Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The Issue Liberals Need To Champion

With all the talk about soul searching and rebirth, the obvious question for Liberals is what should be the cornerstone issue of the "new" party? When you look at the challenges ahead, the one issue that Liberals can embrace to convey a future relevance is the environment. The previous Liberal governments have largely failed to show any substantative vision on a myriad of environmental issues. The symbolism of Kyoto aside, the Liberal Party has failed to demonstrate leadership on the environment and offered timid remedies.

Yesterday, we saw Ontario's McGuinty government offer a refreshing glimpse into a potential future path. Canadians are increasingly realistic about the seismic changes necessary to protect our air, water and natural places. The time is ripe for a bold, visionary platform that offers tough choices and accepts the unavoidable consequences. Canadians are largely ready to accept the cost of change, if they see a coherent plan.

It is encouraging to hear candidates like Brison cite the environment as the key issue moving forward. However, all too often we have heard politicians speak to the environment, only to see half measures that don't acknowledge the real peril. Just as past governments have installed infastructure programs to kickstart sick economies, we need a massive injection of money, within a clear path, to change direction.

If you put up a solar panel, the total cost should be tax deductible, or better yet the government will pay a sizeable percentage. All the monies collected through the federal gas tax should go back into environmental initiatives. The federal government should speed up the glacial process when designating new wild places. Efforts should be made to purchase, in concert with the provinces, land from private interests to expand the "unharvested" portion of our natural landscape. Corporations that pursue aggressive environmental requirements should be rewarded with incentives, while cronic polluters with no social obligation, should be penalized. What the economy designates as profit should include the equation of social cost.

If you want vision and leadership that redefines who the Liberals are, I can't think of another issue that demands forward thinking. It will be interesting to see if we move beyond the empty lip service, and tertiary tinkering that is woefully inadequate. Who will address the elephant in the room?

3 comments:

Havril said...

hear, hear

Mark Dowling said...

it has to become more expensive to be a polluter. At the moment it costs you to be responsible. Incandescent bulbs and non-energy star appliances should be surtaxed and offset against tax elimination/reduction on CFL/energy star appliances for instance.

Steve V said...

mark

That is a great idea. It might be feasible to have a tiered energy policy. People could pay a certain rate up until a predetermined limit, with any subsequent usage paying a higher rate(sort of like a salary cap). In this way, people would be encouraged to use energy efficent appliances and stop wasteful practices.