Carbon tax will start July 1, 2008 at a rate of $10 per tonne of associated carbon, or carbon‑equivalent, emissions. That works out to about 2.4 cents a litre at the gas pump and 2.8 cents a litre for diesel and home heating oil. Leading economists and scientists agree: Seeing that cost, and making it real, will give us new incentives to change the habits that created global warming in the first place.

Let me get this clear. Today we pay say, $1.20 per litre, and with the tax it will be $1.224 per litre? Am I correct?

Yes, for every litre of gas an additional 2.4 cents will be charged as the carbon tax.

And why do you think this is the right thing to do?

Because we have to act on the environment. The green house gases …

Yes, yes, that I understand. What I am struggling to get is those two numbers. Why do you think price $1.20 does not work as incentives to change people’s habits, but $1.22 does? Do you have any scientific study proving that idea?

Of course, not. It is not about the exact price people paying at the gas stations. We believe that the carbon tax will be an additional reason for people to start thinking green. And do not forget, the carbon tax is absolutely revenue neutral, so all the money will go back to the people and the corporations.

Does that mean I can request back those 2.4 cents per litre right at the gas station?

No, Kevin, it does not work this way. It means every dollar raised will be returned to the people of B.C. in the form of lower taxes. The general corporate income tax rate will be reduced from 12 per cent to 11 per cent and, over the next three years, we expect it to fall to 10 per cent — on par with the lowest corporate tax rates in the country. That puts B.C. on track, by 2012, for a total combined corporate tax rate — the federal plus the B.C. rate — of 25 per cent… the lowest among the world’s major industrialized economies, and 10 points lower than the U.S. federal rate.

Right, lower taxes. That’s what I wanted to ask you about. Firstly, introducing new tax to cover reduction in existing one is not lowering taxes at all. Secondly, 25 per cent corporate tax will place Canada into the 21st position in the world. In order to be in the first ten we need to reduce it to at least 17%. So can we really reduce taxes to 17% and can we do it now, not in ten years?

17% combined? I do not think so. In order to get there we would have to set the carbon tax in the range of $30-$50 per tonne or even more.

Minister, you don’t get the concept of tax reduction right. Tax reduction means less taxes, not less some taxes but more other taxes. Do we have any chance here?

I don’t know, Kevin… theoretically… if we increase the GST…

Ladies and Gentlemen.

The seriousness of environmental issues on the planet is recognized globally. Many countries and institutions have tackled these problems through various projects; however, the global trend of environmental degradation is still continuing. Humanity is still burning millions of barrels of oil every day, and still emits millions of tons of pollution into the air.

Today, every effort to end the oil age and switch to the clean, environmentally friendly alternatives should be publicly recognized, emphasized, and supported. As part of the international environmental movement, today UNESCO officially announces an ASCII art sequence representing the electricity or electrical nature of something. The ASCII sequence consists of two characters, plus and minus, enclosed in square brackets.

[+-]

The ASCII sequence represents the bi-polar nature of electricity, and is clearly recognized as an electric battery, a key element in many electric applications.

The sequence can be informally referenced to as “the electric emoticon”, although technically speaking it is not an emoticon.

The sequence can be used as a separate word replacing such words as “electric”, “electrical” or “electricity”. It can also be used as a prefix for anything electrical or electric-powered, such as Electric Cars, Electric Engines, Electric Technologies and alike, so those can be written as follows: [+-]Car, [+-]Engine, [+-]Technology.

In response to many requests, we also announce today the short form of the sequence, which omits the square brackets. Therefore, the preceding examples could be also written as: +-Car, +-Engine, +-Technology.

The sequence should be pronounced as the word which it replaces, “electric”, “electrical” or “electricity”, but not “plus minus”.

We believe that the introduction of the ASCII sequence will serve for the popularization of clean, environmentally friendly technologies. We hope that the global trend of the growing demand for electric applications will continue as well as the usage of the electric emoticon.

Thank you. I will now take any questions you might have.

When do you expect the new electric infrastructure will mature enough, so we can declare that the oil age is over?

That is a big question. It would require reconstructing the whole electric grid as we know it today. It will require not only technological, but also social reforms. All the major aspects of the problem will be discussed at the [+-]2.0 Word Summit in San Francisco later this year.

Do you think we might expect to see +-Kettle or +-Shaver price tags in the supermarkets soon?

I don’t see why not. Once it is publicly accepted, we might start seeing it everywhere.