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I continue to endorse Stephane Dion's carbony green tax grab plan.
Boy am I ever glad I’m not Stephane Dion today. [...]“Just one moment please” said the polite woman who answered the phone, in response to my inquiry. Seconds later, another person picked up the phone. I repeated that I was inquiring about ‘the green shift’ and was asked “Are you calling about us or about the federal Liberal campaign?” I could tell this person was not happy.
[...]
The answer came just as I finished stating the purpose of my call. There was no relationship, and the person I was speaking with, while very polite, was absolutely furious that this has happened. It was suggested to me that Green Shift has lost both new business and existing clients since Thursday who have been frightened off at the perception of a relationship between them and the federal Liberal Party. You can’t blame businesses for not wanting to do business with anyone affiliated with a political party, but unfortunately, this is not the case with Green Shift are they are being unfairly punished as a result of the Liberal Party’s actions.
I was told that Green Shift has worked extremely hard for 10 years to become one of the most successful vendors of green services and products only to be faced with the reality that all this work may be wiped out in a matter of days. I was told that Green Shift did a brief interview with CTV late last week but tried to keep it low key as they had not yet decided upon what the official response be. It seems today that along with a press release, a Cease and Desist notice will be issued..
Updated Mon. Jun. 23 2008 4:56 PM ET
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- A new poll finds suggests the Liberals could score votes with their controversial "green shift'' environmental proposal.
The first national poll since the Liberal leader Stephane Dion announced that he would impose a carbon tax to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions has found Canadians are beginning to pick sides.
While a majority remain undecided, 14 per cent say they are in favour and 17 per cent are opposed.
But once the policy is explained to respondents, the Canadian Press-Harris-Decima survey found that 47 per cent liked the idea and 39 per cent were opposed.
Significantly, the poll found that most of the opposition to the idea comes from Conservatives.
The telephone poll of 1,000 was conducted between June 19 and 22 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Carbon tax about Canada's future: Dion
Cutting our carbon emissions to reduce global warming? Not a top priority
The good, the bad and the merely ineffective. In the Conservative government of 127 MPs, there are 31 honourable members. The rest don't really count.
| Would you fight a parking ticket knowing the courts are backlogged and you might not get a court date? | |||||
| Yes | |||||
| 2699 | ||||
| No | |||||
| 754 | ||||
| Not sure | |||||
| 144 | ||||
Miller At His Finest| Full Column Globetrotting Miller is 'greening' the world By SUE-ANN LEVY
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Giving shelter to city's 'bad guys''Out of control' system preventing troublemakers from being evicted from public housing, critic says |
Shoot a gun, deal drugs or assault a neighbour and your days in Toronto's public housing should be over.
"The truth is, nothing can be further from the truth," Harry Fine, a former adjudicator on the provincial body that resolves disputes between landlords and tenants, tells the Sunday Sun.
In fact, Fine insists, there's a revolving door for bad tenants in this city's troubled public housing projects.
The Toronto Community Housing Corp. evicts problem residents and the province's Landlord and Tenant Board lets them back in.
"In my informed position, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board is the most serious impediment to cleaning out the bad guys from social housing," Fine tells the Sun.
'Eviction, enforcement dirty words' in Toronto's public housing |
JOHN DUNBAR, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday said as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders he blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil.
The Democratic candidate's campaign singled out the so-called “Enron loophole” for allowing speculators to run up the cost of fuel by operating outside federal regulation. Oil closed near $135 (U.S.) a barrel on Friday — almost double the price a year ago.
“My plan fully closes the Enron loophole and restores common sense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future,” Mr. Obama said in a campaign statement.
Updated Sun. Jun. 22 2008 4:32 PM ET
The Canadian Press
New value-for-money audits to better track how Indian Affairs spends billions of dollars will catch misappropriation, lax reporting and -- in rare cases -- fraud, says the minister in charge.
Chuck Strahl says most First Nations properly use federal cash, much of it paid to uphold historic treaties. But more stringent assessments of the roughly $6 billion that flows through his department each year will tighten accounting and give concerned band members answers, he said in an interview.
"I'm convinced that the overwhelming majority of First Nations do the best they can with the money they've got. You could debate whether the money is adequate or not,'' he added. "But there's the odd one out there, just like there always is in any public government ... that needs to be called to task.
"In extreme cases, of course, somebody could be taking money out of the till and not reporting it.''
Audit results "could be anything from an illegal action to simply a change in book-keeping requirements,'' Strahl said.
As of July 1, transfers to reserves for education, housing and other programs will contain a clause allowing Indian Affairs to later analyze whether they were well spent.
Sept. 23, 1989: The GST is "an attack on the weaker regions of the country, regressive, against the lower income groups, invisible, sneaky and of course ... an administrative nightmare." — Liberal Leader John Turner
Nov. 28, 1989: "Mr. Speaker, the goods and services tax is a stupid, inept and incompetent tax." — Liberal MP Paul Martin
Oct. 29, 1990: "I am opposed to the GST. I have always been opposed to it, and I will always be opposed to it. It is a tax that is both regressive and discriminatory." — Liberal Leader Jean Chretien
Nov. 19, 1990: "We will continue to oppose the GST and the tax won't be long in place when the Liberals win the next election." — Opposition Leader Herb Gray
1993 — Liberal Party Red Book: "A Liberal government will replace the GST with a system that generates equivalent revenues, is fairer to consumers and to small business, minimizes disruption to small business, and promotes federal-provincial fiscal co-operation and harmonization."
Nov. 1, 2007 — The Canadian Press: [Liberal Leader] Stephane Dion's suggestion that he might one day increase the goods-and-services tax had some of his Liberal troops shaking their heads Wednesday.
Part 2 — Then & Now: Carbon Tax
2006 — Stephane Dion's Leadership Platform: "A carbon tax is less effective than a carbon market at reducing emissions. Some of my opponents for the Liberal leadership have suggested that a carbon tax would be the most effective measure to curb climate pollution. This is simply bad policy, for the following reasons ..."
March 2, 2007 — The Globe: Carbon tax a possibility, Dion confirms after Conservative attack
March 6, 2007 — The Globe: Dion's plan won't call for carbon tax, office says
Oct. 10, 2007: "Let me give you the two bottom lines of this plan: there will be no carbon tax and the money will stay in Alberta." — Liberal Leader Stephane Dion
June 19, 2008 — Dion sets table for epic policy battle with $15.4-billion carbon tax plan
Smitherman SolutionGeorge Smitherman ended his tenure as health minister much as he started it: by pledging to improve the quality of care in Ontario's nursing homes.
On Tuesday, just three days before being sworn in as minister of the newly merged energy and infrastructure portfolio, Smitherman released a long-awaited report by nursing home CEO Shirlee Sharkey that sets out a strategy for enhancing care in the province's 600-plus long-term care facilities.
MoreScrew the kids....our rights are more important.The union said the picket-line barbecue will cause a delay entering the grounds and advises patrons to park nearby and walk to the raceway. The barbecue will begin at 9 a.m. and continue all day.Kids' fundraiser caught in strikeEvent at Woodbine faces CAW picket line |
Kim Long is worried her charity fundraiser will be a flop with striking CAW workers planning to picket outside the Queen's Plate at the Woodbine Racetrack tomorrow.
Access to the track will be slowed as the Canadian Auto Workers union sets up pickets to support a three-week-long strike by some workers at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming facility.
Long, a Richmond Hill mother of three who is organizing the $225-a-plate luncheon and silent auction and raffle to benefit Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation, said it's the children who will lose out.
