Conservativesdebatewhether to declare that 'climate change is real' at policy convention

After grappling with Canadians'climateconcerns in recent election cycles, Conservativesengaged in fierce debate today over a policy proposal from a Quebec riding to declare that"climate change is real."

The PortneufJacquesCartier riding association's proposed policy change would add green-friendly language to the Tory playbook.

The backer is asking delegates to affirm that the party "recognizes that climate change is real" and that "the Conservative Party is willing to act."

"We believe that Canadian businesses classified as highly polluting need to take more responsibility in implementing measures that will reduce their GHG emissions and need to be accountable for the results. We believe in supporting innovation in green technologies," the policy proposal reads.

While the policy had the support of at least one caucus member B.C. MP Dan Albas, who said "climate change is real and growing green technology will help the environment and help Canadian jobs" a number of delegates stepped forward todayto oppose it.

CBC News will have coverage of the convention onCBC News Network, CBC Radio's World at 6, the National andcbc.ca.

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"I'm not sure why it's necessary for the Conservative Party to declare climate change is real," one delegate from Scarborough-Centre said.

"The way this section is worded befuddles the issue and may cost us some support. Conservatives need to lead with clarity, focus and intelligent solutions, not buzzwords."

Another delegate, from PerthWellington in Ontario, said environmental policy shouldn't be focused on driving down greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's not the only pollutant that we have to worry about," he said. "I'm opposed to this amendment becauseit unfairly centres on greenhouse gas emissions."

"This is a big-government, costly policy that unfairly affects our industries. I just think we should be focused on bigger issues," said the delegate, adding the federal government should be more concerned about the dumping of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. (Canada dumped 900 billion litres of raw sewage into waterways between 2013 and 2018.)

A delegate from StormontDundasSouth Glengarry, a district in rural eastern Ontario,said she couldn't support any green policies until the health and safety concerns of "industrial wind turbines" are better understood.

Some Canadian health studies have suggested that these turbines could harm human health if they're situated too close to population centres, and could lead to"noise-induced annoyance." Although, a2014 Health Canada study of this issuealso found that wind turbine noise exposure was not associated with self-reportedmedical illnesses and health conditions.

Delegateswho backed the policysaid they wantCanada to embrace greentechnology while still supporting extractive industries like the oil and gas sector. Some of those Conservatives assembled also bristled at another proposal that would replace"fossil fuels" with the word "hydrocarbons" in the party's policy platform, suggesting such a re-brand was a needless sop to climate change activists.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has promised the party's election platform will contain a climate change plan that could cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

To attract new supporters especially millennials O'Toolehas said he wants a made-in-Canada net zero approach that sees government partnering withand pushingcompaniesto bring their emissions down, and carbon pricing that targets only industries, not individuals.

"You're going to see a very detailed plan ... that will, I think, make our commitments probably faster than Mr. Trudeau without a running-out-of-control federal carbon tax that he's already promising," O'Toole said in February.

By day's end, thenearly 3,500 elected delegates on hand will vote on party policies on everything from national standards for service dogs to small nuclear reactors and the CBC.

Delegates will vote later today on the climate motion and others; results are to be released tomorrow.

Another policy that prompted strong reactions among delegates dealt withpromoting free expression on university and college campuses.

Conservative-minded activists have long maintained that post-secondary institutionsare hostile to the free flow of ideas. One delegate said universities have become "woke indoctrination centres" where leftist ideas dominate andright-wing ideas are dismissed as insensitive.

The Conservativeriding association inVancouver Centreis proposing a policy to tie federal funding to a university's efforts to protectfreeexpression. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, the party's jobs critic, also endorsed the plan, saying thatuniversity administrators aretoo often intent on "shutting us down for words that give them offence."

"There is no charter rightagainst being offended," Poilievre said. "We have the right to express ourselves freely, especially when others in authority disagree."

Some delegates said such a policywould be unworkable andthat post-secondary funding should not be politicized, while noting thateducation is largely the responsibility of the provinces.

Before addressing policy proposals, the assembled delegates voted on a series ofamendments to the party's constitutionThursday.

The'Andrew Scheer clause'

A double majority of delegates a majority of delegates overall and the majority of delegates in the majority of provinces agreed to implement mandatory recounts for close leadership election races (when a final count iswithin 1.50 per cent) and to mandate that party funds must be used exclusively "to advancing the political and electoral interests of the Conservative Party."

Some delegates have dubbed that latter amendmentthe "Andrew Scheer clause." The former Conservative leader came under fire both from within and outside ofthe party when it emerged last year that he hadbilled the party for his children's private Catholic school, among other personalexpenses.

Members also passed an amendment to change the waypoints are distributed in leadership elections.

Some members maintain that ridings with small numbers ofmembers many of which are inQuebec and Atlantic Canada have too much influence over leadership contests. As it is now, ridings with only a few dozen Conservative members have the same sway as those with thousands of members.

After this change, each electoral district will be allocated 100 pointsor 1 point per vote cast whichever number is lower.

In about 20 Quebec ridings in the last leadership election, fewer than 60 members cast a vote. In Bourassa, a riding in Montreal's north end, just 23 party members cast votes and yet they had the sameswayover the result as some ridings in Alberta and Saskatchewan where several hundred votes were cast.

"Every step we make toward one member, one vote, brings us closer to the assurance that the leader will always be picked by Western members," a Quebec organizer, speaking on background, told Radio-Canada.

"We will keep our weight as a riding if we work hard to get to 100 members. It is an incentive for ridings to work harder to raisetheir membership numbers," a Quebec MP, also speaking on background, told the French-language arm of the CBC.

Delegates rejected electronic voting for leadership contests, more restraints on who can run under the party banner in federal elections and a move to replace the word "compassionate" with "progressive" in the party's statement of principles.

Delegates also rejected a move to create a specific number of youth delegate positions at conventions anda youth council for young Conservatives.