Panel urges carbon tax

A report released this week from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy says the federal and provincial governments must begin negotiating a national price on carbon to help Canada reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In their report, ‘Getting to 2050: Canada’s Transition to a Low Emission Future,’ the national advisory panel urged politicians to use market forces to reduce emissions through a carbon tax, a cap and trade system, or both.

A carbon tax would force industry to pay a fee for every tonne of harmful emissions released into the atmosphere. A cap and trade system would allow companies to emit up to a specific cap. Permits to emit above the cap would have to be purchased from companies that have lowered their emissions below their cap.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and opposition leader Stephane Dion have rejected the notion of a carbon tax in the past. The concept is viewed as political suicide because it is perceived as being regionally divisive and consumer unfriendly.

‘You’ve got to consider these kinds of market-based policies,’ said David McLaughlin, the president and CEO of the round table, which is comprised of some of the country’s top business and environmental leaders. ‘Don’t rule them out, rule them in.’