Angry in the Great White North

The news is swiftly spreading. Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion gave a speech.  The Green Shift is no longer being mentioned.  When Robert Fife of CTV News asked if the Green Shift was still even a major plank of the Liberal Party platform, Stephane Dion nearly took off his head.  Lucky for Fife that he didn't ask if it was the central plank:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said today that his Green Shift plan featuring a controversial carbon tax is not a major part of his election platform.

"You have said it was but never me," Dion told reporters.

His surprise declaration follows by a day campaign appearances in the Toronto area where he failed to mention it once in his speeches.

Yeah, right.  I guess the Canadian Press got it wrong then:

Dion has said The Green Shift will be the centrepiece of the Liberals' platform for the next election campaign. But the poll results suggest he may be in danger of being seen as a one-trick pony.

"I believe that is a definite risk for Dion right now," said a Harris-Decima senior vice-president, Jeff Walker.

From the central plank to a major plank to some idea we were goofing with.  So under the bus goes the Green Shift.  Of course, what Stephane Dion ought to realize is that he's still tied to it.  Like Wile E Coyote finding himself tied to the boulder he has tossed over the cliff, Stephane Dion will find he is unable to untie himself from the Green Shift in time.

Or at least that's what some people are hoping.  If the Liberals have well and truly written off this election, they know that soon they'll be replacing Stephane Dion.  That also means clearing out his failed policies and ideas.  The Green Shift is the most important mistake that has to be eliminated.  So no doubt Liberals have been telling Stephane Dion on an hourly basis that the Green Shift is not resonating with voters and is a huge target for candidates for other parties to aim at.

By forcing a frustrated Stephane Dion to pull back from the Green Shift, and then repudiate it altogether, these Liberals have effectively wrecked the plan.  And that's fine by them.  For these Liberals, the Green Shift is never going to be a party platform.

Now eyes should turn to Elizabeth May.  If the Green Shift is not even a major  plank in the Liberal Party platform, presumably it might be set aside if that is politically expedient.  Will the Green Party leader still throw her support behind Stephane Dion if he has such a lukewarm commitment to the Green Shift?  Especially since this can only be described as a major retreat from his original plan?  Or will she tell her people to vote Green, because an environmentalist's vote for the Liberal Party is a wasted environmentalist's vote.

The upcoming leaders debate is going to be very interesting.

How much? Hey, how much have the Liberals spent on the Green Shift?  Between the time to dream up this crazy idea, to printing all the material, to paying the lawyers when Jennifer Wright sued them, then finally paying Jennifer Wright a license fee when they threw in the towel and settled the lawsuit.

A license fee for a platform plank that doesn't even count as major anymore.

Heck, the Liberals wouldn't even have had to pay for carbon offsets for their stinky old plane if they hadn't positioned themselves with the Green Shift.  No one would have cared particularly.

There's you Liberal Party donation hard at work.