I am very supportive of a price on carbon pollution as a suite of initiatives that we should have in place to deal with climate change. But I'm also interested in the effectiveness and the efficiency around that.
I was mayor of Cranbrook from 2011 to 2014. About 2013, the way the price worked there, the municipality owed about $60,000 or $70,000, in theory, to the province for our carbon costs. We were to write them a cheque. Instead of doing that, I asked them whether we could invest that $60,000 back into the community on energy efficiency and reducing carbon, and whether that would work. They said yes.
I'm interested in whether there's anything in this proposal to encourage municipalities to do the right thing, other than perhaps not to buy as much gas. Are there any other kinds of incentives here that can go back to municipalities to benefit the environment in their local communities?