Concerned about the price of oil? Maybe giving the oil companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising dollars will help, or so think the Conservatives…
The federal Conservatives are launching an aggressive attack ad campaign today targeting Liberal Leader Stephane Dion over his proposed new carbon tax…Because the oil companies really need the money. This follow the previous Conservative love letters to big oil such as fighting tooth and nail against Kyoto, abandoning their promise to cut taxes on gas, and doing absolutely nothing serious on the environment.
The bilingual, multimedia, nationwide party-funded campaign that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars will roll out in four parts across the country -- catching Canadians listening to the radio, online, at the pumps and on the streets.
Is the feeling mutual? Maybe…
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has accused the oil industry of financially backing the Tories and their "ultra-conservative leader" to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands.
Canadians, Gore said, should vigilantly keep watch over prime minister-designate Stephen Harper because he has a pro-oil agenda and wants to pull out of the Kyoto accord -- an international agreement to combat climate change.
"The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
"And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election . . . and to protect their interests."
The Conservative Party of Canada: sucking-up to Big Oil since 2003. And now cutting-out the middleman and just sending the oil companies bags of cash directly.
*More from Matt, Jason, Steve, Saskboy, Danielle and Scott. Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers
10 comments:
Big Oil . . . how much does the oil company make on a litre of gas???
The answer is a few cents . . . but the provincial and federal govts take about 65 cents per litre . . .
You and your silly leader want to tax us more . . . just plain nuts!!!
By the way . . . Big Al . . . of Gorebull warming fame . . . is making millions investing in carbon trading schemes . . .
The reason oil is so high is because of huge demand . . . FACT!!
Last year they sold more new cars in China and India than in north America . . . FACT!!!
Its time we woke up and started drilling holes in the Arctic and on the coasts . . . works well for Norway . . . they are swimming in CASH . . . FACT!!!
Time to dispose of the envirowacks and get on with business, drill, and build refineries.
Imagine if Bill Clinton had not vetoes drilling in Alaska 15 years ago . . . we would have a few billion barrels on tap now . . . what do you think that would do to prices???
BDer . . . do you really believe Harper is running the world???
oldschool - you seem to be a little mixed up here - the oil companies make the big profits - it's the small gas station owner who doesn't. I knew you'd want that clarified.
Harper - leader? When big oil OWNS him?
The people in Canada are very gullible and so many angry at the price of gas, would believe about anything right now. I do not think it was a good time for Dion to bring the subject of a carbon tax up, right now. How come he didn't believe in it once, why now..terrible timing. The Tories have so many lies on their website, how do they get away with it?
I am a good Liberal, but am hot under the collar, right now.
You can't back off on a carbon tax now Lizt.. we'd be pulling an John Tory ala the separate schoo funding issue.
Besides, polls show Canadians receptive to a carbon tax.. but as I'm arguing at my site.. we the Liberals need to release the specifics of our plan to combat the fearmongering.
"The people in Canada are very gullible"
Thats why many believe Mr. Gore is a crusader for the environment instead of a money making miser.
Make no mistake he profits bigtime in the carbon (his) carbon markets.
But he also uses more electricity in each of his 10 houses than I do in my just one.... (question: how much carbon could be prevented from getting into the atmosphere if he was to do his speaking by tele-video instead of flying back and forth??)
And back when the Koyoto protocol was negotiated where was the savior of the environment???? Oh yeah he was VP of the administration that refused to sign it.
oldschool, if you're so concerned about the government's tax take on gas, perhaps you should look to stephen harper who promised to cut federal tax on gas and then flip-flopped...FACT!!
As for the oil companies, I'm sure companies like Shell can dry their tears with the $27.56 billion it made in profit in 2007...FACT!!
Oh, and Norway and all that cash they're swimming in...they have a carbon tax...FACT!!
lizt, I don't deny the challenge, but Canadians aren't gullible enough to be taken in by these childish ads.
Barcs, lol. I'm sure if a former vice-president of the US wanted to get rich he could find better ways then becoming an environmental crusader. Like, say, joining Haliburton and getting fat from government contracts and wars.
Jeff, don't be so mean and throw facts at people!
"The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
"And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election . . . and to protect their interests."
So "Big Oil" (Liberal Trademark) bought the Conservatives the last election? Thanks for the laugh Al. If it was so easy for Big Oil to buy Canadian Federal Elections, then Alberta would have been running the country for the last 40 years.
stephen harper who promised to cut federal tax on gas and then flip-flopped...FACT!!
Not to let the plain ol' facts get in the way of a "FACT!!" but the cut in gas taxes was part of the '04 platform, not the '06 one. I guess by that logic, if Dion wins the next election, he'd better get to work right away on scrapping the notwithstanding clause...
As for the oil companies, I'm sure companies like Shell can dry their tears with the $27.56 billion it made in profit in 2007...FACT!!
Ah, good ol' fashioned corporate-profit-bashing. How I missed that from the LPC back when folks like Manley and even Martin were involved in writing the budgets. Anyway, if the good professor ever favoured us with the details of his policy, we could see what effect - if any - the carbon-tax-shift-hike-whatever-it-will-be would have on those grouge-till-you-drop profits. Heck, an NEP 2.0 would do wonders for tackling those fatcat oil companies ...
Oh, and Norway and all that cash they're swimming in...they have a carbon tax...FACT!!
Fat lot of good it did in Norway at least, in terms of reducing carbon output, at least up to '07. I'm assuming that we can apply the "FACT!!" label to StatsNorway [unless this is one HELL of a good fake site], but if you've got anything to contradict it, please post.
(To be fair, and in the interests of all getting all the FACTS!! out there, it appears that Sweden has had success in reducing CO-2. A couple of weeks ago, "The House" on CBC interviewed ... someone whose name escapes me from Norway, who indicated that the problem there was, in part, the complexity of the system they brought in, with various exemptions and whatnot. We'll see how simple the grit plan is, I guess...)
Jeff said: stephen harper who promised to cut federal tax on gas and then flip-flopped.
Doesn't sound very friendly. Are you contradicting your assertion that Harper's friends 4EVAH with big oil?
And what happened after income trust taxes were introduced by the Tories? According to the CBC, "energy trust TSX sub-groups were off by 12 per cent."
On one hand:
Harper refuses to make gas more affordable by lowering taxes (by Jeff's own admission).
He also taxed income trusts causing big oil to plunge on the TSX.
On the other hand:
His party bought some ad space in gas stations.
Yes, Jeff. You've made a very convincing case here :)
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