Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from the beautiful riding of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, a place I have visited many times over the years in my home province of British Columbia.
I want to address the member's question, which I believe is based on incorrect assumptions. Let me be very clear. There is no carbon tax applied to groceries. Farmers do not pay the industrial carbon price. The industrial carbon price system targets the largest producers in Canada, industrial facilities, not families and not the farmers who put food on our tables.
Canada's industrial carbon pricing systems are specifically designed to keep Canadian industrial industries competitive. For example, the federal backstop system gives companies flexibility. They can invest in cleaner processes or buy credits from innovators. Canada's pricing systems reduce emissions efficiently while protecting jobs and supporting economic growth.
The facts speak for themselves. Research by the Canadian Climate Institute published earlier this year concluded that large-emitter trading systems have zero or a positive impact on household consumption in 2025, and will have near zero by 2030. Because farmers do not pay the industrial carbon price, there are almost no costs to pass through the supply chain to consumers.
On the issue of food affordability, the independent analysis is clear. The real drivers of grocery price increases are global: supply chain disruptions, the war in Ukraine and energy price volatility. These are the pressures affecting Canadians. That is why the federal fuel charge was removed on April 1.
The opposition also refers to the clean fuel regulations, which they sometimes, or often, wrongly label as a hidden carbon tax. In reality, these regulations will cut up to 26 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution by 2030. They are supporting renewable diesel and hydrogen facilities in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, and renewable gas and green hydrogen projects in Ontario and Quebec. These projects create good jobs, strengthen local economies and position Canada as a clean energy leader.
The suggestion that repealing industrial carbon pricing or the clean fuel regulations would magically lower grocery prices is simply not grounded in fact. Eliminating climate policy does not make world oil prices drop, nor does it fix global supply chain pressures. What it would do is increase pollution and put Canadian jobs at real risk.
Climate action is economic action. Industrial carbon pricing reduces energy waste, drives innovation, attracts private investment and strengthens Canada's long-term competitiveness. Canadians deserve solutions based on facts, not slogans. Our approach protects jobs today while building a more resilient and prosperous economy for the next generation and generations to come.