i'm curious about the carbon tax, though.

one of the things that ford ran on was opposing the carbon tax, but there isn't actually a carbon tax in place, and nobody is actually proposing one.

the previous leader of the conservative party, patrick brown, who was taken down in an act of defamation by the core of the tory media, ctv, was proposing a carbon tax to replace the existing cap & trade system with quebec and california. a carbon tax is, after all, a right-wing approach to emissions reductions, and something that it makes sense for an ideological conservative to propose, as it is market-based, as opposed to a "statist" cap & trade system that just wants to order you around. now, i don't want to stand up for this cap & trade system too much - it's just a way for california to send money to canada in exchange for votes in san francisco. it's hard to criticize wynne for signing up for it, but it's not likely to have reduced emissions much, either.

nonetheless, it made some sense for doug ford to campaign against a carbon tax when he was campaigning against his own party - even if nobody else besides the removed former leader was proposing it. that led him to the populist schpiel. then, in the end, you expect him to align with conservative orthodoxy and support the carbon tax to replace the cap & trade, after he's tricked all the low-information voters. that's how politics works.

but, then, he kept campaigning against the carbon tax, even after he'd won the leadership - and there was no longer even the memory of the proposition to fight against. it's something i've never seen before: a campaign constructed around a straw-man argument.

it opens up the question: is this some devious ploy to get morons to vote for him, or does he really think there's actually a carbon tax?

if he really thinks there's actually a carbon tax, are we to expect the status quo when he's told there isn't? that would be maintaining cap & trade. see, but some observers have suggested that what he actually means is that he's going to abolish cap & trade - suggesting that he either doesn't know the difference, or doesn't think voters care.

so, scenario one is that we maintain the status quo, and then what? does he go back to his supporters and say he's killed the carbon tax that nobody was proposing? well, as it doesn't exist, and nobody proposed it, it's an easy win, right? and, if his voters are that fucking stupid, they'll eat it right out of his hand. maybe he'll run for re-election on killing the imaginary carbon tax, too.

scenario two is that he's actually planning on killing cap & trade, in which case we should expect the imposition of a federal carbon tax - meaning that by killing the "carbon tax", he'll be delegating responsibility to ottawa, who will impose an actual carbon tax. and, while we can expect him to fight this carbon tax, we would be right to scratch our heads and wonder why he didn't just stick with cap & trade, which is going to bring in quite a bit of easy revenue so jerry brown can buy votes in california.

and you thought donald trump was confusing. you need a fucking logician to figure out doug ford.

of course, as has been the case with trump from time-to-time, we may find out that ford is using a ternary logic system, and believes he can cancel the carbon tax and create one at the same time.