Voice of the Association

Oops, was that too insistent? Let us not be bullies here…
We have long had respect for the thoughtful and serious commentary of Angelo Persichilli, but his Sunday commentary echoes sentiments bandied about in the halls of conservatism in this very riding.

Bravo to him for finally having said what so many of us were thinking - and saying it so well. This should be required reading in the halls of the Opposition caucus. Perhaps someone could send a framed copy to Brian Murphy.

If you listen closely you will often here Stéphane Dion say, “We must act now to save the planet…” (or words to that effect). Certainly that alarming call to action has helped to shape Canadians’ opinions on climate change. M. Dion is using the scary prospect of a planet in chaos and catastrophe IF CANADA DOES NOT ACT NOW.

The problem is: The problem of climate change is out of our hands! (At least as far as directly reducing Canadian emissions). When you look at the scale of the problem in the graphic below, it makes you wonder what Stéphane Dion is up to when he proposes instituting this massive “tax on carbon” which he is not even sure will save Canadian emissions.

It must be remembered that global warming is a global problem. The atmosphere that we all share does not care where carbon emissions are generated, nor how many people are living where they are generated (per-capita emissions). The only factor that matters according to current scientific theory is HOW MUCH CARBON IS IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

In the graphic above, the actual percentage of each major global emitter is represented by different colors in the “atmosphere.” According to current GHG inventories, China (red) emits 24% of global emissions. The US (brown) emits another 22%; the EU (blue) emits 12%; India (pink) emits 8%; Russia (orange) emits 6% and other nations (white) collectively emit 26% of global emissions.

Look quickly at the two representations of global emissions and spot the difference. When you find the small tan-colored section (8 o’clock position) on the left hand globe, you will have found Canada’s 2% contribution to global emissions. The globe on the right shows the difference if you took ALL of Canada’s emissions away. That’s what we can do to “save the planet” by drastically cutting Canadian carbon emissions!

At what cost? Stéphane Dion admits that his carbon tax grab will take almost $16 billion out of the economy in direct taxation. It is the indirect effects however that are much more concerning. Canada is a spread out, largely rural country with several large population centres. Everything we consume and even where we work is dependent on transportation. The vast majority of our transportation, distribution and delivery is dependent on carbon fuel. The vast majority of our heat and electricity generation is dependent on carbon fuel. The farms that produce our food, the boats that harvest our seafood, and the trucks that keep our shelves stocked are all dependent on carbon fuel. Even the plastic containers that package so many of the products we use come from oil. The Liberals’ carbon tax is a tax on everything!

There is no separating putting a cost on carbon from taxing the survival of our economy. The same four provinces that produce 81% of our carbon emissions also produce 87% of Canada’s GDP.

The China factor: As Norman Spector accurately wrote in the Globe and Mail, “All the gas British Columbians don’t consume because of price increases over the next three years will be guzzled in China, and then some. China was given a free ride at Kyoto, and has been the world’s No. 1 carbon emitter for two consecutive years; last year, it accounted for fully two-thirds of the global increase in greenhouse-gas emissions.” The same is true for all the gas Canadians would not consume because of a carbon tax.

China built 338 new coal-fired generating stations from 2002-2006. Each of those plants gushes 2.19mt of carbon emissions into our atmosphere for a collective increase of 740mt each year. Just China’s new coal plants emit almost 3 times the total annual emissions of all Canada every year! Even more troubling is that recent estimates show that CHINA IS NOW BRINGING TWO NEW COAL-FIRED GENERATING STATIONS ON LINE EVERY WEEK!

How to resolve global warming: Assuming that all of the current hypotheses are correct, we need to reduce emissions 20% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. That is 80% of all the carbon emissions in the atmosphere, not just what Canada generates.

For Stéphane Dion to claim that Canadians can “save the planet” while trashing our economy is like saying he can spit in the goal crease at the Bell Centre and flood the ice for the Canadiens between periods.

The only way to get global emissions down by 80% is to get China, the US, India and Russia to reduce their emissions drastically. They are not currently required to cut ANY emissions under M. Dion’s failed Kyoto Protocol.

Until we can get those nations on side, we are skating around in circles spitting in the breeze. The fate of the planet is out of our hands. The best we can do is take a measured approach to conserving energy and natural resources. The rabid alarmism that is coming from the Opposition just does not fit into the realm of reality. The Liberal leader should be honest and tell Canadians that his massive tax grab will do exactly what he has done for years to save the planet - NOTHING.

Across the country there is an increasing backlash against Stéphane Dion’s carbon tax trick.

