Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Thank you, Minister. Can you help Canadians understand and tell us what the difference is between a carbon trading system and a carbon tax?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  A carbon trading system is certainly up and running in the European Union, whereas a carbon tax.... I suppose it would depend on what kind of proposal you were making. It would be in the eye of the beholder. You know, some people—

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Which countries, for example, have a carbon tax today, Minister?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  A carbon tax is not a solution that I have explored, because I don't think the tax system is the regime to do that. We don't sit around the cabinet table dreaming up ways to increase taxes. That's certainly more common in the McGuinty family than it is in the Harper cabinet.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Thank you. Mr. Villeneuve, you touched briefly on intensity targets. We heard from Mr. Boyd on that. You had mentioned a desire to perhaps expand on that, and I wonder if you would like to. Secondly, I didn't hear you speak specifically to carbon tax and your thoughts on its

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  , certain measures to reduce atmospheric emissions can increase greenhouse gas emissions. Once we've looked at that, we conclude that carbon intensity therefore isn't an end, but rather a means. The second element is that the carbon tax isn't a universal tool. It's one tool among others

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  So a carbon tax doesn't necessarily penalize Canadian consumers and individuals. It can be used creatively to achieve greenhouse gas emissions without impacting too greatly on individuals.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  In terms of a carbon tax, revenue neutral, if I understand, means that the government does not benefit from the tax overall. Is that correct?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  , the plan contains measures that merely transfer greenhouse gas emissions, and others depend to a large degree on the choices of individuals. The Quebec government has established a carbon tax measure that is very much incomplete because it targets only a single sector, the oil industry

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  For large final emitters—let's say there are 700 of them—what are the virtues of cap and trade for large final emitters, versus a carbon tax?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  As I said, I think a carbon tax offers certain advantages in the sense that it's less easily manipulated by the participants. The reason the European trading system is having problems is that businesses convinced governments that they needed more permits than they actually did

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Mr. Boyd, that was a very interesting presentation on carbon tax. I just want, for all of our sakes, to better understand the relationship between that and possible cap and trade systems, and also the international implications. I think I heard you say Norway also has a cap

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  But on the fact that they do this even though they have a carbon tax system, is that an ineffective thing, in your view? Is it that they ought not to participate in the European emissions trading scheme or a Kyoto trading scheme through the clean development mechanism?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  If there are, broadly, six big slices of carbon emissions in Canada—electricity generation, upstream oil and gas, industry, vehicles, residential, agriculture and forestry—are there any obvious places where a carbon tax is more appropriate in one of those sectors than in another

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  If that's the case, how come more nation states have not adopted a carbon tax?