Mr. Speaker, the federal Liberals seem like they’re unwilling to listen to farmers across Ontario or across Canada. The current queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, the leader of the Liberal Party here in Ontario, is happy to have the federal carbon tax in place.

If the NDP really wanted to stand up for farmers, like our dairy farmers who are here today, they would join us—Premier Ford and our team—in fighting the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court. It’s just activities here in the Legislature to get attention. They’re not actually standing up for farmers in Ontario, while our Minister of Agriculture is and our Premier is by fighting the federal carbon tax, Mr. Speaker.

Now, if you don’t think the carbon tax is having an impact on our dairy farmers, you’re crazy, because everything they do requires natural gas or propane or some other type of heating oil, Mr. Speaker, and the cost is enormous to heat the barns. The cost is enormous to transport the milk to the processing facility and then onto the distributors. It’s a huge, huge impediment. I’ll tell you more—

Interjection.

We saw what the Green Energy Act did when the Liberals were in charge of our energy sector here in Ontario. It drove people into energy poverty. And the federal carbon tax, which the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, supports, is doing the same to farmers like the Dairy Farmers of Ontario today. And not just the dairy farmers, Mr. Speaker. What our agriculture minister wanted to get in was the impact on just the grain farmers alone. The carbon tax is going to increase costs to just the grain farmers by $2.7 billion by 2030.

That’s what the NDP stands for. That’s what the Liberals stand for. We don’t. It’s time to scrap the tax.

Interjections.

Thanks to the great member from just north of Kingston. He’s an outstanding new member in our caucus. He’s standing up for residents in his riding who have great concerns about the carbon tax, whether they’re farmers, or that mom and dad who is heading to take their kids to hockey—as I mentioned earlier—or to school, or the construction workers who are working so hard.

The member talked about those small business people who haven’t received their carbon tax rebate. We can solve this by not having the carbon tax in the first place, which is what we’ve been pushing for since 2018 here, with Premier Ford and our team in Ontario. I had a meeting with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business just last week, where they told me about the fact that this $1.3 billion had been stuck there in Ottawa and business owners hadn’t received it. Obviously, again, the solution to the problem—scrap the carbon tax. Eliminate it entirely, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Bonnie Crombie, the queen of the carbon tax, and the Ontario Liberal caucus believe that the people of Ontario are better off with this carbon tax than without it.

I know the people just north of Kingston, up in Smiths Falls, Perth and all of those great communities in eastern Ontario, don’t support the carbon tax.

Let’s be clear again: The queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, loves hiking taxes. That’s all she did when she was the mayor of Mississauga for all those years, and now she has brought those same practices to her partisan role as the Liberal leader here in Ontario. She’s happy to have the federal carbon tax in place. And she would be way too expensive for the people of Ontario if she was ever elected into this wonderful chamber that we have here in Ontario.

Again, we’re standing up for the people of Ontario by cutting gasoline taxes, while Liberals are driving gasoline taxes up higher and higher every year—on April 1. We’re cutting those gasoline taxes. We’re ensuring that we have affordable energy right across the province, like that big investment in hydroelectric power—

Interjections.

Thanks to the two members opposite for their tributes today—especially, you, Little Johnny; we appreciate your colourful tribute this evening.

Gary Fox served here from 1995 to 1999 as the member for Prince Edward–Lennox-South–Hastings.

Foxy, as he was known by most people, loved his farm. He loved his farm on Jericho Road in Prince Edward county and the four generations of family that he and Lynn raised there.

At his funeral, which was just over two months ago, on December 14, at the Wellington Community Centre in Prince Edward county, Gary’s son Kyle, who is up above us in the Speaker’s gallery, spoke. Kyle continues to farm there. He considered his dad a social farmer. He was a central figure in the local agricultural community, enjoying a connection with people who came out to the homestead to visit, who gathered at a cattle sale, or who may have needed assistance with their own crops or their own equipment. He was always there to help.

As the saying goes, you could take the country boy off the farm, but you could never separate the farm from the country boy. That was apparent even in the five years that he valiantly battled cancer, when he wouldn’t let himself sit idle, even as illness took hold, betraying a well-developed work ethic.

As was touched on by Mr. Vanthof, he loved his farm. Kyle recalled that Gary couldn’t get around the fields as he’d have liked in the later years, but it never stopped him. He’d hop in his truck and make the rounds. He’d take it all in. Even when he couldn’t ride the tractor or get up into the tractor, he convinced Kyle to get him a ride or help him with his tasks. Gary was in his glory when he was on his property. He couldn’t sit in the house. Some might even call him stubborn. Those folks up there probably might say he was a bit stubborn, I bet.

Once he would see there was work to be done, Foxy would call Kyle: “Get the tractor hooked up. Get me into that tractor. Let me drive it. I can help. Just get me into the driver’s seat. I’ll do whatever is necessary.” I suspect that attitude is what led Foxy to put his name forward to run in Sophiasburgh township, where he served over 20 years as reeve and councillor, and ultimately what brought him to this place in 1995, representing Prince Edward–Lennox-South–Hastings.

