Pointlessly pushing for forced sustainability

Severn Cullis-Suzuki wants governments to force citizens to be good environmentalists.  I don't think she means green stormtroopers, but punitive taxation that forces rationing.  The problem for Cullis-Suzuki is two-fold:

1. A plan like that won't work unless the major consuming countries all agree to it.
2. Canadians know that a plan like that won't work unless the major consuming countries all agree to it.

The Green Shift is thrown down the memory hole

Well, this came as a surprise.  The Liberal Party website thegreenshift.ca is now redirecting to Jennifer Wright's greenshift.ca.

Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan is well and truly dead.

Video: Stephane Dion on spending

Liberals distance themselves from the Green Shift

Launch in external player

Liberal candidate in Alberta says Green Shift is the new NEP

The Green Shift is a wealth distribution program.  A new version of the National Energy Program.

Hey, don't believe me.  That's what Liberal Party candidate Mohamed El-Rafih is saying.

The Green Shift isn't even remotely simple, but the Liberals aren't worried

It's powerful.  It's simple.  Vote for the Green Shift.

But really, it isn't simple at all.  There's a big problem with regards to how provinces will be treated differently.  Should you be concerned?

I suppose that depends.  If you are a believer in the Liberal Party, then you won't be concerned.  The Liberals don't seem to be worried.  They're not even talking about the issue.

Michael Ignatieff: Green Shift tax cuts bad, but Liberals will have no choice

Just what exactly is Michael Ignatieff talking about?  The deputer leader of the Liberal Party was talking to Newmarket council that governments ought to be spending like drunken sailors. 

And they would be too, if it weren't for cuts to the GST.  And as for the tax cuts in the Green Shift, well, the Liberals have no choice.  And he wishes it was different.

Stephane Dion dumps the Green Shift: Not central, not major, not much of anything

Frankly, I can hardly believe it.  The Liberals are chucking the Green Shift?  I suppose Stephane Dion can't be too far behind.

Revenue Neutral: The carbon tax and the excise tax merge together

Stephane Dion's carbon tax is supposed to be revenue neutral.  I know we all know that doesn't mean all Canadians, or even most Canadians, will come out ahead.

Heck, with the inflationary effect of a global energy tax, it is likely we'll all be hurting.

But when I look at the diesel portion of the tax more closely, I realize that the carbon tax is in two parts.  Does revenue neutrality mean both parts are given back to Canadians?  Or will a Liberal government keep a big chunk of the diesel carbon tax for itself?

If that money doesn't come back to me, then how is this revenue neutral?

Carolyn Bennett to Canadians: Depend less on facts, and more on faith in David Suzuki

If there are any lingering doubts about whether environmentalism is the new religion of the left, Carolyn Bennet dispels them.  Carolyn Bennett, the Liberal Party health critic, tells an audience that they ought to vote for Stephane Dion and the Green Shift.

The reason?  Faith.

Not in God.  What does He know?  No, all we need is faith in David Suzuki.

Liberal Shawn Murphy: There won't be a Green Shift this winter

A new headache for the Liberals.  The Liberal MP for the riding of Charlottetown, Shawn Murphy, has revealed that for the sound and fury, the Liberals won't be implementing a carbon tax after all.

At least not right away.

Wow.

Oh, and Shawn Murphy's website has suddenly gone down.

David Orchard: Green Shift leaves no options for farmers

Hey, remember when people said that David Orchard, the Liberal candidate for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, would turn out to be a headache for Stephane Dion?

They were right.  You see, according to David Orchard, Stephane Dion's carbon tax, also known as the Green Shift, will hurt farmers.  And farmers have no technological options other than to use diesel.

But Stephane Dion said farmers can go green with the subsidy he's promising them.

Shouldn't Dion and Orchard be reading from the same script during an election campaign?

Canadians trust the Conservatives to deal with the environment

Readers of this blog might notice that I don't comment on polls all too often.  I do read polls, of course, and think they can incredibly useful.  But there are so many reasons to be cautious of what polls are saying.

So I usually don't say much about a poll unless there is some bit of news or information, not derived from a poll, that reinforces a polling result.

Such a tidbit has popped up today, reinforcing what I think to be one of the strangest, and yet most pleasing, polling results I've seen in while.  The Conservatives are trusted more than the Liberals when it comes to dealing with the environment.

