For at least two years now, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has been clear -- emphatic even -- there will be no carbon tax if his party wins the next federal election with him at the helm.
Of course, he was being disingenuous about that sometimes. For instance, last spring he suggested that instead of a carbon tax, the country's 700 largest carbon emitters might be charged a carbon fee.
On a practical level, there would be no difference. A gouging, punitive, regressive tax by any other name would still be a gouging, punitive, regressive tax.
Still, on a dozen or more occasions, Dion has pledged never to introduce a carbon tax.
In June 2006, during the first Liberal leadership debate, Dion scoffed when Michael Ignatieff said a carbon tax "would do more to address climate change and help us be good stewards of our environment than any other measure." Then, as now, Dion was a passionate defender of the Kyoto accord and even he rejected the notion that a carbon tax could help reduce emissions to the levels mandated by the UN's global-warming accord.
Weeks later, when he released his campaign platform it referred to a tax on the production or consumption of fossil fuels as "simply bad policy."
Also, Dion told the National Post's editorial board in November 2006 (just weeks before he was selected as Liberal leader), if he ever became prime minister he would not even consider a carbon tax, because "for Albertans it's a non-starter."
He claimed in the Globe and Mail to have "always been against" a carbon tax. He had "other ways" to achieve emission reductions -- mostly investment in new energy-saving technologies and tax incentives for individuals and businesses that reduced their carbon footprints.
Dion did say he wanted to establish a link between Canadians' pocketbooks and the environment -- between "your wallet and the planet," in his words -- but not by taking money out of those wallets, but rather by fattening them up with government cash.
Within weeks of becoming Liberal boss, Dion rushed to Alberta to assure the Journal's editorial board, among others, that there would never be a carbon tax if he had his way.
I wrote at the time that I didn't believe him. His plan, regardless of what he was going to call its components, would hit Alberta disproportionately hard and as such amounted to a carbon tax. Dion wrote our editors insisting "the plan I will reveal soon to decrease Canada's industrial greenhouse gases will not include a carbon tax. I have said that I will be the best partner for Alberta and I mean it."
Even this past winter, speaking to an Alberta audience, Dion assured the crowd he had two "bottom lines": "there will be no carbon tax" and the profits earned by Albertans in the current energy boom "will stay in Alberta."
So, of course, what has Dion proposed this week? A carbon tax.
5 comments:
Like the oldest profession in the world,Dion and the Liberals still stalk the Canadian public and ply their trade.Only thing different is they add lies and corruption .It doesnt seem to bother the life long liberal voters.But why in hell do we all have to pay for their sheer stupidity.Its disgraceful that these corrupt idiots are even allowed to sit in Parliament.Unlike the PQ who we know are idiots, the Liberals are worse because they want whats left of our hard earned money so they can go on world vacations and buy fountains and golf courses and mix with the elite of the world,all the while screwing Canada and that is not something we should be allowing in our Parliament buildings.
Every Conservative supporter should give thanks for Stephane Dion. He has basically doomed his party to failure. It looks like the Liberals will finally get up the nerve to bring down the government sometime this fall and by then gasoline prices should be in the $1.35 to $1.50 range. In addition, by the fall people will have had a look at the increasing costs for home heating and will be calculating how much it will cost over the winter months. Since the Liberals say they won't apply the tax to gasoline, that means it will hit the one area where there is little, or no, discretionary spending.
Keep it up Stephane, you're the best hope for a Conservative majority.
A carbon tax is likely part of the deal he made with Lizzy. No unite the red/green left if no carbon tax.
The move sets the NDP apart from the rest of the leftbots. Dippers want big emitters to pay, which of course will eventually cost consumers/users as much as a carbon tax, both hidden cost/tax.
Canadians pay enough taxes already.
How about the Conservative government cut some waste, apply the savings into actual ghg emission cutting, and research and development into alternate energy sources.
The admin costs alone, created by dion's carbon tax, would be better spent to help Ontario go nuclear.
Let the provinces decide, like BC and Quebec, if they want to impose a carbon tax on their citizens.
Is anyone really surprised that Dion would say one thing and now turn around and do something else? It is a Liberal trait that we all have seen before.
Now Dion wants us to believe that his carbon tax will somehow be revenue neutral. With a track record like that, why would anyone believe him?
Dion's goose is cooked. This tax is going to be tough for even die hard Liberals to support.
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