Environment committee  Yes, Dave McLaughlin, with the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and I actually wrote an op-ed in The Globe and Mail on that. We thought that ultimately—this is something that we're looking at post-2020—the federal backstop model would actually make sense as a national model for a couple of reasons.

Environment committee  If I could predict that, I could be doing other things.

Environment committee  I think the federal policy is quite well designed. It's basically a fee and dividend model that gives an almost equal per capita dividend. B.C. gave some money to lower- and middle-income households. They also cut both corporate and personal income taxes, and then they started fooling around with different kinds of tax credits and things like that, which I wasn't as enamoured of.

Environment committee  I understand.

Environment committee  I wouldn't say that a carbon tax is the only solution for any country. I think the panellists have said that carbon tax is, at best, part of the solution for Canada, but it's a very important part, putting a price on carbon. In terms of other large countries, China is bringing in place a carbon price starting this year.

Environment committee  Let me go back to your previous question for a second. I think there are two levels of discussion that are occurring within the Conservative Party. I've certainly been in dialogue with Conservatives, both federally and provincially, who have been quite sophisticated around questions of carbon pricing or what other alternatives exist to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment committee  I'm in large measure in agreement with all the other panellists, yes.

Environment committee  Up until now, the Conservative Party of Canada has indicated that they support the Paris reduction target, Canada's INDC submission of a 30% reduction below 2005 levels by 2030. They voted in favour of that last year, which I think is an appropriate target. It was the target that was introduced by Prime Minister Harper.

Environment committee  There are two levels. I've been in discussion with Conservatives, both federally and provincially—

Environment committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me to appear this afternoon with such a distinguished group of fellow witnesses. I'm the only person here today who's not an economist. However, I have spent a lot of time in committee rooms like this over the years as a staffer to MPs and ministers, so I suppose I'm here to provide simultaneous translation from “economese” to English.