Finance committee  I believe we are at a stage where we need to make major investments in retooling the Canadian economy. Coming from British Columbia, where the carbon tax and other measures to fight global warming have just been introduced, I would suggest that those are some of the really important areas where we need to do that. If we are entering a period of economic downturn where we could see a growing slack in the employment market, it would be an ideal time not only to use fiscal policy to maintain full employment, but also to make those much needed investments that equip our economy for the future.

Finance committee  I live in Vancouver, so greetings from British Columbia, where last week the provincial budget brought in the country's first carbon tax, something that I'm sure you'll be studying as time goes on. The CCPA does not do independent macroeconomic forecasting. What we do is provide fiscal forecasts as part of our alternative federal budget process.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  It is weak leadership. It is not leadership. I'm opposed to opposition attempts to not only foist the carbon tax on us, but to kick the auto industry when it's struggling right now with an extreme auto emissions standard. They've put politics into Bill C-30 rather than practicality. Real people's lives hang in the balance.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Chair, what's being proposed is a major change in focus from what the original Clean Air Act was proposing, focusing on clean air quality, cleaning up pollution, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the health of Canada and the health of the planet. What's being proposed in this preamble is a carbon tax. The carbon tax gives a very clear direction that there's a national carbon budget, which would require billions of dollars from new taxes on Canadians. We heard a few weeks ago that the Liberal government was....

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Chair, this government has made it very clear that we have two choices, two directions in which we can head to clean up the environment, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—that is, to slow down the economy; or through technology created right here in Canada, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, through technologies like carbon capture and storage. What was being proposed previously by the Liberal Party was carbon taxing, and as I started to say, there was praise from the Liberals to provide a new $100-billion carbon tax on Canadians and industry. Also, their proposal was to have billions of dollars leave Canada to buy carbon credits, hot air credits.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Now what's being proposed here is the introduction of one of the largest corporate tax increases in recent history with no expectation of achieving any reductions in greenhouse gases. The Liberals' proposal of an uncapped investment account is nothing more than a carbon tax. They would like to disguise that carbon tax within the hidden language, but in fact it is a tax. With no cap, companies can buy their way out of achieving real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  About a year ago, the then opposition critic for the environment, who is now the chair of the environment committee, said we could not include greenhouse gases under CEPA and regulate them, because that would amount to a carbon tax, and now the government is proposing to use CEPA to regulate greenhouse gases in some obtuse manner. This proposal is not for a carbon tax. I think we have to be clear about that. It is more akin to an eco-RRSP for large final emitters in this country.

Prebudget Consultations  Yes, he wants a new carbon tax to really hammer businesses that have already been hit by the recession in the United States. I would love to answer legitimate questions from the Liberal Party but, clearly, as I said, one does not throw rocks when one lives in a glass house.

Environment committee  For example, we have said that should governments, or the Government of Canada, or Canada eventually move to some form of carbon tax, it would have to be neutral. What do we mean by that? What we mean is that certain sectors will be hit harder than others. It will mean that the price of carbon will add to the costs of running a business, and therefore we must intelligently revisit the tax system to ensure that there is, at the very least, a neutrality.

Environment committee  I wish they had actually performed the analysis to substantiate a cap and trade versus a carbon tax, or environmental tax, as Mr. d'Aquino puts it, and the merits of one over the other. Is the government's plan going to price carbon, and do you think it's going to price carbon at a sufficient price?

Environment committee  At present, they are under no obligation whatsoever to reduce their emission levels. You stated that if we were to bring in a carbon tax, China would have to do likewise, to balance the equation. However, if China refuses to do so, what then?

Environment committee  They have a carbon tax.

Environment committee  They have a carbon tax and a trading system--

Environment committee  They have a carbon tax that affects their oil and gas industry, which is why the oil and gas industry actually uses CCS, because once you apply a large enough tax, it becomes commercially effective.

Environment committee  In China, a plant that produces the same ton of aluminum emits seven tons of CO2. You propose a carbon tax. If we apply a tax of $30 per ton, that would mean $30 times four. You didn't have time to get into this, but the figure could be slightly higher. Add to that the cost per ton of Canadian aluminum, namely $120.