Thursday, April 15, 2021

Erin O'Toole's Farcical Climate Change Plan

Erin O'Toole has rarely looked so ridiculous, standing in front of a moving video green screen. 

So he could look like he was floating way above the earth, as he flogged his new/nouveau climate plan.

But then in a crazy way I suppose that made sense.

For if O'Toole looked ridiculous, so is his plan.

For the plan looks like it was slapped together by a team of clowns and climate change deniers, and makes absolutely no sense.

Under O'Toole's plan — which CBC News obtained a copy of Wednesday— Canadians would pay a carbon levy, initially amounting to $20 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, every time they buy hydrocarbon-based fuels, such as gasoline.

But instead of channeling that money into direct rebates to Canadian households, as is the case currently, the Conservatives would divert it to "personal low carbon savings accounts."

Consumers could then draw on those accounts for "things that help them live a greener life," the document says. "That could mean buying a transit pass or a bicycle, or saving up and putting the money towards a new efficient furnace, energy efficient windows or even an electric vehicle."

Wow. And I thought the Cons were for freedom of choice.

But I guess you could see it that way, if you bent yourself into a pretzel, and stuck your head up your ass.

If you want a transit pass, you could use your stash of O'Toole funny money...

And if you wanted something a little more expensive. you could put it on your funny money O'Toole credit card.

Although with a levy as low as $20 a tonne, to buy something like an electric lawn mower you'd have to practically torch the planet.

And I can only imagine what Jason Kenney, O'Toole's fairy godmother, the one whose endorsement made him leader,  is going to say about any kind of tax.

Or what his bestial followers might say, when so many don't even believe that climate change is real.

And the good news?

Justin Trudeau is now the only political leader with a serious climate plan.

It's yet another reason he must be given a majority.

So he can lead this country to a brighter and greener future...

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you read this?

Seamus O'Regan looking to make sure he has a nice comfy retirement. What a farce the Libs version of "environmentalism" really is! Your picture of two-faced Trudeau makes me want to barf. Both Libs and Cons are slaves to big business, always have been -- only the emphasis is different. Hand out money left and right to the Canadian petro plutocrats. But keep it all on the QT. It might look bad, dontcha know.

https://breachmedia.ca/oil-lobby-trudeau-government-formed-secretive-committee-during-pandemic/

O'Toole is a complete idiot, but the ruling party is merely sleazy with our tax dollars. Gotta pump that oil, but Air Canada customers waiting for a refund? Give 'em a year of squirming.

BM

ottlib said...

The remarkable part is the Conservatives have accepted the targets outlined in the government plan. Their approach to big emitters is not far off of what the government is currently doing. Hell, they have finally accepted the need to put a price on carbon. In short they have essentially capitulated.

However, they just cannot seem to get past the "Liberal carbon tax" and it could very well be their undoing. Consider that no Conservative or media type likes to talk about the rebate side of the Liberal carbon pricing system. It is generally accepted by Canadians so they do not like to give it too much attention to remind Canadians of that. Now with the Conservatives proposing their green savings accounts it is inevitable that they will be compared to the Liberal rebates. If given the choice between money that you can spend as you like or a savings account that only allows you to spend on certain things what choice would most Canadians take? By far they are going to take the money and run.

No one is going to go into the details of the Conservative plan. Our media just does not do policy anymore. But they will focus on something that will be easy for Canadians to understand and the different rebate plans fit the bill.

As well, it will probably be very easy for Conservative opponents to cast doubt on whether the Conservatives would actually implement their plan if they were to win an election. The Conservative Party membership rejecting a resolution accepting the existence of climate change and the need to address it makes it very easy to create that doubt.

rumleyfips said...

With google's help and a bit of math, I found that the old tool's savings acoount would let me buy an electric car in 30 years ( probably more when aministrative fees are clawed back). I'd be 103 - thanks Erin.

Anonymous said...

Whoa! I'm a little leery commenting below that huge Bowel Movement from the top Simon but here goes. Leave it to the imaginary PM Erin "Daddy" O'Toole to dictate what we could spend our credits on from their ridiculous "carbon change plan". Imagine these clowns trying to administer the equally ridiculous "personal low carbon savings accounts"? Think Phoenix.
I do have to chuckle though picturing the tool trying to sell this to his science denying base. They ain't gonna like it. Maybe when Lyin' Brian Lilley is done fluffing Ford he can fluff the tool as well, so to speak.
JD

Jsb said...

