With just days left to campaign leading up to the federal election, CKDR News continues to ask the Kenora riding candidates questions you want answers to.
Today we ask the five candidates how they and or their party plans to address climate change.
Liberal candidate David Bruno says the party is on the right track.
“Climate change is something that’s dear to my heart, I’ll tell you that much. I’m very, very proud of our Prime Minister and government. My number of example, especially for here in the Northwest, we want to see single use plastics completely replaced and banned completely and replace them with products that we can make right here in the Northwest.”
Bruno continues, “I was talking to an engineer in Dryden and he was telling me ‘You know, there’s so much potential here in the Northwest with our renewable force and it’s a shame that we haven’t been able to revitalize it to it’s full potential’ and that’s what I’m going to be fighting for, one hundred percent.”
Conservative Eric Melillo says the party has put forward a plan to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“We have shorter and milder winter seasons we’re seeing with the ice roads for example to many northern communities, seasons are much shorter. Of course, the wild fires this summer we’re seeing an increasing frequency and severity with these extreme events. Climate change is very important to me and to my party.”
Melillo adds, “We want to boost funding towards green initiatives, we want to help encourage all of our industries to make a transition to greener options and we also want to be create, what we’re calling, personal low carbon savings accounts for Canadians. Instead of taxing them, having the government take that money and choose how to spend it, we want to help Canadians keep more money in their pockets and invest it in environmentally friendly practices whether that’s green home renovations or whatever they choose to help lower their own personal carbon foot print.”
Janine Seymour of the NDP says, “In the heart of Turtle Island, environmental sustainability is something that is of great importance to everyone across the region. Specifically, Indigenous peoples have been practicing and have a holistic balanced view. So, the NDP is actually looking to incorporate some Indigenous knowledge into the way we function here and how best we can ensure this beautiful land, water and everything that we love and enjoy, sustains us.”
Seymour states, “There’s going to be some guardianship programs, stewardship programs and funding towards that to develop that as a curriculum and tool of best practices.”
Green candidate Remi Rheault says while he loves his party’s plan, he believes it’s not aggressive enough.
“I’m satisfied with what they’re doing at 60 percent below the 2005 levels. This will actually be a game changer, it will create more jobs, it will help the economy, it will help people and it will help the environment. But, we need more leadership from our tribal and clan leaders, our knowledge keepers, our elders; to help us through this situation. We need to stop things that are damaging the planet and there’s a whole slew of them.”
Craig Martin of the People’s Party says “We’re intending to create a fire brigade in the Canadian Armed Forces so that out of control wild fires can be suppressed. They pump thousands of mega tons, maybe millions into the atmosphere. They burn up traditional land resources and they reduce the carbon think, so we wanna tackle climate change head on instead of trying to tackle things that we think might happen.”
Martin adds, “Avoid climate change alarmism, drop the carbon tax and then keep our country held to the high standards for pollution, that it already has.”
Tomorrow the candidates share their thoughts on Canada’s plan for storing used nuclear waste. Election day is Monday September 20.
(With Files From Mike Ebbeling)
