I'll speak in very general terms. When we talk about climate policy in this country, and frankly pretty much anywhere, the problem is that we tend to forget about the big picture. We just look at the impact that a tax would have on reducing carbon production, or at least carbon emissions. We tend to forget that there is a real price to taxes, especially in a context with....
Whatever you might say of the head politician south of the border, if they are creating an economic environment in which people are not submitted to the same constraints we have here, we are going to put our farmers out of business and penalize consumers. I don't see the point of establishing policies that have not, frankly, delivered much in terms of concrete results in other parts of the world and penalizing our farmers in the process, especially in a very competitive environment.
Again, what I try to point out in the little memo I sent you is that our main policy should always be win-win or “no regret” things that deliver benefits to producers and consumers, but also to the environment. The more we allow our farmers to compete, the more efficient they will become over time, the more jobs they will create, the lower the food prices will be for our consumers, and the more our environment will benefit in the process.
Virtually every day, again, in terms of water retrieval, reforestation of the land.... I understand that marginal agricultural land might be a concern to some of you, but at the same time, if you take a bird's-eye view of these things, I have no problem with the rewilding of the earth.
I'm sorry if this is a rambling answer. I think our farmers have enough problems. We don't need to shoot them in the foot with policies that make them uncompetitive.