Hedy Fry "Clarifies" the green shift and announces that green shift will tax gasoline.

(updated with video and a link to the transcript of the interview with an additional audio source.)

It is no great surprise that the Liberals are having a difficult time trying to sell their carbon tax to Canadians. Almost daily we find examples of Liberals confusing people with the details or just contradicting each other and their leader on the plan. With that in mind Liberal MP Hedy Fry was on with Dave Rutherford last Tuesday to talk about Dion's carbon tax and to help clarify some of the confusion about the green shift for Canadians.

Wow, Hedy clarified alright, but I am not sure that Stephane Dion and the rest of the Liberals will agree with her definition of clarity after some of the wild claims she made that directly contradict what those others have been saying about the green shift.

And what did Hedy clarify for us?: Fry= blue. Dave Rutherford = brown. My comments in black

The green shift WILL tax gasoline. Yes you did read that right; Hedy says that the carbon tax will be on gasoline. I guess she missed the memo.

"We're taxing wholesale." ("wholesale what? Wholesale Gasoline?") "Yes, wholesale gasoline, diesel, coal, ah not simply natural gas, but gas, diesel, coal, propane, all of those things will be (taxed) at the wholesale level".
Later she clarifies that the wholesale level is going to mean that the tax will be applied at the refinery, but not to worry because it is not going to be added on at the pumps. "But it is not taxing you when you go to fill up your tank as well. It is not taxing the farmer when he goes to get diesel for his tractor. It is not doing that." and ""It is not coming out of your pockets. It is coming out of the wholesale level pocket."

Hmm, didn't Ralph Goodale state that 2/3 of the fuels produced in Saskatchewan and Alberta would not be taxed because it will end up being burned out of the country and not in Canada? Like all great Liberals Hedy clarifies for us just what Goodale meant to say; and in the process contradicts her interpretation of what Goodale said in mid sentence. "What he is trying to say is that it is not going to be passed on to the person who is buying gas at the retail level, and but we do know that it will in fact increase costs." Huh?

Ah the clarity! I feel so much better now, as I am sure Ralph Goodale does too considering how Hedy clarified his remarks for him in such a stellar way. Got that? Ralph was wrong on the carbon tax being imposed at the refinery level, and also wrong about the costs not being passed on to the consumer at the pumps because the green shift will increase costs. "You are admitting though that a wholesale level increase will translate into retail prices that are higher for food, for power, for fuel, for everything right?" "Absolutely". She goes on later to again confirm that costs will be higher because of the green shift for both fuel and food. "So that is going to again help them because the cost of food is going up, because of fuel costs" and "When you truck stuff from a to b people pay for it at the supermarket level" It would seem that these comments contradict some of her others about the cost of the carbon tax not coming out of our pockets, but why nit pick.


Wait, Hedy isn't finished with the breaking news announcements just yet.

Did you know that:

The green shift will not be providing tax breaks as previously stated by everyone else who has spoken on this so far, but rather Hedy announced the news that the Liberals will be issuing cheques to Canadians instead. "Wait a second. You are going to give Canadians cheques? "Yes". and later confirming this again when questioned by Rutherford about the cheques; "This is new. Hedy you are going to be giving cheques to people. I did not know this". "Yes"

Oil was $200 a barrel on August 5th: "Look let me tell you, I mean 25(?) uh 200 dollar a barrel of oil".


Those living in the North will be getting an additional tax break of $2000. "The northern allowance for the very cold regions of Canada are going to get an increased northern allowance of about $2000 dollars to help them with heating." Interesting; the green shift policy book states that the northern allowance will go up "to a new maximum of $7,000 per year from just over $6,000" which translates to an immediate tax savings of nearly $150 per year and over $200 per year within four years for those who fully benefit from the NRD." More Liberal math I guess.


The Liberals are going to keep the Conservative $100/month Child Care benefit? Hedy confirms this for all in the following: "All families, meaning with children. who actually it doesn't matter what your tax rate is will be for instance getting a boost of about $250 dollars a year on top of the child benefits that are already there for them."



Clarity, thy name is Hedy.

You can listen to this for yourself at QR77. (audio vault Tuesday Aug 5th 2008 @ 930am) note the file will only be available for a limited time.

Update: Steve Jenke has a transcript and a audio copy of the interview here.