Stéphane Dion Win's Liberal Leadership Race

[a_majoor]

Never mind the Taliban, Dion is after the Canadian economy!

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=68727f11-0775-4628-b677-0ddac003a716&p=1

Holes show in Dion's plan
Former environment minister weak in economics

John Ivison on the Hill
National Post

Tuesday, December 05, 2006
'I sat around the Cabinet table from [Stephane Dion] and I can tell you, he couldn't balance a cheque book." That was the view of one former Liberal minister who is now professing undying devotion to his party's new leader.

Dion's victory is inevitably going to mean much greater scrutiny of the man and his abilities by a media and Conservative party playing catch-up. Michael Fortier, the Public Works Minister, said on Saturday it means his party will have to explain more clearly Dion's record as environment minister.

Already we have seen the Tories wheel out the recent Environment Commissioner's report, which suggests Canada will be 35% over its Kyoto target by 2012.

"On the whole, the [Liberal] government's response to climate change is not a good story," said Johanne Gelinas, Commissioner of the Environment, pointing out that Liberals allocated more than $6-billion in funding for initiatives without any method of accounting for performance or results.

It's only a matter of time -- say, right now -- before someone asks why Dion is so keen to bring back comedian Rick Mercer's One Tonne Challenge but has taken a pass on the only measure that has proven effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- investment in more nuclear energy. Emissions from Ontario's coal plants dropped 12 million tonnes between 2000 and 2004, entirely because four laid-up nuclear reactors were returned to service, by far the biggest reduction since Canada signed on to Kyoto. Dion's position is to instead invest in alternative and renewable energy sources.

But perhaps the biggest worry should Dion ever become prime minister is an apparent blind spot for the workings of the market. The new Liberal leader holds a doctorate in sociology but has never held an economic portfolio. Judging by the sections of his environmental plan that touch on the economy, it's just as well for Canada.

Dion's plan -- a recycled and updated version of the Liberals' Project Green -- envisages an emissions trading market, where companies are allocated a cap on their emission levels by the government. If they exceed their limit, they can offset those emissions by buying credits from the government for $15 a tonne. This market would be in place until 2012, when the price would float.

Dion has stuck with this plan, even though the Liberal government's own consultants warned that major emitters would hoard the credits and wait until the price rose, at which point they'd make a killing at the expense of the taxpayer. But Dion's tin ear for market realities goes further. Under his plan, not only does the government play a role allocating the quota of emissions credits and act as the seller of those credits, it is also the biggest buyer in the market, through the establishment of the Climate Fund. Dion billed this $6-billion pool of taxpayer cash as "the cornerstone" of his carbon market, buying "carbon equity" in emerging green technologies proposed by  companies. "In effect, the Climate Fund will become Canada's carbon bank," says Dion's leadership campaign platform.

The new Liberal leader's office maintains that the government's role as the setter of price, supply and demand was only meant to help launch a carbon market and provide liquidity in its early years. But critics contend that this level of intrusion would distort a carbon
emissions market beyond feasibility. "It's a completely unmanageable conflict of interest," said Aldyen Donnelly, a consultant who advises companies on how to respond to government regulation.

"The government would be the Bank of Canada, the Royal Bank, and the Royal Bank's biggest customer all at once."
The only saving grace with this arrangement is that the Competition Bureau would probably have intervened and jailed all involved for indulging in anti-competitive behaviour. That is being facetious -- just. But it does not bode well for what Dion would do to the rest of the economy were he ever to become prime minister.
© National Post 2006

 

[Kirkhill]

Can you say "Planned Economy"?  >

 

[spud]

Can you say "Planned Economy"?  >

Didn't they slide something like this by before?

IIRC didn't they pour billions into so called arms-length agencies that were not accountable to anyone, even beyond the reach of the Auditor General.

Which much like the Sponsorship scandal was a way to funnel money to preferred business's and groups without doing it through regular channels. Now they're going to set the market.

Perhaps they can try to corner the OJ market too, just like Mortimer and Randolph Duke in Trading Places. . :


potato

 

[a_majoor]

You can study economics in school, or you can watch South Park ( ). The "Gnomes" episode offers instruction and insight into the nature of capitalism; as discussed in the long essay at this link.

Or you could tape the show and watch that instead of two years and a college diploma......

