Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Energy. As the cost of living continues to rise, Ontarians cannot afford the costly federal carbon tax. But the federal Liberals do not care, and neither do the Ontario Liberals, under the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie. They will push for more hikes until this tax gets tripled and even though Ontarians are paying the price for their unfair tax grabs.

Unlike the Liberals, our government understands the importance of building our clean energy advantage while keeping costs down for the hard-working people of this province.

Speaker, can the minister explain how our government is bringing Ontarians clean, affordable and reliable energy without introducing a carbon tax?

Rather than providing energy solutions, the federal Liberals have deliberately chosen not only to leave the carbon tax in place but to increase it even more despite the financial struggles Ontarians are experiencing. Ontarians deserve relief, not taxes. The simplest, fairest thing to do is to scrap the carbon tax for everyone, everywhere, for good.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House why the people of this province cannot afford the punitive Liberal carbon tax?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. People in my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound are concerned about the harmful impact of the federal carbon tax. So far, the federal government has increased the carbon tax not once, but five times.

To make things even worse, they plan on increasing it another seven times by 2030. This is ridiculous. Since the implementation of this tax, Ontarians have been paying more and more every single day for food, for services and for transportation. These dire effects are felt by our trucking industry, which serves a crucial role in transporting the goods we need in our daily lives.

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

Colleagues, Tuesday morning I had the pleasure, along with Ministers Todd Smith and Lisa Thompson, of attending a great event at the Toronto board of trade, at which Bruce Power presented its 2023 annual review and energy report. It was an excellent presentation that outlined all the terrific things the company is doing.

Let me give you a few highlights. Operations at Bruce Power are going very well. Bruce Power is the largest operating nuclear power plant in the world—amazing. To keep these great operations going, the company is actively under way with its historic life extension program, Ontario’s largest private sector clean energy infrastructure project, which will extend the life of the existing units to 2064. Under this program, unit 6, which powers more than 900,000 homes in Ontario, was returned to service last fall on budget and ahead of schedule.

Of course, there’s Bruce Power’s exciting work with medical isotopes. For cancer patients, medical isotope technologies and treatments allow for fewer hospital visits, shorter treatment durations and hospital stays, and fewer side effects. They have the potential to revolutionize cancer care—truly amazing.

To CEO Mike Rencheck and the thousands of hard-working staff at Bruce Power, thank you for all you’re doing to produce clean energy that will power Ontario now and into the future and for your exciting work to beat cancer. This is legacy work and is truly appreciated by us all.

Ontario is fortunate to have one of the cleanest electricity grids in the world, over 90% emissions-free, and there’s one reason why: Our nuclear sector provided the emissions-free electricity to phase out coal-fired generation in Ontario, one of the largest greenhouse gas reductions ever. In fact, Bruce Power provided 70% of that electricity.

Last week, Bruce Power began their second refurbishment on unit 3, which is part of the Life-Extension Program that will allow the Bruce site to continue providing clean, reliable, affordable energy through 2064, over 40 years from today.

Bruce Power supports good jobs—22,000 indirect and direct jobs—employing some of the best-paying and highest-skilled workers in Ontario. Bruce Power’s head office is in my colleague Lisa Thompson’s riding of Huron–Bruce, but the refurbishment program has meant suppliers like BWXT and Makwa-Cahill are setting up shop in my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, greatly supporting the local economy.

In addition, Bruce Power and its partners, including the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, are commercially producing life-saving medical isotopes like lutetium-177 on a scale never seen before thanks to their innovative new isotope delivery system.

Clean energy to help reach our climate goals, good jobs that support Ontario and innovations to help advance global health care. Thank you, Bruce Power and all your workers, for the great job.