Liberal MP Shawn Murphy's shift-shaping green albatross

We weren't a week into the election campaign when Charlottetown Liberal MP Shawn Murphy was found distancing himself from the Green Shift, in response to concerns about increased costs for consumers:

“This winter, I don't think you're going to see the green shift even if the Liberals got elected.” (Shawn Murphy, Charlottetown, Sept. 12, 2008).
...
Ray MacNevin of Charlottetown said he’s fearful residents will have to pick up the tab for the country’s largest polluters. He said if the big polluters are taxed more, they will simply pass those additional costs on to consumers.

Murphy admitted it will be the consumer who pays the additional tax, “it’s not going to be absorbed by Exxon,” he said.

“There’s no question that they will, that’s the trickle down effect,” he said. “If the cost of business goes up, they are going to pass it on to the consumer. I’m not going to deny that.” [emphasis added]

In fact, the Green Shift isn't even mentioned by name in Murphy's household campaign mailer - there's just a small paragraph on the environment with an emphatic "NO IT'S NOT MORE TAX" in caps and the lame assurance that "taxes will be reduced for individuals and replaced by modest increases in taxes on carbon fuels."

That Murphy's campaign is a tad touchy these days on the subject of that Carbon Tax is obvious. Today's Guardian story by Wayne Thibodeau is hardly likely to improve their tempers:

A carbon tax, as proposed by the Liberals and other political parties, would cause electricity rates to increase across Prince Edward Island, warns the president and CEO of Maritime Electric.

Fred O’Brien made the comment in response to a question posed by The Guardian the same day the privately operated utility announced it was asking the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to increase its rates by about 7.5 per cent for residential and commercial customers.

If approved, Islanders could expect to pay about $110 more annually for the average residential customer. The increases would be gradually implemented beginning in April 1, 2009.

The implementation of a carbon tax would force prices up even higher.

“A goodly portion of our supply is carbon-based fuels so there would be an impact on that and, of course, the people that we’re buying it from are going to pass that cost on to us,’’ O’Brien said.

To his credit, I think Murphy's political instincts were strong enough from the get-go to realize that the Green Shift would be a tough sell in PEI. Our fuel and electricity rates are among the highest in the country, we have to truck in just about everything, and our primary industries are all very price-sensitive and reliant upon carbon-based fuels. So contrary to Murphy's fairy-tale-like assurances that "The Green Shift won't tax everything, just the things we don't want like dirty fuels that produce greenhouse gases," most taxpayers are well aware that for all intents and purposes, prices on nearly everything they use will go up if the Liberals are elected.

In fact, Murphy's solicitude for the price-sensitivity of the tourism industry once earned him the sobriquet of rebellious vanishing Liberal MP. As Paul Wells succinctly put it:

Mr. Murphy's riding is on a big island frequented by airplanes full of tourists with good money. The security levy could cripple tourism to P.E.I., he said.

Ah yes, tourism. Something near and dear to the Murphy family heart. Given that Murphy's brothers Kevin, Danny, and Mike - not to mention brother-in-law, Mike Cassidy*, co-owner of Trius Tours, which just today announced an important expansion - are all involved in tourism-related, price-sensitive &/or carbon-fuel-reliant businesses, Murphy's lack of enthusiasm for the Liberal Party's carbon tax is, perhaps, understandable. Not to single out Murphy's family, however - there are numerous other Island businesses owned by high-ranking members of the Liberal Party who would likewise be affected - so I'm sure Murphy's been getting an earful.

Related:

• * Mike Cassidy might want to talk Green Shift with these two Ottawa city councillors
  
• Ghiz supports Liberal campaign, lukewarm on Green Shift
• Liberals continue to distance themselves from Dion Carbon Tax

h/t Kate for sign generator and SDA commenter Cal2 for content.

UPDATE: Economist blogger Clangmann delves into the economics of the Green Shift - definitely worth a read:

Green Shift, Green Shaft, or Green Pie in the Sky
Green Shift II: Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
The Green Shift Raises CO2 emission by 7.15 Mega tonnes