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/cantor3.html

Of all South Park episodes, “Gnomes” offers the most fully developed defense of capitalism, and I will attempt a comprehensive interpretation of it in order to demonstrate how genuinely intelligent and thoughtful the show can be. Like the episode “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” “Gnomes” deals with a common charge against the free market – that it allows large corporations to drive small businesses into the ground, much to the detriment of consumers. In “Gnomes” a national coffee chain called Harbucks – an obvious reference to Starbucks – comes to South Park and tries to buy out the local Tweek Bros. coffee shop. Mr. Tweek casts himself as the hero of the story, a small business David battling a corporate Goliath. The episode satirizes the cheap anti-capitalist rhetoric in which such conflicts are usually formulated in contemporary America, with the small business shown to be purely good and the giant corporation shown to be purely evil. “Gnomes” systematically deconstructs this simplistic opposition.

**************************************************************************************************

What is worse, the ordinary citizens misinterpret capitalist activity as theft. They focus only on what businessmen take from them – their money – and forget about what they get in return, all the goods and services. Above all, people have no understanding of the basic facts of economics and have no idea of why businessmen deserve the profits they earn. Business is a complete mystery to them – it seems to be a matter of gnomes sneaking around in the shadows and mischievously heaping up piles of goods for no apparent purpose. Friedrich Hayek noted this long-standing tendency to misinterpret normal business activities as sinister

Read the rest and force every Liberal, Dipper and Green you can get your hands on to watch South Park. Send Dion tapes of this episode too. Say I told you to!  ;D ;D ;D

 

[a_majoor]

Well, it seems even Dion's one accomplishment in Parliament was really the work of then rookie MP Stephen Harper.....

http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/2006/12/clarity-act-fog-of-steffis-war.html

Clarity Act: The fog of Steffi's war

The current wave of moonbat mania is such that they can't say the word 'Dion' without automatically tacking on 'Clarity Act.' Much like Al Gore's claim to have invented the Internet, there's a tad more to the story.

Well before that, though, Harper started drafting a private member's bill, Bill C-341, which only ever reached first reading exactly one year to the day after the referendum, Oct. 30, 1996.

Four years later, on June 29, 2000, the federal Clarity Act was passed by the Liberals, borrowing liberally from Harper's private member's bill and answering the questions and providing the framework that Manning and Harper pushed for and were ridiculed and lambasted for over the years.

Manning on Dion...
"He is a nice man and he's sincere, but I think he's sincerely wrong on a lot of things," Manning adds with a laugh.

Like thinking French citizenship won't matter to voters.

 

[Kirkhill]

Globe and Mail, 29 May 2004

[Harper dismisses Layton's call to axe Clarity Act
BRIAN LAGHI

Globe and Mail Update

Calgary — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper shrugged off Jack Layton's support for eliminating the clarity act Saturday.......

Mr. Layton....said Friday that he would recognize a unilateral declaration of independence were it to come in the wake of a referendum. Mr. Harper said he would never support such a move.

”I may be one of the strongest supporters of provincial rights in the country, but there is no provincial right to separate unilaterally,” he said. ”That's simply not on.”

At one point, Mr. Harper tried to use Mr. Layton's comments to criticize the Liberals.

He said, for example, that Mr. Martin's Quebec lieutenant, Jean Lapierre, also appears to be leaning toward eliminating the Clarity Act, while Prime Minister Paul Martin has been too quiet on the matter.

”If you want to run the government of Canada, I think you have to be clear that there will not be a unilateral declaration of independence that will be fulfilled ever.”

While an MP with the Reform Party in the mid 1990s, Mr. Harper pushed hard for an act of the type that the federal Liberals unveiled in 2000.

.......

/quote]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040529.wharper0529/BNStory/specialDecision2004/

 

[wannabe SF member]

Looks like those who were saying that Dion's double nationality would be a problem were right

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/canada_france_politics

 

[wannabe SF member]

Oh also, apparently Dion said he was ready to renounce his french nationality to become PM.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/07/dion-france.html?ref=rss

 

[Sheerin]

I honestly don't think its a big issue.  He was born in Canada and his loyalties are to Canada, not France.  It was not an issue for John Turner (and he wasn't even born in Canada) why should it be an issue for Dion? 

But hey lets be honest here.  The issue isn't that he's both Canadian and French, the issue is that he is the leader of the liberal party and as such the government and other opposition leaders need to attack something, even if its irrelevent.

 

[George Wallace]

So you see no problem with the Leader of our Government being French and perhaps being put into a situation where he would have to negotiate with France?  No conflict of interest or loyalties?  I would assume that you would have thought this out a bit more.

Frankly, if he were my plumber, I wouldn't care, but as my Prime Minister, it is unacceptable to know that his loyalties may not be for Canada, but for another nation.  What would he decide if we were at War with France?.......who would he side with?

