Andrew Lawton argues that if October s election is about who cares more about the environment, the Liberals are going to win. He argues that the majority of people don t put the environment at the top of their priorities when voting.
00:01:00.000Everyone else was concerned about jobs, the economy.
00:01:03.000More people were concerned with social issues than were concerned about the environment.
00:01:07.000Just one single person said that was going to be the issue that sways their vote.
00:01:12.000The reason I bring this up is because Andrew Scheer has unveiled the Conservative Party of Canada's approach to the environment.
00:01:18.000A plan called A Real Plan to Protect the Environment.
00:01:21.000Something that comes in at 60 pages and 11,000 words for the Conservatives to say we're doing something about climate change that doesn't involve taxing.
00:01:30.000And there are some good details in the plan.
00:01:32.000It talks about fostering innovation, letting the green energy sector be driven by private sector growth rather than public subsidies,
00:01:41.000as has been the approach by Liberal governments, federal and provincial.
00:01:44.000I don't necessarily like all of the boutique credits that are incorporated in this plan, but I think there's a lot of meat in it.
00:01:50.000But when Andrew Scheer puts out such a comprehensive and substantive plan on the environment, look at the backlash.
00:01:56.000Kim Campbell goes on TV to call it basically a bunch of hooey.
00:02:01.000You've got the Toronto Star writing an op-ed saying that it's going to do nothing and it's going to cost a lot of money while doing it.
00:02:07.000You've got a Toronto Star news article taking aim at it.
00:02:11.000You've got all of the predictable chorus of critics of Andrew Scheer who are never going to like things that Andrew Scheer does that are saying this is a bad plan or at the very best an ineffectual plan.
00:02:22.000So the Conservatives are never going to win over the support of the people who care about the environment.
00:02:27.000I think the bigger thing to point out here is that that's a really small number of Canadians.
00:02:32.000Let's take a look at just the carbon tax for example.
00:02:35.000A forum poll came out a few weeks back that found Canadians are in fact divided on the issue.
00:02:40.000But you've got about 45% who are opposed to the carbon tax whereas those who support it are a little over half that.
00:02:49.000And the most important thing is that the group that opposes it is a lot more motivated to let it sway their vote than the group that supports it.
00:02:57.000People that support the carbon tax do not put it at the top of their priority list.
00:03:01.000Meaning that if the battle is fought over the carbon tax it's going to be Justin Trudeau's people that are probably staying home.
00:03:09.000This is a very important issue because environment policy is important.
00:03:13.000We live in the earth, we should protect the earth.
00:03:15.000But you're never going to do that through ceding to the left which has put up this alarmist narrative about the environment at every turn.
00:03:23.000The only people that think climate change is killing us all and we've got to stop it through taxation are Justin Trudeau and Catherine McKenna.
00:03:30.000And thankfully for Canadians they don't represent the majority.