For the Liberals, the sad thing is that they really did not need a central piece of policy to campaign on this election. The overall demographics of the country favour the liberals, and if they don't provide the Conservatives any ammo and if the Conservatives do not have major policies of their own, the pendulum will swing back to the Liberals' favour. It's been this way for the last 80 years: the Conservatives need Grit corruption or major, energizing ideas of their own to gain support, while the status quo will favour the Liberals.
But rather than playing it safe and running a campaign on the faults of Harper's government, Dion introduces an ambitious and confusing concept that provides the Conservatives all sorts of ammo.
The most ridiculous thing is that the Green Shift has little chance of being implemented any time soon; in order to be put into effect, it would need a Liberal majority (or a strong Liberal / NDP coalition that amounted to a majority), and this election is about choosing between a Conservative majority or Conservative minority (with a slim, slim chance of a Liberal minority). I think it's noble that Dion is trying to run a clean campaign and basing it on a cause that he's passionate about, but it's been completely misguided and mismanaged from the get-go. Really this election should be about the Conservatives, and whether they've done enough during their time to warrant a majority government. Instead of needing to run on their record, the Conservatives get to do what they're best at; run a campaign of criticism of the Liberals.
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