CALGARY (CBC) - Wearing a cowboy hat, plaid shirt and jeans, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion strode into the Calgary Stampede, hoping to sell his Green Shift carbon tax plan in the heart of Alberta oil country.

"If there is a place in the world where we can tackle climate change and do the right thing, it is right here in Calgary, right here in Alberta," he told a crowd of Liberal supporters at their annual Stampede breakfast on Saturday.

Dion used the forum to repeat his challenge to Prime Minister Stephen Harper "to have a debate with me here in Calgary."

Dion said his green initiative is supported not only by the party faithful but by other Albertans.

He said they are "coming to me by their own and shaking my hand and [saying] 'Mr. Dion you are right, we need to do that, it is the right thing to do.'"

The plan would levy $15.4 billion in new taxes on Canadian industries that produce high carbon emissions. The higher prices for energy people would face would be offset by broad-based tax cuts, according to the plan.

In an interview with CBC News, Dion said those tax cuts will help sell his plan in Alberta and rejected criticisms that the proposal will snuff out Alberta's economy.

"Nobody's saying that [it will hurt the Alberta economy] except some politicians that want to play fear-mongering," he said.

He said tax cuts will provide incentives for oil and gas companies to invest in ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has already bristled at the carbon tax plan, saying it would hurt the manufacturing and agriculture sector.

Economist Frank Atkins said the plan will impact the province's booming economy.

"Things are going to become a lot more expensive because in Alberta, for instance, under this scheme, electricity will be taxed very, very strongly, because a lot of our energy is coal based."

LIKE IT?  LET OTHERS KNOW