The editorial board at the Montreal Gazette likes the Conservatives Transit Tax-Rebate Plan.
...Federal tax rebates for commuters avoid all those headaches. They no more violate provincial jurisdiction, for example, than do tax rebates for university-tuition fees - another area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction. And they could work. A couple of hundred extra dollars at tax time might not sound like much, but as rising gas prices and soaring parking fees continue to jack up the cost of driving to work, that might be just enough to induce wavering commuters to leave the car at home and take the metro, bus or train instead.
Of course, a tax-rebate program might also tempt transit authorities to boost fares just enough to wipe out the tax gain for individual commuters. But that would be no great tragedy, as long as transit authorities used the extra revenues they raised to make their systems more attractive, by air-conditioning buses, for example, or offering more frequent train service.
I guess it is a sign of political maturaty that the Conservatives have decided to use the government to institute social change. Just like everyone else. Don't get me worng. The Conservative day care and transit plans are better than the alternatives but what happened to broad-based tax cuts. Why do we have to promote the behaviour we want through the tax code. The tax code is already too complicated as it is. Oh well, that is just the idealist in me coming through. As I said, this is about as good as it gets.
Update: I guess I was too hasty in saying better than the alternatives. The NDP are claiming that the Conservatives stole this policy.
...The NDP is accusing the Conservatives of stealing a page from its green urban agenda with a proposal to make transit passes tax-deductible for employers and individual riders.
NDP MP Peter Julian called the Tory plan a "superficial" ploy to woo urban electors in vote-rich, smog-riddled cities.
"Hopefully this may be a first step. Maybe it's a positive sign that they're going to look at the environment in a more serious way," he said.
I can remember Stephen Harper talking about the environment quite a bit in the last campaign. His approach is that the Conservatives should be focused on clean-air initiatives not the Kyoto Accord. Many followers of the NDP would say they are linked but reducing CO2 emmisions will do nothing to relieve smog. Buying hot air credits from Eastern European nations will do as little to help. I would say that COnservatives take the environment seriously they just don't take the Kyoto seriously. Not that different from the Liberals really. They just pretend to care about Kyoto.
