Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  We can call it what we like; we've had many adjectives used. We have, without a doubt, put forward a carbon tax on industry in this country, and from my point of view that's a backward step. I think we've created a problem here for the advancement of what we all believed was the purpose of our coming together here--to enshrine in legislation the meeting of Kyoto targets when we have several witnesses who have come before us over the past number of weeks who said that in order to meet the Kyoto targets, we have two options: we spend an enormous amount of taxpayers' dollars overseas to buy credits, or we have a situation where we try to pressure industries into meeting those targets here in Canada.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Certainly, I think my questions were asked in good faith and I expected answers to them, and I received some assurances, although not very many, to be blunt. I do still have serious concerns with this carbon tax.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  It's just not in my nature, generally speaking; try as I might, it's difficult. First of all, the notion of the carbon tax is something you have no choice but to pay, and the notion of collecting funds from those who choose to pollute beyond their caps is a choice being made. Secondly, what we're encouraged by is that this is holding in trust the money that will then go back to the polluters themselves if they're able to design projects that would then mitigate the emission of greenhouse gas reduction.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  So we anticipated that. The final argument was made by the parliamentary secretary, who described this as a “carbon tax” and a “tax grab” and “buying your way out”. I don't understand how the principle of what we're doing here varies in any way from what Premier Stelmach himself has proposed in the province of Alberta.

Environment committee  When you recently introduced—I know you won't call it this, but it's essentially what it is—a carbon tax on cars with larger engines, the bigger polluting cars, did you have a list of which cars would be penalized by your new initiative?

The Budget  Instead what they should have been doing is investing in the environment and in Canadian jobs by supporting the production of green cars right here in Canada, but nowhere in the budget do we find an auto sector strategy. Moreover, the carbon tax that is going to be imposed on vehicles that are not fuel efficient is going to impact the very middle class families that the government says it wants to help. Parents who are driving their kids to hockey, soccer and baseball games are buying the minivans.

Government Operations committee  I'll say it on the record: I prefer not to have a carbon tax; I'd prefer to let senior citizens have a decent price for energy. But I want to talk a bit. I'm a little more familiar with Alberta's Built Green program for residential buildings.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  On policy mechanisms, my view is that the central policy mechanism must be something that leaves people free to innovate, and that means a strong price signal. I personally favour a carbon tax, but cap and trade mechanisms and many other mechanisms are appropriate things to do. That has to be the number one thing to do. Fundamentally, individuals in their homes and companies know better how to cut emissions than you folks around the table do.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  So if you look at carbon markets, I think the only recommendation I can make to you is that you need to better understand how the market works, because the alternative to the market is a carbon tax.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Does it make sense, given the fact that Europe is the furthest along and the largest group of countries currently involved in this exercise, that we take our lessons there? That is to say that we probably want a cap-and-trade system rather than a carbon tax system because that's where Europe is, and that gives us a market to go to. We probably want to pick up on their experience in terms of the clean development mechanism, as Mr. Delbeke has described it--the working out of the bugs, the problem with the China factory, all the rest of it--because they're the furthest along.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I know this is probably my last question in terms of what I have time for, so I'm wondering if both the witnesses could talk about their perceptions on the importance and utility of carbon tax as part of a variety of measures that could be utilized to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  In your answer, could you perhaps talk about the experience of member states that have utilized carbon tax, and whether or not that has been an effective vehicle for them, relative to other member states?

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  They were effective towards the individual consumer. We saw that when the carbon tax was implemented to industrial activities, there were limitations to the extent that such a tax could be levied.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Mills said: Placing the control of greenhouse gas emissions under the CEPA would be a de facto carbon tax, which would result in the loss of thousands of jobs and would increase the cost of heat, electricity, and transportation. How did your organization react at the time? Whether or not to put greenhouse gases under CEPA was a hot issue.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  The target you see in the diagram in front of you says that we would have to shift toward a carbon tax or its equivalent through regulation of about $180 per tonne of carbon dioxide. We'd have to get to that by about the year 2020 in order to have our emissions fall by about, I believe, 60% from where they are today or 80% from where they would be in the future.