Mr. Speaker, I want to begin my speech with the facts: There is no food packaging tax. Industrial carbon pricing is not applied at the grocery store checkout. It is applied to large industrial emitters, the biggest polluters in Canada, and is structured in a way that ensures Canadian industries remain competitive while cutting emissions at the lowest possible cost.
Canada's pricing system gives companies flexibility. They can cut emissions through innovation, buy credits from innovators or invest in cleaner processes. This is not a cost imposed on families; it is a policy that holds polluters accountable while encouraging investment and growth.
There is also no food tax. The evidence is clear: Inflationary pressures on food have been driven by global supply chain shocks, the war in Ukraine and energy price volatility, not by Canada's carbon pricing policies.
On plastics, the hon. member suggests that reducing single-use plastics is a tax on food. That is false. The single-use plastics prohibition regulations are not taxes; they are important regulations designed to prevent harmful plastics from polluting our rivers, lakes and oceans. They target items like checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks and certain types of food service ware made from hard-to-recycle plastics.
It is estimated that these regulations will prevent over 1.3 million tonnes of the plastic waste and 22,000 tonnes of the plastic pollution that will occur from the continued use of single-use plastics between 2023 and 2032 without the regulations. Alternatives are already available. Canadian businesses across the country are making the transition successfully and are saving money by moving to reusable and recyclable options.
I have come to understand that when the hon. member refers to a second carbon tax, that is code for the clean fuel regulations. What the member's argument fails to recognize is that the CFR actually creates economic benefits for farmers by creating demand for agricultural feedstocks for biofuels, a market mechanism that both benefits the climate and benefits our important farming sector.
Eliminating industrial carbon pricing and the clean fuel regulations, as the member opposite proposes, would undermine investment, cost jobs, increase pollution and isolate Canada from global markets. These measures are not about rising costs; they are about protecting Canadians from the higher costs of climate change and pollution.
Just to touch on the member's evaluation of the food program, I come from a first nation where a lot of people have lived under the poverty line for many generations, and I see kids going to school now in my community with smiles on their faces and food in their bellies, excelling in school. That is because of programs such as this. I really wanted to raise that. In first nations communities, these are very important measures.
Climate action is economic action. Our policies protect families, support workers and position Canada for long-term competitiveness.