Thursday, October 2, 2008

Pembroke's Cheryl Gallant ...

Using bogus ellipses is a cheap trick and one I would have thought beneath Pembroke's long serving MP. Well, see below ... .

(By the way Cheryl Gallant is not representative of folks from the Ottawa Valley -- they are, as a group, honest, decent and good people, albeit folks who talk funny (people who know me will realize I have no accent al all!!!))


Cheryl Gallant resorts to dishonest editing

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP who is well known for her past ridiculous statements has crossed the line from creativity to intellectual dishonesty by repeating her claim that the Liberal Green Shift plan would tax the use of firewood.

As reported in Barry's Bay This Week:

"Gallant has sailed into the foray once again, albeit on a different tack. In a letter sent to media outlets this week, she no longer mentions a firewood tax; instead she alleges the Liberal Green Shift would - not might, or possibly, but would - tax emissions from wood burning [.] But it is not true. The Green Shift plan does not provide for a tax on wood burning, and Gallant's letter uses a partial quotation from the Liberal document in which words that would appear to rule out such a tax have not been included."

In this letter, Cheryl Gallant claims to quote from the Green Shift:

"A carbon tax will apply at the wholesale level, across the country, to the full range of [.] fuels [.] based on their level of carbon emissions. The price will begin immediately at $10 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions and steadily rise by an additional $10 per year, reaching $40 per tonne within four years. Further into the future, the price on carbon will continue its [.] rise [.]

The actual text from the Green Shift, without the ellipses, states:

"A carbon tax will apply at the wholesale level, across the country, to the full range of fossil fuels including coal, propane, natural gas, oil and diesel -- based on their level of carbon emissions. The price will begin immediately at $10 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions and steadily rise by an additional $10 per year, reaching $40 per tonne within four years. Further into the future the price on carbon will continue its gradual rise to reflect the true social costs of pollution."

As Barrys Bay This Week notes:

"The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines a fossil fuel as 'a natural fuel such as oil or gas formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.' Wood does not qualify. Nowhere is firewood mentioned in the Green Shift document. Despite this, not only does Gallant conclude that the Liberals plan to tax wood burning, she also does the costing."


2 comments:

Carrie said...

You're from the Ottawa Valley?! That's awesome :) My Mom was from Pembroke. I still have relatives there and used to spend every summer there as a kid. People in that area are smart no-b.s. people...she should be careful.

Anonymous said...

I've never in my life been embarassed to be from Pembroke. At least, not until Cheryl Gallant was elected, then re-elected, then re-elected yet again. She is a complete and utter disgrace and yet I have little doubt that she'll be returned to office for a 4th term. I have no words.....
Perhaps if the majority of smart, young people from the area didn't have to move away at age 18 in order to further their education and obtain good jobs, the area would be represented by a different MP. :( I have now lived more than 1/2 my life outside of my home town.