What Global Pressures was Dion talking about?

After being bombarded with reality Stephane Dion is finally admitting that the price of gas at the pumps would go up with his proposed carbon tax. This after claiming for so long that this would not happen.

What I find interesting though is that with the admission that gas prices will rise, comes this little caveat saying why they will not go up much. (highlighted area below)

Source: "Dion held firm on his pledge not to hit consumers with a new gas tax, but conceded yesterday his the carbon tax might indirectly lead to higher prices at the pumps.

"We know that they will pass on part of their costs to their consumers because they cannot eliminate the emissions overnight, with all the goodwill of the world. We know that," he said.

Big polluting oil companies would pay a hefty price for emissions, but the Liberal carbon tax plan projects any costs passed on to consumers at the pump would be minimal as global pressures would keep prices from Canadian companies competitive."

Ok Liberal spin meisters, what exactly are those global pressures that Dion spoke about, and how will they keep that evil big oil from passing their increased costs for the production and sale gasoline onto us consumers?


Perhaps the global pressures that Dion was speaking about were comparisons of the price of gasoline in other countries. Maybe the fact that Venezuela, Iran, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and even Turkmenistan pay less than 25 cents a litre for gas at the pumps would put the pressure on big oil to stop them from passing on those costs in Canada. Or maybe it is the other end of the spectrum he was speaking about such as in most EU countries where the price of gas is well over $2.00/Litre that would keep our pump prices from going up.

Ether way, I do not really see how the price of gas in another country would cause much pressure on big oil to keep the price down in Canada, but I am not an academic like Dion. SO please dear Liberal friends, I would really like to understand what "pressures" Dion was talking about.

It should be an easy one to answer, so lets hear some examples to back up your fearless leaders BS words.

Thank you in advance.

Line of the week

Lorne Gunter lets loose on Stephane Dion in an article in todays Edmonton Journal, and has IMHO the MSM line of the week.

"Dion never, ever gives details about how his Green Shift plan will produce the beneficial results he has promised, leaving me to wonder whether he has discovered a wand or philosopher's stone or bag of magic beans he is relying on."

Read the entire article here

Marlene Jennings. Why smear one when you can smear them all.

Marlene Jennings, the Liberal MP for Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Lachine expresses some of that well known Liberal love, trust and respect to many in the Canadian civil service in another lame attempt to smear the government.

Marlene Jennings said this: "Mr. Speaker, this whole sad story looks like an attempted cover-up involving Foreign Affairs, Public Works, Public Safety, Transport, the Privy Council, the Prime Minister's Office, CSIS and the RCMP. Why such a cover-up? " source

The Liberals are about only one thing; returning to power, and they smear anyone and stop at nothing in their efforts to regain that power.


In this case Jennings just smeared for political gain 1000's of honest hard working Canadians working in Foreign Affairs, Public Works, Public Safety, Transport, the Privy Council, the Prime Minister's Office, CSIS and the RCMP as corrupt and somehow involved in a cover up to protect the PM and his government. In another recent example the Libs usurped the wishes and trampled on the legal rights of a private company in their attempt to camouflage the true nature of Dion's carbon tax proposal by stealing its name. Not cool for the self proclaimed 'party of the charter' and so called champion of social justice and human rights. But using the name against the wishes of the owner was not enough for the Liberals. When the rightful owner dare not fall in line with what the Liberal Party of Canada wanted they found it in their interests to attack the owner of this company, a private citizen.

Unbelievable, and yet they expect this type of thing will somehow get them voted back into power. Well at least some of their supporters feel that way.


FYI, some more of Jennings antics can be found in these links here, here, and here.

One thing that all economists can agree on

I keep reading Liberal spin about how some economists are praising Dion's carbon tax proposal, but the numbers are very few and it should be obvious that not all economists out there agree with their colleagues on this question. After all the PM is an economist and he certainly does not think that the plan is a good one, so it goes without saying that there are divisions of opinion among economists about Dion's carbon scheme.

However, I do believe that I have found something that 100% of economists will agree on with regards to Dion's carbon scheme and here it is: Dion's carbon tax will increase the rate of inflation in Canada.

They may differ on just how much it will rise( I bet once the numbers get crunched it may well be double digit inflation), and they differ on just how much this will effect Canada's already fragile economy, but without a doubt they ALL will agree that prices will rise and so will the rate of inflation.