 

[cplcaldwell]

IMHO.

This should be a no brainer. What is the use of his French citizenship? Does he not have enough privileges and rights as a Canadian?

If he wants to lead Canada he should be a Canadian, renounce France, and get on with it.

When he gets defeated he can re-apply.

No big. Or at least it shouldn't be.

 

[Sheerin]

John Turner was a citizen of the United Kingdom when he was Prime Minister, it didn't affect him and his dealings with the UK.
To be an officer in the Canadian Forces you can be a dual citizen.  
To be a member of the government you can be dual citizen

Personally I think your argument is weak.  If he says his loyalties are to Canada, I believe him.  Even if they weren't, what makes think you that renouncing his French citizenship would make a difference?


 



 

 

[George Wallace]

Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth.  Canada has no such links with France.

Canada has a long history of being a Subject of Britain, not France.

Within the Canada's major alliances, France is not one of the members.

Up until we repatriated the Constitution, all Acts of Parliament required approval from the British Parliament and Royal Assent.

The world situation is changing rapidly since we repatriated the Constitution and there currently is a large number of people questioning (since Lebanon 'Rescue') the matter of Canadians holding Dual Citizenship. 

Perhaps your point that his renouncing his French Citizenship having no affect on his loyalties, other than symbolic, will be a negative factor in the Liberal's attempts in the next election.

The main issue is where does his loyalties lie.  If he is a citizen of a foreign nation, one would assume that there is where his loyalties will lie.  Not exactly what you want in your Leadership. 

 

[Kirkhill]

Unlike the Head of State of France no "British" Head of State, who happens to be double-hatted as the Canadian Head of State, has ever said "Vive le Quebec Libre".  Charles DeGaulle, 1967.

 

[mjohnston39]

Oh also, apparently Dion said he was ready to renounce his french nationality to become PM.

I watched the CBC interview Dion love-in and it simply shows this man has no integrity, he will say or do anything to win...  :

 

[Yrys]

Dion has the double nationality because his French mother ask it for him
when he was born... If he was hesiting to renounce his for fear of hurting his mother,
now he's free. Dion's mother said that she doesn't care...

(french article)

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20061207/CPSOLEIL/61207197/5293/CPSOLEIL

 

[Sheerin]

Why is it that a person with dual citizenship can be an officer in the armed forces, or a cabinet minister, but can't be the Prime Minister?  What you guys are suggesting is a slap in the face to everyone who holds dual citizenship, myself included.  Canada is a nation that recgonizes the importance of maintaining dual citizenship and as such it would be rather hypocritical to force someone to renounce it. 

 

[cplcaldwell]

He can be PM with dual if he likes. No "can't" just "shouldn't, IMHO"

If you consider my opinion a slap in the face I would suggest de-sensitization training. Really.

No one is talking about forcing Mr Dion to do anything. Some of us, including me, think that to appear to represent Canada 100% he should renounce his citizenship in France so as to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. I am saying if he wants it back when he's done with it, re-apply.

Free country, free to renounce, free to keep it, free to appear unbiased, free to appear biased. Free to get elected, free to get defeated. 

0.02

 

[Fishbone Jones]

What you guys are suggesting is a slap in the face to everyone who holds dual citizenship, myself included.  Canada is a nation that recgonizes the importance of maintaining dual citizenship and as such it would be rather hypocritical to force someone to renounce it. 

........and look where it got us during the evacuation of Lebanon. Everyone is entitles to their opinion. You don't have to agree with it, but there it is. Persons holding a sole citizenship could say the same about you. Many believe if you want to be a citizen of Canada, it should have your undivided attention and loyalty. Who's to say they are wrong?

 

[George Wallace]

...... What you guys are suggesting is a slap in the face to everyone who holds dual citizenship, myself included.  Canada is a nation that recgonizes the importance of maintaining dual citizenship and as such it would be rather hypocritical to force someone to renounce it. 

Frankly, I don't give a damn about you.  As I said, if he were my plumber, I wouldn't care.  However, as the leader of my country, I do care and question the Loyalty of any Leader that would have a Foreign Citizenship. 

Even in the CF, dual citizenship may be a problem.  What happens if we have a Mission in your 'native' land?  What Loyalty would we expect of you?  That is the problem.  Most likely you would not be allowed to partake in that Mission, due to Security Concerns.  If you did, it would be a serious breach of Security on someone's part.  And seriously, that would be a slap in my face.