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Welcome to the fastest growing political movement in CanadaSupport for the Green Party is building day-by-day. With concern for the environment at record levels among Canadians and voter fatigue with the broken promises and greenwashing of the old 'gray' parties, people are turning to the Greens. Recent election results in Ontario saw the Greens achieve 8% popular support, up from 3% in the 2003 election. With our Federal leader, Elizabeth May, generating daily national press coverage, Canadians are becoming increasingly aware of our party's strong platform on a wide spectrum of issues - issues like health care, tax shifting, electoral reform, and climate change. Carbon taxes: the idea is catching onTwo years ago a proposal to slap a hefty carbon tax on gasoline as a means of reducing consumption, convincing people to buy smaller cars or drive less, and fight climate change, would have seemed like political suicide. The Green Party of Canada proposed a 12-cent per liter tax on gasoline last fall, and equivalent taxes on other fossil fuels, and while our political opponents tried to portray our policy as a simple tax grab, economists and environmentalists alike praised our policy. Shortly afterwards, the Canadian Round-Table on the Environment and the Economy endorsed the idea of a carbon tax. Now the B.C. government has announced a graduated carbon tax on gasoline, diesel, and coal, starting at 2.5 cents per liter of gasoline, and increasing over three years to 7.5 cents. A corresponding decrease in personal and corporate income taxes means that for those who try to cut their fossil fuel consumption, the tax shift will actually mean a tax savings. While the BC NDP, bankrupt of sensible ideas to reduce CO2 production, accuses the government of a 'shifty tax' rather than a tax shift, the BC government's policy is a page taken from the Green Party handbook and is a good first step that other provinces, and the Federal government, should follow. As Jim Harris once said, Greens don't just win when we elect our candidates and send them to Ottawa or to a provincial legislature. We also win when the party already in power starts adopting our ideas. Heads up, Mr McGuinty and Mr Harper (well, maybe it's too much too hope Mr Harper is paying attention!). See Bloomberg.com: British Columbia Proposes Carbon Tax on Fossil Fuels Ontario Provincial Election Results
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