"Green Shift" Shows Liberals Still Ontario-Quebec Centric

I'm going to call Stephane Dion's green plan what we're all thinking; the green shaft. I'm sure that four letter word has crossed all our minds as the Liberal leader prepares to push his carbon tax agenda on a groaning Canada. One need not look to Kennedy or Roswell to find conspiracies since I would argue the green movement and politicians are both working together to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt in order to fuel their own agenda. For the Liberals, taxation seems to be the solution to everything. People smoke too much, tax it. People use health care too much, tax it more. People drive too much, tax them too. So now we're moving onto the dreaded carbon tax. The greenies have argued that the release of carbon in the atmosphere has gone on for too long and now it's time to pay the real cost of it. Academics love the idea, while sitting in their ivory towers watching the world go by through green coloured glasses. Such ideas, like the proposed carbon tax, are often created through knee jerk reactions to problems, or perceived problems, by politicians who have no idea what they're talking about.

This weekend, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut joined Alberta and Saskatchewan in denouncing the Liberal leader's plan. According to the three territorial premiers, the plan would do great harm to northern communities since they rely on diesel fuel for heat and electricity. They argue that a carbon tax would futher add to already prohibative fuel costs and would do great harm to the territorial citizens. They noted that it was impractical to put in place alternative energy sources in the region. The cold tundra is hardly an ideal spot for wind or solar power. Alberta and Saskatchewan worry about economic collapse since the tax would put a heavy burden on the two provinces' oil industries. Oil provides a living for many living in the area. In BC, the first province to enact a carbon tax, truckers and remote communities are fuming since they can no longer afford fuel. Truckers are demanding to be exempt from the tax, something the government is unlikely to do. According to polls though, over half of Canadians have warmed up to the carbon tax. Unfrotunately, these polls tend to be "small-n" studies that interview perhaps 1000 people, willing to answer the phone to telemarketrs, in central Canada with no reguard to the rest of the country. Central Canada holds about half of the country's population. The problem is that most of Canada's resource rich regions, which our national economy depends upon, aren't located in central Canada but rather in the west. So far, I'm seeing more and more provinces and people lashing out against the idea of a carbon tax. Even we here in Ontario need to worry, as I indicated in a previous article. Prime Minister Stephen Harper rightly indicated that such a tax would "screw" Canadians. Even the NDP has dumped the idea since they know it will alienate their labour-centric voting base, many of whom work in the oil industry out west.

So why does Dion think this is a good idea when the costs of it are so high. First of all, we've all been lied to that the Earth will be destroyed by anthropogenic global warming, which is a dubious theory at best. Perhaps Dion genuinely thinks he will do some good all be it he is naive in thinking so. More accurately, it's simply another cash grab. Dion claims that the carbon tax will be revenue neutral, meaning that it will be offset by massive tax cuts in income taxes. Brian Mulroney tried the same thing when he instituted the controversial Goods and Services Tax back in the 1980s. The revenue neutral nature of the GST never saw the light of day and was largely responsible for the Progressive Conservatives not being reelected in 1993. (Scrapping the GST was a major part of Cretien's campaign, which also never say the light of day) Dion himself was environment minister under the Cretien government. He was appointed to the position rather than being an elected MP. He is where he is due to a healthy dose of patronage by his former boss, who himself was a cronie of Trudeau.

Dion has most recently been looking to the Australian model for his carbon tax. Their tax was instituted by new left wing government after former conservative PM Gordon Brown failed to win reelection. Australia may be a vast country but it is a warmer climate that doesn't rely on fossil fuels for heating. It also lacks the energy industry that Canada has. Trying to fit the Australian model to Canada is like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. If he wants to compare it to another country, perhaps he should look to Europe, more specifically to our motherland, the UK. The United Kingdom has some of the highest taxes on carbon in the developed world. So far, it has gotten to the point where people cannot afford fuel and truck drivers are launching massive protests against high fuel prices. Many Britains are now living in fuel poverty. The UK like us has a colder climate and has a major oil and gas industry. I'd hardly think that Labour's carbon tax has worked there. Protests in the UK have been echoed by similar protests in other EU countries, and for what? Is there any proof that putting a tax on carbon emissions will reduce greenhouse gases and cancel global warming? I will give $1000 to the first person that can give me a mountain of proof from certified academic, peer-reviewed sources that it does. There in lies the rub. If you cannot prove that such a tax will have ANY effect on it's intended purpose, then it should not be implemented. Besides, you cannot discourage carbon use without having some sort of alternative being implemented. Without these alternatives, the carbon tax just screams cash grab.

What it amounts to is an abuse of power so that Dion can simply get rid of things he doesn't personally like. This all indicates to me that the Liberals simply want to plug their ears, close their eyes, and pretend there's nothing west of Sudbury and nothing east of Quebec City. This is exactly why the party is faltering. What you see in the polls are the die hard liberals who wouldn't change their vote no matter what. The party is at serious risk of becoming irrelevant and out of touch with Canadians, and stunts like the "Green Shift" don't help much. Right now, they're hoping to capitalize on the green hysteria. If it will work, I really can't say. The one thing I can say for sure is that Harper is right, it will screw Canadians.