Queen’s University and Royal Military College of Canada have partnered to bring the community four panel discussions on 2019 federal election issues.
Wednesday was the first of the four discussions. Community members filled Robert Sutherland Hall to listen to four panelists discuss their areas of expertise and how political parties stand on the environment, Indigenous issues, health care and Canada’s official languages.
Dr. Holly Ann Garnett, the co-organizer of the events, says she hopes the discussions can give audiences more information for election day.
“Sometimes I think citizens need to have a bit more information about how they can compare the different platforms, what is some of the context behind some of the issues that we’re talking about and that’s where I think academics can really help” Dr. Garnett said.
Four scholars outlined each party’s promisesin their particular field of study.
Kyla Tienhaara is a researcher and assistant professor in environmental studies. This election, she says, is critical for the environment and future generations.
“The Paris Climate Accord aims to keep temperatures below 1.5- to 2 degrees Celsius, and right now our targets are not going to get us there. So we need to ramp up our ambition but also we need to be doing more to implement our targets and we’re not doing enough right now,” Tienharra said.
She added many environmentalists feel betrayed by the Liberal government’s support of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
“If environmentalists punish Trudeau for this betrayal, then they could end up with a much worse government from the perspective of climate change, so it’s a hard decision for people to make.”
The next panel discussion in the policy talks series will take place Thursday, October 17th at Queen’s University and will focus on immigration.