Turbodan

got this email today;
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 29, 2013



Liberals refuse to immediately end illegal Drive Clean surplus

Ontarians will still be forced to overpay for Drive Clean at a cost of $19 million a year



QUEEN’S PARK – The Liberal government has been caught red handed imposing a multi-million-dollar illegal tax on Ontarians for two years through its Drive Clean program, PC Environment Critic and Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris said today.



“When I asked the Environment Minister today if he would take immediate steps to end this illegal tax, he said he’d potentially get around to it next year,” Harris said. “That’s like getting caught for pick-pocketing and then telling the police you’ll stop in a few months from now. Wrongdoing should be corrected immediately, not when the perpetrator feels like it.”



Former Auditor General Jim McCarter found in his 2012 report that the Drive Clean program had gone into surplus last year by $11 million. He then advised the government to eliminate the surplus because the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled it is unlawful to make a profit off of a revenue-neutral program.



“Instead of listening to the Auditor General, the Liberals ignored his advice and nearly doubled the illegal Drive Clean surplus,” Harris said. “Under the Liberal government, Ontarians are now paying $19 million dollars in illegal Drive Clean taxes every year.”



The Liberals were also caught earlier this year trying to increase Drive Clean fees by another $18 million. Cabinet documents revealed that the Liberals had approved this massive hike in principle on top of the existing surplus in spite of the Auditor General’s warning.



“It’s clearer than ever that the Liberals’ support for the Drive Clean program has nothing to do with the environment; it’s just about the money,” Harris concluded.



To watch Harris’s question, click on the link: http://bit.ly/1chaWye.

-30-

For further information contact:



Michael Harris | Michael.HarrisQP@pc.ola.org | 416-325-3130

I am about to order O2 sensors for my Audi so this would have saved me some $ and hassle.

ronnie993tt

Yup, that's what tax 'n spend Liberals do. Even more insane, they want to tax carbon dioxide! And how 'bout the $84 per month "tax" on your electric bill to pay for massively innefficient solar and wind power...could go on but it'd just rile ya up.

wc11

I don't understand the raised electricity rates?
If the effed up and blew a billion, why can't they just leave the so called "debt retirement charge" on longer or for that matter, raise that a few bucks.

What's that? Oh yeah. They never were going to remove it.
The debt charge could've been [paid already for all we know.

Long live the underground economy.

ronnie993tt

Electricity rates are going up about 40% to pay for the much more expensive wind and solar power. I can't remember their feed in rates but they're 5 to 10 times what spot power is and because there are surpluses at the wrong times, we give lots of it to NEUS States for well under the spot rate.

Rally Guy

Ha ha ha.

You guys and your hate on for all things liberal... And this notion of "tax and spend".

Conservatives are just SO much better at it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ralph-g...b_3882589.html

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/prog...cord-best-show

And...

http://jameshowe.ca/2011/04/03/harpe...inspire-trust/



Rk

wc11

I don't care what party it is. Fact is, the drive clean is bogus.
You can cut out your catalytic converter and still pass as long as you don't throw a code?
You can have an old beater car that spews clouds of toxic gases that passes?
Folks up north do not have to get drive clean inspections?
Are they suggesting that the less polluted air stays up there and never moves?
Motorcycles, snowmobiles, atv's, boats, tractors don't have to be checked?

So this is drive clean ???????

Imo000

It was proven the system doesn't create less faliures so it is useless. Just came back from a drive cycle to get my project car to pass. What a PITA....Cambridge - Woodstock, twice. 200Km.

Turbodan

WC11 I thought all of Ontario now has to do drive clean.
I also don't care what party it is, the test is a waste of time and is illegal.

Torontoworker

- No - Northern Ontario is exempt.

- WC11: You must have cat's - you cannot actually cut them out and still pass AS YOU WILL FAIL THE VISUAL INSPECTION.

- Calf has banned non-factory cat's unless the replacement has a CARB sticker on it and now New York State is introducing the same law soon where if you install say , 200 cell cat's - there has to be a visible CARB sticker showing that the manufacturer of these cat's has passed their tests. Further: they are outlawing removal and replacement of cat's with 200 cell units *before* the car is eight years or older. The theory is that the manufacturers warranty these items for up to eight years so the cat's should have been replaced with OEM units if they fail within this time frame.

I've been posting about this testing for awhile now. It's NOT a Liberal party issue. The program was started by Harris to reward his friends. Now we are in the area of getting rid of anything that has the name 'Clean Air' in it will cause a meltdown among the Greenie's (mostly non car owners). Add in the fact it is now a PROFIT making enterprise and you can see the *why* behind ignoring the call for the program to be ended. It doesn't matter if you elect that di*k from Fort Erie or re-elect the current failure sitting on her a*s at Queens Park, nothing will change as far as killing the program. The best you could hope for is if the fee is lowered to make it revenue neutral.

wc11

[QUOTE=Torontoworker;10878496]- No - Northern Ontario is exempt.

- WC11: You must have cat's - you cannot actually cut them out and still pass AS YOU WILL FAIL THE VISUAL INSPECTION.

Had my car done this past Tuesday. There was NO visual inspection.
Neither was there for the 2 previous cars before me.
Did not open the rear lid to even look at the motor. It was 15 minutes....tops

Imo000

I had my project car etested yesterday and didn't see them do a visual either. BC voted down the etest a couple years ago.

Torontoworker

It's in the drive clean procedural rules - that they didn't do it is beside the point. The shop/testing center is not following the test/inspection guidelines.

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment...STDPROD_075681

Torontoworker

FYI: The lack of testing for the North was political. The idea that was tried to sell to the public was that there are so few cars north of Sudbury compared to the south that it didn't make sense. No - it was a pure vote scam several years back when a certain northern MPP started getting all these calls about proposed testing coming to the north and how people wouldn't vote for him or his party. So the party decided to come up with the excuse of not worth it. The Environment Ministry went apes**t internally but was overruled by the Cabinet. So much for clean air for all huh? The three truck owners at the Cabinet table under Harris said no way to testing trucks - then the construction industry lobby group had their say about generators and equipment... Then the new car dealers had their say and got the testing rules changed for new cars to get them off their lots before they had to do it. Then anti poverty groups had their say about testing for older cars (and we don't mean classic cars but pieces of s**t) Everyone had their say except the normal southern Ontario consumer. Meanwhile Ohio smog rolls across the Great Lakes and up here...

Turbodan

I thought it was Detroit pollution not Ohio.

ronnie993tt

There is a plethora of objective economic studies showing conservative governments generally spend and regulate less. You won't find 'em in the loony left media though. They're too busy trying to undemocratically depose a duly elected mayor in Toronto.