Northern premiers reject Dion's carbon tax plan

[Praxius]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080629/dion_north_080629/20080629?hub=Canada

It appears that Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has a lot more work to do if he wants to convince Canadian leaders to back his carbon tax plan.


Northern premiers say they're not buying the Liberal proposal. They emerged from two days of meetings in Yellowknife giving the thumbs down to Dion's plan. Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland, Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie and Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik said it would not be fair to their residents.


"We'd rather focus on alternatives to get away from fossil fuels. But to add on a cost to very high fuel costs already is just not an option for homeowners in our territory," Okalik said.


"(In the North), there really are no alternatives for us in Nunavut to turn to, to get away from diesel generation for power and for heat,'' he said.


Dion unveiled his "Green Shift" plan earlier this month. It would put a $15.4 billion tax on carbon emissions. The Liberals say the increase in taxes would be offset by cuts in income and corporate taxes. They claim the tax will be revenue neutral and punish big polluters.


"We think there are better ways to deal with this issue than another tax being applied, especially in the North where the cost of goods and services is already predominantly higher than anywhere else in the country,'' Fentie said.


Critics have called the proposal a tax grab and say it won't help the fight against climate change. They say it will also raise the prices of goods related to energy.


Roland said the carbon tax may pass "on to the end user an additional cost of doing business.''


Critics have said they are not convinced the carbon tax will reduce emissions.


"In fact, it's not even possible to know how much greenhouse gas emission reduction would happen with (Dion's) plan," NDP Leader Jack Layton told CTV's Question Period.


"We need real, firm limits on pollution."


The NDP is about to introduce radio ads attacking the Liberal and Tory environmental plans. Layton said Canada needs to adopt a cap-and-trade system which would allow companies to buy emission credits if they go over an allowable limit -- or if they are below their allowance, they can sell the credits to other companies.

On Canada day, B.C. residents and businesses will begin paying a provincial carbon tax. It will add 2.4 cents to every litre of gas. Diesel and home heating fuel will also fall under the carbon tax.

It is a money grab and I'm glad that some premieres are seeing this, among many other problems that will arise from this scam. I'm all for looking for ways to reduce pollution, but this has no substance let alone any method of proving that it would actually work.

And as mentioned in a previous thread, they will grab more taxes overall on everybody in the country, then they would normally through income taxes. Not everybody files their taxes, not everybody gets money back on their taxes when they do.... and for people who are not citizens of the country, but living here and working here under visas or residency, those people do not file income taxes in the first place. So they would still be paying this carbon tax on the foods and products they eat everyday, on the fuel they use to heat their homes and power their cars....

and guess what? They're not going to see any of that money again.

Their so-called balanced approach isn't balanced at all and this is just another method of getting more income from the public then they originally would have.... during a time when everybody is already feeling the crunch on the cost of living.

 

[Ron in Regina]

You can add the Premiers of both Alberta & Saskatchewan to your list....

Stephane Dion and his Green Shift plan are not being accepted with open arms out here in the West at all. Western Canada has lived through the National Energy Plan once already and will not put up with this sort of plan ever again. The N.E.P. was true economic oppression to Western Canada and it snuffed out the fledgling Saskatchewan oil industry for close to 15 years and pulled untold Billions out of Alberta crippling it's economic base. This will never be allowed to happen again. Talk of separation is going on out here in Western Canada now, and it's not just the wing-nut fringe element either. This is working its way into the daily conversations normal & rational people who remember the N.E.P. and the talk isn't passionate rhetoric; it's calm, cool, rational discussion to the effect that, if the Green Plan comes in with the Liberal Party, then Western Canada is out. The conversation is just too matter of fact to not be taken seriously. I couln't have pictured this just three months ago but it's happening right now, and it is very real. For those out there that are unaware of the "National Energy Plan" that this "Green Shift" plan is being perceived as the NEP-2
out in Western Canada, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Program

My question to you folks in Quebec and the Maritimes is, do you even know that this is happening out here in Western Canada? I understand that much of Eastern Canada generally leans Left politically (Liberal, or NDP, or Parti Quebecois), but right now between Alberta and Saskatchewan together there is exactly one Liberal MP and he (Ralph Goodale) will not be getting a seat in the next Federal election. Are you even aware of this movement towards Western separation in your half of Canada?

Again, I'm stuck wading through the media with different papers leaning Left in the coverage in the East and Right in the coverage in the West. Do the folks out in the East understand just how much of a threat to our economies and our way of life that the Green Plan is perceived as? This is not seen as some kind of 'save the environment program' at all, but purely as (much like the N.E.P. from '80-'85) a new way for the Liberal Party to buy votes in Eastern Canada with Western money and resourses as it knows it can't count on a single Liberal MP out of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Is this being spun in a completely different way out there? There are always at least two different sides to every story, and I'm curious as to what the other side could be. Can I get some input from someone in Quebec and someone in the Maritimes please?