Preston Manning argues Conservatives should support carbon pricing

He's a leading Canadian Conservative voice with concerns over the environment. Preston Manning has long believed in the link between Conservatism and Conservation but his support for carbon pricing has some on the right seeing red.

Back in 1997, Reform Party leader Preston Manning and Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin faced off over the Kyoto Protocol in the House of Commons. Seventeen years later, carbon emissions are even more pressing of n issue.... for the environment and the economy.

But Preston Manning, now an elder statesman of the Canadian conservative movement, seems be sounding a different tune on carbon... and courting controversy with some fellow conservatives in the process.

Today, Preston Manning leads his own foundation and conservative think tank in Calgary -- the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. Its annual networking conference is a must-attend event for many of this country's opinion makers and decision makers.

He's also a member of the new Canadian Ecofiscal Commission, a privately-funded group of economists and former politicians whose agenda includes putting a price on pollution.

Preston Manning was in our Calgary studio.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Idella Sturino.