I have two questions. I hope you may be able to answer the first in a follow-up to the committee. I doubt you'll have the answer today. I hope to get your comment on the second today.
Here's the first. New Democrats support carbon pricing in some way, shape or form. We don't always agree with the government on exactly how it's doing it. However, we have proposed to remove the GST on home heating.
You've been able to calculate what the one-time effect on inflation would be of removing the carbon tax. I'm wondering if you might be able to calculate what the one-time effect of removing the GST on home heating would be. We'd prefer that option because it applies to all Canadians, including those who use renewable energy to heat their home with hydroelectricity, for example.
We prefer that approach because it applies to all parts of the country. As you know, the federal carbon price applies only to some parts of the country and not others, like British Columbia, for example. Eliminating the carbon tax on home heating doesn't do anything for Canadians living in provinces with their own carbon tax regimes, so that's why we prefer the GST approach.
I would be very curious to get the bank's opinion on what the inflationary effect of removing the GST on all forms of home heating would in fact be, and then we could have a bit of a comparison with that approach.
To Mr. Lawrence's point, because the GST is applied to the carbon tax, it would also have a mitigating effect on the carbon price increases going forward, although it wouldn't completely eliminate them.
If you could return to the committee in writing on that point, it would be very much appreciated.
The second question has to do with the climate change discussion that was had earlier. Canada is notoriously behind some of our trading partners, particularly in Europe—and, arguably, the Americans—on having a taxonomy for classifying various kinds of green investment and having a requirement for publicly disclosed corporate transition plans.
I wonder if you could speak to the utility of having those publicly disclosed plans required of Canadian companies and having a clear, established taxonomy for the bank to be able to do the work you were talking about in trying to better incorporate climate effects into your own forecasting.