Stephane Dion's translation gets the wrong Green Shift (again) and during an election too

The Liberal Party is facing an $8.5 million lawsuit from Green Shift Inc because of Stephane Dion's decision to call his carbon tax plan "The Green Shift".

The Liberal defense is that no one would ever get the two entities confused.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Wright, the head of Green Shift Inc, has filed for an injunction, arguing that in the spotlight of an election, the damage her firm is suffering from being associated and confused with the Liberal Party is going to accelerate.

So how does Stephane Dion help the situation?  He goes on and directs people to Jennifer Wright's website to find out more about his carbon tax because of a bad translation.

Car Pools and Corpses

Stephane Dion seems to live in another world from the rest of Canadians.

He has no idea what a car pool is.  The man who wants us to believe that he knows the secret of how to lead Canada to an environmental Nirvana doesn't know what a carpool is.

Of course, he probably thinks Nirvana is reached through the yoga poses he practices every day.

I hope he's working on Shavasana.  The Corpse Pose will be very appropriate for Stephane Dion's political aspirations unless he figures out how to connect with real Canadians.

Canadian Trucking Alliance rejects Stephane Dion's carbon tax adjustment

Liberals are praising Stephane Dion as someone who listened to "suggestions" about his proposed carbon tax, and then acted on those suggestions to make his carbon tax "stronger".

To others, however, it looked more like some Liberal MPs were furious that they could lose their seats unless concessions were made, and they forced Stephane Dion to make those concessions.

Hey, is anyone listening to what the truckers -- one those groups who complained loudest -- are saying.

They don't like the carbon tax, and the adjustment hasn't changed their minds.

Michael Ignatieff: No more carbon tax changes

Today Stephane Dion announced subsidies for farmers, fishermen, and truckers, as a way of offsetting the effect of a carbon tax.

So the natural question is whether Canadians can expect more changes.  According to Michael Ignatieff, there won't be any further changes.

Stephane Dion's useless subsidy

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has had to back down on a major portion of his carbon tax.  Faced with growing criticism from farmers, fishermen, and truckers, and the frustration of Liberal MPs who would lose votes from these groups, Stephane Dion is throwing money at the problem.

But not just money.  He's going to give farmers, fishermen, and truckers a subsidy that can only be applied to buy green equipment to replace existing equipment.  Which I'm willing to bet makes this an utterly useless subsidy.

Apparently global warming can be defeated by complaining loudly enough

Here is a primer for those of you who still don't understand how global warming works:

• The dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil.
• We drilled for oil, and used most of it to spray on ducks, and the rest we turned into carbon dioxide.
• Carbon dioxide is a hot gas, and it's making the Sun hotter, which is making the Earth hotter, which makes polar bears sweat, and that's a bad thing.
• To make the Earth cooler and make polar bears happy, Canadians will pay money to Stephane Dion, who will give all of it back.
• The exchange of money will cool the Earth (ok, this part is a bit vague).
• Farmers are worried that they won't get enough back after all of it is given back (clearly they are confused, because everyone is supposed to get all their money back, a process that results in global cooling in a way that is not entirely understood by non-Liberals).
• Liberals who are worried that farmers won't vote for them are complaining loudly, which is generating even more hot air (which warms the Sun and makes polar bears sweat even more, and that's a bad thing).
• Stephane Dion is going to change the plan by making the carbon tax even stronger, making farmers happy so that they stop bothering Liberals.
• This results in less hot air and comfortable polar bears.
• The happiness of farmers who might vote Liberal will cool the Earth (ok, this part is a bit vague too).

Remember, if you don't believe this science, David Suzuki is going to throw you in jail.

But perhaps you want know more details, minus the silliness.

Liberal blogger's brilliant carbon tax analysis

Steve V at Far and Wide has a brilliant analysis of the support for Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

I urge you to read it, top to bottom, then consider what it means.

Ireland's Green Party leader dumps plan for carbon tax

Astonishingly, some people aren't as perceptive as Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, and think that a carbon tax is a complex plan that will negatively affect a lot of people.

In Ireland, the leader of the Green Party and the Minister for the Environment in the coalition government, John Gormley, has dropped plans for a carbon tax for exactly such reasons.

