Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
My colleagues commented quite eloquently and profoundly with respect to the arts. My background's more on the finance side. I'd like to take a moment, if I could, and talk specifically about the economic impact of the carbon tax.
Across the different provinces, whether in Ontario, where net of rebate you lose about $600, or in Alberta, where you lose about $1,000, just imagine if you put that net amount towards some type of live theatre. That $600 would get you, I believe, a season pass for every production at the Capitol Theatre in my riding of Port Hope. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate it if all 100,000 residents of Northumberland-Peterborough South were given that $600 back and spent it at the amazing live theatre at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope.
When we look at it, of course we see the financial impact that the PBO put out, saying that if you're in Alberta it's $1,000 and if you're in Ontario—my province—it's $600 across the province, the impact is there for all where the backstop applies.
The other part of it is that it has a significant impact on inflation as well. This has been somewhat under-reported, or even misreported, I might say. The Governor of the Bank of Canada, in response to questioning at the finance committee, said that 0.6% of inflation is directly as a result of the carbon tax, and the upcoming increase is responsible for 0.015%, which equates to about 26% or 27% of total inflation. This means we could eliminate nearly 30% of inflation tomorrow if we just scrap the tax, which would be a tremendous benefit.
We're all hearing it, whether you're Liberal, NDP or Bloc Québécois. I'll tell you that in the next two weeks, I guarantee the thing that all of us will hear most about is the affordability crisis. As my great staffer, Emma, said as we were discussing this, if in fact you are struggling just to have enough to eat—and there are two million Canadians using food banks right now—it's very difficult to afford arts and entertainment.
That was a short digression. I'll wrap up soon.
You need food to live—it's the “how” of living—but you need arts and entertainment to give you the “why”. When people are deprived of that because of the affordability crisis, even for those who are able to make it through, a lot of the “why” is taken away when you don't get to see the beauty of art, live theatre and amazing performances that take place from coast to coast to coast.
Everything we can do to get this economy back on track—not just so that people are no longer reliant on the food bank but are able to afford the wonderful performances and afford the “why” we go through every day—would be absolutely amazing. I will be fully supporting this motion and I encourage all my colleagues to do the same. I'm hoping we can get unanimous support for it.
Thank you.