Dion tosses "Green Shift" aside!

From the, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!" files... Dion today announced a MAJOR flip-flop on his central campaign theme, the "Green Shift", that it's NOT his main platform plank!

h/t to Warren, who asks the question, "Say goodnight? Fat lady singing? Done like dinner? Over because it's over?"

From the Toronto Star:

"Green Shift not major platform plank, Dion says"
Liberal leader plays down Green Shift policy after pledges $1.2B in green funding to farmers
Sep 19, 2008 12:34 PM
Richard Brennan
OTTAWA BUREAU

WINNIPEG–Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said today that his Green Shift plan featuring a controversial carbon tax is not a major part of his election platform.

"You have said it was but never me," Dion told reporters.

His surprise declaration follows by a day campaign appearances in the Toronto area where he failed to mention it once in his speeches.

Dion released the Green Shift plan in June in Ottawa with great fanfare. It proposes to tax fossil fuels while cutting taxes for lower and middle income Canadians.

"I have always said it was an important policy for Canada. I strongly believe it would be good for Canada," he told reporters.

Dion said: “Okay, maybe I didn’t use the word `green shift’ ” but denied he was downplaying the policy.

Wow... what else can you say? His CENTRAL theme just got jettisoned, just like that. What kind of "leader" is that? Won't even stand by his own platform? YIKES!!!

First, during the Leadership race, he said it was a bad idea. Then after becoming the leader, he flip-flops and says it's a good idea, and builds an entire campaign around it. Now, seeing the polls, he flip-flops AGAIN and thinks it's a bad idea, and throws it out the window!

UPDATE: I figured it wouldn't be long before someone came up with the evidence to contradict Dion's claim that it's NOT their central theme... and Stephen Taylor comes up with the goods (once again), in his post entitled "ABANDON SHIFT!"

Paul Schliesmann: Is the Green Shift the absolute final plan that needs to be in place?

Stephane Dion: It's a good plan, it's the best that has been proposed to Canadians. It's the basement on which we build a good plan.

Dion: “The answer is yes. It [the Green Shift plan] is at the heart of our strategy but it’s not our whole strategy.”

Dion: My three goals are to have a richer, fairer, greener Canada. I think they are linked together. The Green Shift is linking them through the tax system, but we have other tools. In addition to the tax system, we have programs that we will propose to Canadians. These programs will be linked to this overall strategy, to have a richer, fairer, greener Canada playing its role in the world. It will not be a grocery list, it will be a plan for the country.

Today, Mr. Dion is saying it's not "THE" plan. According to the Whig Standard, Dion said, and I quote, "It's the basement [foundation is the word he was looking for, I think] on which we build a good plan".

So then Mr. Dion, is it, or is it not, the foundation of your election platform?

UPDATE II: Jason seems to be questioning Warren's motives on this one... instead of clarifying his leader's remarks.

UPDATE III: Well, we're three plus hours into this MAJOR "shift" from Dion... and nary a PEEP from most of the main players in the MSM. Only the Toronto Star, affectionately known as "The Red Star" has taken note of it, and prominently, on their front page.

Maybe they're saving things for the 6:00 news... but at this rate, I'm not holding my breath. I do tip my hat though to Craig Oliver, who seems to be the only one at CTV who thinks this warrents any attention.

UPDATE IV: Ouch... Janke has dug up an even more harmful quote: "Dion has said The Green Shift will be the centrepiece of the Liberals' platform for the next election campaign."