Senator Gold, recently the Canadian Trucking Alliance called on the federal parties to cut red tape and tax and to restore fairness for truckers. Their number one ask was to end the carbon tax. It’s not coming from us, Senator Gold. It is not talking points. It’s not sloganeering. It is coming directly from them. They are the men and women who work day and night often away from their own families in order to provide our families food, clothing, et cetera.

In their report, they stated that this year alone, the Trudeau carbon tax will add almost $2 billion annually to trucking costs. By 2030, those additional costs will be $4 billion. Over the 12-year phase-in of the Trudeau carbon tax, it will cost the trucking industry a total of an additional $26 billion.

Senator Gold, we already see razor-thin margins for these hard-working Canadians, and they are passing those costs along to consumers. Why won’t you admit that this is a cash grab — nothing more — is not fighting climate change and is pummelling the hard-working middle class?

Senator Gold, all I know from my business experience is that this carbon tax is pummelling working-class Canadians because the costs are trickling down to them. It is going directly from the truckers to the customers at the grocery stores. That’s what happening with your carbon tax. I know your government, Prime Minister Trudeau and some independent senators are not particularly fond of the trucking industry, but I am because they are the lifeblood of this country. They put food and medicine on our tables. It’s simple what you need to do: Axe the tax and remove the pressure from middle-class Canadians.