We’ve cut the gas tax, as I mentioned, by 10.7 cents a litre. We’re reducing fees: One Fare for transit riders right across the GTHA. We’ve cut licence plate sticker fees. We’ve cut the Drive Clean program that was just a grab—oh, my goodness; it was driving up the price for everyone. We brought in all of these accomplishments, and more, for the people of Ontario. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and Gang Green here and the NDP, they’re in full support of Prime Minister Trudeau’s federal carbon tax, which is driving up the cost of everything, from the pumps to home heating to groceries that we buy every day.

We’ve taken a different approach. We’re continuing to build on our clean energy system that we have in Ontario. As a result, we’re seeing multi-billion-dollar investments in our province. The 300,000 jobs that left under their watch? Seven-hundred thousand of them have come back to Ontario.

Our economy is thriving. We can do this without a costly carbon tax, Mr. Speaker.

The spin stops here. We are now in full force in our farming season in Ontario. The farmers are out there, and that includes, in my riding, the grape growers, those great wineries like Huff Estates and Rosehall Run and Sandbanks that we all enjoy. They’re out there producing great Prince Edward county wines.

Since day one, our government has been focused on bringing costs down. Even in our recent budget, the Minister of Finance cut the wine tax by 6.1%, a great step. We’ve also focused on cutting energy costs, and that’s a break of 10.7 cents a litre at the pumps.

Not only are our farmers out there in the field every day, but they need to get their products to market. The Grape Growers of Ontario, with a group of farm organizations not too long ago, with the Premier and agriculture minister, said that they just can’t survive the federal carbon tax supported by our provincial Liberals, NDP and the Green Party.

Thanks again to the member for Milton. It’s no surprise to anybody from coast to coast in our country, especially here in Ontario, the impact that the federal carbon tax which is fully supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is having on residents in our province. It’s driving up the cost of everything from groceries to gasoline to home heating.

Now, we’ve taken a different approach here under the leadership of Premier Ford and our team. We’ve cut taxes. We’ve cut fees. We’re keeping energy costs low. You’ll remember not so long ago when the Ontario Liberals were in power, our electricity bills tripled under their watch. It chased jobs out of our province by the thousands—300,000 jobs left our province. Now this morning, I was astonished to hear that Mr. Green, Mrs. Green and the Liberals—

Interjections.

Thanks to our amazing member from Milton. It’s great to be able to take on this question, especially in the moments after the last question from the Liberal member over there.

Now, I know a leopard can’t change their spots and neither can a Liberal. The Liberals love to tax. Bonnie Crombie, the queen of the carbon tax, is happy to support Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax, which is driving up the price for everyone and every business in Ontario. Anybody who gets anything trucked to them is paying more because of Justin Trudeau and Bonnie Crombie’s carbon tax.

We’re not in favour of a carbon tax. We’ve lowered taxes. We’ve lowered fees. We’ve cut red tape. As a result, our economy is thriving with multi-billion-dollar investments from Windsor to Umicore in Loyalist township and into the north. And we’re not done yet.

Speaker, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, the leader of the Liberal Party, is ebullient in her support of Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax, which is going up every April 1, including two months ago, with a whopping 23% increase that is affecting the price of groceries and gas and home heating, as the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex mentioned. The Liberals and the Greens and the NDP, their leadership was having a press conference this morning, and they want to go back to the ways of the Green Energy Act, where we paid over-market prices for energy and electricity generation in our province.

We brought in a new way of doing business, Mr. Speaker. It’s competitive procurements that are driving down the cost of energy in our province. Bills like Bill 165, keeping energy costs low, is what our Premier and what our government believes in. And the result is massive, massive multi-billion-dollar investments in our—

Interjections.

I’m delighted to talk about our energy initiatives and how they’re also helping the environment and keeping costs low in our province so we can see record investment in Ontario of the types that we have been seeing, multi-billion-dollar investments.

Now we’re announcing the development of new, clean, affordable, reliable energy generation, like our nuclear facilities in the clean energy capital in the Durham region, the first small modular reactor in the western world; refurbishing the Pickering nuclear generating stations; continuing with refurbishment at Darlington and at Bruce, building out new nuclear power at Bruce, as well; and new clean energy storage, the largest procurement in Canadian history, just happened a couple of weeks back. We’re not going to go back to the Liberal ways of providing energy to our province where electricity prices triple under their watch.

Now, I heard the leader of the Green Party this morning saying he wanted to go back to the ways of the Green Energy Act—

Interjections.

Thanks to the member from Markham–Unionville for the question this morning.

There’s no question about it; the carbon tax is impacting the cost of anything that gets delivered. Anything that comes from our farmers is going up in price. Groceries; household goods; the price at the pumps, obviously; home heating—it’s all going up. It’s all making life more expensive. So it’s unreal to hear this phony outrage that comes from the opposition parties, or phony concern, when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis, when they support this punitive carbon tax that’s coming from Justin Trudeau and the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie.

