MONTREAL - Liberal Leader Stephane Dion blasted the Conservative government on Monday night for not preparing Canadians for 21st-century issues such as rising fuel prices, pollution and poverty.
Dion delivered a speech to more than 800 Liberal supporters who attended a $500-a-plate dinner at a downtown hotel. In Dion's 40-minute address, he took aim at the Tories for its "disastrous" environmental record.
"We need a strategy in the coming years that will make us less dependent on fossil fuels," he said.
"What are the Conservatives doing to prepare us?"
He said the Liberals are the only party that will unite the economy, the environment and social politics.
"We will link our battle against climate change with a modern economy of the 21st century," he said.
"The peak oil era is happening and we need to prepare our country to win in this economy. This is vital for success in the 21st century and for that we need a Liberal government with a good vision."
With gas prices hovering at close to $1.30 per litre, Dion asked what the Tories have done to brace Canadians for ballooning rates at the pump.
He said the surging global demand will only push oil costs even higher.
"It's unavoidable because of the people in China and India," he said.
"We may tell them, 'Stay on your bike, don't take a car.' But they are taking cars, they are buying more cars every year than all the cars in circulation in Canada."
Dion also attacked Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe for his remarks about Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean's recent visit to France.
During her five-day trip, Jean suggested the French should look beyond Quebec to the one million francophones in the rest of Canada who struggle to preserve their language and culture.
This irritated many sovereigntists including Duceppe, who ridiculed Jean.
"It appears the Bloc and the Governor General share something," Dion said.
"The two do not have any true power, so on this basis, maybe Mr. Duceppe should stop taking shots at the Governor General of Canada."
The comments drew a hesitant, muffled applause from Liberals in the room.
The fundraiser's large turnout will surely plop a welcome roll of dough into party coffers, which Liberals have struggled to fill in recent months.
First-quarter returns for 2008 filed with Elections Canada show the Liberals barely keeping up with the NDP's fundraising efforts.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives, meanwhile, have pulled in about five times more donations than the Grits.
Senator Francis Fox, who helped organize the dinner, said the party has had difficulty reeling in funds ever since corporate donations were prohibited a few years ago.
Still, he said, Liberals are adapting and called the Montreal gathering a "great success."
"There are 825 people who took out their cheque books and who wrote cheques for $500," Fox said before Dion's speech.
"It's a cultural change and we're doing it."
