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There's been some confusion this week between Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and his deputy, Michael Ignatieff, over how they would implement the Green Shift plan in this climate of economic uncertainty if the Grits form a government. It all started with an appearance by Mr. Ignatieff at the editorial board of Montreal's La Presse newspaper earlier this week.

Although the two men agree that the Green Shift plan is good public policy, Mr. Ignatieff told La Presse that some of the “details” could be changed.

“Some fiscal elements could be alleviated in a way or the other. But those are details. But the answer I am giving you is that we are going on with it,” he said.

Mr. Dion has said that nothing would change despite the economic downturn. And he has said that Mr. Ignatieff is in agreement with him about the plan. On Thursday, Mr. Ignatieff went so far as to call reporters individually to clarify his comments. But he did little to explain the confusion. Rather, he reiterated his support for the plan that would tax carbon fuels as good public policy, but did not rule out changing some details, such as lowering the price of the tax, in an was “unpredictable” economic situation.

“It would be intellectually dishonest of a politician to predict how this is going to end up,” he said about the economy. “Any responsible government has to deal with the facts as they are and not as they wish them to be.”

Interestingly, Mr. Ignatieff's camp also sent a translated transcript of his La Presse remarks, leaving out a very telling line in which he said in French that the Green Shift plan would not be abandoned because Mr. Dion “had based his political career on it.” Mr. Ignatieff came in second in the 2006 Liberal leadership race.

Stephen Harper and identify theft

Stéphane Dion accuses Conservative leader Stephen Harper of identify theft in an interview with Global TV's Hannah Thibedeau: “... most Canadians do not know me, but they knew a character invented by Stephen Harper. And he gave a name to this character and it was my name. He stole my personality ... with millions of dollars spent in low-blow attack ads.”

Mr. Dion was referring to ads the Tories have run trying to define Mr. Dion as an ineffective leader. However, Mr. Dion told Ms. Thibedeau in the interview, which was broadcast last evening, that he believes he got his identity back when he came into the living rooms of Canadians for those four hours last week during the French and English-language debates. Phew.

Hot and Not

Hot: The political heavyweights. The NDP and Liberals are bringing out their big guns in these last few days of the election campaign. Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, 72, introduced leader Jack Layton at a rally in Etobicoke yesterday. “Ed wanted to do this because he recognizes the NDP is poised to make the biggest breakthrough in our party history,” said party spokeswoman Kathleen Monk.

She added that they are in “battleground Ontario” for most of the Thanksgiving weekend. Mr. Broadbent represented Oshawa, Ont., as an MP. And then former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, 74, introduced his leader, Stéphane Dion, at a rally in Brampton yesterday. This was the first appearance Mr. Chrétien has made in this campaign with Mr. Dion. Former Prime Minister and Finance Minister Paul Martin, 70, has also been out with Mr. Dion.

Not: The Bard. William Shakespeare came up during a Stéphane Dion scrum with reporters on yesterday. Odd, as Mr. Dion has long been accused of not being able to speak well in English. And even odder, the question about Shakespeare and Mr. Dion being able to speak “Shakespeare's English” was asked in French. But this is an odd election campaign. The question involved whether Mr. Dion felt Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was mocking him for his inability to understand “Shakespeare's English.” The issue, of course, relates to the now infamous television interview in which Mr. Dion had to ask the interviewer to repeat his question three times. The question was about what he would have done about the economy had he been prime minister over these past two years. Mr. Dion, who struggles in his second-language, did not attempt to quote from Shakespeare. Rather, he said that Mr. Harper was trying to take advantage of a situation in which he was asking for a legitimate clarification. Tempest in a teapot?

Hot: Minority government. Ontario Senator David Smith, the Liberal campaign co-chair, yesterday predicted a minority government for either the Liberals or Conservatives. The veteran of the three Chrétien majority governments does not believe that the Tories or the Liberals will form a majority government. Meanwhile, many politicos are expecting that Canadians will be making up their minds over their dining room tables and turkey dinners this weekend.