Sorry to break it to you, but the liberals are struggling...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_44th_Canadian_federal_election

And like I said, the polls are probably underestimating support for the cons, so if I were a liberal partisan like many of you here, I wouldn't be so comfortable being arrogant...

rumleyfips said...

JSB:

The way I read the polls you pointed to, the Liberals are on a gradual and constant upswing lately and are now in majority territory. Please explain.

Jsb said...

In the last Leger poll, the cons are now only 5 points behind the liberals, and 4 in Ontario...up from 6 and 7, respectively... also there is the theory that conservative voters don't answer the polls as much anymore, and that's why the vote share of conservative parties are underestimated... look at what happened in the last US election, as well as the last elections in the Yukon and Saskatchewan...

PR Guy said...

'fraid that you'll have to acquire EV the old fashioned way, with your own scratch.
If you live in certain provinces,the taxpayer will front you some of the dough...
Regardless only well-off types can afford EVs with either plan.

Jackie Blue said...

JSB, I think you're reading that chart backwards. For some reason, Wikipedia puts the Cons in the first column. That doesn't mean they're in first place. The Liberals have been consistently leading for a year, and are presently hovering over majority territory. CBC Polltracker has them just over the line of 170 and those last series of polls had excellent regionals. National toplines don't mean anything. Cons run up useless margins in Wexit country but are dead-in-the-water where the seats actually count. Leger is the only one that oversamples the Bloc in the same way that Bogus Reid oversamples the Cons. And even still the Cons are barely brushing 30.

O'Toole is alienating people all over the place and is about to blow up his whole party. He's not winning anyone over with his climate "plan" of Canadian Tire funny money. He keeps it up, the Cons will have an acrimonious divorce and Trudeau will run a Chretien streak through his 60s. But right now the Liberals are on track to win a majority. Campaigns do matter, but the numbers thus far don't match up with what you're saying. Where are you getting "struggling" from?

Jackie Blue said...

JSB that's why you don't just look at individual polls but aggregate ranges and MoEs. Leger regionals tend to be wonky especially outside the writ period. That one individual Leger poll hasn't yet been updated to CBC Polltracker, but it's not going to change it all that much. And actually, polls have tended to underestimate Liberal support in the last two elections, because they can't measure for strategic voting on e-day. The budget is going to splash on Monday. Ford is inciting outrage in Ontario. I'm not saying anyone should just rest on their laurels, but numerically speaking, the Liberals are fine.

Jsb said...

Like I said, Ontario data is showing a closer race... also the Yukon election, and the theory that conservative voters don't answer polls anymore...🤔

Anonymous said...

Carbon cash back is a beautiful Con strategy, instead of feeling a slight twinge of social conscience while gassing up the guzzler now they can feel vindicated imagining all the good the petro points will do for society. Perhaps a bike for the kids or better still a points donation to the poor whose lives were wrecked by the mysterious forces of mother nature. Big oil made the switch from being carbon tax antagonistic to supporting it over a year ago, what took the Cons so long to catch up? The fact Kenney is still waging yesterday's war suggests he is plugged into a different crowd or totally disconnected from reality.

RT

Steve said...

I am not sure if it curly larry or Moe running Sasakatwwan, but he is running against the wind. The only place in the world to have a tax on electric cars, now that is something the Tool could sell.

Anonymous said...

Betrayal, something the Cons are really really good at! https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-otoole-is-digging-a-political-grand-canyon-there-will-be-no-getting-out-of

RT

Jackie Blue said...

Liberals are struggling?

https://twitter.com/CanadianPolling/status/1383442469052764166

"Attention is turning to the provinces" per IRG's analysis. Leger has been at 35 for months. It's like whoever runs their online panel fell asleep at the switches. Epic O'Fail can't sink any lower than the Trudeau-derangement diehards who'd vote for a blue pair of socks in their riding as long as it wasn't Trudeau's. But with that suck-and-blow climate plan of his, he's now lost even Thesaurus Rex.

Meanwhile, Abacus is reporting that Ford is now tied with some OLP bald guy who nobody has heard of, while Singh and Horwath duke it out for who should be the bronze-medal also-ran at Queen's Park. Today is Charter Day. Ford just ham-fistedly implemented martial law. Singh's response is that Trudeau should fix that by unilaterally implementing martial law. Somebody send that guy a civics textbook ASAP.

