A Dime a Dozen Blog

1. This continues the tradition of big media outfits citing my work without giving a little credit to me.  Ahem … CBC …  Macleans .… [ or spelling my name wrong ... ahem Garth Turner ... ]

2. The donations are configured in such a way as to go directly to GreenShift.  Cheques are sent by mail to their office address, and Interac and HyperWALLET payments are received in their published email accounts.  Everything is done manually, not through the site.  Also, I’ve refrained from putting on PayPal, because it would involve a level of trust I don’t want to ask of people.

Anyhow – here it is:

Marni Soupcoff: Exactly whose Green Shift is it?
Posted: July 08, 2008, 4:06 PM by Marni Soupcoff
Marni Soupcoff

www.thevictoryfund.ca

In case you’re thinking that the above url looks familiar, I should clarify that I am not profiling the Liberal Party of Canada’s main fundraising Web site, which can be found at www.victoryfund.ca. I have chosen instead to take up the cause of Green Shift Inc., the Toronto-area environmental consulting firm that is taking the Liberal party to court for trademark infringement over the party’s “Green Shift” environmental initiative. A site has been set up to raise funds to pay for Green Shift Inc.’s legal costs at www.thevictoryfund.ca. (What a coincidence.)

The fundraising site makes clear that it is not endorsed or operated by Green Shift Inc., which makes one wonder if it’s a clever Conservative ploy to twist the knife a little for the Liberals — though the site also claims to be non-partisan. Regardless, by reminding us of the trademark issue, the really does underscore how poorly the Liberals have handled just about everything to do with their grand environmental plan. Did they mean to get into a squabble with an environmental company that would lead to a court case and public accusations of greenwashing? Probably not. But they could easily have avoided it by doing a more diligent background check before naming their scheme and/or taking a more conciliatory position once the problem arose.

I’m not able to vouch for how any money generated at www.thevictoryfund.ca will be used, so I won’t go so far as urging visitors to donate their pay cheques (or even their spending money) to the cause without doing a little verification of their own. Rather, I’d suggest people check out the “learn more” and “spread the word” portions of the site for a quick giggle and some insight into why Stéphane Dion’s Liberals are not ready for prime time.