Madam Speaker, after nine years of the Liberal government, we know that life has never cost Canadians more. Across the country, Canadians are going hungry in record numbers. The Prime Minister's reckless budgeting and failed policies have caused the worst inflation in 40 years, and food prices have skyrocketed. This year alone, families will spend $700 more on groceries than they did last year, and that number keeps growing year after year.
Food Banks Canada has reported a 50% increase in visits since 2021 with a record-breaking two million visits in a single month. Hard-working Canadians should not have to rely on food banks to not go hungry. However, that is the government's record. Only one in six adults visiting a food bank is unemployed, meaning they do not have a job. In other words, that means five out of six Canadians who are visiting a food bank are employed. These Canadians cannot make ends meet. Their paycheques are overstretched and they are not keeping up with the rising costs caused by the Prime Minister's inflationary deficits and taxes.
What is certain is that the Prime Minister's plan to quadruple the carbon tax is only going to make things worse. The carbon tax is adding to the cost of groceries at every single point in the food supply chain. At the end of the day, Canadians will pay the price. Conservatives have said over and over again in this House that when we tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who ships the food and the grocer who sells the food, it is going to cost Canadians more.
It is not just Conservatives the Prime Minister is ignoring. The Canadian Trucking Alliance recently reported that the NDP-Liberal coalition's carbon tax added $2 billion to long-haul trucking costs this year alone. That figure will go up to $4 billion in 2030. The Canadian Trucking Alliance was clear that these costs “cannot be absorbed [by truckers] and must be passed on to customers.” That means Canadians. That is moms and dads, students and seniors who are on fixed incomes. They are all picking up the bill for the Prime Minister's punishing carbon tax.
Food insecurity should not be a problem in a country like Canada, but more and more Canadians do not know where they are going to get their next meal from. The increased costs on farm businesses threaten their long-term viability. Our farmers produce safe, nutritious, good-quality food, but if the cost of doing business continues to increase exponentially, it will eventually put our hard-working farmers out of business. That is the threat not only to the agriculture industry but to Canadians and all those around the world who depend on the food grown here in Canada.
Our farmers pay retail prices for everything they buy for their farm businesses, but they sell products at cost. Farm businesses already had tight margins and the costly carbon tax is a massive hit to their bottom line. There are massive carbon tax bills and they are only growing. Saskatchewan farmers paid $12 million last year in carbon taxes on natural gas and propane to dry grain, heat and cool livestock barns, and grow their food. With this year's carbon tax hike, that number will go up to $15 million. By 2030, it is estimated that the carbon tax will cost a typical 5,000-acre farm in Canada $150,000 in carbon taxes.
Our farmers cannot afford the carbon tax. It is absolutely critical that the government pass Bill C-234 in its original form. We cannot afford to lose our Canadian farm families. Passing Bill C-234 in its original form would also acknowledge the work that our farmers are already doing to safeguard our environment. Our farmers are global leaders in sustainability. They have been mitigating, removing and sequestering greenhouse gases long before the Prime Minister and his punishing carbon tax.
For years, our farmers have delivered meaningful reductions in emissions through the adoption of new technologies, education and innovative management practices. Our farmers care for the environment because it is in their DNA to do so. They know how important it is for their farm businesses and for future generations. It does not make sense to to punish our farmers, who are already doing so much to protect the environment, with costly and punishing taxes.
The Prime Minister's carbon tax is not about the environment at all. It is actually just a tax plan. If it was about the environment, the Prime Minister would recognize the sustainability work of our farmers. Taxing our farmers does nothing to help with the environment. In actuality, it harms their ability to reinvest in their businesses and adopt the latest technologies.
Bill C-234 in its original form would remove the carbon tax on propane and natural gas for greenhouses, heating and cooling livestock barns, and grain drying. The PBO has reported that Bill C-234 in its original form would save farmers nearly $1 billion by 2030. What that really means is that the Prime Minister wants to take $1 billion from our farmers, who already have very thin and often unpredictable margins, so that he can pay for his out-of-control spending habits.
Passing Bill C-234 in its original form will keep those dollars in the businesses of our farmers and will help keep farming a more viable business. However, we know that the Senate has gutted Bill C-234, which threatens the savings. The removal of barns and greenhouses from the carbon tax exemption and the shortening of the sunset clause fall very short of what this bill was trying to achieve.
These amendments were not requested by farmers or by farm groups, nor was it requested by Canadians. In fact, polling shows that the majority of Canadians support scrapping the carbon tax on farmers. Farmers across commodities were unified in their support of this bill in its original form. Shamefully, the Prime Minister used Liberal-appointed Senators to gut this bill, and according to the PBO, the gutted bill will eliminate $910 million in relief to farmers.
When it comes to the carbon tax, the Prime Minister is not listening. He is not listening to Canadians who are going hungry. He is not listening to the premiers. He is certainly not listening to Conservatives, and he is not listening to our farmers. Canadians cannot afford to have the Prime Minister continue to bury his head in the sand while his finance minister pretends that Canadians have never had it so good.
The Liberal government needs to pass Bill C-234 in its original form and stop burdening our farmers with enormous costs so that they continue to do what they do best, which is to increase their productivity, do more with less and lead in sustainability and innovation, all while growing safe, nutritious and good-quality food for Canada and the world.