase to the carbon tax on April 1—a 23% increase to the carbon tax.

Mr. Speaker, our truckers are the ones who are out there delivering goods from the farm gate to the distribution centre to the grocery stores.

And if you wonder why the cost of everything is going up, you only have to look at one place: Justin and Jagmeet’s carbon tax. It’s making life unaffordable in the province of Ontario.

The budget officer on Parliament Hill says people are paying more than they’re getting back in these phony carbon tax rebates.

The Bank of Canada has said that the carbon tax is also having a massive impact on the rise that we’ve been experiencing in inflation.

In spite of all of this, our government is doing everything we can to ensure that life in Ontario is affordable for the people of Ontario.

We’re doing everything we can. We’ve taken 10.7 cents off the price of a litre of gasoline—the Ontario gas tax. We’ve eliminated the tolls on our highways across Ontario. We have eliminated licence plate sticker fees. We have lowered taxes.

And just a couple of weeks ago, One Fare Thanigasalam here, our Associate Minister of Transportation, announced One Fare for all transit riders in the GTHA. That move alone by this minister is going to save commuters $1,600 a year.

Our government is taking action when it comes to making life more affordable.

Bonnie Crombie and the Ontario Liberal Party are still supporting the federal carbon tax. It’s—

Interjections.

Thanks to the member opposite for the question. April 1 is the date of the carbon tax increase by the federal government, and that’s no joke, Mr. Speaker. It’s not just a carbon tax that’s costing gas customers more, it’s driving up the price of everything. The Minister of Agriculture knows just as well as anybody that it’s driving up the cost of fuel for tractors. It’s driving up the cost of fuel for drying the products as they come off the fields. It’s driving up the cost of all those trucks that are transporting to the distribution centres and then the cost of the trucks to get them to the grocery stores. It’s driving up the cost at the grocery stores because they pay carbon tax too.

There’s one party in this Legislature that’s opposed to the carbon tax, and that’s Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. On April 1, we have to, as a group here in this Legislature, pressure the federal government not to cause an increase to the affordability crisis for the people of Ontario and for the people of Canada.

While the NDP have waffled around a little bit on whether or not we should be removing the carbon tax off the price of gasoline and home heating fuels, one party has remained steadfast in their support for the federal carbon tax, and that’s Bonnie Crombie and the Liberal Party of Ontario. As a matter of fact, members have stood in this House from that caucus and said that the people of Ontario and people of Canada are better off as a result of having a carbon tax than they are in eliminating that carbon tax.

We will stand every day in opposition to this crippling carbon tax that’s driving up the price of not just—

Interjections.