Simon said...

Hi BM...If a mere picture of Justin Trudeau makes you barf, may I suggest that you glue a flashing light to the top of your head, and buy a four-year supply of barf bags. Because Trudeau is going to win the next election and there is nothing old Cons like you can do about it, short of checking out early...

Simon said...

Hi Ottlib...Judging by the reaction of even those in the Con media, O'Toole's climate plan is in my opinion DOA. In the minds of his most rabid supporters it is a carbon tax, and this is true too:

If given the choice between money that you can spend as you like or a savings account that only allows you to spend on certain things what choice would most Canadians take? By far they are going to take the money and run.

In fact, I think that O'Toole is starting to realize that himself, for he has all but stopped promoting it on his social media pages.

What an absolute loser...

Simon said...

Hi rumleyfips....Good work, that's priceless, or whatever. So I guess I should stop dreaming of getting myself a new sailboat, unless it's the kind you can play with in a bathtub....

Simon said...

Hi JD....Sometimes BM can be almost reasonable, but at other times he sounds like a bitter old Con sitting on his porch and firing off a shotgun in my general direction. I don't know how many times I have asked him not to get drunk before he writes a comment, but he doesn't listen to me so I don't take anything he says seriously. And that goes for O'Toole as well. He seems to think that asking Canadians to give money to his friends, instead of to the government makes it not a tax. But I think O'Toole is desperate and doesn't know what he's doing....

Simon said...

Hi Jsb....Do you usually read polls while standing on your head? For I'm afraid that's the only way anyone can conclude that the Liberals are in trouble. The trend line is exactly the opposite, and the only question at this time at least is whether they will get another minority or a majority. And from what I've seen so far I'm betting on the latter...

Simon said...

Hi PR Guy....It's true that electric cars are very expensive right now, but with the number of car companies now manufacturing them, and batteries also becoming sharper, I should be able to order my electric Porsche in three or four years. I suspect it won't be long before fossil fuel cars start looking as out of date as steam driven ones...

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...thank you for helping Jsb understand that it's his Cons that are struggling not the Liberals. And that Kenney and Ford will act as undertakers at O'Toole's funeral, since both are dragging him down in their respective provinces. I wish we could have an election tomorrow, so Trudeau could get the majority he deserves. But I don't think a few more months will make much of a difference. As I so brilliantly predicted the Con campaign is now just a clown show, and if Jsb thinks that Canadians are going to reward that kind of sleazy behaviour in the midst of a pandemic, he really must be standing on his head....

Simon said...

hi Steve....Only in Saskatchewan with a premier like Moe could they come up with a tax to discourage people from buying electric vehicles. It's such a pathetic attempt to stand in the way of progress, Moe might as well be encouraging his people to buy horse and buggies. Although it must be said, that considering Moe's murderous record as a drunk driver, the noisier the vehicle the better...

Simon said...

Hi RT...Well that does it. If that sodden oil pimp Rex Murphy is screaming betrayal for the price of a $20 levy, O'Toole doesn't stand a chance. He set out to try to please both sides and ended up up pleasing nobody. Hallelujah...

jrkrideau said...

Gee, I hope the Cons win; I really need a new bicycle. Oh course I might have to buy a car so I can buy some gas but I am sure it will be worth it.

@ PR Guy
As Simon says. EV costs are very likely to drop very quickly. As manufacturers improve their production methods and if battery costs keep dropping EV's may even become cheaper that gas gusslers. Electric motors are inherently simpler than internal combustion engines and IIRC EVs do not have the complicated drive trains.

Young people may want to reconsider the decision to become auto mechanics.The need for mechanics will drop.

Jsb said...

Hey I'm not sure where you get the idea that I am a con, I posted here many times before...😉
What I mean is that an attitude that considers ones own "team" infallible might not be the best in a competitive system...

Simon said...

Hi Jsb...I apologize for incorrectly assuming you are a Con. I jumped to that conclusion because of your refusal to accept the polling trends showing the the Cons going down like a lead balloon. But maybe your just stubborn. However, let me assure you that none of those who contribute to this blog consider our own team infallible. I'm certainly not infallible, and all I'm trying to do is promote the team that best represents our Canadian values. So again, sorry for calling you a Con, and you're are welcome to keep commenting here, as stubborn as you may be... ;}

Jsb said...

Ok no probs 👍