Find one who doesn't, and you have found yourself an incompetent economist or a liar.

Dion's Carbon Tax Revenue Neutral? Impossible!

As per usual the Liberals are playing fast and loose with the facts in trying to sell yet another of their big ideas to the Canadian electorate in order to get themselves elected and back into power.

Heard this one before? The Green Shift will be revenue neutral and ALL of the money collected will go back to the taxpayer. It will not make money for the government, and it will NOT cost the government any other money to run. FYI directly from the green plan: "This shift will be done in a revenue neutral way –putting it in law that every dollar that is raised from carbon pollution will be returned to Canadians in tax" cuts."

Well I am calling BS to that and to all of the great minds in the Liberal Party of Canada who are, with a straight face, claiming this to be true.

Aside from the fact that no one believes this claim to be true, as governments have never been able to pull it off before in spite of their promises, and forgetting totally the truly ridiculous notion that that NO extra people or new bureaucracy will be needed to run such massive taxation scheme, there are a couple of other reasons why the carbon tax cannot possibly be revenue neutral as claimed by the Liberals.

The first reason I dealt with in an earlier post and as of yet it really has not been refuted by Garth or the rest of the LPC spin machine which is currently in overdrive selling Dion's plan.
If this plan is a success and our CO2 emissions do manage to go down, where will the money come from to pay for the already promised income tax cuts and tax credits? Those tax credits rise in the forth year of the carbon tax by an already determined amount, but if there is less carbon use to tax, there WILL be a shortfall and that money has to come from somewhere. Where?

The second reason I have not yet seen touched on anywhere else, as everyone has been busy trying to figure out what it is going to cost individuals and business, but it is something that makes the revenue neutral claim a totally fraudulent one.

Just how are all of the cost increases that the Government of Canada are going to have to pay out because of the Green Shift going to be paid for?

That's right. The millions of dollars extra that it will cost the Canadian Government, to heat all of those massive buildings across this great country of ours, to power the computers & office lighting in those buildings, , keep the RCMP, Coast Guard & armed forces moving, idle the PM's parked limo, keep Dion's night light powered up, or just about anything else that you can think of that is required just to operate a government on a daily basis will have to be paid for. But if every dollar collected is going back to the taxpayer as a tax cut or credit as claimed by the LPC; just how do all of these increased costs, which are directly the result of the green shift, going to be funded?

Revenue neutral my ass. Just how do you Liberals figure you will slip these costs past the AG?


Spin away.

Some thoughts for the first day of Summer

I saw one of these earlier tonight while out for my evening stroll. Is this the future of transportation in Canada post Green Shift?


Kind of cool looking and as a bonus it's Canadian made! Even those not so motorcycle inclined might just give this a look. Nice work Bombardier, but perhaps you might want to consider applying the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle to your website. I couldn't get the site to load properly and annoying potential customers is never a great idea if you are trying to sell me something. No link for you!

-----------

Lots of spin from the Libs on the Green shift but the facts are what they are and it is a dud. I will post more on why I think this at a later date but the carbon tax and Dion are toast.

Fearless prediction: By the end of July, Dion will be fighting off his own party over the blow back his MP's are going to receive from the public over the Green Shift. With the open revolt Dion will be unelectable and effectively done as the leader.

I still think that they will give him his one election, but the party brass are going to be calling the shots and Dion will be just a lame figurehead.

By the way, great job Bob! Writing a policy that was sure to fail with the voters but yet was so appealing to the ego of the leader that he would run with it was pure genius. You will be getting another shot at the title when the dust settles.


.

Sir Dion the Courageous

Or at least that is how he is going to be presented, and later spun, today as he presents his 'brave and courageous' plan to shift into gear and save the earth.


Watch for it soon in the MSM near you.


You cannot claim he is not a leader anymore people, because only a real leader would be brave enough to destroy our country's economy, increase inflation, and divide the country all for his own party's political gain.


That takes guts. Well guts, and a bunch of back room Liberals encouraging you to walk the plank so they can get their own guy in the OLO.



Follow up June22: Aside from the Lib bloggers doing their best to try to spin the carbon tax and Dion in a positive light (with those that do not agree tossed out of the club) there has not been as much fake praise for Dion in the MSM as I expected; Gary Nichols has an example here.

