Stephen Harper Made Mincemeat of Stéphane Dion's Proposed Federal Carbon Tax Comparing It to the National Energy Program and Warning that It Would "Screw Everybody"

It was a sultry day in late June when Stéphane Dion marched into the boardroom of the Globe and Mail to explain his proposal for a federal carbon tax. The Liberal leader was idealistic and fervent. He was also impatient and implacable. His tax—which would particularly affect oil and natural gas producers—would raise more money in the West than it would in other regions. Much of the cash would be earmarked for the fight against national child poverty. When asked how Westerners would react to this federal cash grab, the former political science professor was dismissive: it would be “good for them.” Good for them? They would be forced to diversify their economy, came the response.

 Stephen Harper would make mincemeat of Dion. The prime minister would compare his opponent’s scheme to the National Energy Program of the early 1980s, dismiss it as “insane,” and warn that it would “screw everybody.”

--Mary Janigan, preface to Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2012), e-book.