This the second time the goverment in Ireland has been forced to step back from implementing a carbon tax.

Why?  Who knows?  The reasons given make no sense.  Don't they know that this tax is simple to implement, makes everyone richer, eliminates poverty, has no effect on rural voters, and saves the environment?

That's what Stephane Dion has been explaining to Canadians.  Maybe he needs to give John Gormley a call and explain it to him.

Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so. 

thegreentaxshift.ca: A Liberal backup plan? [Update: More backup names?]

Interestingly, a full 11 days after registering thegreenshift.ca to be the online home of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's plan for a massive carbon tax, the Liberals registered thegreentaxshift.ca.  That was only days after being told by Jennifer Wright that she did not want to share the name.  Days after registering this alternate name, the Liberals were served with a cease-and-desist order from Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc.

Despite registering this alternate name, the Liberals aren't using it, preferring to fight Jennifer Wright for "Green Shift".

Update: I found some more alternate names.  And they were all registered after the launch and after the call to Jennifer Wright, not before.

Liberals still confusing GreenShift.ca and TheGreenShift.ca

Right on the heels of a news story reporting that the Liberals claim no reasonable chance of confusion between the Liberal Party's Green Shift tax plan and Jennifer Wright's Green Shift environmental consultancy firm, I find yet another example of confusion between the two.

As before, it is a Liberal who is unable to keep the two straight.

Liberal Atlantic Caucus really did avoid mention of carbon tax

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a point of mentioning how the Liberals in Atlantic Canada avoided mention of Stephane Dion's plan for a carbon tax in the media release following their caucus meeting.

The silence speaks volumes.

But oddly, the media made it sound like a simple statement of fact -- that the Liberal media release did not discuss the carbon tax -- is some sort of clever Conservative trick meant to confuse the listener.

Oops: Liberal MP Hedy Fry promises high food prices but huge benefits for Alberta and Saskatchewan from carbon tax

Liberal MP Hedy Fry becomes the latest in a line of Liberals attempting to explain Stephane Dion's promised carbon tax.

It is a pitiable performance.

Garth Turner attempts to wipe his blog clean of his latest stumble

In my last post, I looked at a blog post by Garth Turner, Liberal MP and communications guru for the Liberal Party.  A senior citizen by the name of Jon C Coates had a letter printed in a Halifax newspaper, in which he proceeded to show how a single senior would suffer under Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan.

Garth Turner immediately responded by alleging that this person was not real, and indeed was some sort of fraudulent Conservative Party frontman spewing lies.

This even after Garth Turner had spoken to Jon's wife.

Well, in the best Orwellian fashion, Garth Turner has erased his old post, put up a new one, speaks highly of Jon C Coates, and proceeds to call Stephen Harper a liar.

Hmmm.  I don't see a public apology directed at Jon for publicly declaring Jon to be a liar.

Garth Turner vents his spleen on a senior citizen on long-term disability -- and prepares to backtrack

A letter from Jon C Coates of Halifax is getting a lot of attention.  In it, he describes how he is going to suffer as a result of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

Well, Garth Turner is the communications guru handling the carbon tax file.  So he reveals on his blog that (1) Jon C Coates is a liar, and (2) Jon C Coates probably doesn't exist.

Jon C Coates, according to Garth Turner, is likely a fiction concocted by the Prime Minister's Office, and Garth Turner is pulling back the curtain to reveal the ugly truth.

OK, so I called Jon C Coates, and we had a long conversation.

David McGuinty can't keep Green Shifts straight

I've been idly checking out references to Jennifer Wright's website greenshift.ca, the site that supports her company Green Shift Inc.  The Liberals under Stephane Dion decided that the name "Green Shift" should really have been theirs, and so named their carbon tax plan The Green Shift, supported with a website thegreenshift.ca.

The reason I've been checking is to see whether Jennifer Wright is correct in her assertion that the Liberals are damaging her brand.  The Liberals say that no one is going to be confused and that the two entities can easily coexist.

The problem is that I find evidence, over and over again, of confusion.  This time from the Liberal's own environment critic, David McGuinty.

Liberal Party candidate Claudette Roy names greenshift.ca as carbon tax website

As I've posted before, there is something to Jennifer Wright's argument that when the Liberal Party decided to name Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan "The Green Shift", her company Green Shift Inc would suffer from the confusion that would result.

