Early one morning in the ballroom of the venerable Palliser Hotel in downtown Calgary all sorts of people gathered recently to talk about putting a price on carbon.

Oil industry leaders, conservative politicians, the Chamber of Commerce and environmentalists all in the same room to talk about what is considered a most touchy topic in oil-rich Alberta.

But there was no disagreement. In the words of economist Chris Ragan who chaired the event: it was a “love fest.”

Everyone agreed it was time for carbon emitters in Alberta to pay more for the pollution they produce.

It was almost as shocking as the NDP winning the election two weeks earlier.

The event was organized by Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, which has no official status but has managed to rope in an impressive array of academics, former politicians, business leaders and environmental NGOs to urge the country forward on climate change policies.

Steve Williams, the president and CEO of Suncor, one of the largest oilsands players, started things off by stating it is time to “stop talking and take action” by levying a significant tax on carbon that would be paid not just by industrial emitters but by consumers as well; the same model adopted by British Columbia.

His call to action was met with hearty applause by the 250 or so people who started jamming into the ballroom at 6:45 in the morning.

But there were more shockers to come.

Jim Dinning, the former PC provincial treasurer, said: “I am a carbon emitter” as though it were a confession. And then proceeded to explain that politicians need to convince people that a broad tax on carbon is the only way to reduce the use of the fossil fuels that power everything from electricity generators to cars.

Justin Smith, public policy analyst for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said the Alberta government’s current price on carbon is ineffective and that more was needed to reduce carbon emissions.

“Millions of dollars have been paid out but not much has changed,” he said.

Indeed, the province’s carbon pricing policies have been found to be a bit of sham.

In 2008 Alberta was the first jurisdiction in North America to put a price on carbon for large-scale industrial emitters. But it was only $15 a ton and it was less expensive for emitters to pay the levy if they went over their reduction target or buy credits from a lower emitter than to invest in carbon reduction strategies.

Last year Alberta’s Auditor General revealed that the program had been so poorly monitored that it was not on track to reach its 2020 targets even though Alberta had committed over $1 billion to two carbon capture and storage projects.

“This is amazing,” Auditor General Merwan Saher told reporters on a conference call. “We're in 2014 and there hasn't yet been a public report on the success or otherwise of the 2008 (greenhouse gas) reduction strategy.”

Amin Asadollahi from the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental and advocacy group, suggested $30 a ton, as in BC, would be a good start. No one objected, including Judy Fairbairn from Cenovus, another major oilsands player, who was also on the panel.

Suncor’s Steve Williams said Canada has a bad reputation when it comes to climate change policies and that’s bad for business.

No doubt serious carbon reduction policies would aid pipeline projects which have been stalled by a wave of protestors pointing to the tarsands’ mushrooming greenhouse gas emissions as reason enough to stop them from carrying bitumen from northern Alberta to other parts of Canada.

And there’s no question that a consensus is emerging internationally in support of tough climate change policies in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.

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Combine that with the recent election of the NDP in Alberta, which promised to improve Alberta’s performance when it comes to climate change policies and it’s clear that while many other oilpatch players have yet to come on board, this group wants to make sure they are at the table when the bargaining begins.

Given Stephen Harper’s reluctance to tackle this issue it may be Alberta that pushes him to finally take climate change seriously.