Madam Speaker, last week, I had the opportunity to question the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry about the effect of the carbon tax on steel. It was incredible to hear the answer the minister tried to pawn off on us, saying that the government has stood up for steelworkers.
I have met with steelworkers and the steel industry, and I am sure the minister has as well. What the steel industry has said unequivocally is that if the carbon tax goes up, as it is scheduled to, there will be no steel industry left in Canada. The government's plan to quadruple the carbon tax will effectively drive the entire steel industry in Canada out of business. If that is what standing up for steelworkers means to the government, I think it has the definition wrong.
What we have seen in the steel industry as a result of the carbon tax is that the carbon tax makes Canadian steel very expensive, far more expensive than that of all their competitors. We now see that 61% of steel in Canada comes from foreign countries, they are imports, and every year it gets worse. Why? Because the carbon tax makes Canadian steel far more expensive than any other steel in the world. In fact, the country is now being flooded with very cheap, dirty Chinese steel. Chinese steel is more than two times more polluting with carbon emissions than Canadian steel. The government is driving out the steel business in this country.
Steel accounts for about 120,000 direct and indirect jobs in this country. The carbon tax is going to effectively kill those jobs. We know that the carbon tax has done a whole bunch of things. We now have two million people going to food banks because the carbon tax has made food so expensive. We have tent cities all across the entire country, hundreds and hundreds of them, because housing has become so expensive under the Liberal government.
My question to the minister was that if he thinks the carbon tax is so great and so beneficial not only for Canadian steelworkers but for Canadians in general, why do the Liberals not just call a carbon tax election and let Canadians decide? I think Canadians will unequivocally and resoundingly say they have had enough of the carbon tax.
The carbon tax is driving jobs out of this country. It is making food more expensive. It is making Canadians line up at food banks because they cannot afford food. If the Liberals are so confident that carbon tax is working so well, will they call a carbon tax election and, if not, why not?