The 44th general federal election is well underway with only days left until the Sept. 20 vote. There are four candidates running in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding: Conservative incumbent Michael Cooper, People's Party of Canada Candidates Brigitte Cecelia, Liberal candidate Greg Springate, and New Democratic Party candidate Kathleen Mpulubusi. Each candidate was given a series of questions and up to 100 words to answer each one.
What is your party’s approach to climate change?
New Democratic Party candidate Kathleen Mpulubusi:
The climate crisis is putting everything we value at risk. We’ve got a plan to fight the climate crisis and win. [We will] eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies; cut emissions by more than half and meet the 1.5-degree target that scientists say is necessary to prevent catastrophe; create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs by investing in clean energy, energy-efficient affordable homes, electric transit, zero-emission vehicles; retrofit all homes across the country; and create a climate bank to invest in fighting the climate emergency instead of an infrastructure bank that only aims to enrich rich investors.
Conservative incumbent Michael Cooper:
Conservatives will fight climate change without taxing workers and driving away jobs and investment. We will replace the job-killing carbon tax with an innovative Personal Low Carbon Savings Account. This will allow Canadians to decide how to apply the money to reduce emissions and achieve a greener lifestyle. We will insist that major polluters like China clean up their act, and will consider a carbon border tariff on the carbon emissions attributed to goods imported to Canada. And we will invest in technology, including carbon capture utilization and storage, to help our energy sector to become even cleaner.
Liberal candidate Greg Springate:
Our chief goal is to create green jobs in communities across Canada and across sectors, with the recognition that energy transition will take time and will require major investment in Canada’s energy sector, from expanding the trans-mountain pipeline to investing in electric vehicles and energy-efficient construction materials and methods. We are also banning harmful, unrecyclable, single-use plastics and have set a goal of eliminating plastic waste by 2030. A circular economy keeps plastics, and other materials, in our economy and out of our environment. I support the Liberal plan to create 15 national urban parks by 2030.
People's Party of Canada candidate Brigitte Cecelia:
We are not alarmists. Our focus is on practical solutions like clean water to all communities and we will have the resources available for any environmental crisis.
