The federal government recently announced an initiative aimed at getting older, high-emission vehicles off the road.

It's called Retire Your Ride and will be managed by the Clean Air Foundation.

The goals of the program are twofold: to stimulate new-car sales in Canada (good), and to reduce the amount of harmful exhaust emissions into the environment by eliminating the worst offending vehicles (also good).

These are laudable goals and the issues they address are pressing. Indeed, new-car sales in Canada could use a boost, and removing 7 million older vehicles from the roads would go a long way toward cleaning up the environment.

But the devil is in the details, and the details of this recycling program are anything but favourable to the new-car industry or consumers. When the program was first announced four weeks ago, consumer advocates and industry analysts effectively dismissed it as meaningless.

The program works like this: If you own a vehicle from a model year 1996 or older, the government will give you $300 (no, that's not a typo!) for that old clunker. Or, if you prefer, you could receive a bicycle or discounts on transit passes instead.

If I had to guess the number of roadworthy cars in Canada that are worth $300 or less, I'd be surprised if it was more than a handful.

Why would car owners trade in their old clunkers for $300 when almost any other option could net them more money?

Most new-car dealerships in Canada would offer consumers at least $500 as a trade-in for an old car. So-called clunkers routinely command higher trade-in values, depending on their condition and nameplates.

If you sell your vehicle privately, or to a scrap dealer, you are almost guaranteed of netting more than $300 for it.

This recycling program is destined to fail because it doesn't adequately address the residual value of these older vehicles.

Nobody is going to trade in an older car that's in good running condition for a mere $300.

Does the government really believe that $300 is enough of an incentive for car owners to trade up?

Programs like this illustrate the huge disconnect that exists between the federal government and ordinary citizens.

Federal politicians appear to be living in an alternate universe, completely unaware of marketplace realities.

Why didn't the people who created the recycling program bother to consult with people who own older vehicles? Why wouldn't they approach new-car dealers and other industry-related parties to get their thoughts?

Input from the public and auto experts could have helped tweak the program to make it more attractive to consumers. Instead, we've got a half-baked program that nobody will take seriously, a program that will be a waste of taxpayers' money.

Recycling programs of greater substance and value have been introduced in other countries. In Germany, car owners who trade in older vehicles get an automatic $4,000 credit toward the purchase of a new car.

The U.S. is considering a program that will give federal tax credits worth $4,500 to car owners who trade in their older vehicles for fuel-efficient models.

Canada's Retire Your Ride program could have upped the ante to make it more financially attractive.

The federal government had a chance to lead by example with this program, but instead it opted for another wasteful, make-work effort that serves neither the consumer nor the auto industry.

With programs such as Retire Your Ride, it's little wonder politicians continue to get a bad rap.