This motion talks about devastating effects. It says that the tax would devastate people. I question that statement because I believe that it is climate change, rather, that would be devastating.
The carbon tax, whether it would be right or wrong, is simply a way to deal with, or not, climate change. I think that it is completely misleading to claim that a carbon tax would be devastating. It does not say that climate change would be devastating.
It says that the tax would be devastating for families, seniors and people on a fixed income but there is no mention of the environment. There will be huge and devastating effects on the environment. Why is that not mentioned? It makes no sense. The environment will be the first to suffer. If jobs are lost, a carbon tax will not be a significant factor.
This morning, Air Canada said that it wants to lay off 2,000 people. There is no carbon tax, this is simply due to fuel and oil prices. A carbon tax will not eliminate jobs, but the fact that we are moving towards a change in our society will have consequences. There is climate change, and the cost of oil, for the many reasons we are aware of, is beyond the government's control.
If most countries see a carbon tax as being a solution, then why don't we? I am throwing out the question. What will make prices go up: climate change, or the carbon tax? Is it better to collectively invest in order to change the attitudes of consumers or to wait for the collapse of a part of our society, a part of the economy, because of a severe lack of fuel or because of huge storms? Should we start assessing how we can change this or should we just allow climate change, storms and fuel prices to happen? We aren't dealing with the true problem, which is greenhouse gases. It makes perfect sense to speak about this here. It is not the carbon tax that is going to change this situation. The situation is deteriorating. A carbon tax can help change people's attitudes or not. We will have to see, that is another topic.
I refuse to say that a carbon tax will be devastating and will eliminate jobs. That is false, absolutely false.