Friday, September 12, 2008

On Fuzzy Details and Dion's Culture of Defeat

Today Stephane Dion promised money for retrofits and "green mortgages".

From the Liberal website:
  1. double direct financial support to $10,000 for any household that invests in energy-saving measures like insulation, weatherproofing and efficient heating systems;
  2. provide interest-free green mortgage loans of up to $10,000 per household to help Canadians pay for the up-front costs of major energy-saving home retrofits; and
  3. create a $140-million Low-income Homes Retrofit Partnership Fund to help upgrade low-income housing across Canada – including federally-funded co-operative housing – and reduce energy costs for those least able to pay.
There isn't much detail on these announcements, nor is there any details on how this is going to be paid.

Searching "The Green Shift" PDF I cannot find the word "mortgage", and only two instances of the word "retrofit". I can't seem to find the costing details in the Green Shift PDF at all. And I took the PDF from the website today, as an aside, the document's filesize I downloaded today is quite a bit smaller then one I downloaded a few days ago.

So, where will this money come from? Seems like the money for this will not come from the Green Shift, what will be cut to pay for this?

And Dion seems to be professing a culture of defeat regarding Arctic sovereignty as well:
And he criticized Mr. Harper for having a 19th century mentality instead of a 21st century policy that we cannot win: “We can't win against the Americans, we can't win against the Russians and we are too civilized to shoot the Danes.”

A military presence in the Arctic is not about fighting invading forces Mr Dion, its about projecting power in the region we are claiming. Having the CF active in the Arctic will greatly bolster our ability to track what is going on up there, and increasing our historical and legal right to this land.

Also, I take exception to your characterization that this is the only thing the Government has done to bolster our claims. Don't forget that the Conservative Government has increased funding for the survey and mapping of the Arctic and the expansion of Nahanni Park.

We're better off with Harper.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

With apologies to John Cougar Mellencamp ...

Jack and Dion

by JC Kelan

Little ditty about Jack and Dion
A kid from Quebec et un gar de Lyon
Jacky wanna be a Kyoto star
Dion, debutante in a hybrid car

Suckin’ on tofu dogs, watchin the CBC
Dion sittin on Jacky’s lap
Dreams a grit minority
Jacky say, “Hey Dion,
I’ll help you get rid of Steve,
then I’ll sit in your cabinet,
let me do what I please”

Chorus:

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of voting is gone
Oh yeah, say life goes on,
Long after the hope of winning is gone, they walk on

Jacky sits back and reflects for a moment
Dion scratches his head and does his best Howard Dean
“Well you know, Dion, Liz’ll be a problem”
Dion says, “Jack, she’s already on my team”

Chorus:

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of voting is gone
Oh yeah, say life goes on,
Long after the hope of leadin” is gone, they walk on

Steve’s gonna rock, Steve’s gonna roll
Let the “Green Shift” pull him up in the polls
Hold onto power as long as he can
Change come around real soon
Steve’s got a majority plan

Chorus:

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of voting is gone
Oh yeah, say life goes on,
Long after all the dreamin’ is gone, they walk on

Little ditty ‘bout Jack and Dion
two Lefties gettin’ whupped by the neo-con.

Anonymous said...

More smoke and mirrors from Dion.

12500 homes @ $10000 dollars and the fund is broke.

25000 @ $5000 might be a more realistic example but 5k won't go very far to even replace windows or a get a new high efficiency furnace.

wilson said...

CBC said the $10k was in tax credits, if I heard her right.
There is an existing retrofit program, is this an enhancement?

http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/retrofit-summary.cfm

We're in a period of economic uncertainty and housing value decline, and Dion wants us to
1) go further in to debt
2) get a second mortgage on a house
that is worth 35% less than it was last year, if you have the available credit and can pay a second mortgage.
That should eliminate pretty much everyone, except those in the highest income tax brackets, who likely don't have a house that needs fixing.
This guy really doesn't get it!

Anonymous said...

Insulation!!!??? We don't need no stinkin insulation. Natural gas, oil and electricity are cheap so I have no problem heating my house and wasting whatever form of energy I want. (sarc off)
This dope needs to get in the real world.See what it is like to raise a family and pay the bills and the taxes.

Anonymous said...

ps JC Kelan, that ditty was excellent.

AnonymousCoward said...

10K won't go that far to replace even windows.

And where is it costed?