As leaders of the G-20 nations gear up for a summit in Toronto this weekend, a “progressive” alliance of lawmakers in the European Parliament has unleashed the ultimate weapon in a bid to force Canada to sign on to proposals for a global financial transaction tax. The group has launched a “Twitterstorm” against Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, a staunch opponent of the tax scheme, and is threatening to bombard him mercilessly with tweets until he capitulates.

In an announcement at the Progressive Alliance’s Web site, delegate Udo Bullmann defended the group’s decision to commit the ultimate act of tweety terrorism: “Greedy speculators are responsible for the collapse of the financial markets. In response to the crises, governments around the world have stabilized their economies with taxpayers’ money. Now the speculators should pick up the bill. A global financial transaction tax of only 0.05 percent could yield revenue of about 1 percent of world GDP per year. Let us remind the world leaders meeting in Toronto for the G-20 Summit this weekend that we want the financial global transaction tax.”

The public is urged to send Mr. Harper the following message: @pmharper: we want a Global Financial Transaction Tax NOW! #FTT

Herr Bullmann’s Web site doesn’t show a twitter link, but opponents of the transaction tax (especially Canadians) who are interested in mounting a retaliatory twitter strike might want to tweet @TheProgressives/s-d-meps with a suitable message. ###