Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW
He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper’s last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

Categories: Inkless Wells

Oily and Jack: Matches made on Wellington St.

by Paul Wells on Friday, June 13, 2008 11:04am - 0 Comments

Photo credit: stephentaylor.ca

From Stephen Taylor’s blog, a well-informed inside look at how Jack Layton‘s Stephen Harper’s party conceived and hatched the Oily the Splot “Tax on Everything” campaign.

Tags: Jack Layton, Oily the Splot, Stephen Harper, Stephen Taylor, strange bedfellows

More by Paul Wells

Wayne

I like Stephen’s blog : good solid basic analysis of what’s happening. I want one of those T-shirts? where can I get one does anyone know?
Two Hats

Someone please explain to me why Jack Layton would pose for this photo….
Paul Wells

Two Hats, there are hints buried in this long catch-all column from two years ago, beginning with the headline:

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20060417_125314_125314
Anon

Stephen’s post on “oily” reads like a CYA piece from Finley + Buckler on the disaster that was oily.
d. andy jette

“…there are hints buried in this long catch-all column from two years ago, beginning with the headline.”

If that’s true, and seriously the plan, it would appear that Jack hasn’t read a poll in about 18 months. This isn’t a pro-grit post; I’m just saying the prospects for realignmment that seemed to be there at the time don’t seem to be translating to a radically different public opinion landscape. Yet, obviously.

Further, if the polling data on public readiness to embrace (or at least consider) a carbon tax is solid, Jack et al have put themseleves in a position of competing with 2 other mainstream parties for the 45 +/- per cent of people who oppose a carbon tax, while Dion is virtually alone to appeal to the interest and open-mindedness of the other 55 per cent or so.

To whit, this may be what Jack’s thinking, but it doesn’t explain what he’s smoking.
Db

Who is Stephen Taylor and why do I care about this?
http://deleted Sandi

Polls show that Canadians trusting NDP on the economy 11% – is Layton dillusional?

Hey, he didn’t meet a camera he didn’t like – my question is why? He’s not movie star material and this new “stern” look lately is actually really funny
Wayne

This is perfect! being a Conservative it makes my day all this Lib -> NDP (green too) hate fests ROFL LMAO
http://bluesclair.blogspot.com/ Blues Clair

Two Hats, I’ll simplify it in case you don’t want to read an old Paul Wells article (not that it is bad or anything like that). The enemy of Jacks enenmy is Jacks friend.
tc

tell me how taxing consumers directly is going to hurt the oil companies. thats the liberals position: cap and trade means “in the pockets of oil companies”. it makes no sense at all. so a rich person who works in an urban office and pushes paper for a living can convert their home to solar power, geothermal heating, buy a hybrid car, and get a big break on their total tax burden, since a carbon tax is not an income based progressive tax. average to low income people, or those in remote areas, who are unable to make those kind of changes will take it in the cornhole. that’s why Jack is against the tax, it’s why Steve is against the tax, and it’s why I’m against the tax. cap and trade is the carrot and stick approach to big emmitters. a tax is just a stick to beat consumers, with no regard for individual circumstances. instead of the benefits flowing to those companies that reduce their carbon output, it goes to the gov’t. thats a liberal’s wet dream, and a convenient way to increase the gov’t tax revenue that Harper just reduced, to pay for all the spending promises Dion has made over the last two years.

not to mention that a tax on demand-inelastic goods won’t actually change behaviour.
http://www.johnwaugh.blogspot.com John W

I can’t imagine anyone would be surprised. He knows it will be going public too. Doesn’t matter. Just a picture of what everybody already knows.
http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com bigcitylib

Stephen Taylor is right. The ad campaign was not an unmitigated disaster. Stephen Harper is, as per usual, a total genius whose playing chess when the rest of us are playing ping-pong.

And the stuff where the whole thing seemed to go embarassingly TU when folks realized that the new Tory spokesperson on the environment was an oil splat? That was just to make sure Liberals didn’t realized just how much of a genius Harper really is, so they would be lulled into a false sense of security.