In British Columbia, “public opinion has turned massively against the tax, and the price of gas is now at the top of our minds - ahead of the environment, health care and the economy” reports Norman Spector in the Globe and Mail.

In Alberta, “It’s going to hurt Alberta,” [Premier Stelmach] said, predicting the province could “take a major hit.” (source)

In Saskatchewan, ” ‘It’s going to dramatically impact upon our economy and we’re just not in favour of it in any way,’ Saskatchewan Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said.” (source)

In the North, “The Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Canada’s leading Inuit organization” all rejected Dion’s newest tax-grab proposal. Part of the reason for their allegiance against Dion’s carbon tax is because “The North stands to gain from the increasing interest in Arctic oil and gas…” according to Bill Curry and Norval Scott of the Globe and Mail.

Skipping over the manufacturing heartland, we come to Nova Scotia - one of Atlantic Canada’s new energy powers. According to the Chronicle Herald and others, Stéphane Dion’s “Carbon tax would cost N.S. dearly.”

Which brings about the question: “Where’s fightin’ Danny Williams?“

Danny Williams who railed against Conservative changes in equalization that were recommended by the expert O’Brien panel. Danny Williams who campaigned against Stephen Harper over the Atlantic Accord, then signed on anyway. Danny Williams who recently watched his province become a “have” province because of large new oil development projects.

Now that Stéphane Dion wants to tax Newfoundland back onto equalization - where’s Danny? Every other province and territory with an interest in oil and gas has seen Dion’s tax for the money grab that it is, but so far not a word from fightin’ Danny (who is regularly outraged over just about everything).

Perhaps this crow is just too big for fightin’ Danny to eat. 

Stéphane Dion is once again showing the bully nature of the aristocratic academic that he is. We first witnessed this in his disparaging comments about Moncton and its Acadian population and wondered that more people were not outraged. Once he became Liberal leader, he began arbitrarily appointing candidates (some of whom were not even Liberals!) over the wishes of his own party members.

Now we see that he is at it again, pushing around an environmental action company that reportedly had trademarked the name “Green Shift” a decade ago. According to a statement on the company’s website, when they found out that the Liberals planned to use their name for a carbon tax sales pitch,

“We began by politely asking. After receiving calls from the media, we contacted the Liberal party to ask again that they please stop using a name that we have clearly associated with our environmental program, to prevent confusion. Only after they refused to stop, did we decide to send a legal notice.“

What was M. Dion’s response to the REAL Green Shift company? The REAL Green Shift was told “that we should be happy by all of the extra traffic that we would receive as a result.”

With this terse response, the Liberal party steamrolled over a company that had spent ten years building a reputation as an honest and impartial broker in environmental action (note the “Unwanted Politics” graphic on their website header). The REAL Green Shift said in their statement:

“…it should come as no surprise that there will naturally, sadly, always be, those who instead can only see the cheap side – that is – suggesting that we would be happy with this misdirected attention… I guess for now, all we can say is that in our view, this is an unwanted distraction to the bigger and more important goal at hand. For those who cannot see that – well – for the good of the environment, and the sake of the other species on this planet, we hope that one day you will understand.”

We are starting to see a pattern here that reveals a latent mean streak in the Liberal leader. Like many who are leadership-challenged, his Napoleonic resentment of people he sees as his lessers is only thinly veiled by an assumed intellectual posture.

M. Dion bristles at any challenge to his green credentials. Take for example the moment of drama when he banged the gavel at the Montreal conference on Kyoto. This image (see right) was resurrected again recently in the new Liberal clap-fest promoting their carbon tax - but there was actually nothing accomplished at Montreal that gives him cause for celebration.

He seeks to further bolster his green image by touting his record as Environment Minister with the Martin government. All that he accomplished there was overseeing a 36% rise in the carbon emissions that he now wants to tax!

Perhaps the most telling revelation of M. Dion’s true character is the petty and baseless attacks he has made on the Prime Minister. In a January 31, 2007 Canadian Press article by Alexander Panetta we read the following:

“Stephen Harper’s troops aren’t laughing at an apparent fat joke directed at the prime minister by his chief rival Stephane Dion. Liberal leader Dion made a reference to the prime ministerial paunch this week during a TV interview in which he suggested Harper might need some exercise…

[M. Dion] said that negative ads were not his style and that he wouldn’t stoop as low as the Tories had. The reporter then pointed out to viewers that Dion wasn’t above taking personal shots of his own.

