We all say things when we are trying to get elected.

I have a broad view that we have to try and get to "yes" on projects. On economic projects anybody can say no. My child can say no. But I think the hard thing to do is to figure out how you get to "yes" and you protect the environment.

There are limits to what we can do. That's for sure. That is true. One of the downsides of a growing economy [is that] we're accommodating a lot more people. They're buying houses and the market is growing. That is part of the downside of that, but I think that all of us do have to decide to act on it.

To put it in context, the federal government was, at the beginning [of the Vancouver meeting], talking about a $15-per-tonne floor for carbon emissions. We're at $30 a tonne, so we're already double that. But our economy is growing at a faster rate - three per cent of GDP is our projected growth in British Columbia.

The way I would characterize what you said about me is I do try to say what I think as clearly as I can without first thinking, "Uh-oh, which way is the wind blowing and are people going to like this?"

I think we should be worried about the fact that we have become, as a society, very focused on the way people look, the way they dress. I do think we should worry about that because we should be worried about content. We should be worried about ideas. We should not be putting form over function.

I'm conscious of competitive issues, but at the same time the recommendation they make is that we protect citizens by not adding to the overall tax burden of the province.