Gary was pretty passionate about allowing rural Ontarians to enjoy their land as he did. He thought there were too many regulations impacting those freedoms, and he fought tirelessly to remove red tape, especially in the agricultural sector. In the four years he was here, he believed in making tough but necessary choices, and noted when talking about then-Premier Mike Harris that he admired a politician who “said what he meant and meant what he said.” Premier Harris actually felt the same about Gary Fox. As a matter of fact, the former Premier said, “Gary was always very proud of being a farmer and never hesitated to speak up in caucus—forcefully, I might add—on behalf of farmers and rural Ontario.”

Foxy was a straight shooter. That’s what he was. You didn’t have to guess how he stood on any issue. He wasn’t afraid to speak up as the Progressive Conservative rural caucus chair, and he would sign petitions or he would ask questions if he felt that the government wasn’t doing enough for rural families, for young people or for those who needed a break.

He was also known for his quick wit and one-liners—many of them you can see on Hansard, and some I won’t repeat here. Somehow, he managed all of his friendly jabs without a warning from the Speaker. Imagine that.

After a narrow upset by 56 votes in a redistributed riding in 1999—56 votes—Gary returned home, where he was actually happiest. He was known as an expert in raising sheep. He was able to enjoy the experience of Kyle and Tanya, his daughter Lori—who also served in municipal politics—and husband Manson, and Ian and Christina, and raise their families, with eight children between them, and two great-grandchildren.

Just a couple of stories about his grandkids: Ethan and Nathan would often help with odd jobs like fixing fences or chasing strays. Ethan recalled one time when Gary was trying to sell one of his donkeys to a couple who was looking to find one that was suitable for riding. To demonstrate, he put his grandson Ethan on the back of the donkey. He walked it in the circle for a bit, then he let loose on the harness, beaming, “Watch her go!” It wasn’t too long before the donkey reared off and bucked Ethan from his back. Foxy outfoxed himself that day; that sale did not happen.

Grandson Jackson also recalls there would be big trips to the sales barn each Tuesday in Grandpa’s cattle truck. Often, they’d return with treasures like candy and trinkets from the yard sale folks, or farmyard pets like rabbits or ducks. You never really knew what you might find at the sales; sometimes there were even pigs there. Jackson asked and asked, but Foxy knew his parents wouldn’t be too pleased to welcome the pigs home; Foxy learned that a guinea pig wasn’t going to do either. Finally, when he asked Jackson why he wanted the animal so badly, he replied, “I love bacon.” That was the first meat his parents were actually able to convince him to eat. Well, that Christmas Foxy was pretty excited when his grandson opened the biggest pack of bacon that anyone could ever imagine under the tree. No doubt Grandpa knew just where to find it, with all his social acquaintances in the farming community. His eyes lit up, and it remains a special memory for the family today.

While Foxy loved spending time around the farm with his family, he also stayed engaged in Ontario politics and inspired those around him to consider their own civic duty.

Over the past year, I’ve been very fortunate to have another Foxy working alongside me. Last spring, Gary’s granddaughter Olivia joined my constituency office team, and then she moved here to Toronto as my MPP liaison at the Ministry of Energy. She’s up there too, along with—not all my team, but a good chunk of my Ministry of Energy team is here as well. She has a lot of the same attributes that her grandpa had—a bit stubborn at times, but a real warm heart and a vibrant personality. Often, Olivia would come into the constituency office and say, “Grandpa heard this” or “Grandpa heard that,” and you’d know that his network of sources was still pretty bang on. His large social circle included the Premier, whose father, Doug Senior, served with Foxy here from 1995 to 1999, and their lasting friendship shows the respect he earned from that family and many others. To quote Premier Ford, which I did at the funeral in Wellington back in December: “I have fond memories of Lynn and Gary coming to the house and also visiting my parents in Florida. My dad and Gary were cut from the same cloth. My dad considered Gary was one of his closest friends from Queen’s Park. The stories that Gary would tell would have us all in stitches. He was as real as they come. There was no filter and that is what we loved about him. He will be dearly missed.”

As he did on the farm, Foxy played the role of the good shepherd for many within Prince Edward county, across Ontario and for many, many others through his public service. I’m pleased to have been able to call him and his family friends and to live in the Bay of Quinte community that he helped grow.

Just a moment to thank Gary’s family members who are here with us today: In the gallery, it has already been mentioned, that Lynn, his wife of 57 years, is here with us this evening; his son Kyle is there with his wife, Tanya; we also have his grandsons Nicholas and Jackson; Olivia, the great granddaughter—she’s a granddaughter, but she’s a great granddaughter—his daughter Lori Slik, and her husband, Manson Slik; Ethan and Halla are here; Paige Barr; Brendan Taylor; Mandy Martin, who was the constituency assistant for Gary as well, and our Speaker during the 35th Parliament, David Warner. Thanks to all of you for sharing your grandpa, your dad, your husband and your friend with all of us. Prince Edward county, Prince Edward–Lennox-South–Hastings and Ontario are a better place because of Gary Fox.

Applause.