Blue Like You

I’m a little confused. Garth Turner has a summary of the Green Shift which he has prepared for his constituents. He titled the post "Green Truth".

One item was bothering me:

Question: Won’t polluters pass the tax on to consumers?
"Most will reduce pollution, to avoid the tax. But others will pass the tax on in the form of higher prices, mostly for energy. But this is the reason everyone’s income taxes are going down – so nobody will be worse off, as we clean up the environment."

Yet, Adam Taylor of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has made the following observation:

The Liberal Green Shift plan, which has been sold as "revenue neutral," would raise an estimated $15 billion in taxes and yet only return about $9.5 billion in corporate and personal income tax reductions, says Taylor.

"So that’s not a revenue-neutral plan," he says.

"That is a net gain for some people and a net loss for others."

So, who’s right? If Garth is telling the ‘truth’, what does that say about Adam Taylor?

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Related : Green Shift would bleed Alberta, experts say - Times Colonist.

Is the title of this post an oxymoron?

Sadly, there are few of us who actually believe the campaign promises of any politician on the hustings. Dalton McGuinty’s introduction of the Health Tax is an example of a ‘broken promise.’ This present government has had a few as well (eg. income trust), even though it can be argued that there are credible reasons for the reversals.  Stephane Dion says the Green Shift will be revenue neutral, but many voters are skeptical. And some parties can promise the world, knowing that they’ll never actually have to form the government and be accountable for those promises (hello Jack & Gilles!).

The Liberal Party’s actions in Adscam betrayed taxpayers’ confidence. There is no shortage of examples where trust in politicians has been eroded.

However, where is the tipping point when a politician’s actions become so indefensible that he or she loses total credibility?

I think we have two examples today. One is Garth Turner who has been exposed by Steve Janke and Stephen Taylor. MSM is quickly catching up on the story.

The other is Elizabeth May, who has been exposed in today’s National Post as a fast-talking bumbler who is digging herself in deeper as she continues to contradict herself regarding the ’stupid Canadians’ fiasco.

In the case of Garth Turner, his actions reflect badly on the Liberal Party and his leader, Stephane Dion.

In the case of Elizabeth May, Stephane Dion is also affected because of his "unofficial alliance" with her.

What will Stephane do? Will he ignore it?

Will Canadian voters ignore it? Or do we cynically accept it as same old, same old?

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Update : Wow! Garth has apologized!! H/T to Phantom Observer. How do you think this will play out in his riding (and on CPAC)?

BTW, I seem to be having some technical issues today, which I’m going to have to investigate. Please don’t adjust your set. Thanks.

Afternoon Update: Oh, this is juicy!  Check out Stephen Taylor - Ormiston vs. Turner. So now that’s CPAC and CBC p.o.’d with Turner…

Stephen’s been busy today! Here’s another one - TVO disagrees with Elizabeth May.

And please check out Chuckercanuk - Canvassing Canada. This is not to be missed!!!

But insulting two provinces at once takes some kind of panache, n’est-ce pas?

Especially after a very important anniversary.

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Et puis, pauvre moi!

And please check out Paul’s Rant for more great stuff about The Garth.

Oh, and here we find that Garth is indeed a legend in his own time! Please check out Hunter and Stephen Taylor.

Looks like CTV is a little more diligent in the research department - Turner under fire for blasting ’separatist losers’.

Garth Turner is starting to sound a tad ticked off.

But an MP calling a female reporter a ‘weaselette’ ?

…I watched on television as weaselette Jane Taber told a breathless Mike Duffy all about the actual slides I used in my PowerPoint presentation to national caucus on May 14th, the reaction of female colleagues to my “tasteless” display and the whupping I took from Dion himself…

Bad form, Garth.

To be honest, Jane Taber is not one of my favourite reporters/television hosts, but Garth Turner is a Liberal Member of Parliament, and as such he represents the Liberal party. To call Jane a "weaselette" is quite distasteful. Well, even if he had called Craig Oliver a weasel, I’d be offended. Name-calling should be regulated to kindergarten and the House of Commons. Actually, that might be offensive to five-year-olds, so I take that back.

I think Garth owes Jane an apology. Can you imagine the ruckus that would occur if a Conservative MP had said such a thing? It’s beyond me why most of the MSM still seem to support the Liberals.

Oh well, maybe I’m over-reacting. At least he didn’t call her a political whore .

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Update : More at Catnip in the Mash . (That is such a cool name!)

And Steve Janke had a post on this a few days ago - Jane Taber’s weasel report on Garth Turner .

…until his blog would come back to bite him!