Deliberate Obliviousness

The strategy of the Right – notably the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – is to separate taxation from policy.  Avoid, at all costs, any debate over the merits of a policy.  Attack, instead, the taxes associated with it.  And do not make the link between the two.

Sun columnist Barbara Yaffe provides a helpful example in today’s Sun: Higher gas levies a heavy burden in a pricey place.

Vancouver, she discovered, pays high gas taxes – in fact, “the highest level of gasoline taxation of any jurisdiction in North  America.”   Part of which is for the carbon tax.

“This city cannot afford such drains on its products and services,” she argues, since we’re in danger of losing other competitive advantages.  Like our weather:

One of Vancouver’s big drawing cards traditionally has been its relatively good  weather. But with predictions that climate change will yield a colder, wetter  Pacific Northwest – and that’s certainly been borne out last summer and this –  that ace in the hole may not last.

So, because of climate change, we had best discard one of the few policies we have to respond to the threat of climate change.

In other news:

Vancouver Sun political columnist Barbara Yaffe was nominated (for a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal ) for her 35-year  career in journalism by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and was notified via email this week that she had won.