In his bid to take control of the Liberal party, Stéphane Dion claimed there are three issues he would focus on: social justice, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. The media has painted Dion as an intellectual policy wonk - but how thought out is his plan?
In Dion’s Energy and Climate Change plan, he states: “The federal government will propose to provinces and territories and support the adoption of a 10% target for ethanol in gasoline and 10% biodiesel in diesel by 2010.”
What are the impacts of using food crops to produce bio-fuels?
“From an agricultural vantage point, the automotive demand for fuel is insatiable. The grain it takes to fill a 25-gallon tank with ethanol just once will feed one person for a whole year [...]
The competition for grain between the world’s 800 million motorists who want to maintain their mobility and its 2 billion poorest people who are simply trying to survive is emerging as an epic issue. Soaring food prices could lead to urban food riots in scores of lower-income countries that rely on grain imports, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, and Mexico. The resulting political instability could in turn disrupt global economic progress, directly affecting all countries.”
I wonder how Dion will spin taking food from the poor to fuel his hybrid Prius as “social justice”?
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