Thoughts on the "Green Shift"

So, Stephane Dion has released what he hopes will be, to borrow a computing term, the 'killer app' that delivers the Liberals back to power in Ottawa.

There are, of course, three approaches I could take:

1. To say "Hey, way to go with the copyright infringement!";
2. Say "What global warming? It's all sunspots, or farting cows"; or,
3. Argue some major concerns about the plan

Since there is a tendency to dumb down rhetoric as it is, I really think I should attempt to follow #3 as closely as my pea-sized brain allows.

The main thrust of the plan seems to be to tax people for the production of CO2, and then offset the tax with cuts to income tax. Sounds reasonable. You punish bad behaviour (pollution) and reward good behaviour (hard work) with one stroke of the pen. Heck, on that level, there's something attractive about it to an old Tory soul like me.

Unfortunately, as Newton discovered in Physics, in politics and economics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The questions are these - Who pollutes? Who pays? What are the unintended consequences? Last, but certainly not least, will it make a difference?

First, who pollutes? Well, cities do. They have all of the factories, manufacturing plants, and over 80 percent of Canada's population. Sure, we rural people 'pollute' as we grow the food that other eat, but according to author Jared Diamond in his book "Collapse", the typical US farmer grows enough to feed 125 people (I am sure the Canadian number is similar). If people are going to divide the 'carbon footprint' of a charter flight that takes rich boomers to deep glaze their torsos in the Dominican Republic among the passengers, I am sure that we can divvy up the carbon that the 'dirty' farmer produces among all those who fill their faces without ever having to drive a tractor or pull a weed.

Unfortunately, while the urban dweller can hop on a bus or subway, the farmer cannot. While the urban dweller's employer - depending on the industry - may have the option of reducing their use of fossil fuel, the farmer does not (although if sweat and tears had some octane content, those who feed us would have enough fuel to be self-sufficient).

So, while the 80 percent of Canadians who live in the world of concrete and glass could do a little 'substitution strategy' to reduce their carbon tax hit, those who live in the rural areas, where incomes are generally lower, and where transportation costs are higher, will not be so lucky.

As with anything in economics, higher production costs will get passed on, and even the burghers of Toronto will end up paying more for their burgers. With oil at nearly $140, they are already.

But I'll get my income tax cut, and that will make up for it, you will say. Well, according to the Liberal "Green Shift" site, my rural family will save about $130 a month in income tax, and a comparable urban family would get about $110 per month extra.

Okay, so the good folks that ragged out Harper about the Child Care Benefit, saying "$100 a month won't cover the cost of a sitter or daycare" now argue that $10 more than that will cover higher fuel prices for your car, higher prices for everything that has to be shipped by a truck, or grown in a field, as well as the very stuff that warms your house prevents you and your family from suffering hypothermia during those wonderful Canadian winters of ours.

Of course, that's if you even file income tax, otherwise you are doubly screwed.

Well, at least we'll get our CO2 emissions under control...But wait, according to the experts, the impact will be negligible...If we fully implemented Kyoto, we would only delay, and not stop, the trend, and it would only be a 5 year stall.

The Green Shift is really nothing more than bad economics and bad policy wrapped up in good intentions, making it all the more worse as it assumes a "holier-than-thou" mantle.

Want an alternative? Well, Statistics Canada says that 55 percent of commuters in Toronto drive to work. Well, how about you leave the Land Rover in the driveway and ride the Red Rocket / GO Train / TTC bus to work every day, and quit expecting others to pick up the tab for your environmentally unsustainable lifestyle. Expand that to every Canadian city with a population over 200,000 and a good public transit infrastructure, and see how quickly the CO2 drops.

That is the only shift that we need. Anything else is a shaft.

Will someone please deal with that psycho despot Mugabe?

Despite the ‘red meat’ in my comments, I am not a man who readily believes that violence is an answer to anything. This may be due, in part, to years of Sunday School (often taught by my own mother), but it also lends to a degree of pragmatism. Just as Newton’s Third Law of Physics dictates “an equal and opposing reaction” in nature, acts of violence usually result in retaliation.

The tit-for-tat that began in Sarajevo in 1914, egged on by the labyrinth of alliances, produced the ‘War to end all wars.’ The overly punative terms against Germany relating to that conflict sowed the seeds for the next one.

These caveats aside, and bearing in mind the full import of my view, I will say it nonetheless. Somebody should help the opposition in Zimbabwe arm to the teeth and deal with Robert Mugabe’s genocidal regime once and for all.

People are dying of starvation because they do not possess the whellbarrows of worthless currency needed to buy a loaf of bread, where price inflation is running in excess of 200,000 percent. Once the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa, exporting food to the world, it now depends upon the charity of the international community.

Anyone who dares speak out against the regime risks torture or death, the methods of which are often reported in gruesome detail. We know that journalists, both Zimbabwean and foreign, risk much in bring details to light. This week, we hear that the US Ambassador, James McKee, along with American and British diplomats, were detained and risked summary execution.

Add to all of this the mass exodus of refugees across the Limpopo River into South Africa, which has caused such a societal strain on that country, that once now sees television footage of gunfights on the streets of Johannesburg reminicent of an old re-run of “Gunsmoke.”

Still more disturbing was the attempt of a Chinese ship attempting to offload weapons for the Zimbabwean regime. The insult to injury, however, are the reports that Chinese soldiers are in that country right now, and are participating in the repression.

And so, I say again, as the regime will not recognize a legitimately transparent democratic process, and because it has engaged in activities worthy of Nazi Germany, and because this behaviour has created a destabilizing influence beyond its borders, and since the Chinese have picked a side, can someone please give massive amounts of firepower and military training to any group of people willing to take back their country from Bob the lunatic?

Overthrowing the regime gives Zimbabweans an opportunity to take back their land and destiny. And as an aside, if Beijing wishes to be taken seriously as a reponsible power on the world stage, they may want to study the lessons learned by the Americans in Vietnam, and the Soviets in Afghanistan - that backstopping immoral regimes will give you no dividend but one of grief.

You learn something new every day...

According to the BBC website, a privately run aid effort to victims of Cyclone Nargis was shut down by Myanmar/Burma's ruling military junta.

The effort was organized by a person billed as "Burma's most famous comedian", who was subsequently detained.

While I am sure that Burma HAS comedians, how does one become the MOST FAMOUS one? Do they have their own version of Vegas, or the Catskills, or do they have a version of "Last Comic Standing" on Burmese TV?

The only member of my extended family to have ever set foot in that country was my wife's grandfather, as a member of the British Army. Unfortunately, most of his time was spent as a guest in a Japanese POW Camp.

Not too many sh*ts and giggles there...