it's actually something halfways between a political deflection and a freudian slip.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/mckenna-calls-conservative-criticism-of-carbon-tax-a-smokescreen-1.4151587

she seems stoically self-aware that she's being lead to slaughter here, as her seat is likely undefendable at the first sign of ndp restrengthening, which is inevitable, eventually. i lived in this riding for many years - it's an ndp riding. so, it's a matter of time.

iirc, the minister has an education in economics. she surely knows that she's peddling absurdity, and is being tasked to do it with a smile.

a very feminist smile.

this is just looking more and more like a gas tax, which may have it's own benefits, but is not going to spur on any kind of transition - it's just going to make gas more expensive, which may or may not lead to a decrease in gas consumption.

and, a gas tax is not a climate plan - it's a smokescreen to distract from the fact that the government doesn't have one.

it's not like we don't know how to do this. we've functionally eliminated all kinds of pollutants - lead, mercury, ddt, etc. and, we did it through regulation and enforcement, not through hokey appeals to a misplaced faith in the theory of markets.