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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:40 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 674 words, total size 5 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:34 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 402 words, total size 3 kb.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 10 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 06:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 359 words, total size 3 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 558 words, total size 4 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 414 words, total size 3 kb.

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

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 649 words, total size 5 kb.

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?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:13 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 1237 words, total size 8 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 03:56 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 543 words, total size 4 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 616 words, total size 4 kb.

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?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:25 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 518 words, total size 4 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:32 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 1040 words, total size 8 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:14 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 681 words, total size 6 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 08:09 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 878 words, total size 7 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 741 words, total size 5 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 315 words, total size 2 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 12:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1021 words, total size 7 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 03:28 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 594 words, total size 4 kb.

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.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 06:35 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 636 words, total size 4 kb.