Mr. Speaker, as a tax based on consumption, the new federal carbon tax is a regressive tax, hurting the people who can least afford more expenses.
Starting this year, Algonquin College, in the upper Ottawa valley, will be forced to raise student tuition, as the college will be paying $380,000 in new carbon taxes by 2022. Province-wide, the carbon tax will cost students $9.8 million more in tuition for increased heating costs, rising to $24.7 million per year with the government's planned carbon tax increases in the next three years.
Raising taxes on college and university students will make higher education unaffordable for those students who do not have the benefit of a trust fund to pay for education, the way the Prime Minister and his one-percenter finance minister did. By never having to worry about the basic necessities, like food and shelter, the Liberal Party is totally out of touch with the needs of ordinary Canadians. Only the Conservative Party is committed to making life more affordable for people living in Ontario by fighting the Liberal carbon tax.