Sept. 28, 2008
As a follow-up to the previous posts on Michael Byers, I went to another all-candidates debate at UBC’s Robson square campus on Sunday night. The theme was “Taxes and Sustainability,” but of course, debates will be debates…
In the question and answer period, Michael Byers attempted to turn his previous comments to his advantage. Byers “bomb” was front page news in Friday’s Vancouver Sun, in addition to coverage on the National. Stephane Dion called Byers comments a “foolish declaration.”
So when a question was asked about which party will end subsidies to the oil sands, Mr. Byers turned it into an attack on the Liberals. What ensued was a pretty heated exchange between Hedy Fry and Lorne Mayencourt, who interestingly enough, defended Michael Byers. Mayencourt called Fry’s response “just a lie.”
Below is the bulk of Byers’s statement, followed by Fry’s response and Mayencourt’s response to Fry:
Michael Byers (excerpt):
Stephane Dion was criticizing a report where I said that we needed to move towards closing down the tar sands over time, which is my party’s policy if you look at our details, which are:
First of all, to impose a moratorium on any expansion of the tar sands; Secondly, to remove those tax cuts, those subsidies for the large producers in the tar sands; To put firm caps on the large polluters and drive those emission levels down, and to put that money into the development of alternative energy sources, to make them more competitive; and introduce an environment action bonds program that will help make alternative energy technologies much more competitive, so that we can reach that 80% reduction by 2050, that all of the opposition parties agreed to.
And if you do the math, that means that we’re going to move away from the tar sands.
And Mr. Dion again supported those subsidies and criticized me for suggesting we do away with those subsidies just a couple of days ago.
Hedy Fry:
… Michael did not say he was going to decrease the subsidies and slowly close down the tar sands, he said he was going to shut ‘em down. Immediately all of the 145,000 jobs was going to go. Immediately. I think that was irresponsible and that was what Mr. Dion said….
Lorne Mayencourt:
I just want to be clear I was in that debate as well, and actually, that’s not what Michael Byers said. I didn’t quite agree with his answer, but that is not what he said and he’s being portrayed very….
Hedy Fry: “It’s taped.”
Lorne Mayencourt: Well, that was disingenuous Hedy, it wasn’t….
Hedy Fry: “It was taped Lorne, it’s on tape.”
Lorne Mayencourt: It’s actually not the truth, Hedy. It’s a lie.
Audience Question: “Excuse me…”
Lorne Mayencourt: I actually was sitting there and heard what he said. He did not say he was shutting down the tar sands immediately.
Hedy Fry: “Lorne, it was on tape, so answer your question and stop arguing.”
Audience Questioner: “My question is…”
Lorne Mayencourt: I just don’t want the guy to get slandered. Okay? The reality of it is, is that there’s… the tarsands stuff is very… Okay, we’ve got a big problem over there, and we’ve got to deal with it, and we’re dealing with it, okay? I’m very sorry if you want more of a specific answer, I can’t do that for you ma’am, but what I can tell is that what you is what you just heard from Hedy was just a lie.
Reprint of Vancouver Sun article: http://oilsandstruth.org/quotshut-down-oilsandsquot-ndp-candidate-urges
Liberal Party Press Release: http://www.liberal.ca/story_14953_e.aspx
Story on Byers’s comment and the NDP reaction featured: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Federal-Politics/2008/09/26/NDPJuggle/
As many of you might have noticed, I’ve been posting election stories from the Vancouver Centre riding. I don’t know why I keep calling them “Byers Bomb,” because that’s old news.
BrentWittmeier.com 