Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Carbon Tax woes dog Dion.

This is from the Star.

I expect Harper advisors saw the Green Shift as a Golden Opportunity to sink the Liberal campaign because it is complicated and difficult to market. Canadians make great environmentalists as long as they think plans may cost them little and they are simple but Harper has been able to frighten potential buyers from the plan. It has become a contanimated environmental plan as far as many voters are concerned and no matter what defences Dion might give the plan does not seem to be selling among many.
I find it surprising that Dion should promise to reverse Harper's income trust decisions. That is reactionary. It is true that Harper broke his promise but surely the decision was not a reactionary one. This is one more sign the Liberals are the Lehman Bros. of Canadian political parties.

Carbon tax woes dog Dion TheStar.com - Federal Election - Carbon tax woes dog Dion


TOM HANSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion announces his carbon tax plan on Parliament Hill, June 19, 2008. A former Liberal cabinet minister says people don't understand the plan.
September 15, 2008 Richard BrennanOTTAWA BUREAU
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD — Newfoundlanders are "afraid' of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's carbon tax, says a former Liberal cabinet minister.
John Efford said people in the province may distrust Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but they're afraid that the proposed carbon tax is going drive up the cost of fuel.
"I can tell you the average person on the street don't understand the carbon tax," Effort, a former natural resources minister, told reporters after listening to Dion speak in St. John's.
"They are afraid of that," he said, noting that gasoline was selling in Newfoundland this morning at $1.49 a litre.
Efford, who served in Paul Martin's Liberal government, said he realizes it is too late for Dion to ditch the policy, but "I think he has got a big sell on his hands."
Speaking this morning, Dion said a Liberal government would invest $250 million to help Canada's fisheries modernize their fleets and reduce their impact on the environment. He also pledged to spend $100 million on small-craft harbours and invest in retiring commercial fishing licences in areas hardest hit by the collapse of fish stocks.
Dion also came out swinging against the Conservatives, telling Canadians that Harper will first break his word and then break their hearts.
He hammered away at his message that Harper can't be trusted to keep his promises or run the economy, giving the example of seniors that believed Harper when he said in the last election he wouldn't tax income trusts and then did anyway.
"They believed Stephen Harper that he wouldn't tax income trust and they put their saving in income trust and once he was prime minister he came with a punitive tax of 31.5 per cent," he said, promising that the Liberals would undo the tax.

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