WINNIPEG — Anticipating an election call within days, Stephane Dion says he'll "strengthen" the Liberal Green Shift plan by pledging more money — up to $1 billion — to help farmers and others cope.
The Liberal leader, in Winnipeg for a two-day caucus meeting, said he'll tweak the proposal to focus on encouraging better agricultural practices. The modified plan will "help our farmers to be less dependent on fossil fuels, more energy-efficient and then more competitive."
Wouldn't it be easier just not to overtax farmers in the first place? Or is it that important to create extra jobs for bureaucrats that would collect the carbon tax and then calculate and distribute the handouts? And another thing - where is that extra $1B actually going to come from? The article mentions some mysterious fund named "contingency offset", initially designed "to allay the effects of a carbon tax on not-for-profit groups or charities". What kind of fund is that? And where will the fund (the "contingency offset") get all that money?
Also - what about the non-profit groups and charities, for which the funds were originally allocated? Does that mean they won't get any money now, once those same funds were pledged to "farmers and others"? Or is Dion looking forward to get another billion from some other sources? It almost looks like they're trying to spend the same money twice... Well, don't blame them. Do you think it's easy to sugarcoat snake oil?
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