I'll try not to repeat and will focus a little more on the solutions, but not in any great depth.
Dale pretty well said what I would want to say about the fact that the threat of global climate change is real and the cost of inaction is great. We have good references for all of these. I did make a submission and I've provided references, so I don't really want to get into detail on that.
The reason we need to think about supporting a bill such as Bill C-377 is that Canada has failed to take aggressive policy measures to control greenhouse gases in line with some of the leaders around the world. We all know the European Union is setting aggressive targets. We know that some states like California are moving, as are some provinces in Canada. We need to be with the leaders on this, in my opinion.
Also, industry has been calling for stable policy direction. Different numbers occur in different people's minds, but we're talking about the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, or, internationally, something called the three-C group, Combat Climate Change. It has four Canadian multinational companies represented on it. They're saying that we need to set targets.
The three-C group, in particular, endorsed the 80% by 2050 target. They're less resolute about exactly what can be accomplished by 2020 or 2030, but they believe we have to go with the science, set the long-term targets, and then set some short-term goals to get there. So industry is calling for stable policy direction.
And the public is concerned. We've seen various polls and so on about where the public is at.
I think the argument for a bill that requires us to move forward is pretty clear, because in the absence of it, we're not going to move forward. We're going to just keep fighting over what we can't do as opposed to what we can. I think the rationale is strong.
The question then, of course, is this. How do we get there and what do we do? We do have lots of studies showing the different ways in which we might get there. I know it's been a question more of equity and more of fairness as to how one gets there, as opposed to the fact that there are technologies and ways to get there.
I'd like to segment things very simply into infrastructure, technology, and prices, which I think are the three huge drivers of progress. If we don't invest in infrastructure, and the right infrastructure, it lasts a long time. We have to do that. If we don't push technologies to be consistent with climate change goals and with that infrastructure, then we're going to be locking in the wrong technologies. Of course, we all know that prices, especially in a market economy, are what move both individuals and companies.
On infrastructure, it's very clear that we have to think very, very large-scale about roads, rail, air, public transit, water and sewage, electricity, pipelines. These are infrastructure. A lot of that is paid for by public money, one way or the other, so politicians have a great deal of influence through planning processes, budget processes, and so on to shape the way that goes. We need a vision of where that has to be in 2050, and that vision has to tie into some notion of the hard numbers we have to achieve.
On the technology side, again, governments have a great deal of influence, both through the infrastructure that's put in place and the technology that has to match to it, but also in terms of regulations and other incentives. Industry is very largely a technology developer and has to feed into something that provides a return on investment and so on. We need the technology. It has to be very much a society-wide effort, with industry fully involved to develop the technologies we need, and we need prices that help make all of that fit together.
All three of these things interrelate, so as the national round table put it, without an economy-wide price signal, we're going to have trouble convincing consumers to be part of the solution. Without signals through either emissions trading or taxes and other mechanisms, we're going to have a hard time making the business case for business.
I think it's all a package and can't be seen as one or the other. I don't think we get there just simply by putting a price on the system. I don't think we get there simply by incenting technologies and hoping they'll get applied. I don't think we get there just by building one form of infrastructure and letting the rest of the system fall in place.
All of that requires a great deal of vision--ideally, a great deal of cooperation. That would be the best way to get forward, particularly in a country like Canada with its various economies and different circumstances. We need to look toward the leaders in the world as to how far and how fast they're going, and how far and how fast they're committed to go.
We do need a national vision.
I was reading in the Globe and Mail about the carbon capture storage report that's just come out. It's asking for $2 billion for initial work on carbon capture and storage. The second part of the bill wasn't even disclosed, but it could be quite a bit more. So why don't we have something of that scale and more on energy efficiency in renewables? We need that scale and much more on urban form and infrastructure, and recapitalizing the electricity grid to tap into the two technologies that will get us to the 80% reductions.
Why aren't we retooling our auto sector so that it's more vibrant and building the right kinds of efficient vehicles, rather than a sector that's trying to hold onto building the wrong kinds of vehicles that will eventually go the way of the dinosaur, taking our economy with it if we're not careful?
In closing, I think we need a bill that makes it very clear to industry, the public, and everybody that we have a long-term target and we are going to require plans to get there. We need a vision of what we're going to do with these big policy levers of infrastructure, technology, and prices in a whole pile of areas. We need investment across the board in a kind of recapitalization of the Canadian economy and social structures so that we have the kind of future that I think is totally there for us. There are tremendous hurdles along the way, but I think it's there if we set out to do it. I encourage you to consider that in your deliberations.
Thank you.