The Liberal leader joked that the exercise room at Stornaway - the official residence of the leader of the Opposition - had been refurbished. ‘Maybe Mr. Harper will have the opportunity to lose his (extra) weight now because we have this exercise room,’ Dion said.“

One can only imagine the outrage that would be voiced had a Conservative denigrated weight challenged people. Has M. Dion apologized or offered congratulations to the PM on the latter’s increasingly trim physique? Not likely.

What is perhaps even more troubling than this gross insensitivity is the outrageous assassination attempts M. Dion has made on the Prime Minister’s character. In a May 31, 2007 article by Lawrence Martin, the Globe and Mail reported:

“Asked the chief difference between Stephen Harper and himself, [Stéphane Dion] minces no words… ‘With him, it’s clear that he is able to lie, as he did again and again, in order to go where he wants to go … I am unable to do that. Because if I’m not sincere, I’m not me.’ “

“It is rare and not exactly gentlemanly for an opposition leader to accuse a prime minister of repeated lying. Mr. Dion used the L-word many times.” Mr. Lawrence stated.

This reckless indictment of another’s character is also reflected in the Liberal allegation that PM Harper was complicit in criminal activity relating to the Cadman affair. That was apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back because the Prime Minister is now asking the courts to hold M. Dion responsible for his libelous statements.

Apparently the the Liberal leader cannot corral his mean and vindictive nature when he is thwarted or frustrated. He was so outraged that leadership rival Michael Ignatieff would challenge his green credentials that he was almost at a loss for words. “This is unfair! This is unfair! Do you think it’s easy to make priorities?” M. Dion cried during that notable debate.

At some point though, enough is enough. It appears that he will run roughshod over those who oppose him, until he is forced to take legal responsibility for his actions.

We encourage our readers to write the REAL Green Shift and pledge your support should they need help in a legal battle to retain rights to their name. M. Dion and his party have had their fundraising troubles, but apparently they think that the intimidation of taking on ‘the big red machine’ will deter an honest business from defending their rights.

Such a thing must not be allowed to happen in Canada. If the Liberals will not listen when someone asks “Please…,” then perhaps they will listen when the public rallies to support a (yet to be announced) Green Shift defense fund.

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Couched in the predictable critic’s responses of: “They didn’t act soon enough…” and “They didn’t didn’t spend enough…”, there was some welcome good news recently for francophones in New Brunswick.

The Conservative government is providing “$10 million to support francophone immigration to the province” reported Marc Hudon of the Times & Transcript.

Minister of Official Languages, Josee Verner, “said the new money, which will be doled out among 13 federal agencies and departments, will help strengthen access to services for minority language communities in the areas of health, immigration, justice, economic development, and arts and culture among others.”

“The government also took the opportunity to unveil its new program aimed at helping Canadians defend their minority language rights.”

Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary for official languages, said the new program will be administered by and independent institution linked to the government. He said cases submitted for mediation will be evaluated by an independent committee of experts.The program will begin sometime in 2009 and only when a federal linguistic charter question has been invoked will cases be eligible to be heard by a judge.”

What was Liberal MP Brian Murphy’s response?

“Liberal MP Brian Murphy said the new program wasn’t created in good faith.” It is also a “disgraceful form of divisive coercion” Murphy said.
Does MP Murphy really believe this tripe, or he is just too stubborn to climb down off his partisan high horse and admit that the ’scary, mean Conservatives’ actually DO care about Atlantic Canada? It must be extremely bitter sitting helplessly in opposition as your leader watches his support flirt with single digits among francophones…

From one of the most widely read conservative blogs in the country, comes news that Dion and company have gotten themselves into hot water over use of the phrase “Green Shift.”

It turns out that the phrase is trademarked by a legitimate environmental firm and the Liberals thought they would just supersede 10 years of hard work for a moment of political fame. Their tiny disclaimer on the bottom of the website promoting their new carbon tax did not cut the mustard.

Apparently the real Green Shift is taking the Liberals to court with a ‘cease and desist’ order. Where is all the media outrage over the Liberal bullies… ya da, ya da, ya da…? (Not likely to happen)
Note to Stéphane Dion: When you’re trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the Canadian public, don’t illegally “borrow” a trademarked name!

You would think that a professor would know how to add. Apparently that is not the case with the Dion Tax Trick.

