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."