Madam Speaker, I rise tonight in Adjournment Proceedings to have another go at a question I asked on May 30.

I talked about the fact that, when fully implemented, the carbon tax is going to be 41¢ a litre, and the Liberals have a new carbon tax in the guise of fuel regulation that will add another 17¢. GST, of course, is going to be added to both of those, bringing us up to 61¢. I pointed out that Canadians cannot afford an extra 61¢ on a litre of gasoline. This does not just affect Canadians who drive a car. This makes fuel for public transit more expensive and the vehicles that municipalities run more expensive.

However, the response was quite striking. The minister got up, and gave an entire answer talking about natural disasters, fires and floods, as if to say that Canadians have to pay this tax in order to stop hurricanes and forest fires. To bring that kind of political answer is just ridiculous. We have heard over and over again the claim that, if we oppose a tax on the basic necessities of life that all Canadians need, it is somehow our fault that devastating forest fires and deadly weather events happen, because we asked the question.

How high does the carbon tax have to be? At what point will we solve a century of forestry mismanagement and the mismanagement of culling pine-beetled trees that allowed for these tinderbox conditions to arise? If the carbon tax is the solution, how high will the tax have to go? It staggers the imagination, and it is deeply offensive to Canadians who cannot afford to live.

Rent has doubled. The down payment to buy a home has doubled. Mortgage payments have more than doubled. Groceries are out of control. The cost of heating a home is beyond what many Canadians can pay, and the new carbon taxes on fuel will add 61¢ a litre. Canadians cannot afford these expenses.

Therefore, for the minister to get up and lecture me, lecture the opposition benches and, in so doing, lecture every Canadian who has to pay these taxes, really, telling them that it is their duty because this tax is responsible for stopping these catastrophic and complicated events. To trivialize such things as forest fires and wildfires by simply making it a matter of accepting a carbon tax is very disappointing.

I ask again: When will the government make life a little bit more affordable for Canadians and repeal these punitive taxes?

Pat Kelly

$522,584.00