Dion's Dubious Platform and a Modest Man's Solutions

Carbon Tax?

Dumb idea. Some provinces (to be specific one province, my province, British Columbia) already have a “carbon tax”. It’s another tax on the middle class and has created a new wealth of bureaucratic harassment and general discontent amongst the population, the majority of which lives around Vancouver and must already pay a transportation tax.

Furthermore, I don’t even understand the tax.

I am made of carbon. My cat is made of carbon. Mcdonald’s Jr. Chickens are made of Carbon. Surely they cannot be bad for this vague term “the environment”. I mean, yes, the cat does just eat, sleep and poop. And I’m sure at night she dreams of laying on my face and suffocating me. But I don’t think any of that is a reason to tax her existence.



So the idea is unsound but that has never stopped a great politician from passing a bill anyways. If Dion were smart he would have named it the F-Cancer Tax. That sucker would’ve passed with flying colours. As a politician it’s almost impossible to win an argument against cancer. Every single voter has some negative experience around the disease and the mention of the word, combined with the association to pollution and sickness rates, would have opposition in a bind. Every time they’d try to debate it rationally they would be talking against strong irrational emotions that would deafen the public to their legitimate concerns.

More importantly the F-Cancer Biill , Dion would have reformed Dion's image of a weakling into a hip, anti-establishment, Trudeau-like statements who wasn’t afraid to say what he meant, and was strong enough to use strong terms. Comparing Harper to Dion, after Dion dropped the F-bomb during his platform speech, would have been like comparing Anne Murray to Shania Twain.

Forgetting about him icing the puck on the environment issue for a minute, the economy is a beautiful idea to get elected on in 2008. Attack the Conservatives at their historically loudest trumpet. And at the same time, maybe “accidentally” reference the post-iceberg Titanic that is nudging its way deeper each day south of the 49th.

Dion hasn’t taken this to the next level unfortunately. The Conservatives have hammered him with attack ads and there has been little to no response. This will not work in Canada which tends to bore out elections like they’re taking place in a library. You’re going to have to turn up the volume on your thoughts dear sir.

Fear: A terrible way to live your life but a great way to get elected. Time to ride that dirty bird and ride it hard. Fear that Harper is little Bush(That one has been covered). Fear that as we watch Leonardo’s white corpse slowly float to the bottom of the ocean he will reach up with one arm and suck our little raft down with him.