Statement on the resolution of the trademark dispute with Green Shift Inc.
The Liberal Party of Canada and Green Shift Inc. have resolved their dispute over the "Green Shift" trademark. The Liberal Party of Canada will continue to use "Green Shift" under license from Green Shift Inc.
Green Shift Inc. is not affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada and the grant of the license does not constitute an endorsement by Green Shift Inc. of the Liberal Party of Canada.
I'll be launching the "Biggest Election" contest later tomorrow (some good posts on the subject can be found here and here)
Until then, a mish-mash of news stories:
1. KadyO'Malley calls BS on Jennifer Wright's claim that Green Shift has received "numerous angry and threatening calls and emails" from people mistakenly thinking they were affiliated with the Liberal Party. I must say it seems odd a normal person would be enraged about a plan not mentioned on Green Shift's website to the point where they would call the contact number on the site to complain.
If this is happening, I feel kind of sorry for GRIT Calgary who must get hundreds of angry calls a year from irate conservatives upset about something they wrote on their damn blog.
3. There's new news about the alleged grewalling of the Cadman tape but, at this point, I don't really care. The fact is, Harper said what he said - he hasn't denied that. So everything else, while perhaps relevant to the lawsuit (and I don't even see how it is), doesn't change that in the least. He said he was aware of "financial considerations" regardless of what may have happened to the tape- that's all that's really relevant here.
4. As someone who enjoys numbers and politics, I can't begin to describe just how much this site rocks! Simulations! Projections! And heaps and heaps of polling data! For what it's worth, their current model has Obama pegged at a 68.8% chance of victory.
The headlines range from "Dion Delivers" to "The Great Carbon Swindle". In the Star, Chantal Hebert's story runs a “Dion Election Platform Built on Carbon” headline – I hope not, because he could wind up paying a lot of taxes on it if that’s the case. And while Hebert is not quite ready to phone up Cherniak for a membership in the Stephane Dion fan club, she does call his speech “his best public performance to date as leader”.
Over in the Post, John Ivison takes a "propane tank is half full" approach, in a thumbs down review. He also either leaks the Conservatives' "cap and trade policy" or is as confused by all the different plans floating around as everyone else.
The Toronto Sun editorial calls it “too good to be true”…somehow I don’t think they meant that as a compliment.
Alberta politicians show great restraint in not actually saying the letters "NEP", although they allude to it. The columnists out west areunableto maintain the same self-restraint. Neither is the Prime Minister.
Coyne makes some valid points on this plan's revenue non-neutrality, but the crux of it is he would have rather seen rich people got the tax breaks. Maybe that makes some economic sense, but politically? This thing is hard enough to sell on its own, without it being spun as a reverse-Robin Hood scheme.
Wells points out all the beer and popcorn which can be bought with the proposed $350 a year child tax credit and advises the grits to avoid making this a debate about revenue neutrality. Given that the Tories appear intent on making this all about revenue neutrality, that's a pretty good sign the Liberals should be focusing on something else (like the "make polluters pay" principle).
Radwanski is glad that Dion is talking about something policy related, even if it's not exactly a "set-the-world-on-fire" (and tax the CO2 created from that fire?) policy. I agree. If the next election is about leadership, Dion will lose - so making it about policy isn't a bad strategy...unless that policy is deathly unpopular (see: faith-based schools, funding of).
Kinsella says it isn't a "total disaster", and links to a Liberal promotional video that plays upon the desires of Canadians for a bold, national plan to fight climate change.
Libloggers generally think this is the greatest thing since the tax on sliced bread, and the Blogging Tories are too busy thinking about spanking senators to really notice it.
As for my take? It’s a good policy – most environmentalists and economists will tell you that. It’s also a fair policy since it puts a realistic price on a negative externality. Under this plan, some people would be better off and some would be worse off, despite what the hyper-partisans on both sides will argue. I don’t have a house or a car, and blogging isn’t an overly CO2 intensive hobby, so I suspect I’d gain – but other people will lose and some industries will be hit hard. And, yes, although Dion will dance around the issue, the price of gas will go up – duh. But people will be getting a lot of cash back to make up for it and gas should be more expensive.
I think it’s debatable how much this will actually affect energy-consumption habits; people still drive despite a massive spike in gas prices and there aren’t really a lot of alternatives to home heating fuels. That said, putting a price on emissions acts as an incentive for alternative energy sources, and rising heating bills makes conserving energy and retrofitting homes more cost-effective.
So, yeah, it’s something we should be doing. Politically-speaking, I’m not very high on it, but when politics in this country has turned into little more than schoolyard name calling, it’s nice to see politicians actually putting real ideas out there.
CBC (and one presumes Elections Canada) seem to have most of the details in advance, but Dion will be making the official carbon tax announcement this morning. I’ll update this when he does but, for now, you can read the rumoured details here.
UPDATE:The Green Shift website is now up and running, with the full plan details. Like all Canadians, I will be sure to read the 48 page handbook once I get an opportunity to but, for now, I will say that the "savings calculator" is a good way to simplify a colossally complicated plan. Knocking people up for donations is also a smart move.