Want some spin, read this. Wow.

A Few Quick Questions on Dion's Carbon Tax

If someone has to pay $1000 a year more because of the carbon tax, but get back $1000 through the proposed 'shifting'; where exactly is the incentive for anyone to decrease their carbon use? Or is that not what this tax is supposed to be all about?


Just how exactly are the many thousands of people who pay NO income taxes in this country going to benefit by tax breaks? How about those who do not even have a SIN#? Or are all of these people somehow magically exempt from paying the increased costs that are going to be passed on by business to the consumer as a result of this tax?


If this tax somehow does what it was intended to do and decreases our country's carbon output; wouldn't it be IMPOSSIBLE for the tax to remain revenue neutral? You cannot give back 14 billion in tax credits or through some type of creative tax shifting if there is not 14 billion coming in via the carbon tax. In theory the carbon tax revenue should decrease every year as we produce less CO2, but yet the tax credits are to remain the same or are to even increase to low income earners and those that pay no taxes. How can this ponzi scheme be maintained? Revenue neutral does not only mean that the government will make no money off of it, it also means that it will not cost the government any money as well.


Good luck with that.


And lastly, is it still part of the grand plan for a Liberal government to purchase carbon credits for us to reach our Kyoto targets?

Dion now wants to kill that very same milk cow.

My MP, Mike Lake, reminds Stephane Dion about some of the things Dion has said in the past about carbon taxes and cows.




And here are a few more things Dion said previously about a carbon tax.

Be nice to your murder victims...

or be held accountable by the great Canadian justice system.

By: Dean Bennett, THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON - Thomas Svekla treated his murder victim like so much stuff - trussing her up nude, bending her like a pretzel and cramming her in a hockey bag - and for that he must pay, his sentencing judge said Monday.

Justice Sterling Sanderman ordered that while Svekla is automatically sentenced to life in jail for the second-degree murder of Theresa Innes, he can't ask for parole for at least 17 years.

"We don't treat the dead with the utter contempt and utter disregard that you exhibited to Miss Innes," Sanderman told Svekla, who sat intent but impassive in the prisoner's dock.

Got that you wannabe killers? Murder away; just be kind to the corpse when you are finished.

Another example of why the YCJA needs overhauled.

On March 29th 55-year-old Antonio Lanzellotti was killed when the taxi he was driving was struck by a stolen vehicle.

A girl ,who was arrested and charged in the incident, repeatedly told police during a taped interview that she “didn't care” Lanzellotti had died and said he “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The girl laughed and giggled and said Lanzellotti “had to die sometime.”

Sounds like the perfect little princess doesn't she?

It’s the second time in as many weeks the girl has wound up in the Manitoba Youth Centre just days after being released. She got out of MYC on Thursday after she ignored a probation order, while wearing the bracelet, June 9 by hanging out with her best friend, a fellow car thief she was ordered to stay away from.

The probation order was handed down four days earlier when the girl was sentenced for her role in the fatal crash and then released.

The girl’s latest breach is at least her third in connection with this case.

A day after she got bail in April, she was arrested for breaching her curfew and disappearing for a day.

Source

And by the way; in case you were not aware, the girl cannot be identified under the rules of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Thanks again Liberal Party of Canada.

Happy Fathers Day

For all those out there who are lucky enough to be called Dad, Happy Fathers Day!!!



.


And for fun here is a little comparison, or tip if you will, about gift buying for Fathers Day vs Mothers Day.

While it is generally acceptable to buy Dad any of the numerous types of tools available for Fathers Day; guys please don't ever consider buying your better half anything that could be considered a tool for Mothers Day.

It is a mistake that you will only make once, as I am sure countless men out there can tell you from experience.

Enjoy the day, and call your Dad.

Global's Tera Nelson; Just Making Stuff Up.

Does Global National's weekend anchor Tera Nelson know something that the rest of us do not?

Or is she just making stuff up?

Decide for yourself.

--------

From the Sunday June 8th edition of the Global National Evening News with anchor Tera Nelson.
(emphasis mine)

"An opposition plan to bring down gas prices and offset emissions is prompting political attacks tonight."

