Mr. Speaker, I am rising tonight during adjournment debate to follow up on a question I asked the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
The question was related to the cost of the carbon tax, specifically to new information coming out of a government ministry showing that, in fact, the cost of the carbon tax for the average family would not be based on the $50-a-tonne carbon tax but would be closer to a $300-a-tonne carbon tax.
The government documents have been coming to opposition members in trickles. The government is typically not willing to act transparently by simply disclosing the information ahead of time. What we have been calling a carbon tax cover-up for several years is related to documents the government has in its possession demonstrating the cost impact, for the average Canadian family, of a $10-, $20-, $30-, $40-, and $50-a-tonne carbon tax. That is the information we want so we can pass it on to Canadians.
What we are looking for is to help Canadians, those opposed to the carbon tax, those opposed to bad tax policy. It is not an environmental policy; it is a tax policy. What we want for Canadians is not for them to just be getting by. What we want to ensure is that Canadians are getting ahead. That is not what we are getting with the carbon tax.
I am up on this adjournment debate to follow up on the question I had for the minister. Hopefully a parliamentary secretary can answer it for me. Perhaps I will get an answer tonight. Why is the Prime Minister forcing struggling families to pay for his mistake with this punishing new tax? That was the focus of my question.
The mistake is that the carbon tax is not an environmental policy. It is a tax policy. It is simply extracting money from tax-paying Canadians who are already paying too much in taxes. The cost of living has gone up. Many have lost jobs in my community. I represent the deep suburbs in the southeast of Calgary. They are being asked to pay even more.
The government's reply is that we should not worry about it, that the government is actually giving the money back. This begs the question: why would the government collect the money in the first place if it is simply going to recycle it and give it back to Albertans? Why is the government asking them to pay it up front and supposedly giving it back on the other end?
The other thing I will mention is that the government's line at the beginning was that the carbon tax was going to be simple to implement. In fact, it is a 200-page document that provides for any number of exceptions and special dispensations, to be given to whomever the minister chooses to give it to. It is supposed to be a way to ensure that we maintain our competitiveness and our productivity somehow. We know that carbon displacement will happen. Industries heavily hit by the carbon tax will be unable to remain competitive. All those costs will be passed down to the consumer and to taxpayers.
Again, why is the Prime Minister asking hard-working Canadians to pay for his mistake with his punishing new carbon tax?