Climate Change was the topic at Thursday night's Huron-Bruce federal all-candidates meeting in Goderich. It was hosted by Green Goderich, and the questions to the candidates were all related to climate and what each party would to to address climate change issues.
Conservative incumbent Ben Lobb stated his party might have the best environmental plan. Lobb says it's based on three guiding principles - green technology, cleaner and greener environment and selling their story around the world.
"It doesn't make sense, in Saint John, New Brunswick, the Irving Refinery doesn't refine Canadian oil. It's absolutely unacceptable. We need an east-west energy corridor. We need to be able to get world price for our oil. We sell it at a discount to the United States and then we buy it back at full price. That's insane."
Liberal candidate Allan Thompson said he's proud of their record for the last four years and the fact they've been able build on that for the next four years and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
"We cannot turn off the tap, flip the switch, on fossil fuels tomorrow. We have to plan this transition. We have to do it as quickly as we can. But we have to recognize our economy as a whole."
New Democrat Tony McQuail explained his party would put a price on pollution and continue with the carbon tax. He said they would also tax the wealthiest people in society so they have money for things like retro-fitting homes and investing in things like pharma-care and dental care.
"We've got to make this transition now. If we had started when I first ran in 1980 we would have a generation. It's one of those things where we've wasted a generation between Federal Liberal and Federal Conservative governments talking but not getting on with the job."
Green Party candidate Nicholas Wendler believes it's necessary to have caps on emissions. Kevin Klerks of the People's Party did not attend last night's meeting.