Thank you, Mr. Mazier.
Mr. Chair, with the time we have left, I would like to quickly move the motion that I tabled last week, and then we can return to the witnesses.
The motion reads as follows:
Given that:
(a) the Chiefs of Ontario have filed a judicial review in Federal Court on the Liberal government’s carbon tax
(b) the Chiefs of Ontario have noted that Indigenous communities would face greater challenges in switching to lower emitting technologies;
(c) Grand Chief Abram Benedict of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne stated:
“The government has boasted that Canadians will pay a carbon tax, but through the rebates, through the subsidies they will actually receive more than what they have paid. That doesn't ring true in First Nations communities”;
(d) Canada's Environment Commissioner and Parliamentary Budget Officer acknowledge that the carbon tax disproportionately punishes Canadians who live in rural, remote, and northern regions;
(e) and the Liberal government failed to provide a temporary carbon tax exemption on home heating for 97% of Canadians;
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a) the Committee invite Grand Chief Abram Benedict and the Chiefs of Ontario to testify for no less than 2 hours by December 12, 2023, on their judicial review filing on the federal carbon tax.
Mr. Chair, we have all heard from our constituents about the effects of the carbon tax on the rising cost of living. We've recently seen the federal government announce a pause on the carbon tax for home heating oil. We may be seeing an exemption from the carbon tax for certain farming activities, assuming that Bill C-234 gets passed into law. Now we are looking at a judicial review from the Chiefs of Ontario.
I think it would be reasonable to invite the chiefs to the committee and hear the details and the particulars of what exactly they are proposing in terms of a carbon tax exemption and how that could be implemented in a way that respects indigenous rights.
Mr. Chair, I think I'll leave it at that.
Thank you.