That's a big question.
I think the ambition is there. There is not a consensus on this among academics working on these issues in Canada, but my feeling is that, as the cost of carbon pricing goes up, there is going to be increasing political resentment to those costs. The amount of $170 per tonne is about double what we're at right now.
For Quebec to meet its emission reduction targets, some of the economic lobbying I've seen said that pricing could go up to $300 a tonne to meet it, which is a bit more ambitious than Canada's target.
It seems that it could become politically salient.
I'm happy to talk more about the Quebec-California carbon market, but carbon pricing isn't really politically salient in Quebec. We have agreement of both parties, the CAQ and Liberals, and the others....
There are debates on other issues of climate policy, and that is maybe because the carbon price has been lower than in the rest of Canada. That's one issue which, in the back of my mind, I think international emissions trading could be explored as a sort of backstop on the backstop, if I can say that, in terms of carbon pricing, and also as a way of fostering international co-operation and allowing for other parts of the world where it's cheaper to reduce emissions to accelerate their decarbonization efforts there.
