Catholic Voice †
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CATHOLIC VOICE † Responses of: • James Arruda (Green Party, Willowdale) • Akil Sadikali (NDP, Don Valley North) • Yasmin Ratansi (Liberal, Don Valley East) • Rob Oliphant (Liberal, Don Valley West) To questions of Catholic Voice; forum of 13 September 2015 at St Bonaventure Church, Leslie Street, Toronto. =========== The Common Good =========== THE ENVIRONMENT: 8.1 There is general consensus among the credible scientific community that climate change has reached the point of crisis. What steps does your party propose to take in order to combat climate change ? ROB OLIPHANT, LIBERAL, DON VALLEY WEST I think is the most important question we are facing in this world. I commend the Catholic Community. The Papal Encyclical ,“Laudato Si”, is one of the most far reaching, not only for me in the faith organization, but for the whole civil society to look at issues of consumerism, pollution, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and our lifestyle. It is a brilliant document that guides us very profoundly around the world. What it says is that the planet earth needs to be cared for in a way that we are not caring for it. The Liberal Party has submitted a number of platform issues, a 30 page document, re reducing greenhouse gases and preparing for the conference in Paris, in a way that brings people together and reaffirms Canada’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. We don’t do this alone. As a Federal Government, what we need to do is to bring together the Provinces and municipalities to look at what is an appropriate price on carbon, and move ahead to say that the climate change issue is one of our number one issues. CATHOLIC VOICE † Asthma is an increasing problem because of pollution in the environment, and we need to stop that and I’ll take that with me to Ottawa. AKIL SADIKALI, NDP, DON VALLEY NORTH: As a student at University of Calgary, I approached the University and suggested that we shut down computer labs on weekends to conserve energy, and the response was it’s too much work, it ruins the computer, etc. There was hesitation and denial of having any responsibility for it. From a personal perspective I have always thought we should use our resources wisely. NDP’s favours of a cap and trade system. Ontario, Quebec and California are proposing it and Alberta may adopt it as well. It’s important to recognize that the effects of Climate Change affects the poor more. We signed the Protocol under Jean Chretien and that Liberal Government had the mandate and ignored anything to do with climate. To say the Conservatives are doing anything about climate change is “rich”. JAMES ARRUDA, GREEN – WILLOWDALE: The Greens are the ones who wanted to do something about Climate Change. It’s coming, we need to prepare for it, we need better teams on the coast and central Canada in case there are disasters. We also need to define refugees, but also environmental refugees. Because of our economy and industries we have complicity. Our vision as the Green Party, is to halt expansion of the tar sands. We want to get rid of the pipelines, and instead of exporting all of our bitumen we want to make sure it can be refined here. It is a strategy that could create jobs, to make sure that we are not impacting the climate with this. YASMIN RATANSI, LIBERAL, DON VALLEY EAST Climate change is affecting a lot of countries. If you go off the coast of E. Africa, they can’t fish. If you go to Sub-Saharan Africa, it is arid land and we are responsible throughout. It’s a global CATHOLIC VOICE † responsibility. Kyoto was established by Jean Chretien and we did work with Provinces, working internationally, with Mexico, and the U.S. trying to get leaders to take responsibility. Before COP 20 when Mr. Dion became the leader of the party we had our Green plan. But it’s fear mongering that will cost us. It is a collective responsibility of all of us to ensure that we take Climate Change seriously. So what is the party doing? We are going to attend the Paris Conference. We are going to work with first Ministers, because you can’t do it alone. We are going to make sure that we have less reliance on fossil fuels. CATHOLIC VOICE † 11.1 For many years Canada has enjoyed a reputation as a global \peacekeeper. What, if anything can be done to restore that reputation? ROB OLIPHANT, LIBERAL, DON VALLEY WEST When I was an MP I was critic for Veterans Affairs for a year. I talked to veterans across the country and who said the proudest moments in their career, serving Canadians, was when they wore the blue berets, as part of peacekeeping missions, creating a better world for everyone. We need to return to that but also need to understand the conditions behind those wars – That’s what Mr. Harper has failed to do. To recognize behind most wars are issues of poverty, lack of development, lack of concern and education. Canada needs to reclaim its position. We lost having a Minister of CIDA, in National Development, which has been subsumed into Foreign Affairs. We need to reclaim that. CIDA needs to have an important place at the table. Development needs to be about them; not about us. We need to do things because we believe that this globe is one planet. AKIL SADIKALI, NDP, DON VALLEY NORTH: It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the Conservatives here to respond to this, as it is really a question for them. The NDP has a very clear position on this issue. We are against all these global wars and I personally have been against these wars for many years. When the first Gulf War happened in 1991, my family was among the few people who protested at City Hall. It is clear now that the involvement in the middle East has just got to end. It is causing misery and havoc to millions of people, caused death to untold numbers. We have to return to our peacekeeping roots. We have been peacekeepers in many parts of the world. We went into Bosnia and tried to minimize casualties and suffering and that is what we need to do, and to stop the militarization of the world. JAMES ARRUDA, GREEN – WILLOWDALE: We need to stop looking outward, and start looking inward. But looking outward we have damaged so many communities. There are people who have to leave their homes and their families and the whole European Union having to take care of that. What needs to happen is that we need to come back to our peacekeeping roots. This is one of the visions of the Green CATHOLIC VOICE † Party. We need to focus less on what NATO wants and more on what the International community needs, more on peacekeeping objectives of the UN. YASMIN RATANSI: A Liberal government will make its commitment to participate with the UN or fund the Peacekeeping mission. It was a Liberal Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson, who started the peacekeeping process. I wish Conservatives candidates were here; they should be participating in this process. Peace is important. You cannot say you are going to Bomb ISIS. Does ISIS carry a flag with it? It doesn’t. You are bombing people out of their homes and lands, and creating undue misery. It’s time we took responsibility for our actions. We have to come back to our peacekeeping roots. We have to facilitate. We cannot allow any country to take a unilateral decision, like the U.S. did, to get into Iraq. That’s not our job; our job is to facilitate peace. Because if we start bombing other countries than we are responsible for the refugees. CATHOLIC VOICE † 3.1 The United Nations has criticized the Canadian Government’s treatment of First Nations. How, in your view, should Canada respond? And 3.2 What if anything, should happen in response to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? ROB OLIPHANT, LIBERAL, DON VALLEY WEST Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party have said they will implement every recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It will take time, but we will engage in cultural communication with every community. We will work on the UN declaration on rights of Aboriginals – something Harper refused to do. There are 1,017 murdered aboriginal women in Canada; 164 missing Aboriginal women; 225 unresolved cases involving murdered or missing aboriginal women. St. Augustine’s Church regularly posts signs with the number of murdered aboriginal women in Canada. This is not just a criminal issue it is a social justice issue, and a faith issue. We must get involved in this, take full responsibility to help our country grow out of this. AKIL SADIKALI, NDP, DON VALLEY NORTH: This issue of aboriginal mistreatment doesn’t just start with the UN observations. It took many years and many governments to ignore the problem and ignore dealing with it. For Justin Trudeau and Liberals to say they are going to do something – I don’t think it is trustworthy. The toxic relationship we have with aboriginal people is not going to be solved either by the Conservatives of the Liberals. It’s time for new ideas in Government, for change in Ottawa and a change in attitude towards aboriginal people. We have a $10M budget in Aboriginal Affairs and some of the conditions in communities are horrific. It’s impossible for me to understand how governments can say “I talked with this Minister and he said things everything is going on and things are working themselves out”- ridiculous to say that we can accept what is going on in some of these communities.