OTTAWA - Stephane Dion may be gone but his much-maligned carbon tax proposal lingers on among Liberals.
The idea was a flop with voters during last fall's federal election but it has popped up again in priority policy resolutions to be debated later this month at a Liberal convention that will officially crown Michael Ignatieff as Dion's successor.
One resolution, proposed by the Quebec wing of the party, calls on a Liberal government to unconditionally commit to meeting the Kyoto Protocol targets, enacting legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would include "establishing a carbon tax, a cap and trade system or a combination of both."
Another, proposed by the British Columbia wing of the party, calls on a Liberal government to consider "all mechanisms of investment, incentive and taxation" to combat global warming and stimulate sustainable economic growth.
The two proposals are among 30 priority resolutions chosen by Liberal riding presidents to be debated at the April 30-May 2 convention in Vancouver.
Those approved by the 1,500-2,000 Liberals expected to attend the convention will not be binding on Ignatieff, who has set up his own committee to draft a platform for the next election. And the leader has already signalled he wants no part of a carbon tax, no matter what delegates have to say on the subject.
Although he was the first prominent Liberal to espouse a carbon tax, during the 2006 leadership contest which he lost to Dion, Ignatieff has disavowed the concept since taking over the helm of the party last December.
"We took the carbon tax to the public and the public didn't think it was such a good idea," he said last month.
"I'm trying to get myself elected here and if the public, after mature consideration, think that's the dumbest thing they've ever heard then I've got to listen."
Some Liberals have dubbed the Vancouver gathering the Seinfeld convention - after the 1990s TV sitcom dubbed a show about nothing - given delegates' limited ability to influence policy decisions and the fact that there will be no vote for leader or party president, with both Ignatieff and his confidant, Alf Apps, set to be acclaimed.
For the first time, the party has done away with policy workshops at which delegates have traditionally chosen the priority resolutions they want put to a vote on the convention floor. Instead, the party held online workshops last month for members to consider just over 100 resolutions from the party's various provincial wings and commissions.
Riding presidents winnowed those down to 30 to be debated in Vancouver.
Several of the resolutions rejected by the presidents also included calls for a carbon tax.
Dion's influence will be felt on at least one other priority resolution, calling on a Liberal government to adopt a plan to reduce poverty by 30 per cent over five years and child poverty by 50 per cent over the same period. The 30-50 anti-poverty plan was a key element of Dion's so-called Green Shift proposal, which also included a carbon tax on fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases.
Since taking over from Dion, Ignatieff has been making a serious effort to woo western voters, who've traditionally shunned the Liberal party. But at least one resolution up for debate at the convention, proposed by the Quebec wing, could prove particularly unpopular in the West if Ignatieff were to adopt it.
It calls on a Liberal government to ensure "equitable sharing of natural resources." Provinces, particularly resource-rich Alberta and Saskatchewan, have always jealously guarded their natural resources, which are strictly under provincial jurisdiction, from federal intrusions.
Another potentially controversial resolution, also from Quebec, urges a Liberal government to expand the mandate of the Canadian Human Rights Commission to include citizenship status and socio-economic class as prohibited grounds of discrimination.
Many Canadians, including some civil liberties advocates and at least one Liberal MP, have been trying to rein in human rights commissions, which they argue are being used to limit free speech deemed offensive by some complainants.
Other resolutions would commit the party to spending billions should Liberals regain power. They include calls for:
- A national, publicly funded child care program
- Increased maternity and parental leave benefits, which would be extended to part-time and self-employed workers.
- Expanded medicare to include publicly funded home care, dental and vision and mental health care.
- Endorsement of the principles of the $5-billion Kelowna Accord to improve the lot of aboriginal peoples.
- Development of a national electrical power grid.
- Enforceable national clean water standards and binding legislation prohibiting bulk water exports.
- An "aggressive" affordable housing program.
- Expansion of passenger rail "in every possible way across Canada."
- A guaranteed living standard for all full-time adult workers, above the poverty line in each region.
Riding presidents passed over a number of resolutions that likely would have generated controversy. Among those that will not not make it to the convention were resolutions calling for the legalization of assisted suicide, elimination of the monarchy and financial penalties for provinces that refuse to provide abortions.
