Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank my colleague from Whitby for the intervention. I think that is part of the problem, and that's what I'm trying to explain to the room so that he understands the carbon tax. The PBO has said that eight out of 10 Canadians don't receive back more. The Prime Minister and my Liberal colleagues here love to say otherwise, but do you know what, Mr. Chair? Even if we stretched that—I hate to use the word “untruthful”, but we'll stretch it—what about the two out of 10? They always say the eight out of 10, and I reflect on what our Canadian Forces say: We leave no one behind. There should never be an eight out of 10. There should always be a 10 out of 10.

I'm trying to explain to my colleagues the rural top-up. Again, talking about affordability now for my residents and standing up for my residents, the carbon tax is basically just a pool of money. It's like an Amway scam almost. We'll look at it like that. It is a single pool of money, and York—Simcoe, I feel, technically could send a bill to the federal government for the rural top-up that we haven't received. It is probably north of $40 million that my residents should have received.

Why does the government not want to recognize the rural top-up for York—Simcoe? It's because it would mean everyone else will get less. I'm in a Conservative riding—this big blue dot in the middle of York—Simcoe—and if they were to give me the rural top-up, everyone else in this room would get less.

If we look at Bill C-234, speaking of the economy and the environment, the carbon tax pool, I believe, is heavily subsidized by farmers. I've seen the bills in my community. In the northern end of the riding, we bring in a lot of grain for drying by propane, and there are other farmers coming into York—Simcoe to dry their grain. In the soup and salad bowl of Canada, drying onions has to be done, but I want my colleagues to understand that we are starting to see more onions coming in from Morocco, from Egypt, from different parts of the world. Why does that matter to Canadians? It's about food security.

For things grown here, we are starting to see less and less. Because of affordability and because of inflation, margins for farmers have shrunk so much, and Canada is losing the competitive edge. Now there are onions coming in, being imported. Because of those margins, we can't compete internationally now. We can't do it, and that is so unfortunate to see.

Again, the people of York—Simcoe are not getting the rural top-up. On the housing accelerator fund, not one town in the northern six got any money. On aged infrastructure, we see taxpayer money going to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and not being spent on our infrastructure. We can't get natural gas lines. It's aged infrastructure again with hydro. I have farmers who want to create businesses and start small canning operations, but they can't even get three-phase power.

When my colleagues sit in the House and wonder why people in York—Simcoe say this government is not listening and why people are frustrated, this is why they're frustrated, just to start with those things. The government says it's doing this; it's doing that, and it has free dental care and pharmacare for everyone. I would challenge any member of this committee to come with me to York—Simcoe for a day. This is about standing up for residents. Do you know what people in my riding are saying? They're saying, “I'd love a family doctor, Scot.” Think about the government programs that have come from this government. They can't even manage immigration, and there's another program and another program and another program.

Things are getting worse. People in my riding can't even get a family doctor. As shocking as it is, I know my colleagues here like to blame everybody else for the situation that everyone is in. First they'll tell you that Canadians have never had it so good and that we have a AAA credit rating, even though you can't put a AAA credit rating on a hot dog. I think we all know that. Tell that to the millions of people who are going to food banks. However, they'll say we've never had it so good. I think that's why it's important to understand this. We don't even have a hospital.

On technology, my colleague from Whitby should google how long it takes to walk from Georgina Island to the hospital to visit a loved one. The only hospital, Southlake, is outside of the riding of York—Simcoe. It takes 23 hours to walk there. This Liberal government will try to square the circle and say, “Scot, you're part of Toronto.” This is where my residents of York—Simcoe get very upset. They are being classified as Toronto and are quite frankly being ripped off on something they're entitled to. After all, we know that this is a big bait and switch with the carbon tax. It's their money that they're owed. It's not the government giving them money. It actually took money from them, which it owes them.

To recap, we're here today talking about why things are not working for the people of York—Simcoe. The recap is important so that people understand that the circle has never been squared. I think the most frustrating part about being an MP is not being able to help people when you know there's a solution to the problem.

Believe me, I will never put words in anyone's mouth, but I have to walk through this. I did speak with the Minister of Natural Resources about the rural top-up. He agreed that there is a problem with the CMAs, but he said, “Scot, you'll have to see the minister of rural affairs. That was done out east.” I then went back to the announcement, and I think what was even more shocking for me was the Liberal government dividing and gaslighting Canadians based on geography. I looked at their announcement out east on the heat pumps and I was shocked. All of a sudden, for the Minister of Housing's riding and the riding of the member for Avalon, which was supposed to become urban under the CMA, they announced a doubling of the rural top-up. As I always say in life, read the fine print. They actually rolled the CMA data back to 2015 so those Liberal ridings would receive the rural top-up.

Scot Davidson

$508,785.00