The issues you have raised are very important in our opinion, Mr. Bigras. We acknowledge that the manufacturing sector has been very affected economically, particularly in Ontario and Quebec.
If I may, I would prefer to answer in the language of Shakespeare, rather than in that of Molière.
I just wanted to say that in our view the way we tackle the environmental challenge—and this is what building an environmental superpower involves—means not only that we come at it with a Canada-wide comprehensive policy with long-term objectives that provide clarity to business, but also that at the same time we fundamentally re-examine the tax system, because the magnitude of change that is going to be required and that you are suggesting has already begun to take place is such that under the existing tax system of Canada, we are not going to be able to deal with this issue.
For example, we have said that should governments, or the Government of Canada, or Canada eventually move to some form of carbon tax, it would have to be neutral. What do we mean by that? What we mean is that certain sectors will be hit harder than others. It will mean that the price of carbon will add to the costs of running a business, and therefore we must intelligently revisit the tax system to ensure that there is, at the very least, a neutrality.
I would make a final point on taxation. One of the reasons we are so optimistic about Canada's becoming an environmental superpower is not just that we have the resources and the skills and the talent and the financial capability to do it; it's also because we believe that as a country we can come up with new approaches to public policy—of which taxation is a central point--that will allow industries that already exist to invest in the new technologies. We will not say to them that we're sorry, but they can't compete—they're out—and put people out of work and shut down towns, but we will look to industries that have had a long record of achievement and give them the time and the incentives to be able to retool themselves.
This brings us to why these long-term strategies are so critical. It's because many of the investments have to be made with a 15-, 20-, or 30-year time horizon, and in the case of the oil sands, a 100-year time horizon. That's why we've been calling for policy certainty. That's why we need it.