But They've Got One Too--Why Iggy's Cap And Trade Plan Shouldn't Get Him In Too Much Trouble

Ed Stelmach is whining again: the Liberal's enviro proposals are a scheme "to plunder Alberta", and so forth.  But I don't think we'll see a repeat of the 2008 "green shift" debacle for the federal Liberals, largely because, as the LPoC party platform notes, Harper and Co. themselves promised to set a price on carbon before the 2008 election.  Their plan was and is called "Turning the Corner" and you can read all about it on the Environment Canada website

However, the Lib platform is not being entirely accurate when they say the Tories have done nothing to implement Turning the Corner.  An inventory of Canadian emissions, which you need before implementing any carbon pricing mechanism, is still ongoing.  Just last month, as a matter of fact, the following RFP appeared on the MERX site:

2010 Inventory of Emissions from Commercial Marine Vessels in Canada

[...]

The Government of Canada continues to take action to understand and reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Commercial marine vessels are a significant source of these emissions, to different degrees for different substances. To support ongoing assessment of program effectiveness, Environment Canada requires an updated inventory of emissions from Canadian and foreign commercial marine vessels in Canada during 2010, and associated hindcasts and forecasts. Where appropriate the work will make use of the Government of Canada’s “Marine Emissions Inventory Tool” (MEIT)

And when I contacted Neil Charbonneau, Environment Canada's procurement officer, I learned that this is the first time such an inventory has been compiled for both coasts under one project banner--the first national inventory of marine emissions, as it were, and under the Harper regime!

So, sorry Ed, if Iggy has plans to rip-off Alberta, so too does Stephen Harper.  The main difference is in the speed of execution