Talk about a pot calling the kettle black! The Federal Conservatives are running ads on radio slamming Stephane Dion’s, yet-to-be-unveiled, carbon tax calling it a “permanent new tax on everything”. Despite Mr. Dion’s claim that the proposed tax will be revenue-neutral, the Conservatives are claiming that Canadians will end up paying an extra tax on the cost of gas, electricity and everything else that we buy. They should know all about a trick like that — they did precisely the same thing with the “ecoAUTO Rebate Program”.
In Budget 2007, the Tories introduced “a broadly revenue-neutral” rebate program that offered up to $2,000 for the purchase of a new fuel-efficient automobile while at the same time imposing a “green levy” of up to $4,000 on gas-guzzling vehicles such as SUVs (but not trucks). In this year’s budget, they decided to scrap the green rebate, while keeping the green levy. It is hypocritical of the Conservatives to warn that we “better not fall for this trick”, when they themselves played a similar green trick on Canadians.
Note: Before Tory supporters pelt me with hate mail, let me state that I voted for the Conservatives in the last election and we don’t show much partisanship when heaping abuse on politicians.
