Sopuck speaks to Neepawa Rotary Club
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Photo by Kate Jackman-Atkinson. Federal Conservative candidate Robert Sopuck spoke to the Neepawa Rotary about his life outside of politics.
By Kate Jackman-Atkinson
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
On Oct. 2, federal Conservative candidate Robert Sopuck spoke to the Neepawa Rotary Club. During the election, the club has tried to have each of the candidates speak about their personal lives and experiences. Sopuck talked about his work as a biologist, his family and his love of nature and rural living.
The club is non-political and the candidates addressed no political questions during the official portion of the presentation. However, Sopuck did take some time after the meeting to address some questions with the media.
Sopuck began by talking about the size of riding, which is as big as Nova Scotia. The riding stretches from Rossendale in the south east to Barrows in the north west. When it comes to getting signs out, he said, “We’re trying to sign Nova Scotia.”
In response to comments that the environment has suffered while the Conservatives have been in government, Sopuck said, “That’s a false statement”. He pointed to some indicators, including a reduction in SO2 and NO2 gasses, as well as two of the best sockeye runs all taking place while they have been in government. “In 2010, [Canada was] rated by the UN as having the second best water quality in the world. I utterly reject [environmental abuse claims], because they never back it up with fact,” he said.
On the issue of climate change and emissions, Sopuck talked about Canada relative to other countries, “Keep in mind that Canada is 1.6 per cent of the global emissions, China is 23 per cent, India is 18 per cent...California [emits] more than we do in terms of CO2.”
Sopuck continued, talking about the Canadian economy, “These people who talk about climate change, advocate the destruction of our economy. When you put numbers to what they’re asking for, you end up with a severely weakened economy, we are a natural resource based economy. The 575,000 families that are supported by the oil sands are extremely important. The callousness with which the Elizabeth Mays and the Tom Mulcairs will cast them aside is appalling.”
Sopuck also responded to claims that scientists have been muzzled by the Conservative government, “Government scientist publish some 3,000 papers a year that are freely available anywhere. It’s another myth.” He added, “There are all kinds of scientists with tenure in the universities, they’re not being muzzled by anybody. Tenured professors, they can speak their mind.”
He then cautioned that those scientists are very different from the scientists employed by the government, “When you are a civil servant, it is unconscionable for a civil servant to publicly question government policy. [As an MP] I’m accountable for government policy, I’m accountable for what I say. People can vote for or against me based on what I say. What if a civil servant came out and railed against a policy that was wildly popular among the citizens? The first question is, ‘Who are you? We didn’t elect you.’”
He added that civil servants have privileged access to decision makers not available to members of the public, “Civil servants can’t have it both ways. They can’t be sending position papers up with recommendations to ministers and at the same time, go outside the chain of command and comment on policy. Restraints on public servants commenting on public policy is normal for all governments.”
The topic of Mincome, a set minimum income study undertaken in Dauphin the 1970s, also came up and Sopuck said, “I’m very intrigued by the idea of a guaranteed annual income. This is me as an academic talking, I’d like to do the math, I’d like to see the math. If you add up every single social program and all the bureaucrats, you never know. I think it’s an intriguing idea, but it’s all math.”
