"This is where the Conservatives can offer a credible alternative to the federal Liberals and their provincial cousins in Ontario and Quebec, for whom carbon pricing is primarily a means to generating slush funds they can dole out to pet “green” projects."

It's important to understand the extent to which the "pet" projects are not just projects that fit the Liberal ideology (e.g. sacrificing productivity for short-term "green"-ness). It is astonishing to hear about some of the recipients of the billions upon billions that are spent on these projects, how many come from the same clique of people that you see at your typical Liberal fundraiser, the party executive, the former party executive, former MPs, fundraisers and bankers associated with the Liberal Party, etc. When the Dalton McGuintys and George Smithermans go into the "private sector," they inevitably end up coordinating the extraction of these funds from government and taxpayer, in many different ways. Crony-capitalism.