Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, any sort of taxation that would increase the cost of living will send a terrible message to small businesses. Their cost of inventory will go up and they would have a more difficult time attracting people who are already facing a shortage of housing and the high cost of living, and discouraged from moving.

Mr. Speaker, highway taxation will have a terrible impact on back hauls of crushed cars or recycled items, or those who are manufacturing and exporting. Mr. Speaker, there is also clearly an uncertainty about the clawback implications of any taxation given that the federal government takes 80 percent of any tax revenue.

Mr. Speaker, this initiative is also administratively very cumbersome. We do not have weigh scales and it would require that we build weigh scales. That would cost millions and more money for manning them.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this government has had it good for the last two years. We know that it has had upwards of $150 million extra and it is time for them to buckle up, clean their house up before they hold their hands out to the people and keep saying that if you want tourism, you have to pay for it through a tax, or if you want the road, then you have to pay through a highway tax.

It is time to stop that, Mr. Speaker. If the government is having a hard time, people are having a hard time and we need to look within first before we go out and ask people to buckle up some more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause