Green Party trying to play political cover for Liberals Green Shift?

Now this is very interesting indeed:

The Green party, meanwhile, will leap out ahead of the Liberal announcement today with a detailed accounting of its carbon-tax proposal. With its more sweeping taxes and savings, the Green plan may help pave the way to making the Liberal plan look more modest and practical, though Green Leader Elizabeth May, already in an informal co-operation pact with Dion, says that’s not the motivation.

Liz May will certainly say that isn’t her motivation, but remember, she and the Greens are on record as saying they don’t mind other political parties “borrowing” their ideas, because in their view, that benefits everyone in the long run.

The key differences between the Greens’ plan and the Liberals’ plan is listed in the link provided above - it makes for some interesting reading. Releasing the Green Party’s carbon-tax plan and giving it some some publicity ahead of the Liberal announcement might be a pretty shrewd move on the Greens’ part to allow the Liberals to say, “See, the Greens are advocating an even tougher carbon tax then we are (ie. direct tax increases at the gas pump), but we’re trying to be more moderate in our approach”.

I believe May might be a key player in this upcoming debate - she and her Green party has credibility amongst the Canadian population on the environmental issue, and I don’t doubt you will hear her and her surrogates repeating over and over again lines like this when the Liberals plan gets announced with its details:

May said yesterday she wonders why the carbon tax idea is always discussed against the backdrop of rising gas prices, as though that’s the only thing Canadians worry about.They also have concerns about climate change, she said.

We’re going to find out if that is true, as recent polls have suggested, and if they will support the Liberals plan, as recent polls indicate they will. The Greens may not think the plan goes far enough, but they will publicly support it, I don’t doubt, and that will help with selling this to the Canadian public.