Harper fearmongering on the environment

"For instance, why reduce the GST, which is universally panned, and instead turn that 1% reduction into a carbon tax, and use the funds from that to fund Green technologies?"

Whooee! Scotty, yer advocatin’ yer LPC adopt the tax shifting policies of the Greens. We been pushin’ fer exactly that sort of tax reform for years while the LPC’s been using the same old outdated tax models that have stifled innovation and rewarded dirty industry. Yesterday, you said the the LPC best reflected your personal ideology even though you said the Greens are the only party willing to put the good of the country ahead of the party. Today, yer touting another Green idea and suggesting the LPC adopt it. Thanks.

We Greens love it when other parties adopt our policies. It does two things:  1.) it shows that our policies are sound and worth stealing 2.) it means that even if the GPC is not elected, our voice has come through loud and clear.

We have lots of other great ideas. http://www.GreenParty.ca does a good job of telling what the GPC is all about. I’m glad to see you endorsing tax shifting, Scott. I hope the LPC runs with it.

JB

Whooee! ALW, you make some good points. There will indeed be some economic dislocation, as you call it. Some people will feel they are suffering if we are "changing our wasteful and destructive driving habits and our increasingly inefficient, wasteful suburban, car-dependent existence."

Let me tell you a personal story. Ma owns an operates a small business. I do, too. We used to have two vehicles. Biggass Econolines needed fer the businesses. A few years back, I changed jobs and I found my big van was sitting parked while I was able to work from home or walk to work. I’m gettin’ a bit long in the tooth. I make less money at my new job than I did when I was poundin’ nails but it’s easier on my old bones.

(Trying to keep it short…) I divested myself of my vehicle. I save megatonnes of money by not owning a vehicle. Insurance, gas, repairs and teh cost of teh dang thing all add up. It’s amazing how little you can live on when you are shellin’ out thousands on a vehicle. Ma’s doin’ better, too. She’s using a small minivan fer her business and rentin’ a big van once in a while when the little one don’t do the trick. She’s saving megatonnes of money on gas.

My son lives in Trawna. He makes big dough and has a nice condo. My daughter-in-law makes good money, too. They don’t own a car. By choice. They save thousands a year and they belong to a thing called AutoShare where they can get a car anytime they need one. TTC is their preferred means of transportation. They’re treehuggers, too.

If we use our imagination, we can mitigate the negative effects of cutting GHG’s while we foster a sustainable green economy. We can use carbon taxes, tax shifting, green-collar job creation incentives, alternative energy development and other innovations to our economic advantage. A clean environment had less visible economic pluses. Environmentally exacerbated illnesses cause  hundreds of thousands hours of lost productivity on "bad air days." Preventable diseases are bogging down our overtaxed healthcare system. Ideas like the 100 Mile Diet are good for the environment and good for local economies.

Instead of preaching doom and gloom, I’d like to hear positive messages from our leadership. I’d like our leaders to embrace the course they’ve agreed to travel and to try making the best of it. Pre-emptive bellyaching is unseemly and not conducive to investment. There will be many benefits to saving the planet. As one blogger put it today - No Planet, No Jobs.

JB

Dion is going to campaign on cap and trade emissions credit, along with lower personal tax, and repeal of the tax on income trust.  Very neoliberal platform.

I would prefer Dion to change the tax system and focus on the other pillar, the war against poverty.  This means possibly incorporating a Solidarity Tax on Wealth.

You’re right Rabbit about sacrifices being needed, but Harper isn’t doing that. Instead, he’s trying to fool Canadians into thinking what woefully inadequate measures he’s brought in will be "sacrifices" while anything more meaningful will be disasterous.

This coming from the government whose proposed carbon credit system deems to give Alberta oil companies hundreds of millions of dollars in credits , even as their pollution rises due to the "intensity" of it going down.

Rabbit. you’re either a partisan shill of Harper’s or you’ve got the wool pulled over your eyes.  Fortunately, a majority of Canadians aren’t partisan shills of Harper’s and the Cons., and they won’t be fooled by Harper’s attempts.

Whooee! Wanna know which politicians I don’t trust on the GHG issue? Those that talk about the need for reductions but don’t talk about, or grossly underestimate, the difficulties and costs. And… those that talk about the difficulties and costs but don’t talk about, or grossly underestimate, the benefits.

It ain’t an all-or-nothing game. We don’t need to tell Canadians to heat our homes one-third less or to give up motorized vehicles and bike to work. We can use less energy to get the same or better results. We have been increasing our energy efficiency for years and we’ve made some good progress. My 1971 VW Beetle got 27 miles to the imperial gallon and it was one of the most economical cars of its day. Today, big vehicles get better than 27 mpg and the most economical cars are getting twice what my old beetle got. We’re making similar strides in refrigeration, air conditioning, home heating and a lot of other areas.

It ain’t gonna be a bed of roses but it ain’t all doom and gloom, neither. The CANTDO attitude of those who only want to talk negative is a bad attitude, IMO. We CAN and we WILL. Our grandkids are dependin’ on us.

JB

"Except that Harper has not denied the need for GHG reductions."

I don’t recall saying that he did but since you brought it up… Harper has not denied the need for GHG reductions… lately. About a year ago, Harper was talking about "so-called greenhouse gases." He’s been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the realization that there is a problem and it needs to be dealt with. $31 million worth of opinion polling at least got him to admit that climate change is real, even if a mountain of scientific evidence failed to convince him.

Harper is out of step with the world — not just with Dion, May and Suzuki. He’s also out of step with a majority of Canadians.

The isotope fiasco has once again, showcased the ineptness, incompetence and unwillingness to accept responsibility of the Harper "team." Canadians who are concerned about the environment (that’s a vast majority, btw) are distrustful of someone who discredits and disarms a nuclear regulatory agency. MDS profits took priority over a threat to the environment.

JB