Nonsense, say the Liberals and their apologists.  People will be able to tell the two apart.

Apparently people can't tell them apart.  One such person is Claudette Roy.  She's the Liberal Party's candidate for the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona.

More Green Shift confusion

Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc is suing the Liberal Party.  The Liberal Party has named their carbon tax plan "The Green Shift", and Wright's position is that the use of that name is hurting her business.

The Liberal contend that there is no reason for people to be confused.

Well, for the second time, I've found a blatant example of confusion is the media.

Oil prices already too high said former Liberal candidate Bobby Morrissey

Even as Stephane Dion is making noises about a fall election (that could be as soon as six weeks from now), the Liberal Party has lost two candidates. 

Garry Oledzki in Saskatchewan and Robert "Bobby" Morrissy in PEI have both stepped down as candidates.

In the case of Bobby Morrissey, it might indeed be a problem selling Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

Confused Liberals: The Top 21 Carbon Tax Questions

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion could not explain his carbon tax plan to his own aides.

There are a lot of questions that I suspect Stephane Dion will have trouble answering.  I've compiled my favourite 21 questions that I think every Liberal MP ought to be able to answer.

Carbon tax confusion cleared up -- Stephane Dion just doesn't care

British Columbia has a carbon tax.

Quebec has a carbon tax.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion promises to inflict a carbon tax on Canadians if he ever becomes prime minister.

The obvious question -- how do these two levels of taxation interact -- is causing no end of confusion.

But really, there is no reason for confusion.  Stephane Dion has made it clear today that whether Canadians in some parts of the country will be required to pay two taxes is irrelevant to him.

He has the power to make every Canadian pay a price for everything they do, and he intends to use it.

Green Shift: A lump of coal or a precious diamond?

Just how prevalent is the phrase "green shift"?

Message to Stephane Dion: Do your damn job, sir!

Stephane Dion gets a rough ride while on the road...from his own nominee!

Oops: Liberal nominee Gerry Samson can't sell Green Shift (except to stealth Liberals)

Yet again, Liberals are undermining Stephane Dion's attempt to sell his carbon tax plan (aka The Green Shift) to Canadians.

This time, we have Liberal nominee Gerry Samson in Stormont-Dundas-South-Glengarry admitting, on the record, with Stephane Dion in the room, that Samson can't get local residents to believe him when he tells them that they will benefit from Stephane Dion's new tax.

Well, one guy in the audience loved the idea of the carbon tax.  But then as it turns out, he's a local Liberal Party riding association activist (ed. actually a director and a member of the riding association executive).  Of course, that wasn't mentioned in the media report.  He's described as just a local resident who was really impressed with Stephane Dion.

Oops: Liberal MP Ralph Goodale explains how most oil consumption will not be taxed

Is Saskatchewan going to hurt badly by Stephane Dion's carbon tax?  Well, Stephane Dion admitted as much, but Liberal MP Ralph Goodale has taken the time to explain this more clearly. 

Don't worry, he says.

Almost all the oil taken out of the ground in Saskatchewan will be consumed and turned into carbon dioxide emissions without a dime of tax being applied.

Oil company profits are safe!

You might wonder how this helps the environment.  On the other hand, you might have stopped asking that question after Liberal MPs Ken Boshcoff and Martha Hall Findlay have already explained that no one expects any actual environmental benefit from the carbon tax.

Oops: Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay admits to Liberal greenwashing

Liberal Party MP Martha Hall Findlay talks about Stephane Dion's plan for a carbon tax.  The carbon tax will save the planet, right?  We'll be encouraged to consume less energy, right?

According to Findlay, there's no way to really know, or to be sure if it's really working.

Still, that's no reason not to impose a tax on Canadians.

Does David Suzuki sound nervous to you?

It wasn't too long ago when David Suzuki was urging young people to find ways to imprison politicians who don't interpret scientific evidence in the same way Suzuki does.

With polls showing a majority of people in British Columbia are against the provincial carbon tax, Suzuki has tried to play it a bit more casually.

The problem is that he comes off as nervous.  Like he's worried that the crowds aren't listening to him anymore.

