Letter: O’Toole proven wrong by own party
By Letter to the Editor on April 9, 2021.
Dear editor, Last Month Mr. Erin O’Toole made a speech at the Conservatives’ national convention. He noted that Conservatives have fought and lost two elections “because voters did not think that we were serious about addressing climate change.” He was correct. Elections Canada data on the 2019 election shows 65.6% of voters supported other parties. Those voters shunned the Conservatives in large part because their environmental position consisted of self-satisfied ignorance and guileful denial regarding human-caused climate change. Those 65.6% of voters wanted much more than Conservatives offered. That is a large part of why Conservatives are not governing. Before Mr. O’Toole’s speech, a “grassroots” vote by Conservative delegates was taken on a party policy proposal. It was “We recognize that climate change is real. The Conservative Party is willing to act.” That proposal was voted down 54% to 46%. Thus, the Conservatives’ position is that climate change is not real and they are not prepared to act about it. The leader said they are not deniers. The members proved him wrong. The proposed policy was mild, because it did not use the words “human-caused climate change,” which gives many Conservatives fits. It was simply “climate change,” and even this was too much for the majority. Here is a quote. See if you know who wrote these words, and when: “The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide on climate is well established and cannot be denied.” The words were written 26 years ago in a report by Mobil Corporation’s senior scientist. The report was not published until 2009, when it was found by the New York Times. The quote aligns with the position of thousands of scientists around the world, including over 600 climatologists, during at least the last 40 years. Yet, Conservatives deny. Their denial reminds me about a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a Russian mentalist who believed the power of a highly focused human mind could affect objects and even move them. He stood on railway tracks, facing an oncoming train, willing it to stop. No Ph.D. in physics is needed to know how the story ended. He preferred denial to facts. The train approaches, quickly. We are all on the tracks. Do you prefer denial to facts? Will you enjoy the Conservative train ride? Gregory R. Cote Irvine 13-12
It’s no secret that our oil executives fully support the Carbon Tax and were furious with Harper for not implementing it. It has worked where ever it’s been tried and would help our oil industry show the world that they were trying to do something about our pollution problem and open up new markets for their oil.
Instead these phoney conservatives have insisted that it will financially destroy all of us, when it will actually put money into many of our pockets. When you ask any of them , they can’t explain why it’s been in place in Sweden since 1991 and it hasn’t financially destroyed anyone.
Wasting taxpayers money on trying to put a stop to it was a no brainer. We knew it would fail. But as we have all seen their attempt at running this province has been a complete disaster. Kenney has proven that his own MLAs have no respect for him and he can’t control them.