Madam Speaker, we have a plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth. It’s a plan that’s ensuring we continue to grow the economy, like the Premier was just talking about. Multi-billion-dollar investments from Windsor all the way to Ottawa and north into Sault Ste. Marie and far beyond, as we develop the Ring of Fire—there’s so much happening in Ontario.

We don’t need this punitive carbon tax.

That’s why we’ve taken a different route, bringing in One Fare so transit riders can save up to $1,600 a year, cutting the price at the pumps by 10.7 cents a litre on the Ontario gas tax, making sure we’re eliminating the licence plate sticker fees, and so much more.

We also have this plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth, which is ensuring that we’re getting competitive investment in new generation in our province, unlike what the Liberals did previously with the very costly, punitive Green Energy Act. It drove up the price of energy in our province, making 300,000 manufacturing jobs leave for other jurisdictions. We’re not doing that. We’re lowering taxes. As a result, we’ve seen jobs roar back into Ontario—700,000 new jobs.

Let’s scrap this tax today.

We are keeping cost down in spite of the costly federal carbon tax supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie—the price of gasoline, the price of groceries, the price of home heating all going up thanks to Justin Trudeau and Bonnie Crombie’s tax supported by the NDP as well.

Now, we’ve taken a different pathway here in Ontario. We’ve reduced costs, like the 10.7 cents a litre at the pumps; One Fare for transit riders in Ontario, saving them $1,600 a year; making sure we’ve eliminated the licence plate sticker fees and other taxes and fees to drive down the cost of living and ensure that we’re seeing the type of growth that we’re seeing in Ontario, at the same time ensuring that we have the power that we need, with a plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth to ensure that we continue to see the multi-billion-dollar investments that we have been seeing right across our province.

You can do this, and it doesn’t require a punitive carbon tax.

Our economy is humming in Ontario. As the late Bob Cole would say, “Oh, baby.” We are seeing investments right across Ontario. In the electric vehicle and the EV battery sector, we’re looking like Connor McDavid, busting down the wing and breaking toward the goal, moving the Edmonton Oilers on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in many, many years.

Let’s all get together, let’s support a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup finals and let’s support getting rid of this carbon tax in Ottawa.

Thanks to the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore for the question this morning.

This is the number one issue that we’re hearing about across the province—the increased cost of living in our province, but also across our country, and the impact that the federal carbon tax, supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is having on their household bills. Gas bills for their vehicles, home heating, grocery bills—they’re all going up, and they’re all a result of the increasing federal carbon tax year after year.

We’ve taken a different approach in Ontario. We’re lowering the cost of living, the price of gas, taxes, fees. We have reduced taxes across the province. And our plan is working.

As a matter of fact, this morning, the Premier and the health minister and the Minister of Economic Development announced another major investment in health sciences, at Sanofi in north Toronto.

We’ve done as much as we can to lower the cost for those folks in the GTHA to get around with One Fare that the Associate Minister of Transportation has introduced, saving those who take transit up to $1,600 a year.

We’ve cut the gas tax by 10.7 cents a litre here in Ontario, but at the same time, the federal carbon tax continues to drive up the price at the pumps, which makes it really difficult for people to get out and visit beautiful parts of our province like Prince Edward county and Kingston and Essex and Windsor counties and, in northern Ontario, beautiful places like Kakabeka Falls that are wonderful this time of year.

It’s the federal carbon tax that’s making it more difficult for those people.

We should all, in this Legislature, be supportive of Premier Ford’s motion to scrap that tax in Ottawa.

Thanks to the member opposite for the question, the first good question today in question period. Because you know what? It’s impacting the people of Ontario’s daily lives. The number one issue that our friends from Milton and Lambton–Kent–Middlesex heard at the doors in their by-election over the last month and a half or so was the high cost of living in Ontario and in Canada because of the federal carbon tax—as the member rightly points out, a carbon tax that isn’t done yet. It’s going to continue to go up and up every April 1, making life more unaffordable for the people.

We’ve taken a different approach here in Ontario, under the leadership of Premier Ford. We’ve been cutting taxes—the gas tax, 10.7 cents a litre off every fill-up. How do you like that? No more tolls on the 412 and the 418. How do you like that? If you’re a transit rider in Ontario, the minister of One Fare, Minister Thanigasalam—One Fare for transit riders, saving them $1,600 a year. Cutting fees like licence plate sticker fees—I have so many other things I can say that we’re doing to make life more affordable, but that federal carbon tax continues to go up and put people—

The carbon tax is driving up the cost of everything from gasoline to groceries to home heating. The member for Brant who just asked the question, he’s a volunteer firefighter as well in Brantford. We’re surrounded by fire chiefs from across the province here today, and we know the impact that the carbon tax is having on our municipal fire departments. The Solicitor General, right next to me, has answered questions on this in the past. It’s $15,000 more annually per fire truck that the carbon tax is costing our municipalities and our local fire departments. It’s making life unaffordable.

