kEiThZ
Superstar
It may be, right this instant, unfortunately that Canadians don't see the environment and the economy as one and the same, but I sense a paradigm shift in our very near future.
Given Dion's abysmal failure at selling the marriage between the environment and the economy, I strongly suspect it will be a very, very long time before any politician puts the environment first. As Whoaccio pointed out, Mulroney was arguably the greenest PM in history, and a Conservative one at that....look where it got him. A PM and a potential PM have both failed to make any gains from the environment as an issue. You can guess what lessons most of the political parties will learn from that.
I will tell you this, Canadians have a LOT of experience administering taxes, we clearly know how to do this. The Carbon Tax isn't something to be afraid of, if you have a clean, non-polluting business or small business or home or office. It serves as an incentive to clean up. We (collectively) have to stop assuming that creating pollution is 'free' or that soiling our environment comes without a cost.
The cap & trade, I am not such a fan of. Simply because it will create secondary markets and we don't need more middle-men.
Cap and trade may well be the most politically palatable way to attach a cost to those externalities. Heck, Jack Layton is doing a great job selling the myth that cap and trade will not cost the consumer a dime.
Also, given the fact that our large scale de-industrialization has largely resulted in rising income inequality, it's going to be hard to sell an industrial green shift (which requires mostly skilled workers) to the average canuck. If they have to choose between union jobs at GM or 'team oriented' employment at Starbucks, I think they'll prefer the dirty industry....