HARPER PLANS TO HIKE FUEL COSTS
While using juvenile cartoons to attack Liberal environmental proposals, Stephen Harper pretends his own way of reducing greenhouse gases and fighting climate change would be completely cost-free.
Either his plan is a farce, or he’s not telling the truth.
The Conservatives claim they won’t touch consumers. They’ll just slap heavy regulations on businesses to force them to stop spewing emissions into the atmosphere.
But wait a minute. If those new regulations are effective, won’t they create new costs for businesses?
You bet they will, at every level, from farming to the oilsands, from electricity generation to trucking. And all those costs will be passed along to you, the consumer, who will ultimately pay the bill.
So let’s be clear – if Stephen Harper’s greenhouse gas regulations mean anything, they mean higher costs for everyone.
Back in March, the Harper regime released a Background Paper on their climate change plan. Buried in the fine print is this confession:
“The effect of regulatory measures is to send a strong price signal … Canadians can expect to bear real costs under the (Conservative) regulatory framework … These costs will be most evident in the form of higher energy prices …”
So there it is – in the Conservatives’ very own words. Their scheme will force energy costs to go up.
By how much? They won’t say. And that leads to a great deal of suspicion.
On the one hand, Mr. Harper says he’s serious about climate change. But on the other, he won’t come clean about his costs. He implies there will be none, but everyone knows that’s not true.
Equally troubling, Mr. Harper’s regulations provide no offsetting income tax cuts to cushion the burden of his higher costs.
The Conservative plan is a bad plan. All costs. No benefits. Dishonest!
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