Finance committee  I'm going to speak in favour of what we have in British Columbia, and say it is a reasonable approach to go with a carbon tax. And I think related to that, over time we also need a cap-and-trade system.

Finance committee  One needs to recognize that because of the geographical differences between provinces, there are going to be different strategies at a provincial level. That's fine. We recognize that. It has to be that way. But on top of that, we are a federation. We need to have things that pul

Finance committee  If Ontario is the example of how to do the green sector, I'd say we have some concerns about that. I think they went too far in terms of overpricing with their FIT program. We didn't go that route in British Columbia.

Finance committee  I got my Level B when I was a manager with the Government of Canada, a while back… I don't know. It was 30 years ago.

Finance committee  The forest sector is going through a transition. There is still a good part of it with value-added products, dimension lumber and so forth. Many of the pulp and paper companies have gone into the grain energy sector using biomass. I think that's just a natural outgrowth of the se

Finance committee  First and foremost, I think it speaks of leadership. Carbon tax is a tool. There are other strategies that can be used. Cap and trade was mentioned. We need to chart a different course, and it's going to be--

Finance committee  But if we're not careful, we're mortgaging our children's future in terms of the environment and air quality.

Finance committee  You spoke of balance, Dave, and I think that's what we need. We can't mortgage the environment totally for the economic development of today. I don't think anybody in the mining sector is saying that, or any of the forward-thinking industrial sectors. We need to start to make tho

Finance committee  When you say infrastructure—

Finance committee  There certainly needs to be an upgrade. If we're going to fuel the industrial development that we've all spoken of in northern B.C.—the electrification, the transmission network—it needs to be strengthened. There is a role for both federal and provincial funding and participation

Finance committee  I'd reiterate that we need a mix of fuels going forward, and that for some of the more polluting fuels, if you will, we need a transition strategy. We also need to increase our R and D in terms of cleaner technology. I think Canada is and can be a leader in this area, and it's ex

Finance committee  Most definitely. I recognize that with my colleagues to the left, and others, traditional natural resource industries—forest sector and that—have some difficulty with an aggressive carbon tax. We're saying we need to make inroads, that this is the way we need to go, but we need t

Finance committee  We do have geothermal members, and British Columbia is a terrific spot for geothermal hydro. The problem is that within the cost curve on fuels we have so many other options in the marketplace that are cheaper and easier. Wind and hydro are now cost-competitive with anything that

Finance committee  Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Mai. I think first and foremost Canada needs an energy vision, a strategy that pulls together various elements of what our economy is about. Cap and trade is one tool. So is a carbon tax. These are all necessary, but I think without tha

Finance committee  I think first and foremost I want to lead off that our sector in British Columbia has not been heavily subsidized. I know in other jurisdictions there have been subsidies for renewables. Having said that, I think it's important that if we're going to make the transition economica