1 week Ago By Catherine Lévesque
OTTAWA — Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney told a Senate committee on Wednesday that the federal carbon tax has “served a purpose up until now” and called on anyone who would want to scrap it to come up with a “credible and predictable” alternative. Carney, who serves as the United Nations’ Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, was invited as a witness to study Bill S-243, which would require banks and other federal regulated entities to “mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.” But Conservative senators were hoping to grill him in the little time they had — the committee started late because of votes — on the federal government’s carbon pricing policy and overall spending, which led to some tense back-and-forths at times.
Leo Housakos asked Carney no less than three times if he supports “Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax” but the former governor gave a more direct answer to Yonah Martin. “I think it has served a purpose up until now,” said Carney. “I think one can always look for better solutions and as a country, we should always be open to better solutions.
” But he insisted that any new climate policy should not only be better and more effective than the carbon tax, but also have the power to drive investment in a massive way. “What’s critical in my view..
. is that if something is going to be changed, that something at least as good is put in its place. Ideally, if you’re going to change something, you put i.
