The Environment  Speaker, my question is for the prime minister. At a $350 a plate dinner last night the prime minister nixed carbon taxes as a way to reduce greenhouse gases. Unfortunately dinner goers and Canadians alike still did not get their money's worth. We still do not know what positive position the government will put forward at Kyoto.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, there is a difference between carbon taxes and gasoline taxes. My question was not that difficult. Either the prime minister knows how he is going to pay for this Kyoto deal and he is keeping it as a Christmas present for Canadians or he does not know.

Environment  First the Minister of the Environment talks vaguely about targets. Then the Minister of Natural Resources hints at carbon taxes. Now perhaps the Prime Minister is finally ready to perform. When will the Liberals stop dancing around this issue and show some leadership? When will the Prime Minister let Canadians know what Canada's position on the climate change crisis will be at Kyoto?

The Environment  Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Justice told the House the Liberals would not bring in a carbon tax, but she specifically failed to rule out other taxes on the energy industry, taxes that would devastate Canada's resource industries and the thousands of families that relied on it for their livelihood.

The Environment  Canadians have to be told where those moneys are going to come from. Are they going to come from fuel taxes? Are they going to come from carbon taxes? Are they going to come from other taxes? Or are they going to come from all of the above? Which Canadians are going to have to pay for the Kyoto deal and how much will they pay?

Environment  The government's fondness for spending taxpayers' money has incited fear that it may impose a carbon tax. The oil and gas sector will have to try to survive anything decided in Kyoto. Could the environment minister tell us why the Canadian petroleum producers have not been invited to Kyoto?

Carbon Tax  Is the government planning to impose a carbon tax? Yes or no.

Carbon Tax  Speaker, I do not think the hon. member has been listening over the last little while. The only place I have heard a carbon tax mentioned is on the Reform Party. We have never mentioned a carbon tax. We are not in the business of doing that. It seems the Reform Party is.

The Budget  Would he keep that? We eliminated it and we are very proud that we did. He talks about a carbon tax. He was the first person to raise the carbon tax. It is part of an ongoing study set up by the previous government which we are continuing, but he is the person who raised the carbon tax.

Speech From The Throne  For more than three years federal politicians, including some members of the present government, have been musing about the imposition of a carbon tax, a tax on fossil fuels which would be cleverly disguised as an environmental levy. An independent study commissioned by the government last year indicated that a carbon tax high enough to effectively inhibit the use of fossil fuels would adversely affect almost every measure of economic activity, including the gross domestic product, the level of industrial investment, consumer price index and the unemployment rate.

Department Of Natural Resources Act  It should move rapidly from a budget on which the emphasis is on non-renewable to renewable sources of energy and should move more rapidly to the implementation of policies that reinforce and accelerate the movement toward more efficient use of energy. I am not talking of a carbon tax, although we all know that one day the concept of a carbon tax will have to be tackled if we are serious about the question of climate change. However, the political moment has not yet arrived.

Carbon Tax  Will the government put an end to the speculation and just answer the question? Is the government considering a carbon tax. Yes or no.

Carbon Tax  Speaker, I do not know which part of the word "no" he does not understand. We have never mentioned a carbon tax. Read the red book. Is it found in the red book? No, it is not in the red book. It is not a part of our policy, period.

Supply  Therefore I am very concerned about the informal discussion there has been about green tax and about carbon tax. If we use taxation to alter behaviour then we kill our ability to be internationally competitive. If we want to change behaviour I suggest we may choose to institute penalties. We may choose to institute levies.

The Budget  Before I discuss specific budget announcements affecting these industrial sectors I would like to address two key concerns identified by Albertans in discussions leading up to this budget. First, the federal government's acting unilaterally to impose a carbon tax was of great concern to some Albertans prior to the budget speech. The Minister of Finance did not impose a carbon tax. In addition, the Minister of Finance did not reduce tax rebates for privately owned utilities.