September 24, 2019

TRANS MOUNTAIN TRUDEAU’S ‘SUCKER PLAY,’ SAYS MILLER

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — Gord Miller says the purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline is a “sucker play” by the Liberals for a country that won’t soon need it as the world goes green.

He wants Canada to shift gears away from dirty, non-sustainable energy.

No new fracking, no more oil wells or pipelines.

It’s a “clear message,” he says. “It’s the end of fossil fuels.”

And the end of the internal combustion engine by 2030.

That is if his Green Party wins Parliament in a month’s time.

In the second in a series of four talks around the riding on the “defining issues of the election,” the Green candidate for Parry Sound-Muskoka said Tuesday night that Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party are “so committed to petroleum” that they are “doing what petroleum wants.”

He said you can quote him on that.

It’s part of Miller’s messaging in the run-up to the Oct. 21 federal election.

“Tory and Liberal governments have put Canada on a trajectory to tragedy … and that has to be reversed,” last night’s talk was titled.

It was much the same as last week’s first talk: “There really is a climate emergency. And that’s what this election is about.”

Beforehand, he told MuskokaTODAY.com that the Liberals can’t change the national narrative — as much as they’d like.

Because the Greens have set the agenda out of the gate and Canadians agree it’s the No. 1 issue.

He said the Liberals are trying to gain traction on other issues and away from the devastating poll results following Trudeau’s racist brownface and blackface photo-ops.

“They have to (try switching to pharmacare and other topics), because they weren’t doing a good job” on the environment, Miller said.

He told a small group of nine people, including three supporters, five volunteers and a reporter, that “if you want to see where the Liberals are in 10 years from now, look at the Greens now.”

He said the Conservatives just don’t get it; but that the NDP do.

He gave them “points for that.”

The Tories, he said, would repeal the carbon tax (which really isn’t a tax, because you’ll get the money back).

“But they like to call everything a tax.”

And the Conservatives, he said, would reduce standards for emissions.

New Democrats at least understand the climate crisis; however their platform is not as “comprehensive” on the key issue as the Greens, who would put restrictive penalties of compliance on businesses.

In other words, Miller said he wants to “retool the whole fossil industry” by supporting bio-fuels.

He said the world showed during the Second World War that it can make life-altering changes in business if forced to build military vehicles instead of pleasure automobiles.

A few other big Green initiatives include retro-fitting commercial buildings to induce local jobs that would particularly help young workers.

Greens would also support a return of the Northlander train, which he said could be helped by building sidings long enough to let freight trains clear the track to make way for passenger trains.

**Green candidate Gord Miller says fossil fuels’ days are number, so why bother with new pipelines.**

The former long-time environment commissioner for Ontario (2000-2015) said he knows what he’s talking about.

He and his party leader Elizabeth May, who was in Gravenhurst last week, were both in Paris when the current climate accord was signed and which is not being met.

He also said that the climate crisis is nothing new.

“We’ve known about it and been working on it for decades.”

He said he first began writing reports about it early in his mandate, before he retired three years ago to do consulting and to sit on environmentally-friendly boards.

He explained that carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere dating back to the decade after the Second World War were 280 ppm. And at 415 ppm now they are dangerously close to the magic 450 number global scientists say threatens the world’s existence.

And with the levels going up by three parts per year, they could reach the critical new 1.5-degree increase in temperature within 12 years. (Instead of the original frightening 2-degree increase feared.)

Miller claims the petroleum industry not only controls governments (much like Big Pharma), but “they don’t have all the powers.”

He said “they still don’t control Parliament.

“If you send the right people (to Ottawa) you can get (the power) back.”

Miller also said local voters don’t have to send someone from the riding; he said it’s now time to “send the best person who can do the job.”

This even though he is having a home built in Bracebridge his fall on Keith Road (the foundation is going in next month.)

He and his wife Sue, formerly with the Mattawa Conservation Authority, still have a home in North Bay. But he is living at a B&B in Bracebridge during his campaign.

He said “I know the game,” having been in the Ontario legislature for 15 years.

Miller’s next two talks in the coming weeks — each of which are four days on a subject — are on “Parliament has become dysfunctional … there has to be reform to get the change we need;” and “This is our Last Chance Parliament. We need to set a different course for Canada.”

See the Greens website for talks details: www.gordmiller2019.ca; or [email protected]

Dave and Pat Henson, of Bala, were among those on hand Tuesday night at the local arena.

They are admitted “big Green supporters.”

They said they liked what Miller said and had to offer.

The retired couple, who just moved to Muskoka from Bradford last year, have been Greens for a decade, since their son turned them on to the party.

They were Conservatives, but they like the environmental philosophy, said Dave.

Pat said the Conservatives “don’t realize the positive jobs” that come with environmental change, which she says helps everyone, including her adult children.

Dave just hopes Canadians “wake up to change.”

Let’s hear and see what Miller has to say.