Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members, thanks to all of you for having me here. Thanks to the chair and the clerk for working around my teaching schedule, which I think was a bit of a burden for you. Your topic of study is an important one. I'm really glad to be here to talk to you about it.

Natural Resources committee  Can you hear me okay on the floor?

Natural Resources committee  Is this any better? I also have another desktop mike that I can try here.

Natural Resources committee  I don't think there's a lot of contradiction there. I don't think anyone is saying that it's the only way. I think everybody seems to be saying that our existing set of policies is not turned to the appropriate level to meet our new goals. I think that includes the current projections that were in the previous budget, before this one, which said that we were on track to meet our Paris goals and not our Glasgow goals.

Natural Resources committee  I think you can do a number of things. You have the carbon pricing regime, which you can apply at the border and you could apply to exports. You could use the clean fuel standard to impose a greater demand on the oil and gas sector, if that's what you want, on sectors of the oil and gas sector.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chair, do I get an opportunity to respond?

Natural Resources committee  Well, I think what's more important is to focus on what you've done and on why I wrote that post, which was exactly as you said: We fought to get these policies into place and we have a full tool kit of what we need to meet Canada's emissions goal. What Canada needs right now is to refine those policies, to strengthen those policies and to get the remaining bits, clean fuels, for example, across the finish line.

Natural Resources committee  Well, I certainly don't speak for Smart Prosperity on their grant as a co-investigator, but certainly, if you want their overall position, I'd encourage you to bring in some of their leadership team to speak. On a more general question, I think the starting point for any economist is to make sure the costs of production, all of them, are internals of those—and consumption as well—in making the decisions, so that when you decide to produce oil and gas, the emissions, the tailings and the environmental damage associated with that production are not passed on to someone else without you having to pay that freight, and that, as a consumer, those costs are reflected in the prices you pay.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me today. I'm pleased to be here to speak to you about this very important issue. Canada will undoubtedly require more stringent policies to meet its commitments, its international and domestic commitments, to reduce emissions. I strongly support and have worked on the implementation of these policies, but with that in mind, I'm not convinced that a regulatory cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector is needed.