I just want to reiterate what my colleague, Mr. Lawrence, has said, because I was in the meeting on October 30. All members of the finance committee were there, and the bank governor was very clear. He said that the carbon tax, at $65 a tonne, added 0.6% to inflation and that if it were to be removed, inflation would be 0.6% less.
Now, Liberal members of this committee have spun that to say that it's only one time, which is really a red herring of an argument. Of course you can remove a carbon tax only once, but the reduction in the inflation rate is in perpetuity. It's locked in forever. If you remove 0.6% off inflation, that's always gone.
Then what the governor said was that if you add $15 a tonne, it goes up by 0.15%, so that's actually what has happened. It's not just 0.15%. The cumulative aspect of the carbon tax at $65 a tonne was 0.6%, and if you add on $15 a tonne, it's now 0.75%. You can round it up to 0.8% if you want, but that's the reality of it.
When the governor is here on Thursday, I'm sure we can get him to clarify that.
Also, I'm very interested in asking him what his position and the bank board's position would be on interest rates if the inflationary aspect of the carbon tax wasn't a factor anymore.
Thank you.