Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk about some of the policies the government has put forward and, frankly, its lack of action with respect to the finances and the financial troubles Canadians are facing.
We are facing 40-year-high inflation. Canadians are making tough choices between heating their homes and feeding their families. It is unconscionable that with these record-high prices that Canadians are facing at this time, the government is planning to triple its tax on everything: gas, groceries and home heating. Why will the government not relent? Why will the Liberals not put aside their pride and do what is right for Canadians?
The prices Canadians are facing at the grocery store are unbelievable. The government has an opportunity to give them some relief by cancelling the carbon tax. Staples like soup are up near 20%, and potatoes are up nearly 11%. Dry or fresh pasta, which people used to stock their cupboards with for tough times, is up 32.5%.
The government needs to take a look in the mirror and make some hard decisions. It needs to cancel its carbon tax. It needs to commit to not undertaking any new spending for which it has not found savings elsewhere, and it needs to commit to not introducing or increasing taxes. However, the Liberals seem determined to do the opposite of those things.
It is incredibly frustrating for Canadians to hear that driving to work and driving themselves or a family member to a medical appointment are behaviours that need to be corrected. That is what the Liberals have said. There is no subway that runs in Victoria-by-the-Sea, Prince Edward Island, and there is no LRT in Vancouver Island or in the north. In Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, there is certainly no mass transit for folks to be able to correct that bad behaviour that the Liberals say they are undertaking by just supporting themselves, putting gas in the truck so they can get to the job site or putting gas in the car so they can take their children to an extracurricular activity.
It is very simple: The government needs to axe its carbon tax and allow Canadians to have some breathing room, to not have to make those dire choices about skipping meals. Nearly one and a half million Canadians went to the food bank in a single month, with 500,000 of those food bank users being children. These are the stark choices Canadians are having to make in this economic climate.
The government has all the cards, and there is a quick one that it can play. It is the wild card. The government can axe its carbon tax and make life more affordable for Canadians.