I've done nearly 1,000 events, and I have met tens of thousands of people in every walk of life and from every background across my province in the past 20 months. I have found overwhelming and passionate opposition to the carbon tax but also hostility to our energy industry, which, of course, has not only been a key engine of Canada's prosperity in recent decades and Canada's most important export product but has also been hugely important to Alberta's economy. Through their federal taxes, Albertans contribute a net amount of about $20 billion a year to fiscal federalism, with much of that fiscal capacity generated by the energy sector. Albertans don't understand the approach of bottlenecking our resources and punishing people for living ordinary lives through policies like the carbon tax.
This has real effects on people's lives, which is why consistently two-thirds of Albertans have indicated opposition to the NDP carbon tax in our province. The Ecofiscal Commission, which is Mr. Beugin's organization, said in a recent report that a rising carbon price is so important that a carbon price of $100 per tonne won't force actions that cost $200 or even thousands of dollars per tonne. I understand that Professor Leach has said—and you can correct me if I'm wrong—that what you need is a more or less $200 tonne carbon price, an expensive retrofit strategy, and a lot of other strategies. The Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis has said a significant hike is needed to achieve emissions targets. A 10% reduction in emissions over seven years would require $175-a-tonne levy. The Department of Finance said on February 24, 2017, “The overall approach will be reviewed by early 2022 to confirm the path forward, including continued increases in stringency”—meaning the tax rate—in future years. Environment Canada's March 30, 2017 memo said the carbon tax would need to be $300 in 2050.