First of all, with regard to Labrador City, we don't use the word “remote” anymore. We very pleased to see the Trans-Labrador Highway finally open. That highway was built over the last decade, and it was a long time coming. It took away a lot of the remoteness. I know that when I moved to Labrador 40 years ago, for all of our goods we relied on the railway to bring them in. The trucking industry has now taken over a lot of that. The rail line, as I mentioned earlier, is open 12 months of the year. It runs very efficiently, but if the economy continues to improve the way it is improving now.... The rate of use on that rail line is certainly making a big difference.
The carbon tax will have a certain effect on the economy in Labrador West. As I was saying to Ms. Jones' assistant when we were waiting for the session to start, I listened to an interview of a lady who did a conference last week in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She made the very valid point that the government has probably made a mistake in using the word “tax”. Perhaps we should be looking at it as carbon “insurance” rather than as a carbon tax. I think it would be much more acceptable by the people.
It will have an effect. I think it will have a negative and a positive effect, because I think the carbon tax is necessary to a certain degree but I don't think we should be looking at it as a tax. We need to be looking at it as insurance in terms of the effect it will have in improving global climate change.