This is where things get crazy. The Tories, down in the polls, are getting increasingly desperate with their promises.
It started last Friday when they unveiled the head scratcher of a cap on regulations. They say there’s too much red tape in the province so any time a new rule is brought in another must be removed.
Huh? So instead of removing regulations you see as unnecessary, we’ll just pick an arbitrary number? Then if we want to put in, say, some new environmental rules we have to take out another law so the numbers add up. Uh, OK.
Then Thursday the Tories announced a baffling curfew to keep kids without adult supervision off the street between 1 and 6 a.m. Basically, police could give up to a $500 ticket to parents of kids under 16 if they’re out late.
Here’s an idea. If the Tories want to introduce some wild plans to save their bacon, why not do something for the environment?
The economy has dominated this election campaign and as a result all three parties have shoved environmental issues aside.
The Liberal platform contains $16 million in spending for the environment over four years. Their promise to cut the gas tax — and thus encourage more driving — would cost $166 million.
The NDP wants to remove the HST on home heating. That makes using more coal-powered electricity easier for everyone — not just the poor and elderly they’re supposedly targeting.
Both Stephen McNeil and Darell Dexter talk a lot about moving away from fossil fuels and creating an energy corridor. But neither has costed a dollar to those efforts. They seem to think energy companies will pay for it all on their own because, hey, that’d be awesome.
Switching to renewable energy costs money. Period. It sucks to have to spend that money in “these tough economic times,” but climate change is going to be around long after the economy recovers.
So there you go, Tories. Your environmental policy really isn’t any better, but it could be. Forget the ridiculous curfews and regulation caps and put some actual money into renewable energy and maybe your election results won’t be as bad as your poll numbers.
Paul McLeod is a staff reporter at Metro Halifax. He’s currently in rehab for being a political junkie. It’s going badly. Contact paul.mcleod@metronews.ca.
