Conservative Party members vote down motion recognizing climate change is real
Posted March 20, 2021 1:08 pm.
Last Updated March 20, 2021 1:10 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s efforts to introduce an ambitious climate change agenda have suffered a blow.
At the party’s virtual convention, 54 per cent of delegates voted against the motion, which called on policy to recognize climate change is real while stressing the need for highly-polluting businesses to take more responsibility to reduce emissions.
RELATED: Party members vote down resolution to enshrine reality of climate change
Hamish Telford, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley, says the vote doesn’t bode well for the party as it tries to attract the voters it lost over time.
“The party does need to change, or at least change back somewhat in the direction of where it used to be, say under the leadership of Brian Mulroney, in order to improve its standing,” he tells NEWS 1130.
“Fifteen years ago or more, we had the Progressive Conservative Party, and the progressive part of it was dropped when the New Conservative Party was formed. In a sense, I think they need to go back and reclaim that progressive part of their name at least policy in order to attract the voters they’ve lost over time,” he adds.
The motion was one of the most contentious of the package put before delegates, with Alberta and Saskatchewan putting up the fiercest opposition.
“…which shows the real divisions that the Conservatives have on this issue,” Telford says. “It’s going to be very tough for them now to craft a climate change policy that resonates with voters in Toronto, Quebec, and in B.C., and the Liberals will make a lot of this motion to suggest that the party are effectively climate change deniers.”
Prior to the vote, O’Toole stressed that an ambitious climate change agenda is a must if the party hopes to win power, which Telford says he agrees with.
To make it into the party’s official policy, motions need what’s known as a double majority: a majority of delegates as well as a majority of delegates in a majority of provinces.
-With files from Jonathan Szekeres
