On How Carole James Could Look Less Stupid

After a disastrous 1st week of campaigning, the B.C. NDP must surely be thinking of a way out of the hole they've dug themselves into on the environment. Luckily, DeSmog Blog has found a possible route:

Metro Vancouver mayors have let it be known that they would like the revenue from the carbon tax to pay for regional transit. That's a perfect solution for the NDP. Rather than maintaining their opposition to the tax - and continuing to sow outrage among erstwhile environmental supporters -NDP leader Carole James could acknowledge the merit of the mayors' request and agree to leave the tax in place, redirecting its proceeds to transit options.

One perfectly legitimate criticism of the B.C. carbon tax is that sending the monies into general revenues doesn't do the environment a helluva lotta good. Seconding the mayor's proposal would suggest that the NDP is actually out to improve the province's green policy, not just score cheap political points.

Oh wait, its an election. Scoring cheap political points is the order of the day.

Exxon Supports A Carbon Tax Because...

A trading program, known as 'cap and trade,' 'inevitably introduces unnecessary cost and complexity' that reduces effectiveness, said [Rex Tillerson, CEO of the Irving, Texas based company]. They require a vast expansion of regulation, he said. A carbon tax 'can be more easily implemented' and is the 'most efficient means of reflecting the cost of carbon...'

'Such a tax should be made revenue neutral,' he said, which requires other taxes to be lowered so that the overall tax burden isn't increased"

But, given our last federal election result, is one still a viable policy option in Canada, or are we stuck with some version of C&T merely because it has the advantage being, in effect, a hidden tax, and thereby palatable to our bovine electorate?

B.C. will be the test case, I imagine. There Campbell introduced the tax between elections rather than trying to run on it, and it seems to me (though I am happy to be corrected) that some of the anger it generated has abated.

And of course there's the Quebec carbon tax, which certainly was not a drag on the Charest government last time around. But of course they're weird and Gallic and, at 0.8 cents per litre, the tax was barely noticeable in the first place.

B.C. Poll Shows Gord Campbell Doing Fine WIth Carbon Tax

After several paragraphs of negative spin, the Vancouver Sun lets slip:

The poll shows the Liberals have the support of 47 per cent of decided voters, a number slightly above what they've held throughout the past year.

The NDP has 33-per-cent support, down three points from this time last year.

The seatless Green Party remained steady at 16-per-cent support, a level it has essentially held for the past year as well.

"I think the most important number is that at this point the vote hasn't changed one iota, despite the fact a lot of people knew this [the carbon tax] was coming," said Braid.

"It's been discussed since February and it hasn't had any impact whatsoever."

Probably helps that the provincial NDP is playings its usual "Don't Tax Me, Don't Tax Thee, Tax The Man Behind The Tree" routine, arguing, not a against a carbon tax per se, but just this carbon tax. I suspect that, when the dust settles, the Federal political landscape, much like the landscape in B.C., will remain more or less unchanged, which Dion earning a point or two with the electorate for showing some hitherto unsuspected courage.