Wednesday, September 10, 2008

They Were Voted Out Of Power - Now They Endorse Carbon Tax

Dion's carbon tax proposal is getting some reinforcement. Believe it or not - 4 (four!) former Prime Ministers have endorsed a report which calls for a $30-a-tonne carbon tax as one of the measures to combat what's claimed to be climate change. Want to know who the four former PMs are?
The document has been signed by four former prime ministers, Joe Clark and Kim Campbell, both Progressive Conservatives, and Liberals Paul Martin and John Turner.

"We simply can't afford another round of posturing and denial in this next election," said Clark in a news release Monday.
Wow! With endorsements from those guys the report just can't fail... Or can it? After all, two of the above named former PMs ended up reducing their parties from a majority government to the lowest number of seats ever - 40 for the Liberals and 2 (two!) for the PCs. The remaining two weren't much better, both failed to stay in power after what had looked like a promising start. Their combined tenure as Prime Ministers amounts to about 42 months (26 of them - for Paul Martin) - not even a full term. Shows how powerful their endorsements are.

And while the three nobodies and Mr. Dithers endorse Dion's tax hike, Stephen Harper is offering us a tax cut. His proposal to cut excise tax on diesel fuel in half will reduce the strain on farmers, truckers, airlines... Even if it won't result in lower prices - at least we won't have yet another "fuel surcharge" when booking a trip or mailing a package. This proposal haven't yet been endorsed by a single former Prime Minister. But voters will have their chance to endorse it come election day.

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