A well-oiled Liberal machine rolled through Oakville last Wednesday for an open Town Hall-style meeting, with Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion and Halton MP Garth Turner at the helm.

The meeting was held at St. Volodymyr’s Cultural Centre, where a mostly partisan Liberal audience over a thousand strong, came to pay homage to Dion.

The Federal Liberal Party seems to have changed official colours from red to green, as much of the discussion was focused on Stéphane Dion’s controversial environmental Green Shift program.

The Green Shift plan proposes taxes on carbon emissions while offering tax cuts on income, innovation and investments.

At a press conference prior to the meeting, Dion was flanked by a support group of Liberal MPs, Senators and candidates, as he fielded questions from reporters.

Dion was asked how his Green Shift plan would affect the manufacturing sector as Oakville is the home of the headquarters of Ford Canada and several other big business employers.

He said that he is confident that Green Shift will revitalize and encourage a new environmentally sustainable economy adding, “If we would have done the Green Shift twenty-years-ago…today we would be building in Ontario the cars of tomorrow. We would create jobs instead of losing jobs because we are building too much the cars of yesterday.”

Inside the banquet hall, Garth Turner began with a brief, straightforward presentation of the Green Shift plan. He then introduced Dion to a standing ovation. Dion was in full election mode as he shook hands all the way up centre aisle to the stage.

The meeting was light-hearted and at times, he showed a rare glimpse of his humourous side.

“If I can’t do the question, then you will answer,” joked Dion to Turner, before the question and answer period.

Standing in front of an over-sized Canadian flag, Dion took questions from the audience for about an hour, with issues ranging from the environment, to copyright laws, to the elderly.

One man questioned the validity of the theory that catastrophic climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. “Why have we moved ahead with this policy? Companies are going to get hard hit by your carbon taxes, which maybe unsupported by scientific evidence and this may have a damaging impact on our economy.”

Dion responded by saying, “Maybe your scientists are right, but even then I understand they are saying, ‘We are not sure that it is true.’ So, there is a risk that it is. As a decision maker I cannot take this risk for you.”

Reaction to the extraordinary accessibility of the Leader of the Official Opposition was positive.

“The public was invited, everybody was invited. It’s nice to see this is an open forum. It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to, or if you’re not involved in a political party, come out and let’s hear what your issues are,” said Heidy Schmidt, who drove all the way from Listowel in the riding of North Wellington.

Dion’s visit came on the heels of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s whirlwind tour through Southern Ontario, where Harper hit such locations as Liberal stronghold Mississauga and the perennial NDP town of Hamilton.

Dion certainly didn’t pass up the opportunity to throw barbs at his opponent to the cluster of jostling reporters.

“Mr. Harper wants now to break his word and to not respect his own law about fixed date for an election. He wants to rush to an election because he doesn’t want Canadians to learn more about the kind of government they have.

“I’m very convinced that the message of hope will win against the message of fear at the next election,” said Dion.

For more information on the Green Shift plan visit www.thegreenshift.ca.