Goodale Spins Green Shift - CTV Regina June 30th - News at Noon

"MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
Joining me is Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale, also the Liberal MP for Regina Wascana.

We've been hearing a lot about this new Liberal environment plan. You call it the Green Shift. Our Energy Minister calls it the Green Shaft and very unkind things have been said about it. It's been called a carbon tax. It's been called sort of a -- a new version of the old national energy program. I'm not hearing a lot of good things about it, Ralph. Why are you championing it?

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well, we have a lot of work to do to make sure it's clearly understood. And basically the principle is very simple. You should generally tax less those things that you want more of, like income and investment, and you should tax more the things you want less of like pollution and waste. 1 - In this country, we have the reverse situation where the heaviest taxes are imposed on the good things, like income while pollution, greenhouse gas emissions are not taxed at all. If you can shift that paradigm, lessen the burden on income and shift it over to something like pollution, you will actually result in a greener economy, a greener environment and a more productive economy.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
Right.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Because incomes will be -- will be less burdened.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
Now, we are resource-based economy in Saskatchewan. We've suffered for decades. Finally, we've got things going on. We've got a boom happening, and the Liberals are holding this out there and people are saying, well, this is no good, it's all the stuff that is happening now for Saskatchewan that is going to be hit by that tax.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well, actually --

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
That's going to hurt.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well, actually -- actually not, Manny, and I think it's important to understand how the -- how the tax falls here. 2 - Because this is not a retail tax at the consumer level, it's -- it's a wholesale tax upstream. The burden for collecting that tax, and remitting it will be on -- will be on up-stream companies, essentially in the fossil fuels sector. 3 - Most of those head offices are not located in Saskatchewan. They are in Alberta or in Ontario, or, in many cases, in the United States. So that's where the -- that's where the burden for remitting the tax will fall, even though the emissions occur in Saskatchewan, the burden of the tax falls largely outside of Saskatchewan, plus, all of the revenue that's collected, whether it's from within the company or from the 46% of our resources that are exported. So roughly speaking, 46% of this revenue will come from other countries, especially the United States. All of that will be redistributed in lower income taxes. For the average Saskatchewan family, we would estimate the new cost burden after four years would perhaps be something in the $350 to $400 range, everything included, but the tax cut for that average Saskatchewan family would be about $1,350, in other words, three times more coming back than would be going out.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
Isn't it an awkward position to be in, though, to be defending something as you try to regain power? Whereas Stephen Harper said some very unkind words, our Energy minister has said unkind words, anybody in the West you talk to says this is just a bad deal.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well, well, it's not everybody in the West. When you think of, for example, Jack Mince from the University of Calgary, comes from Alberta, probably the preeminent economist in this country when it comes to tax and fiscal matters, he supports this approach. Tom Courchane, he discovered all of those inequities in the Saskatchewan equalization situation, he supports this approach. John Drummond who is the chief economist for the Toronto Dominion Bank says that is makes sense.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
You have to get the people to understand that it makes sense.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
That's the critical challenge.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
Can you do it?

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
I think so, I think show. I mean, the principle is very simple. Tax less, things like income, shift the paradigm over to the things you want less of, and make sure that it's fair and equitable among individuals, which it will be. 4 - Lower and middle income people will actually be receiving back more than they would be sending out, and make sure that the parts of this country that are the most carbon intensive, like Saskatchewan and Alberta, have that investment in new science, new technology, the new ways of doing things in what is a carbon constrained world, not just Canada, this is global. We have to get ahead of that curve.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
We like the new way things are going on in Saskatchewan right now. Let's not mess with that.

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well this, is -- this is going to actually promote a lot of the objectives that Premier Wall has talked about. He's talked about opening the Saskatchewan power grid to independent power producers. 5 - This plan will not only support that, it will provide incentives to encourage it. He's talked about value-added investments in the nuclear sector. This plan will support that as well. He's talked about the need to make sure that we've got carbon capture and sequestration systems, clean coal, this plan will support everyone of those things to make sure that we've got the most sophisticated energy program and we can show the world how to run a resource-based economy in the most profitable and developmentally sound way.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
One final question, then. The opponents of this, are they just out and out lying?

RALPH GOODALE (Regina Wascana MP):
Well, it’s a complicated plan. It takes time for people to understand all of the details, all of the nuances. 6 - Many of the people who were devising the plan took awhile before it became evident that the tax burden here, the new tax burden that will be created largely fell outside Saskatchewan, not inside Saskatchewan, which -- which largely eliminates the regional unfairness argument from a Saskatchewan the point of view. So there are details. It needs to be explained clearly. We'll be working hard to make sure that happens, and listening to make sure that the feedback comes back where there are errors, they will be corrected.

MANFRED JOEHNCK (Anchor):
All right, thank you so much for joining us and explaining the Liberal Green Shift Plan."

Numbers have been inputted by goodalewatch for reference..

1. Ralph is neglecting to mention that these companies are already paying federal, provincial and municipal taxes, simply for doing business in a Canadian jurisdiction. The Green Shift penalty is a new tax that didn't exist before. Which brings us to point two...


2. Every tax is paid by the consumer as a cost of doing business. If a new tax is imposed on a multi-national, do you think they're just going to absorb it? For a former finance minister to try and fool regular Canadians that this isn't the case is plain dishonesty


3. As per a previous post, this simply isn't true...


4. Most middle income people don't work at Universities or research facilities where they might benefit from new research dollars. But most working people use energy, which will ultimately increase more than any potential tax rebate or reduction than is being offered under this plan.


5. This plan will tax Saskatchewan to the point where R&D dollars will diminish because of the harm to the economy. That's what happens in a recession. Government's focus in helping citizens first. Case in point; while the environment is important, as a result of the energy crisis, individuals are more focused in on gas prices than "going green". Feeding your family today is a lot more relevant than your great-great grand kids.


6. For the points listed above, it eliminates no argument about fairness for Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan will end up as Alberta did in 1980. There is no doubt about it. As referenced this morning on John Murney's blog, this plan is a redistribution of wealth for Liberal social policies under the guise of doing something good for the environment. That's all

Ralph Goodale's utter disregard for the intelligence of Saskatchewan people is unbelievable. His arrogance is astounding. He must be held accountable and the only people to do it are the electorate in Wascana. One hopes that happens in the next federal election.