Stephane Dion wants to force Canadians to burn more money but I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one because of this:

“We need a fiscal regime that will discourage pollution rather than reward it. Perhaps the time has come for Canadians to pay less tax on good things like work, savings, and investment. And perhaps the time has also come to put a price on waste and pollution,” he said.

He mentions some peak-oil nonsense but maybe, just maybe, the federal Liberals will advocate a genuine paradigm shift of reducing the current tax burden and changing how governments collect revenues.

Get to work, Dion. Get your message out there. So far this is what they are saying about you:

Stéphane Dion n’a pas encore fourni les détails de sa proposition ni expliqué la façon dont il compte s’y prendre pour taxer le carbone.
Or, les conservateurs profitent de ce vide pour présenter son projet comme une taxe dont le seul effet sera de faire grimper le prix du litre d’essence à 2,25 $.

How can the Liberals be surprised if the Tories just spin it as a tax grab? That is what Liberals do!
I hope Dion is sincere about this but really, it is a simple idea. I do not understand the hesitation.

Hey! I will give the Liberals a head start by giving them free advice. Use this policy:
1) reduce income taxes and employer deductions
2) raise taxes on oil
Simple enough. If they want to make it politically palatable they could propose to do it gradually. For example, reduce or increase each one by 1% each year for 3 years. Understandably, nobody can predict the over-all net gain (or loss) to the government coffers and just tell that to the electorate. Just say that after 3 years, the situation will be re-evaluated. Maybe 3 years down the road taxes on oil will have to be raised by 2% to support a continued 1% income tax reduction. I would expect a lot of the electorate would vote Liberal if they actually proposed something like that — I would still not vote Liberal but that does not matter.