I have also included all the original text of the language, so the references are in the back. I'm happy to give it to the clerk so that he has the information. I thank the interpreters. I regret speaking a bit too fast and technically. That's my notice of motion, Chair.
My next article, which I found on CityNews, was referencing the premier of my province, with the headline “urges feds to scrap 'inhumane' carbon tax hike at House committee”. This is in reference to the committee appearance that my premier made when she was here in Ottawa around the April 1 announcement that the carbon tax, again, was going to go up to $15 a carbon tonne. This is what she said. These are direct quotes. She said:
This isn't just reckless, it's immoral and inhumane.
The premier continued:
I'm here on behalf of Albertans and Canadians who are struggling with severe financial pressures.
She went on to say:
The solution for the federal government is to increase the carbon tax on something that is life or death for Albertans in the extreme cold of weather.
Then she went on to remind the federal government that policies like these should be applied equally across all of Canada, and that when you create special exemptions for only one part of the country because they happen to use heating oil, as opposed to using clean-burning natural gas like they do back home in Calgary and Edmonton and all the smaller towns, it creates an unequal treatment of Canadians in confederation, and it's unfair. If committee members want to, they can go to the transcript of her appearance, where she raised many points like this during her time here.
The other one I wanted to reference as well was another article. Again, this backs up the need for my subamendment, because it's not just me saying it; it's premiers saying it publicly. It's the public, through their provincial officials, saying that they basically want a carbon tax election. They're all recognizing that it's a primary issue that's driving a lot of the commentary, the emails and the direct messages we get, and that people want to see a carbon tax election sooner than later. I'll remind all of us here that we're probably going to have a vote on that this Wednesday, and I hope that all opposition parties will join and vote yes to having that carbon tax election.
The next article I have here is “B.C. to scrap carbon tax if Ottawa drops its alternate tax”. That's Premier David Eby. What he means by the alternate tax is the federal backstop that is stopping any province from attempting to remove its consumer carbon tax, through the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, the GGPP Act. That basically prevents them from not having one. It forces it on every single province.
David Eby is quoted in the article, and these are some of the quotes I have here from the Premier of British Columbia. The article says:
“A lot of British Columbians are struggling with affordability,” Eby said.
“The political consensus we had in B.C. has been badly damaged by the approach of the federal government, so if it decides to remove the legal backstop requiring us to have a consumer carbon tax in B.C., we will end the consumer carbon tax in B.C.,” he said at an event in Vancouver alongside his wife, Cailey Lynch, and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
The Premier of Manitoba is also quoted in this article further down:
[Premier] Kinew said Thursday that he is in alignment with Eby on the issue, having asked Ottawa for an exemption from carbon pricing in the spring.
He believes the tax is not the right way to fight climate change at a time when high inflation and high interest rates are making life unaffordable for many.
“I’m worried that the politicization of this issue is causing us to lose a generation of Canadians, causing us to lose so many people from the blue collar. And we can’t afford that,” he said.
It goes on and on like that. There are concerns by premiers of our great country, who are not of the same political affiliation I am but are saying the same things, which are that the carbon tax is either wrong, immoral or inhumane, or that we need a carbon tax election, or that it has an electoral impact, which is why I have this subamendment before the committee, that no action be taken until there's that carbon tax election. That's what we could report back to the House on the matter.
For now, I'm going to stop my commentary there, but I have more material. I have my binder with me all the time, and I'm happy to read more into the record from residents in my riding and my constituents, who have honoured me by sending me here to represent their views. I'm going to continue doing that, but I think that for now that's enough.
I've provided, Chair, the public school board's very important feedback. I think that what the president, Dennis MacNeil, said is incredibly important for the consideration of the subamendment. It comes from school boards where there are high costs, tens of millions of dollars, being imposed on schools in Alberta and literally taking money away from educating students for a “tax on tax”. Those are his words, not mine.
Thank you, Chair.