I work in a field where people travel to the U.S. for conferences very frequently, and while there isn’t as much of a decline as I had hoped, many are decreasing their visits or opting not to go entirely.

Same, I agree, the majority of Canadians are net receivers, you have to work pretty hard to engage in enough emissions generating activities to actually be a payer. But many won't see it like we do, unfortunately.

I think this might be one of his weak spots, when he's been asked about the carbon tax issue previously he starts to talk a little too much like a microeconomist. When he was asked about this by Rosemary Barton he went on for too long and it became convoluted. The public won't get a lot out of his explanations unless they get a lot simpler and until then the conservatives can say basically what you just said: his new system will deliver largely the same outcome.