I'll be quick. Thank you.
I just want to go over carbon tax and math. I and Governor Macklem have done this a number of times, yet, unfortunately, it continues to get demagoged, and misinformation is out there. I'm just going to do the numbers, and all my numbers will be cited to the Bank of Canada and the governor, Tiff Macklem. You can look it all up.
Currently the headline rate of inflation in Canada is 2.9%. The carbon tax, according to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, at its current rate, is 0.6% of that. The increase coming on April 1, which is a 23% increase in the rate of the carbon tax, will add another 0.15%. If you do the math and you calculate it—you divide the numerator by the denominator—that's 26%, according to the Governor of the Bank of Canada. This is a non-partisan office. According to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, we could reduce inflation by 26% tomorrow by eliminating the carbon tax.
With respect to Mr. Blaikie's comment on who's benefiting from it, well, I can tell him that the most vulnerable in Norththumberland—Peterborough South are barely getting by. There's been a doubling in the usage of food banks by children. Do you know who gets hurt by the carbon tax? If you can't make it to the end of the month to feed your family, that's a huge issue, Mr. Blaikie—it's huge. And the carbon tax is taking tons of money.
Conservatives will always be open to reducing taxes.