Angry in the Great White North

In a follow-up to the story of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's visit to Cornwall, Ontario, we have this audio clip from AM 1220 radio.

Listen as Stephane Dion defends his carbon tax against rather hostile questions...posed by the Liberal Party nominee for the riding, Gerry Samson:

Stephane Dion defending his carbon tax plan in Cornwall

Here's a transcript:

Gerry Samson: They seem to not believe that the tax shift is gonna benefit them.  I'm having a hard time explaining to them that they're gonna have more credit, and they just don't seem to believe it.  And so we have to educate the people about the carbon reductions and the Green Shift, but we also have to emphasize that there is going to be more money in their pockets at the end of the year, because they're taxed to death.

Stephane Dion: Well, use the calculator in TheGreenShift.ca program, and you will see how much the people will be impressed by the tax cut they will receive through the Green Shift.

Gerry Samson: The poor people don't have calculators, sir.

Stephane Dion: No, but they have grandchildren that know how to use it.

Some observations:

1. It seems the Liberals are having real problems selling the carbon tax.  This is Ontario, not Alberta or Saskatchewan.  The carbon tax plan has been skewed in such a way as to send money out of Alberta and into Ontario.  And still people aren't buying it.
2. Gerry Samson is a Liberal nominee, and yet he is demanding that Stephane Dion explain the carbon reductions that will result from the carbon tax, something Stephane Dion has refused to do.
3. Stephane Dion is on a tour to sell the carbon tax.  He is burning up buckets of petroleum products crossing the country in order to sell the carbon tax.  And yet when pressed to defend the carbon tax, Stephane Dion's response is to check the website.  Um, he could have phoned that answer in.
4. Gerry Samson is a Liberal nominee, and when Stephane Dion provides his "check the website" answer to the question, Samson makes it clear that the answer is not acceptable.  You can hear Samson's challenge to Dion to provide a substantive answer in the "sir".
5. The Liberal nominee is not satisfied, and Stephane Dion is challenged to provide a proper answer to the question in the presence of local voters and the media.  So Stephane Dion responds...with exactly the same answer!  Check the website, and if you don't know how to use the web, find someone who can.  OK, not the same answer, exactly.  The answer was more condescending this time around.

Perhaps Stephane Dion was too busy to detail any costs or benefits for a typical taxpayer in the Cornwall area.

Perhaps Stephane Dion doesn't have enough knowledge of the details of his own carbon tax plan to detail any costs or benefits for a typical taxpayer in the Cornwall area.

Perhaps Stephane Dion knows the actual costs and benefits for a typical taxpayer in the Cornwall area, and decided that getting into the details would make a bad situation even worse.

Whatever the reason, Stephane Dion was at the receiving end of a very hostile reaction from his party's own nominee.  If Gerry Samson was a "team player", he would have let Stephane Dion off the hook with Dion's first "check the website" answer.

But Gerry Samson, in front of the media, presses Stephane Dion and presses him hard: 

• The poor people don't have calculators, sir.
• The people deserve a better answer than that, sir.
• Do your damn job, sir.

So let's continue to watch as Stephane Dion tries to convert Canadians to his view that we need to be taxed even more.  Perhaps he might accidentally convert some Liberals along the way. 

But remember this.  If you have any questions or concerns, don't bother Stephane Dion. 

He's not here to answer your questions or soothe your concerns, just to get your votes.