Mr. Speaker, over the past number of months, over 100,000 Albertans have lost their jobs, and even more have taken significant pay cuts, while small businesses are struggling to keep their operations afloat. Now is not the time to add another tax.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what the federal Liberals said that they were going to do. In their budget, they announced plans that would force provinces to foist a carbon tax on all Canadians. Last week, Alberta's NDP government announced plans to play along and impose this additional tax on all Albertans.
This tax will make it more expensive for young people to get to work. It will be more expensive for seniors to heat their homes. It will be more expensive for farmers, and forestry, and energy companies to get their product to market. This tax will hurt families, seniors, and small business. This tax will kill jobs.
Albertans are hurting already. Albertans do not deserve this tax, and quite frankly they cannot afford it.