TimminsToday asked each of the federal candidates in Timmins-James Bay a series of six questions via email. The following responses were submitted by the candidates and/or their campaigns. The answers have not been checked for accuracy; they represent the candidate’s platforms and opinions. External links have been removed.
Visit timminstoday.ca/canadavotes2021 for more coverage of the federal election. Voting day is Sept. 20, with advance polls running until Sept. 14.
*****
Q: Recently, a major scientific report warned of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. Scientists say it’s "a code red for humanity." What tangible ways will your party address climate change in the short- and long-term?
Charlie Angus, NDP: The planet is on fire. And yet, year in, year out Canada continues to massively subsidize the oil and gas sector. In 2020, the Trudeau government gave $18 billion in subsidies to big oil. Imagine if that money was spent on renewables.
Meanwhile, major investment firms are pulling out of Canada’s energy sector because of a complete lack of political commitment to address the climate crisis. We need to invest in the renewable future that has created thousands of jobs in Europe and other countries.
We will invest $3 billion to help municipalities respond to disasters and support communities in building climate resilience infrastructure. We will work with communities and First Nations on emergency management plans, to ensure that we are ready to manage wildfires, floods and other disasters worsened by climate change.
We will develop and support a climate resilience strategy for Northern Ontario to protect our natural ecosystems and resources for the long term.
We will reduce home energy bills and lower emissions by launching a large-scale retrofit program for homes, including low-interest loans repayable through energy savings for upgrades like heat insulation, windows, heat pumps and other renewable technologies.
We will push to drop carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and support massive investment in clean technologies.
Steve Black, Liberal: We have seen the devastation of climate change across our country and around the world. The two parties that are in a position to form government could not approach climate change more differently. The Liberal Party considers the fight against climate change a key priority and put in place Canada’s first-ever climate plan.
Chapter 5 of our platform “A Cleaner Greener Future” details some of the accomplishments over the last six years as well as the path forward to continue the fight against climate change. The choice between the conservative plan of rolling back climate change objectives and our bold path forward of reducing emissions, accelerating our net-zero industrial transformation, and transitioning to cleaner transportation could not be more different.
We have a plan to help communities protect against the impacts of floods, wildfires, drought, and other extreme weather events made worse by climate change. We will also take some of the boldest steps forward in protecting nature including adding more national parks and marine conservation areas, supporting Indigenous-led nature conservation, protecting old-growth forests and ensuring we take significant action to protect our freshwater resources. Now is not the time to take Canada backwards.
Morgan Ellerton, Conservative: I want voters to know that Conservatives have a detailed comprehensive plan to meet our Paris target by 2030 and create resilience to protect Canadians as well as leverage the amazing innovations that exist today.
A few highlights to demonstrate the plans comprehensiveness: Invest an additional $3 billion now til 2030 focused on management of forest, crop and grazing lands and restoration of grasslands, wetlands, and forests.
We must protect and help our natural Carbon capture ecosystem.
Canada’s Conservatives will meet our Paris climate commitment by 2030, without the government taxing Canadians and driving jobs and investment out of the country. Conservatives will go big on zero-emission vehicles like electric and hydrogen vehicles by imposing 30 per cent zero-emission production targets by 2030 and getting the charging infrastructure Canada needs built.
We will work with the USA and President Biden’s administration on several key North American initiatives.
A Conservative government will also invest in technology that improves early detection of wildfires and better predict their behaviour. We will prioritize, lower industrial emission, lower carbon emissions and we will develop a National Clean Energy Strategy.
Stephen MacLeod, PPC: Climate change is a highly debated subject but the undisputed fact is that the world's climate has always changed and will continue to do so long after we are gone. The policy debate on this subject is no longer grounded on science but has been hijacked by big governments to impose their views and to raise taxes to further their gains. None of the predictions that were made back in the '70s about the climate have come true. In fact CO2 is actually beneficial for our agriculture and despite what global warming propaganda claims, it's not a pollutant. Our plan is to withdraw from the Paris accord, stop sending billions to other countries to help them reduce emissions, completely abolish the carbon tax and the subsidies that are paid out for green tech. Instead we want to invest in strategies if problems arise as a result of any natural climate change and use that money we are now saving to get rid of our deficit.
