Carbon Tax Seals Liberal Party’s Defeat in Canada
by Jesse Jenkins, the Breakthrough Institute, October 15, 2008 [here]
Canada’s opposition Liberal party was just dealt a stunning defeat, and their Achilles heal turned out to be their proposal to enact a carbon tax.
Yesterday was election day in Canada, a fact that I hope I’ll be forgiven for missing amidst the frenzy of election politics here in the States. However, this stunning headline from the UK Telegraph grabbed my attention:
“Canadian election: Carbon tax proposals sealed Liberal defeat”
That’s right, the opposition Liberal party was just dealt a stunning defeat, and their Achilles heal turned out to be their proposal to enact a carbon tax on coal, natural gas, gasoline and home heating fuels.
As Grist reported in September, the Liberal party called for an election early this summer, gearing up to run on a pro-environment platform they thought would net them enough seats to form a ruling government and dethrone Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Led by the former environment minister Stephane Dion (a man who’s dog is named Kyoto after the international global warming treaty) the party ran with a carbon tax proposal as their central plank.
What seemed like a sound plan this summer, when polls showed the Canadian electorate’s number one issue was global warming, turned out to be doomed to failure amidst the economic insecurity of the recent months. …
The end result: yesterday’s election, in which the Liberals hoped to gain several seats in Parliament in fact led to the opposition party’s stunning defeat. Prime Minister Steven Harper’s reigning Conservative party ended up gaining 17 seats, and Canadian pundits are predicting that Dion will soon be ousted as Leader of the defeated Liberal Party. The election also means a carbon tax is essentially dead in Canada, at least for the foreseeable future. … [more]