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A summit, if you please: the Climate Summit, convening in Quebec City. It used to be the premiers just held meetings. Later, after they renamed themselves first ministers, they became conferences. Eventually they took to calling themselves the Council of the Federation, apparently under the influence of Star Wars. Now it’s a “summit.” Just like Reagan and Gorbachev.

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But why shouldn’t the provinces act like sovereign states, given the government of Canada’s abdication from the job? A quick recap, for those just joining us: Is climate change happening? Yes. Are we, as a species, responsible? Probably. Can we do something about it? So it seems. If the rest of the world takes action, as at the Paris climate conference later this year, is Canada obliged to? Of course. There’s no point in us acting alone — we produce just two per cent of global emissions — but there’s no defence for not acting at all.

So if we must do something, what should we do? Most environmentalists and every economist will tell you the same: put a price on carbon. Rather than regulatory edicts (we order you to reduce your emissions by precisely this much in precisely this way, no matter whether there are less costly means at hand) or subsidies (we’ll pay you to reduce your emissions in precisely this way, even if you were going to do so anyway), prices give every economic agent the incentive to search for the most efficient means of cutting emissions — not just the ones that occur to the planners — and even to exceed the required amount if they are able.