The federal government and the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and the NDPs and Mr. Green all have to get together. Join us, let’s end this carbon tax once and for all.

An introduction.

I’d like to welcome the chief from Prince Edward County—I think I see him up there—Chad Brown. Good to see you, Chief.

A day of firsts here—congratulations to the member from Milton on his first question in question period.

Again, I want to congratulate my good friend from Kiiwetinoong, as well, for his words this morning in Oji-Cree. To me, he’s known as “kitchi-animohsh”—if the interpreter is still there. That means “the big dog.” We love the member from Kiiwetinoong.

Speaker, we can do this. We can have the energy that we need in our province for our growing economy without having this punitive tax that the member for Milton is talking about. And we’re actually doing it.

There are a lot of firsts in this province. We’re building the first new nuclear small modular reactor at Darlington right now. We’re building the first large nuclear in the province in over 30 years. That’s going to be happening out at Bruce. We’re building a beautiful transmission line. Wataynikaneyap Power is here. We see the wonderful people—Margaret is here from Watay Power, and I’m going to talk a little bit more about some of the things we’re doing in northern Ontario in my—

One of my favourite events since becoming the Minister of Energy was with the member from Kiiwetinoong and the folks from Wataynikaneyap Power in northwestern Ontario and Kezia, actually, in her home community of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, when I was there with the member and we linked that community to our green, emissions-free electricity grid that we have in Ontario so they can prosper in places like Kingfisher Lake, North Caribou Lake First Nation, Wunnumin First Nation. I actually look forward to joining the folks from Watay next month when we celebrate the completion of that product, linking 16 First Nations communities to our clean provincial grid.

Those are just a couple of examples of how we can do this without—

We’ve seen this type of act before in this Legislature. What the member of the Green Party is supporting is the Green Energy Act, which drove hundreds of thousands of jobs out of our province. And do you know what? It hasn’t just been Ontario’s experience. We’ve seen what’s happening in places like Germany. We’ve seen what’s happening in California, where they’ve gone down these roads. They don’t have power for the growth that we are experiencing in our province. We are guaranteeing that we will have the growth.

Now, the member talks about the fact that our emissions are going up. Do you know what? We are refurbishing our nuclear facilities right now. We have four reactors that are down. When they come back, we’re going to have more than enough power, as we continue to see investment in our province. We are also building out non-emitting resources, right across our province, because we’re putting the storage in place—something that the Liberals didn’t know enough to do. And we’re continuing to build out our hydroelectric fleets in places like Niagara Falls, in Cornwall, in Kakabeka Falls—

Well, not to put words in the mouth of the Premier, but the Premier would say, “No tax. For you, we are not going to be increasing taxes, and that includes a carbon tax.”

Our plan does not include a carbon tax. Our plan is called Powering Ontario’s Growth, and it builds on the strengths of our province’s energy sector. That includes refurbishing the clean, reliable, affordable power that comes from our nuclear plants at places like Bruce and at Darlington and at Pickering; building new nuclear technology, world-leading small modular reactors that are under way now at Darlington; as well, ensuring that we have clean hydroelectric power that’s affordable for the people by refurbishing the big dams and the small dams that we have across our province in places like Niagara Falls, in places like Cornwall, in places like northern Ontario, all across our province; and ensuring that we have just finished the biggest procurement of battery storage in Canada’s history.

Our grain farmers are here. They’ve talked about the impact that it’s having on grains that they produce for our baked goods and our spirits and all kinds of great stuff in our province, and it’s having an impact at the grocery stores.

But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and her Liberal caucus and the NDP and the Green Party as well, they’re all in support of an ever-increasing carbon tax every April 1. We’re not. We’re saying no to the carbon tax, first of all because it’s not working, and second of all because it’s driving up costs and making life more unaffordable for the people of Ontario.

We have a plan. It’s working. It’s called Powering Ontario’s Growth, bringing record multi-billion-dollar investment—

The member opposite from the Green Party wants to put wind turbines and solar panels all over the place. Let’s just look outside today. It’s raining cats and dogs out there, Mr. Speaker. We are getting 100 megawatts of solar today, and we’re getting about 1,300 megawatts of wind, of 5,000 megawatts of installed capacity. Can you imagine, under their plan, how many wind turbines and solar panels they would need that still wouldn’t be working today?

That’s why we’re investing in our nuclear power plants, emissions-free. We are getting almost 60% of our electricity from there today, and our hydroelectric facilities—

Interjections.

