Call a Meeting!

We have some Premiers who are not on board with the Green Shift. In addition to that article you can add Stelmach and Wall. What a surprise.

Fair enough there is opposition, but what is never mentioned in these articles, and there have been many written, is if the critic's have actually done the work to measure it's impact on their jurisdictions. They blithely jump on the tax issue but never balance it with the relief the plan will provide. They also completely ignore the fact that both the Con and NDP plan will also have a cost associated with it, albeit hidden, but has no counter balance, such as tax relief.

Isn't that astonishing to anyone? Why haven't journalists asked either Layton, Harper or Baird, what the price of carbon will be under their plan and where that cost will go? Both parties claim they will ding the "big" polluters, but 'regular' Canadians are safe. In the next breath they say the Lib plan will make it necessary for industries to pass the Green Shift tax onto the consumer. Why would their impositions on industry not produce that same result? No one ever asks.

The Lib plan kicks in on day one, while the others require time to be put into place. Is that why some politicians are bucking? Ya think?

I'm surprised by the Northern premiers because clearly they are savvy on this issue as are their constituents, so I wonder if they really studied the plan versus what the Con's are offering?

Here's what I'm thinking and I have absolutely no idea if this is possible, but given that Harper isn't about 'meeting' and collaboration and has really ignored getting together with the Premiers, wouldn't it be a good idea for Dion to set up such a meeting to explain the plan and have an honest debate about what he is proposing?

Before you call me naive, think about the impact of that. Whether or not he can convince them all to join him, it would speak to another strength of his, which is collegiality. Separate and apart from the optics and the PR, it may actually bring this conversation/debate to where it needs to be in this country. I know that Premiers love to be the masters of their own domain, but there has to be a national conversation about this.

Obviously you could not allow it to be reduced to a pro Dion or anti Harper conference, but it would be nice to elevate the discussion to what Canada as a whole should go forward with. I'd invite speakers on all sides of the issue to present their case. It would give us, for the first time in this country, a real debate and an honest discussion.

Thus far it has been all about straw men. Journalists and columnists (junk mail for the latter in the most part, imo), presenting only half of the story.

We deserve more intelligent thought and discussion in this country and while I'm grateful that this conversation has dominated much news, I'm dismayed at how inaccurately it's being presented.

Could a meeting work? Is it feasible? I don't honestly know. I do however think it's an idea to be considered. Do you?