A good question

Mercury letter writer Stephen Lewis has a good question for Frank Valeriote.

What does federal Liberal candidate Frank Valeriote think of Dion's carbon tax?

I read that he doesn't like parts of what is in Dion's new carbon tax plan, he said so last year. Is this still true?

Even if he's changed his mind, does it not seem strange that while Liberals across the country are busy promoting this new tax plan, Dion's candidate here in Guelph is keeping quiet?

GreenShift.ca fights back

The company that the Liberals appropriated the name for their plan from, Green Shift, fights back.

Unwanted Politics

For the record, we were notified by the Liberal Party the evening before they launched their campaign. They presented it to us in a fashion that implied that we should be happy by all of the extra traffic that we would receive as a result. We immediately notified them that we would take action to protect the name and the integrity that we have associated with it, and that we were not interested in receiving misdirected traffic. We began by politely asking. After receiving calls from the media, we contacted the Liberal party to ask again that they please stop using a name that we have clearly associated with our environmental program, to prevent confusion. Only after they refused to stop, did we decide to send a legal notice. We never did call the media – we simply received a flood of calls, thanked all of the concerned businesses/individuals/institutions etc., and gave honest answers to any media that reached us with questions

From Linda Leatherdale's latest column - Dion Green Shift a Green Shaft:

But there are just too many holes in Dion's logic that we'll be better off with his carbon tax -- which was painfully obvious when he dropped by for a Sun editorial board meeting yesterday.

One equation his numeric wizardry forgot to include: Other levels of governments will be impacted by his new tax. And, like energy giants, they'll pass extra costs onto the taxpaying consumers.

Something to keep in mind. In Ontario they're already estimating that hydro costs alone will rise 20 per cent. When you factor in all the increased costs that governments themselves will have to pay, where is the revenue going to come from.?

With Guelph already looking at a 6.5% tax increase next year, what would Dion's tax grab add to your Municipal tax bill?

Hold on to your wallets!

Shifty Strategy

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's green plan seems to have hit a snag.

Firm takes action against Liberal 'Green Shift' brand

Updated Mon. Jun. 23 2008 8:59 PM ET

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- An environmental consulting and supply company in Toronto is firing off a legal "cease and desist" order to stop the Liberal party from using the firm's trademark name - Green Shift - for its new carbon-tax plan.

In what could become an embarrassing confrontation for Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, the owner of Green Shift says she is taking the legal step after earlier attempts failed to get the Liberals to drop the name from their environmental plan.

Environmental consultant Jennifer Wright, who has owned Green Shift since 1999 and registered the company name in 2001, said Monday she and a handful of other dedicated environmentalists who work with the firm can't afford to have its identity associated with any political party.

But efforts that began last week, when Dion unveiled the Liberal party's so-called Green Shift, have yielded no results. Wright said legal action may be the only recourse.

"We're just trying to ask them politely to do the right thing," she said in an interview. "We have asked them to stop using the name and we've asked them for a full public apology."

Off into the wild Blue yonder

I've long been a reader of blogs and have finally decided to take the plunge.

In my younger years I wasn't very interested in politics. All that has changed since my marriage. I certainly look at many issues differently these days, especially since the birth of my children.

I paid my own way through university and have paid off all my school debts. I work hard for what I have and save for what I don't have.

I decided the other day to start speaking up more after viewing Stephane Dion's Green Shift tax grab. Not only do I get penalized for working hard, my family is further penalized by the fact that my wife has decided to be a stay at home mother.

When I look at the never ending tax appetite of Municipal, Provincial and Federal governments I'm inspired to start speaking out and fighting back.