"This day will be a humid day, at 29 degrees in Toronto."
CityNews meteorologist Michael Kuss giving the latest forecast?
His colleague
Chris Potter making an official prediction on
Citytv?
It sounds like them but it's neither of those weather aces. Instead this peerless prognosticator is the last person you'd expect to be giving you a forecast - Liberal leader Stephane Dion, standing in front of what TV people call a 'green screen' with the temperatures superimposed in back of him.
But the Grit boss hasn't exchanged his Liberal red for television green. Instead he's here to actually show you a commercial - the pitch for his controversial
Green Shift plan.
Dion is prepared to do just about anything to get you to understand the details of his carbon tax idea, which proposes penalizing polluters with higher levies while rewarding those who practice more environmentally friendly lifestyles with tax cuts.
So when Dion came to
Citytv on Thursday, he was willing to do just about anything to get your approval for his big idea - and your vote. Which explains his meteorological-like appearance.
"Today as you know it will be 29 degrees, humid in Toronto and smog," he relates as the readings flash behind him. "Our plan will decrease smog."
Dion has a lot of hard work ahead of him with an election most believe is inevitably looming, likely as soon as the fall. It's a daunting task for any politician - try and woo votes while telling people you plan to raise some of their taxes.
But Dion believes voters know the urgency of what's involved. "I'm confident about the big heart of Canadians," he concludes. "We will cut the taxes especially of the middle and low income Canadians."
So we took Dion out on the streets of the city to see if anyone was buying his plan. But it turns out he may have something else to sell first - himself. One voter was asked if they knew who the person trying to explain the Green Shift plan was.
"No," came the instant answer.
"No, not really," her friend concurs.
Others were a little more interested, although unconvinced. "Cutting taxes is always a good thing," one voter muses.
"Well, if we're being rewarded for shifting over, that's certainly an incentive that people would take on, I think," agrees another.
It appears Dion will have to sell both himself and his idea to voters and he may only have the summer to do it. And if that doesn't work, perhaps he has a future in weather forecasting. After all, as a veteran politician, it's his job to know which way the wind is blowing.
Read the Green Shift plan and decide for yourself here.