Uranium mine, wind farm stir debate; Federal candidates exchange barbs, ideas during meeting
While the proposed uranium mine near Sharbot Lake isn’t within the boundaries of Kingston and The Islands, that didn’t stop three of the federal candidates running locally to vow that they would somehow put a halt to any work on the mine.
The issue, along with how to handle the Wolfe Island wind project, produced some of the most heated moments during last night’s all-candidates debate at Queen’s University.
NDP candidate Rick Downes repeatedly attacked Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken, demanding the longtime MP make a public stance on the two projects.
“When you run for political office, you have to take positions for your constituents,” Downes said. “People want to know where you stand.”
Downes added that on municipal issues, including the $4 million the federal Tories mused about giving the city, Milliken has yet to make a public comment.
Milliken said that he wouldn’t publicly state his position on provincial or municipal matters because that would be unfair to those politicians.
“I don’t expect them to tell me how to vote,” Milliken said.
“There is a distinction in jurisdiction,” Milliken said. “I’m not going to meddle in their business and they shouldn’t meddle in mine.”
He said it is not the role of elected officials to interfere with government processes and try to steer the process toward a predetermined outcome.
“That’s what I think is being suggested here tonight,” Milliken said.
Conservative Brian Abrams said that, if elected, he would work to stop the uranium mine. He said he owns property just to the north of the proposed mine.
“I intend to be an advocate against this project,” he said.
Green candidate Eric Walton said his party would shift focus toward renewable energy, which would make it difficult and ultimately impossible to mine uranium.
Walton said the Wolfe Island wind farm was not done well and is too large a project. He said the Greens are in favour of wind power, but only if it is done correctly.
“Environment is a shared jurisdiction,” Walton said. “We see both sides passing the buck.”
Abrams said he supported the people on Wolfe Island who opposed the project.
“It has to be done right,” he said. “There is a role for the federal government to play there.”
On this issue, Milliken again said it was a provincial matter.
“It is not a federal matter at all,” Milliken said. “In my view, that’s a provincial issue.”
Last night, the candidates vying for the federal seat in Kingston and The Islands convened for their first all-candidates debate in front of a crowd of students and members of the public interested in hearing the candidates’ perspectives on the environment.
The night started out with the most light-hearted moment of the evening, as Abrams talked about protecting green space and how Milliken, an avid canoeist, is a good person to go paddling with.
Downes then chimed in.
“My rebuttal would be the Liberals and Conservatives know how to paddle together in a canoe,” he said, eliciting laughter from the attendance. “They usually go in circles.”
Milliken, who was Speaker in the House of Commons when the election was called, said that he had gone canoeing with his British counterpart, a member of the Labour Party, who, Milliken said, is more left than the NDP. Milliken joked that the duo hadn’t gone in circles.
“That’s because he was doing all the labour,” Downes retorted.
Then things began to heat up. For the first hour of the debate, it was tough to discern who was the incumbent. Downes and Walton focused on the current Conservative and previous Liberal governments, with a majority of shots aimed at the policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
That left Abrams in the centre of the barrage, while Milliken remained unscathed.
Downes talked about his record in municipal politics and the work he had done locally. He talked about Kingston’s drinking water and urged students to lobby the university to add more water fountains around campus.
“Maybe Queen’s University needs to smarten up,” he said.
Walton said a Green government would make clean water and air a right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
He said the federal government has a role to play in ensuring clean water.
“It’s easy to make promises, but we’re not seeing follow through,”Walton said.
“This is obviously an issue that’s going to need a higher level of legislation.”
The majority of the discussion, though, came back to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and the merits of the carbon tax proposed by the Liberals compared to the cap-and-trade system backed by the Tories and NDP.
“We think the carbon tax is the wrong way for Canada to go at this time,” Abrams said.
Later in the debate, Abrams said that at some point the country could move to a carbon tax system, but now was not the time.
“It makes sense in these economic times that we start with a cap-and-trade system,” Abrams said.
Milliken said the Liberal carbon tax would put the onus on those who are polluting, while also cutting income taxes. The move, he said while referring to the party platform, would be revenue neutral.
A cap-and-trade system, he said, would take about four years to implement. The carbon tax, he argued, could be implemented immediately.
Downes said the previous Liberal gover nments with Stephane Dion as environment minister could have implemented the Kyoto Accord, but didn’t.
“You’ve got to look at the Liberal record. They talk left, but they vote right,” he said.
Walton said the Tories are using 2008 as their baseline for emission-reduction targets. Other parties, including the Greens, are using 1990 as the baseline, he said.
By Jordan Press
Whig-Standard Staff Writer
4 October 2008
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