Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's an honour to be here with this committee.
It's interesting to see Mr. McDonald. We've sat on the same committee for nine years now. We don't very often see each other in other committees, so it's a pleasure to be here with him.
Mr. Chair, I'm here to speak to Mr. Kmiec's subamendment that this bill not be dealt with until a carbon tax election is held, so that Canadians can vote out this “out of time” NDP-Liberal coalition government. I want to thank Mr. Kmiec for the quotes he provided from across party lines and across the country.
Some of what he provided was about British Columbia. Being from British Columbia, from North Okanagan—Shuswap, I know that B.C. was one of the first provinces to implement a carbon tax. The B.C. Liberal government did that a number of years ago. That B.C. Liberal government has now had to change its party name. Its members no longer want to be affiliated with the federal Liberal government.
Just short weeks ago, the leader of that party, Mr. Kevin Falcon, was noted as saying he's “not going to leave B.C. in a disadvantaged position”, when he announced that the party would scrap the carbon tax should they become elected. Since that point in time, he's pulled his party out of the election for reasons only he knows.
The debate in B.C. has now become very interesting. Mr. David Eby, the Premier of British Columbia, had called out our leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, saying that he was basically working from a “baloney factory” when he talked about the carbon tax. Now there's been a flip-flop. I would note that the B.C. NDP party is famous for flip-flops in election cycles. Mr. Eby has stated that he would end the B.C. carbon tax if the federal backstop was removed. That's an incredible flip-flop from a party that has supported carbon pricing for a long time.
I will give him credit for listening to Canadians and British Columbians who have spoken up. I've heard them all through the summer, speaking about how fed up they are with the carbon tax and how it increases the cost of everything. It's just becoming more and more frequently exposed that the Liberal-NDP carbon tax is impacting Canadians and the Canadian economy in devastating ways. More and more Canadians are pushing back against it.
This government has had to find ways of carving out carbon tax exemptions for certain Canadians in order to protect their votes. We've seen the carve-out deals for home heating that started in Atlantic Canada when the Prime Minister's Atlantic caucus revolted and demanded a carve-out. Then it had to be extended elsewhere to avoid discrimination by region over the carbon tax carve-outs.
Further, provincial premiers, such as David Eby and more, have opposed the Prime Minister's plans to tax Canadians into submission. It's happening across the country. Mr. Kmiec mentioned Premier Furey in Newfoundland. That's across the country from coast to coast. Even our northern territories are being punished by the carbon tax.
This announcement by Premier Eby was only days before calling the B.C. provincial election. Many British Columbians—being from there, I'm hearing it—are asking questions: Is this simply an election ploy similar to the federal NDP leader's pre-by-election announcement that he was tearing up the supply agreement with the Liberals?
Yes, Mr. Chair.