Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government’s investment Thursday in battery-electric vehicle manufacturing in Ontario is a “critical piece” of the Liberals’ plan to cut carbon pollution.

Wilkinson’s comments come as Canada’s independent Parliamentary Budget Office released estimates Thursday on how much the federal carbon tax would need to rise to meet the nation’s Paris Agreement target in the absence of any other new measures that would cut pollution.

Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux’s new analysis said the carbon tax would need to rise to between $117 per tonne and $289 per tonne by 2030, depending on whether the government would apply such a tax broadly across almost all industries or cap it for big emitters.

This price range would be sufficient to close the 77-megatonne (Mt) gap that is not accounted for between Canada’s Paris target and current measures that have been announced, said Giroux.

Giroux noted the report does not assess the merits of carbon pricing versus other approaches.

“We’re not getting into a debate as to whether a carbon tax or regulations are the best instruments — we leave that to those who are in the political arena, or policy wonks,” he said.

Federal parties have been promoting a broader approach to tackling Canada’s carbon pollution than just using a carbon tax.

The Liberal government’s strategy, for example, has been a mix of carbon pricing and other measures, such as regulating coal-fired power plants and methane leaks from oil and gas facilities and investing in electric-vehicle infrastructure to encourage the decarbonization of the transport sector.

On Thursday, Wilkinson pointed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s announcement of $295 million each to help repurpose an assembly plant in Oakville, Ont., for battery-electric vehicle production as a climate-fighting move.

Speaking during question period, the minister named energy efficiency and renewable energy as two elements of an “effective climate plan” that would aim to “reduce emissions in all sectors across the country.”

“Certainly, the announcement today by the prime minister and Premier Ford with respect to zero-emission vehicle manufacturing is a critical piece of that plan as well,” he said.