Dion goes on offensive with his Green Shift plan

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion accused the Conservatives on Thursday of hiding the costs and regulations of the government's green plan until after the election is over, as he assured New Brunswick voters that his own Green Shift carbon tax would not hurt plans to build a second oil refinery in the province.

Layton blasts Dion's carbon tax plan

MONTREAL -- NDP Leader Jack Layton took aim at his Liberal counterpart for the first time in the election campaign as he announced details about the New Democrats' five-point plan to fight climate change.

Standing outside the Montreal Climate Exchange with a team of candidates from the city, Layton said his plan was the best option to fight the threat of global warming.

"I'm beginning to think that [Stéphane] Dion is not going to be the main issue in this election," Layton said. "But when it comes to the environment, I do have a few words for my Liberal colleague, and that is that his carbon tax proposal is wrong, that it won't work, and that he knows it."

The climate exchange is an environmental products market set up to facilitate the trading of permits to pollute. All five federal parties have supported a cap-and-trade system that sets mandatory limits on industrial pollution, and requires companies that exceed their targets to buy permits from greener businesses that are lowering their emissions.

The Liberals and the Green party have also proposed a carbon tax on energy consumption, along with income and corporate tax cuts designed to change consumer behaviour that contributes to global warming.