Poilievre referenced ‘global warming’ during a recent Senate hearing about carbon pricing.
Environment Minister Chantal Hébert would be well advised to advise her Conservative colleague, Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, to stop flinging rocks at the windmills of Liberal energy policy and adopt an open mind to keeping our Canadian neighbours entertained with a discussion of how to reduce emissions.
Although the House of Commons has long since achieved peace and harmony, our Conservative Senate colleagues have been rocking things in Ottawa like a teenager with a coke habit who is skipping school to pay off a tab in Calgary.
It didn’t help that Senator Denise Batters demonstrated a determination to destroy the Senate through making laws without a majority, contributing to delaying or revoking bills through a process of what I would like to believe is doing anything to damage my car if I was pulling up next to it on a 10 Freeway in Alberta.
So, Environment Minister Chantal Hébert, please warn your Senate colleague Leona Aglukkaq to stop impugning our Senate’s credibility, doing and saying whatever she wants and let’s go back to talking about the impacts of global warming.
During a Senate meeting with the head of Environment Canada, French-born Chantal Hébert did not hesitate to repeat a quote from the global warming alarmist denier, Pierre Poilievre. “We are almost certain that the ‘increase in global average temperature by 2045, 70 Celsius’ is not too far away.”
Hébert equated this to the need to discuss which is the most effective method to reduce emissions by moving ahead with the Site C hydroelectric dam in British Columbia.
“This author believes that alternative energy is the future of Canada,” Hébert said. “He firmly believes the world will warm up like we predicted 30 years ago with CO2, weather and sea level rise.”
This misinformation through “socially irresponsible” a climate-centric government is nothing new.
When the House of Commons, senators and Canadians are talking about how to cut carbon emissions, Leona Aglukkaq is throwing rocks at our windmills.
In a recent Senate hearing, Poilievre disparaged the federal government’s carbon pricing plan and accused the Liberals of ignoring the will of Canadians by imposing a carbon tax. That was before the carbon tax was even in place.
Poilievre also called it the government’s “relentless intrusion into the commercial activities of Canadian business” and called it “one of the largest and most expensive transfer payments in Canadian history.”
All the while, Leona Aglukkaq pretends there is no carbon tax in place. Canadians are understandably confused by the comical oppositions to a tax that Canadians have agreed they wanted to get rid of.
Rather than engage in what Conservatives Senator Bob Runciman referred to as “conducting a political put-down of the government,” Chantal Hébert should focus on taking constructive steps to reduce emissions with a carbon tax.
She should press ahead with plans to open up new markets in India and China for the export of Canadian energy.
And most importantly, she should take up Senator Stephen Greene’s proposal to reform the Senate by giving every senator two more terms, one directly elected and one appointed by Parliament.
Right now, Stephen Greene points out, Senators have not taken a single vote that affects jobs or the economy on the national stage in the Senate. That’s not where the Senate is needed, and should not be reined in.
What Sen. Greene’s proposal will do is allow senators to continue doing what they are elected to do: make laws and lead the Senate’s debate and debate on keeping our economy strong, our climate safe and our Canadian values strong.
Leona Aglukkaq has the chance to stop trying to tar the “onshore windmills of the Liberals” and show leadership to the country.