Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin with the words of one of my constituents. His name is David, and he is from Oliver, British Columbia. He says that pensioners on a low income are struggling with prices rising, especially food, which increases continually each month. There is only one increase a year for pensioners.
David is right. Food costs are unaffordable and getting worse month after month. That is why I stand here tonight to request an explanation from the Liberal government about why it continues to hike the industrial carbon tax at a time when the cost of groceries for Canadians is only rising.
I know the member opposite will say there is no carbon tax on the food we pay for at the grocery store, but a tax on the supply chain, additional costly regulations and more red tape increase prices at every step, and at the end of the line, they increase the weekly grocery bill of families everywhere. It is simple economics.
When government changes regulations and adds costs, citizens where I live call that a tax. The industrial carbon tax is a tax on Canadian farms. How is it a tax on Canadian farms? It is a tax on the steel in farm equipment, in the storage bins and in tools. It is a tax on every grain dryer. It is a tax on every greenhouse heater on a farm. It is a tax on every bag of fertilizer. It is a tax on every aluminum can. It is a tax on every truck that hauls the food from the farm to the stores.
Just because the tax does not appear as a line item on a Safeway receipt, that does not mean it is not there. The government's taxes on sectors like steel and aluminum affect every person buying a can of soup. I will remind the Liberals that they have also raised the cost of food packaging with the P2 plastics ban, but that is not the subject of tonight's debate.
At a time of an illegal and unjustified U.S. trade war, when the Liberals promised to protect Canadian steel and aluminum producers, the Liberals are taxing them through the industrial carbon tax. The industrial carbon tax undermines the competitiveness of farms like the ones in the Okanagan Valley. Farmers in my riding compete with Washington state apple growers, who do not pay these additional taxes. It is wrong when a Washington state apple is more expensive in a grocery store than the Okanagan apple sitting right next to it that is grown down the street.
We all want to support Canadian jobs and businesses, so will the government commit to ending the industrial carbon tax on Canadian steel and aluminum to help bring down the price of food and the products we use every day?