Madam Chair, just by way of introduction, prior to being elected a member of Parliament, I was mayor of the City of Kingston. I also own a business in the city of Kingston, and I have a degree in economics.
It's very interesting. I think there are two parts to our committee that we really need to focus on. I think it's really easy to get lost on the environment side of things, but at the same time we have to pay attention to the sustainability part. I think that's equally important, and I'll get to that in a second.
When it comes to our environment, I strongly believe that whatever we do needs to take an approach that becomes fair to everybody. I believe in putting a price on carbon. I think it's the right thing to do, but I also think it has to be done in a fair and equitable manner so that all businesses are treated in the same way. I get annoyed when I go to buy a piece of electronics and I have to pay a $40 end-of-life fee on it. Nothing stings more than that, but at the end of the day, it is a cost that we probably should have been building into the economic model from the beginning, and we haven't, and now we have to play a little bit of catch-up on that. As much as it pains me sometimes, I see the value in that and I think it's important. From an economist's perspective, I think that if this is done properly everybody can be treated in a proper manner, which will result in a benefit at the end of the day.
When I was mayor of Kingston, we had set out on a path to become the most sustainable city in Canada—not to be confused with the greenest city, which Vancouver had, and Mayor Robertson and I got into a couple of debates over it. Sustainability, I think, is quite different from just environmental sustainability. If you want to be a sustainable community, you have to look at four important pillars, one of which is the environment. You also have to consider the economic sustainability, social sustainability, and cultural sustainability. It's the idea that unless all four are prospering, none of the individual pillars will be able to prosper on its own. You can't protect the environment—it'll be the first thing to go—if you don't have a strong economy, because people will be easily able to dismiss it. You can't have a strong economy unless you have the right social and cultural elements in communities. The number one question our economic development agency was asked when we were trying to recruit businesses to Kingston was not about the prices or our taxes and everything, but about what the quality of life was like. If we don't have strong quality of life in our communities to attract investors, we're not going to have the economic sustainability in order to be able to protect our environment. You can see how all four of those pillars need to act and be strong on their own in order to contribute to the greater good. I'm really interested in the sustainability aspect of this, as you can imagine.
Back to the environment side, I'm very passionate about renewable energy and what we can do. I've personally invested in a number of microFIT projects in the province, which have possibly contributed to the increase of electricity in Ontario, but nonetheless, I think that's the right thing to do. I know even some of my own colleagues don't necessarily agree that solar panels are the right answer, but I do believe that they're a stepping stone. The next evolution of the solar panel will be clear glass that you can just put in a window of a house and the energy will be produced that way, and I'm very much looking forward to that.
We need to fuel the opportunities that can come from the renewable energy sector. I think we're just seeing the beginning of it. I'm very passionate about pushing forward on that agenda as well.
Thank you, Madam Chair.