Thanks to the great member from Perth–Wellington—who celebrated a birthday last week, as well, I should say.

Mr. Speaker, I think all of us in this House should know by now the damage that the carbon tax is doing, and I know the Premier probably would have loved to answer this question because he’s been telling us since 2018 that we would be in the place we are now because of the carbon tax and it increasing every year on April 1. We’ve gotten to the point now where people are cancelling their summer holidays because they can’t afford to fill up their tank and go visit great locations across our province.

The carbon tax is driving up the price of everything. The grain farmers will tell you that too—

We talk to people across Ontario all the time, and they say the biggest issue that they’re facing is affordability. Now, it’s because of the things that we’re doing here at the province, because we’re doing as much as we can to make life more affordable by reducing the gas tax; by bringing in One Fare for transit users, saving them $1,600 a year; cutting tolls; cutting licence plate fees; cutting all of those different fees that are driving up the cost. But it’s this carbon tax that’s driving up the price of everything.

And the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and the Liberals and the NDP and Mr. Green here are all in support of a bigger carbon tax, Mr. Speaker. We’re not. We have a different plan—

Interjection.

On behalf of the member from Barrie–Innisfil, our Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, I want to welcome the mom of one of our great pages, Harry Patel, who has been working very hard in the last two weeks. Krutika Patel is visiting. Krutika happens to work with Aecon on the Darlington nuclear plant.

Welcome, Mom.

That was a bit of a news flash. I hadn’t heard that.

The queen of the carbon tax isn’t fooling anybody. Her majesty is in full support of the federal Liberal government’s federal carbon tax—one that went up 23% on April 1, and one that’s going to go up again next year. It’s driving up the cost of everything in our province.

We know that when the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, comes in, she is going to continue to make life more expensive.

They’re trying to rebrand over there. They’re trying to talk about some tax credits, but it’s just not believable because we know the track record of Liberals at every level.

The funny thing is, when it comes to the carbon tax, across the country, Liberal Premiers, NDP Premiers—they’re all with Premier Ford on this.

We need to scrap this punitive carbon tax now because it’s driving up the price of everything. It’s driving people to food banks. It’s driving people into energy poverty. We don’t need it. It’s time to scrap the tax.

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals were in power here in Ontario for 15 years, they tripled our electricity rates. They drove jobs out of our province to other jurisdictions. The Minister of Finance just referenced the tail lights that were heading out of the province as manufacturers picked up and left.

Well, those same Liberals, when they were annihilated here in Ontario, where did they go? They’re all now working for Justin Trudeau up on Parliament Hill. And what has happened? We have this torturous carbon tax that’s driving up the price of everything in our province.

Again, since we’ve come in, we’ve provided stability for electricity customers, and we’re seeing the fruits of our labour: multi-billion dollar investments in our province. Those headlights are coming back to Ontario again and reinvesting here, while the voters in Ontario continue to put the vehicle in reverse and back over the Liberals because they are torturing businesses and residents, constituents, across our country.

We are cutting taxes. We’re lowering electricity rates. We’re giving people a break in Ontario. Liberals—

Thanks for the supplementary.

I would advise the opposition members to talk to the not-for-profits, to talk to the food banks in their region, like I do.

I talk to the Gleaners Food Bank, I talk to the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank in my riding, and they are definitely hearing from their clients that the carbon tax is having an impact on their day-to-day life.

That’s why we’ve taken a different approach here in Ontario than Justin Trudeau and the federal government. We’re lowering taxes. We’ve cut the gas tax by 10.7 cents a litre. We’ve implemented the LIFT credit; it eliminates the provincial income tax for many low-income workers, and it’s making a difference for them. We’ve eliminated fees. We’ve eliminated the licence plate sticker fees. We brought in One Fare for those who ride transit, saving them up to $1,600 a year. That’s real, tangible savings for the people of Ontario.

Here in Ontario, with our plan, which doesn’t include a carbon tax, we are seeing growth in our economy, more good-paying jobs being created, like the ones that will soon be created at Honda, Volkswagen, Stellantis and those—

I want to thank the member from Perth–Wellington for a very important question.

I can’t believe the response from the opposition parties in the Legislature today when everybody in our province and across the country knows that the carbon tax is driving up the cost of living. It has been confirmed by the Bank of Canada, C.D. Howe and so many different institutes, and it is having an effect on people’s ability to afford groceries, gas and home heating.

This federal carbon tax, supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is going to—well, it’s the impact today. It’s going to be the legacy of the federal government, and ultimately it’s going to be the downfall of the federal government, because not only is it causing a crisis now in communities across our province and our country; it’s going to create an even further impact next year on April 1, when the carbon tax goes up again.

We have a plan here in Ontario. It’s working, and it doesn’t include a carbon tax.