Is Peter Kent the worst Environment Minister ever?
Is Peter Kent’s trail of destruction finally coming to an end? | Toronto Star
Is Peter Kent’s trail of destruction finally coming to an end? | Toronto Star
Worst Environment Minister ever?
- Thread starter Cobalt_Kid
- Start date
Oh yes, by far, but if he pisses you off, I'll be sure to encourage everyone in his riding to vote for him twice.
Interesting that he basically announced ahead of time that he is backbench-bound. I guess Harper has already given him the news. I don't think he did a grat job, but on the other hand, the entire show is being run out of the PMO. There's probably 25 year-old Carleton polysci grads in the PMO who carry more weight than Peter Kent. Makes me wonder if that's why Jim Prentice (the previous Environment Minister) left government.
Given Harpo's record on the environment, poop and pee would be a step up for both Stevo and Kunt.
I know I'm getting a reddie for this'un, Walter.
Please make it quick.
8O..............must be S&M, i'm starting to like it.
Trudeau Liberals change their tune on ozone monitoring
Five and a half years ago Justin Trudeau rose from his seat in the corner of the House of Commons opposition benches to challenge the Harper government on “cuts” to scientific research.
“Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question on ozone monitoring, based entirely on what the minister of the environment himself has already said,” Trudeau declared on Nov. 24, 2011.
Then-environment minister Peter Kent was portraying “cuts” to Canada’s crucial and world-renowned ozone monitoring networks as “simply consolidating and streamlining,” Trudeau began.
.The Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Papineau then flashed a document signed by Kent that contradicted the Conservative minister's position. “Hopefully not an unreliable source,” he quipped.
It was a sly reference to the day before, when Kent had told then-Liberal environment critic Kirsty Duncan she should "use more reliable research" after she questioned the Tories over a briefing note titled—fittingly enough—“ozone monitoring cuts.”
Trudeau and Duncan would spar with Kent several times that week over the issue.
At one point, Trudeau even challenged Kent by asking whether he knew what ozone actually was.
"I just need to know that he understands the issues," Trudeau asked.
Fast forward to 2017.
The Liberals are in power, Trudeau is prime minister and Duncan is his science minister. Kent has swapped positions with them on the opposition benches, assuming the mantle of foreign affairs critic for the Conservatives.
With the science-defending duo now at the controls, Canada boasts about scientific breakthroughs in ozone research, and the government claims it is unmuzzling scientists, undergoing a fundamental science review, launching a search for a chief science advisor and creating a $2-billion investment fund for post-secondary institutions, among other initiatives.
Trudeau's cabinet launched these initiatives after campaigning in the 2015 election to restore evidence-based decision-making in government. This followed years of criticism that the Harper government was putting science on the back burner and making decisions that benefited the oil and gas industry in Western Canada, where the Conservatives have deep political roots.
The criticism culminated with scientists mourning the "death of evidence" in a mock funeral march on Parliament Hill to protest the Harper government in July 2012.
One might be tempted to think that after all this, the cuts to ozone monitoring would have been restored. The reality, however, is more complicated.
In responding to National Observer’s questions, raised in June, about whether the cuts had been restored under the Liberals, a spokesman for Environment and Climate Change Canada first denied that cuts had ever been made.
After further questioning, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's office would later acknowledge in July that ozone monitoring stations had indeed been closed. But her spokeswoman would still argue that the “efficiency” of monitoring hadn’t changed as a result.
Thomas Duck, an associate professor in the department of physics and atmospheric science at Dalhousie University, said the government's claim in 2012 under former prime minister Stephen Harper—that Canada could sufficiently monitor ozone while still closing monitoring stations—reminded him of the position it was now taking under Trudeau.
"Does the Trudeau government really want to take ownership of what Harper did?” said Duck.
The NDP said the Liberals weren't honouring their commitment to restore scientific integrity in government post-Harper. “The Trudeau government thinks they’ve kind of ticked the science box on their to-do list and now they’ve moved onto other things,” said science critic Kennedy Stewart.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, see it as an example of the Liberals saying one thing in opposition and another thing once in government.
more
Trudeau Liberals change their tune on ozone monitoring | National Observer
Five and a half years ago Justin Trudeau rose from his seat in the corner of the House of Commons opposition benches to challenge the Harper government on “cuts” to scientific research.
“Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question on ozone monitoring, based entirely on what the minister of the environment himself has already said,” Trudeau declared on Nov. 24, 2011.
Then-environment minister Peter Kent was portraying “cuts” to Canada’s crucial and world-renowned ozone monitoring networks as “simply consolidating and streamlining,” Trudeau began.
.The Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Papineau then flashed a document signed by Kent that contradicted the Conservative minister's position. “Hopefully not an unreliable source,” he quipped.
It was a sly reference to the day before, when Kent had told then-Liberal environment critic Kirsty Duncan she should "use more reliable research" after she questioned the Tories over a briefing note titled—fittingly enough—“ozone monitoring cuts.”
Trudeau and Duncan would spar with Kent several times that week over the issue.
At one point, Trudeau even challenged Kent by asking whether he knew what ozone actually was.
"I just need to know that he understands the issues," Trudeau asked.
Fast forward to 2017.
The Liberals are in power, Trudeau is prime minister and Duncan is his science minister. Kent has swapped positions with them on the opposition benches, assuming the mantle of foreign affairs critic for the Conservatives.
With the science-defending duo now at the controls, Canada boasts about scientific breakthroughs in ozone research, and the government claims it is unmuzzling scientists, undergoing a fundamental science review, launching a search for a chief science advisor and creating a $2-billion investment fund for post-secondary institutions, among other initiatives.
Trudeau's cabinet launched these initiatives after campaigning in the 2015 election to restore evidence-based decision-making in government. This followed years of criticism that the Harper government was putting science on the back burner and making decisions that benefited the oil and gas industry in Western Canada, where the Conservatives have deep political roots.
The criticism culminated with scientists mourning the "death of evidence" in a mock funeral march on Parliament Hill to protest the Harper government in July 2012.
One might be tempted to think that after all this, the cuts to ozone monitoring would have been restored. The reality, however, is more complicated.
In responding to National Observer’s questions, raised in June, about whether the cuts had been restored under the Liberals, a spokesman for Environment and Climate Change Canada first denied that cuts had ever been made.
After further questioning, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's office would later acknowledge in July that ozone monitoring stations had indeed been closed. But her spokeswoman would still argue that the “efficiency” of monitoring hadn’t changed as a result.
Thomas Duck, an associate professor in the department of physics and atmospheric science at Dalhousie University, said the government's claim in 2012 under former prime minister Stephen Harper—that Canada could sufficiently monitor ozone while still closing monitoring stations—reminded him of the position it was now taking under Trudeau.
"Does the Trudeau government really want to take ownership of what Harper did?” said Duck.
The NDP said the Liberals weren't honouring their commitment to restore scientific integrity in government post-Harper. “The Trudeau government thinks they’ve kind of ticked the science box on their to-do list and now they’ve moved onto other things,” said science critic Kennedy Stewart.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, see it as an example of the Liberals saying one thing in opposition and another thing once in government.
more
Trudeau Liberals change their tune on ozone monitoring | National Observer
What happened to the woman climate change minister? Did she catch disapproval when she allowed montreal to dump raw sewage into the st lawrence?