The chart below is taken from theGreenShift booklet, page 29. As William Watson of the Ottawa Citizen puts it, the message is supposed to be: “…despite starting off by telling us how bold and courageous the new policy is, the Liberals end up saying maybe the price increases won’t be all that bad. Just 8.2 per cent for home heating oil - compared to 71.5 per cent over the last two and a half years due to market forces. Just 8.4 per cent for propane - compared to 10.4 per cent over the last 30 months. Just 4.9 per cent for diesel - compared to 50.7 per cent since January 2006.”

We’re supposed to think, “WOW!! What a deal! Prices will actually go up less under Dion’s new tax plan!” But let’s look closer…

The problem with that reasoning is that there was no carbon tax in 2006-2008. Prices went up in recent years because of dwindling reserves, and are expected to skyrocket as demand from China grows exponentially.

Virtually every economist agrees that prices for carbon fuels will continue to climb on their own. We will not be better under Dion’s tax grab, instead the percentage of price increase will almost double!

It’s not 8.4% under the Dion shaft instead of 10.3% for propane - its (8.4% PLUS 10.3%) for a cost increase of 18.7%! Similarly diesel prices will grow by at least 55% and home heating fuel by a whopping 80%. The Liberals simply don’t know how to add two totally separate cost drivers!

They must have been using the Sponsorship accounting firm of Dowee, Cheatum & How when they put this plan together! Only a Liberal could think that adding a tax to a rare commodity would make it cheaper.

Greg Weston of the Toronto Sun starts off today’s column this way:

“While Stephane Dion promises the Liberals’ proposed $15-billion environmental tax would provide riches for the poor and tax cuts for all, he fails to mention consumers in most parts of the country would be in for some shocking electricity bills.

In Ontario, for instance, government figures show Dion’s plan would add at least 20% to the overall annual cost of generating electricity across the province.

The impact would be as bad or even worse in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and much of the Maritimes, regions with generating stations powered by fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas.”

He goes on to illustrate how that M. Dion’s Carbon Tax Grab would “slap a whopping tax of $1.1 billion just on those five [fossil fuel burning] power stations” in Ontario. That is the “trickiest” part of Dion’s tax grab - it is INDIRECT TAXATION so that the Liberals can claim that it was the greedy power and oil companies that raised prices!

“A spokesman [from Ontario Power] says the utility would not comment on any political party’s proposed policy, but ‘obviously someone would have to pay for increased costs.’ ” Weston reported. “In this case, that would be either Ontario consumers or provincial taxpayers who would be zapped for more than $1 billion a year”.

That brought about the question, “Exactly what would be the impact on the Maritimes, particularly New Brunswick?”

While Ontario’s power generation is only 30% dependent on fossil fuels, NB Power’s domestic generating capacity relies on carbon fuel for 42% of it’s total capacity. That means we will get hit even harder than Ontario.
According to NB Power’s own environmental disclosures (p.18/46):

“Approximately 90% of New Brunswick’s 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels with electricity generation accounting for 47% or nine million tonnes.”

NB Power recently asked the Public Utilities Board for a 10% raise in utility rates, and that cost small businesses in NB $21 million. What do you think will happen when the Dion Liberals slap $360 million onto the utility’s operating budget? That is an additional 24% increase that will be passed on to consumers and taxpayers.

Canadians are already suffering from the high cost of electricity and fuel. Places like Ontario, Alberta and the Maritimes will be particularly hard hit under Dion’s plan. As Greg Weston aptly notes: “By coincidence, the one province where electricity bills won’t be touched by Dion’s plan is the one with all that hydro power — Quebec. Imagine that.“

The Dion Carbon Tax Shaft: The deeper you drill, the scarier it gets!

Yes it’s true. Seen here in a photo by Tom Hanson of the Canadian Press, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is being stalked by the very greenhouse gases he is trying to eliminate!

We’re not talking about seeing imaginary faces in the clouds, we’re talking about those hideous white puffs of water vapor themselves!

According to many reliable sources, water vapor in the atmosphere is the most abundant and efficient contributor to the greenhouse effect. It actually makes up 95% of all greenhouse gases existing in the atmosphere today.

This inconvenient truth is ignored by most policy makers discussing global warming because only about .001% of water vapor can be attributed to man-made causes. It’s hard to impose a punitive tax on something that is not man-made.

According to the Energy Information Department of the US Department of Environment, clouds and water vapor in the atmosphere have a “heat trapping efficiency” of 50%. CO2 on the other hand has an efficiency of only 12% and Ozone only 3%. The global warming potential of CO2 (and the other greenhouse gases classified by the IPCC) is dwarfed by water vapor - both in volume and efficiency.

It’s about votes, not Mother Earth
Politicians care about elections, not global warming

by Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun