Madam Speaker, the member raises a very valid point that a tonne of carbon is a tonne of carbon is a tonne of carbon. Too often, the government has singled out the source of carbon rather than the carbon itself. If the carbon comes out of the oil and gas sector, that is seen as way worse than a tonne of carbon coming out of the tailpipe of one of the 15 million or 16 million commuters who go to work every morning. It sees a tonne of carbon coming out of a coal-fired electricity plant as somehow being worse than a tonne of carbon coming out of a cement factory in central Canada, or a tonne of carbon coming out of a natural gas facility being somehow worse than a tonne of carbon coming out of an automobile manufacturing plant in Ontario, whether that be Ford of Oakville, Linamar in Guelph, Toyota of Cambridge, Honda of Alliston, or the dozens of parts and assembly plants located in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor.
A tonne of carbon should be priced the same across the country. The oil and gas sector and the coal sector should not be singled out for unfair treatment vis-à-vis the other sectors, such as other large emitters in manufacturing or the millions of automobiles on the road.
The government's decision on the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, which will increase vehicular traffic by some 10 million cars and trucks every year, as stated in today's Auditor General's report, proves that the government treats one sector and one region of the country differently than others, and that is not fair.