-----

Interesting, as this is the first I have heard of this. Just what 'plan' is Tera referring to in her lead up to a story on the latest CPC ads? Is there something out there that I missed on this 'plan' to lower prices at the pumps? I have read a few stories in the MSM on this subject and I have even read some of the more partisan Liberal blogs; yet nowhere have I read that Dion's carbon tax would reduce the price of gas at the pumps. Not even Garth or Cherniak have claimed such a thing and they both have been leading the spin on Dion's carbon tax from the very beginning.

So please help me out here as I am at a loss for words. When a news anchor says something like this on a 'trusted' national news program, where they charge advertisers big bucks for commercial time, I have to wonder if I am blinded by partisanship or perhaps just misinformed on all of the details.

Because a news anchor wouldn't just make stuff up would they?

My apologies about the poor quality of the video


Update June 13th: Global has acknowledged receipt of my email. Auto responder.

Update July 4th: Nothing else back from Global and my questions remain unanswered, but Global is back in the spotlight again. h/t Hunter

Going Green.

A conservative confesses.

Over the last 2 years or so I have slowly but surely been heading towards a greener lifestyle, and although it was not something that had I really set out to do initially; lo and behold this "neocon" has greatly lowered his footprint on mother earth.

So far:

I have replaced my old furnace with a new one which is at least 40% more efficient.


All light bulbs are being changed out as they die with CFL type bulbs.


Edmonton has one of the best recycling programs around, and while I have been using the program since the blue box days, I have become much more aware about what I am throwing away and what I am recycling recently.


New and much more efficient windows have been installed in my home.


As my appliances all seemed to die about the same time, all of them have now been replaced with more energy efficient units.

OK, the new washing machine might eat up a bit more power than the old one, but having a house full of kids with the huge volume of laundry easily justified the much larger capacity machine. I think it may work out in the end though as just by cutting down on the number of total washes with the new machine should make up that difference, and if not, the savings from the new refrigerator and range will easily make the difference.


The car I recently bought is supposed to get 50 miles to the gallon, or use just over 8 litres per 100 kilometers on the highway.

It is too early to tell if the above mileage will be accurate, but compared to the truck I was driving and just using basic 'in my head math', it appears that I have decreased my fuel consumption by over 66%. This is easily an under estimate as I did not include the fact that I am not driving the kilometers that I did even a couple of years ago to come up with the 66% decrease.


There are probably a few more little things that I could list but I think my point has been made.

I have gone greener.




But why you ask?

It sure wasn't any Liberal tax, newly proposed or otherwise, or even some grand vision style lefty policy initiative that did turned this so called"neocon" green. In fact it was the thing that many lefties detest that actually made the difference. It was the free market that did it. Well, as free as it gets in Canada anyways.

Imagine that. The market has seemed to do on it's own, and without any 'help' or manipulation from government, something controlling lefty governments have all failed to do in the past. It has made myself and countless others go greener.

I expect someone to pipe in and say that this is how a carbon tax is supposed to work and why one is still needed. This might be true if nothing was progressing, but the reality is that that we are already seeing positive results* of what is happening because of the market. And all without the help or manipulation of government. I would also add that judging from the long history of government manipulation in the markets, or even looking to just about anything else the government has ever done/planned/or touched as examples; Dion's carbon tax would not only follow along with most other big government visions/plans and not work as intended, it would cost us all way too much in the attempt. Trust me, it's a long list of expensive failures and I doubt that this time it would turn out any different.

Now the political stuff. Take heed Liberals. In my opinion to pile on ANY type of carbon tax now would be political suicide. I feel it would be looked at as another tax grab by your average Canadian; one that would not only hurt Canadians financially but also one that punishes the poor unfairly and will end up creating even more poverty along the way. Like it or not, most Canadians still have to heat their homes in the winter, wash their clothes, buy and cook their food, commute, or even be able to see in the dark in our northern part of the world. These are the facts and adding additional costs to these necessities of life are not going to be looked at kindly by an already cash poor and overtaxed electorate. You will be paying a price at the ballot box if you propose to raise those costs even more for Canadians with a carbon tax.






* This occurred in 2006 under a Harper government. Something that the Liberals cannot claim even though they signed on to Kyoto and had Dion as the "greenest environment minister ever" running the show. Not that you heard much about this reduction in the MSM, but that is another topic.