Carbon tax issue evidence of Stephane Dion's growing problems inside the Liberal Party

After all the talk about a carbon tax, my mind keeps coming back to the same thing.  Why are we talking about it at all?  I mean, The Liberal Party has not released any details.  But by allowing the Conservatives to know ahead of time that an announcement concerning a carbon tax is in the very near future, the Conservatives have been able to frame the issue.

You would think Liberals would have learned that by now.

The story was apparently leaked.  But I thought that maybe, just maybe, the Liberals were being clever.  Perhaps this was a trial balloon.

Then I looked at it again, and realized there is no way this could be a trial balloon.  It was a leak, plain and simple.  Worse, it was designed to hurt Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion.  Worse still, the leak came from an Ontario Liberal, and not a Quebec Liberal, which means Stephane Dion seems to be no closer to solving his leadership problems, and indeed his problems might be growing.

A 1993 analysis of consumption taxes done for the Liberal Party

Ever wonder why a consumption tax (like a carbon tax) is politically unpopular compared to a sales tax (like the GST)?

The Liberals under Jean Chretien wondered that in 1993 when they took over from the Progressive Conservatives.  Jean Chretien had promised to eliminate the GST, but of course, he didn't.  Different alternatives to the GST are discussed in this report.  It is very interesting to note what the researcher had to say about consumption taxes, and it helps understand why we still have the GST.

Of course, under a government led by Stephane Dion, we would get the worst of both worlds.

The carbon tax and the cost of gas

Stephane Dion's carbon tax is not a gas tax, or so members of the Liberal Party are supposed to say.  Too bad not all the Liberals got the memo.

Stephane Dion's carbon tax will succeed

I haven't written about Stephane Dion's carbon tax idea, not since it was announced that he intended to make a carbon tax a cornerstone of a Liberal Party platform in the next election.

I wanted my thoughts to gel, to consider just what such a tax could do, good and bad.  I'm glad I waited, because as I began to peal away the layers, I realized that a carbon tax is really unlike any tax every imposed by a government.  It is guaranteed to succeed.

Canada's drivers and chronic speeding

Canada is a country filled with people who like to drive fast. How do we discourage them? I have an idea that takes a different approach to punishment, and so might have some success while the traditional approaches are running out of gas.

And that's where I'm focused -- on the gas.

Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion want Canadians to be gas poor

Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion want Canadians to be gas poor. Pay more and more for gas until they can't afford much else. Maybe this is not what they really want to happen, but it will be the consequence of raising taxes on gas. Gas consumption is pretty much inelastic unless you are wealthy and have a lot of disposable income. Trying to choke off that disposable income used for driving by affluent Canadians will result in choking the rest of us...literally.

David Suzuki says Canadians want to pay more taxes; Angus Reid says otherwise

David Suzuki says Canadians are willing to pay, nay, are demanding that they be forced to pay, carbon taxes. An Angus Reid poll suggests exactly the opposite.

Carbon offsets are less like indulgences and more like tithes

John Oakley's column in the National Post relates carbon offsets to indulgences. I think he's on to something, but I think his analogy is off. Carbon offsets are less like indulgences and more like tithes paid to the Church of Green.

Jack Layton wants to give a buck a month to Canadians and calls himself a hero

NDP leader Jack Layton is demanding legislation to stop banks from charging fees for using bank machines. He claims he is helping working families. The problem is that the math suggests that his "help" amounts to just about nothing. This is the same party that says giving families $100 per child each month is "bogus".

It seems to me that working families would do well to choose the bogus allowance over the kind of help Jack Layton is offering.

Income-splitting will give same-sex couples something to think about

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is rumoured to be ready to introduce some form of income splitting for all Canadians in a legally recognized marriage.

Will this plan bring gays in larger numbers over to the Conservatives?

Income tax splitting coming to Canada?

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is reported to be planning to introduce income splitting in Canada. The effects on the taxes of Canadians, especially those with larger families, is potentially very dramatic. In a remarkable bit of precognitive news reporting, the Toronto Star is already listing the groups that are going to hate the idea -- the details of which are not yet known. The paper predicts these groups will claim that the idea is not "progressive". Some quick calculations suggest otherwise.

Angry in the Great White North by Steve Janke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at stevejanke.com.