Environmental policy on the docket at Winnipeg candidates' forum
Clean water initiatives, climate change, unmuzzling federal scientists and carbon emission taxes were on the docket at a candidates' forum held in River Heights Tuesday night.
About 100 voters listened in at First Unitarian-Universalist Church as candidates from Winnipeg Centre and Winnipeg South Centre discussed what their parties would do to improve Canada's stance on science and the environment.
"A culture of science and evidence is sacrosanct," said Andrew Park, the Green Party candidate for Winnipeg South Centre.
Park got the night underway by talking about Environment Canada scientist David Tarasick.
Tarasick published findings showing an "unprecedented" loss of protective ozone over the Canadian Arctic in 2011.
"Tarasick was blocked by communications officers from talking about the largest ozone hole ever found in the Arctic," Park said. "In the same year, the Pearl Laboratory, tasked with measuring Arctic ozone, was shut down.
"The resulting hole in our ozone data was a telling metaphor for the Harper government's attitude to environmental science, which is kind of like 'No science, no evidence, no truth,' because the Tories really don't like environmental science."
Environment Canada's budget has been diminished by 40 per cent in recent years, Park said, adding the Greens would focus on rebuilding the agency, among others involved in the sciences.
$20B toward green energy
Winnipeg Centre Liberal candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette emphasized his party's commitment of $20 billion toward green energy, including public transit and alternate energy.
Ouellette said it's important to understand that there is a relationship between the state of the environment and "the social issues affecting our city."
Ouellette, Park and Matt Henderson, the NDP candidate for Winnipeg South Centre, were united on how unmuzzling federal scientists needs to be a priority.
"Regular Canadians like yourselves ... should have a right to know what's going on," Ouellette said.
'Embarrassing' track-record
Henderson spoke of his party's commitment to cap emissions, calling Canada's lack of progress on the Copenhagen Accord "embarrassing."
If elected, Henderson said the NDP would establish a national water strategy with provinces, territories and First Nations that would make access to clean drinking water a human right.
Henderson added the NDP would bring back the long-form census and would place more importance on instilling Canadians with a greater level of "ecological literacy."
'We're losing biodiversity'
Eric Reder, the campaign director for the Manitoba chapter of the Wilderness Committee, said he was impressed with the candidates' grasp of the issues.
For Reder, the current federal government doesn't do enough to enforce its Species at Risk Act and should be better protecting the 800 species on the list.
"Species at risk are an indication of how well we're managing our environment, so when we have species going into risk it means that their habitat is not being protected and we're losing biodiversity," said Reder.
"We need the next government to act ahead of being taken to court."
Margaret Friesen, a retired scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was in attendance and said while she was never "muzzled," she witnessed it happen to some of her colleagues.
"We need to have independent, open-minded scientists, and now we need to create more positions and attract independent-minded scientists, not the ones who are going to be singing the song that industry wants them to sing," Friesen said.
"Scientists aren't always opposed to everything that industry might want or a government department might want. It's not that they're always saying 'this is a bad idea.' We just want to get the facts out there and once you get the facts out there you can make a decision."
