Some people have asked, “Why put in place a price on pollution, and then give us money?” It's a rather simple and basic economic theory. You give a price signal, and then people can decide what to do. They can use the money they get back from the government and continue with the same lifestyle they have—we will pay for the increased cost in carbon pricing—or they can decide to change some of their behaviours, and then they would have more money back in their pockets.
They can go with a smaller vehicle. They can use some of our programs, such as home energy retrofit, to save money. Some will even decide to go with an electric vehicle. Electric vehicle sales in Canada have tripled in the last two years. We were barely at 3%; we have passed 10% in the first quarter of this year.
Canadians are seeing the multiple benefits of adopting a less carbon-intensive lifestyle, and carbon pricing is a way we can help them do that.