TRURO – The validity of global warming was raised to boos during last night’s candidates debate.
Christian Heritage Party leader Jim Hnatiuk said the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is a political, and not scientific, body.
“It is the IPCC that raised alarm bells about man-made global warming with very little scientific backing,” he said to a nearly packed Marigold Cultural Centre of about 200. “Today, there are more than 32,000 scientists that openly dispute the claims of man-made global warming, 9,000 of them have PhDs, so you’re booing the PhDs of 9,000.”
Green Party candidate Jason Blanch said the intergovernmental panel on climate change consists of 2,000 government-appointed scientists who annually produce peer reviews on climate change.
“I’m not even going to argue whether global warming is happening or not,” he said. “There’s no doubt.”
Hnatiuk and Blanch were joined by Conservative Scott Armstrong, Liberal Jim Burrows and NDP Mark Austin. Independent candidate Kate Graves declined to an invitation to participate.
All six will be on the ballot Monday when voters in Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley elect their new member of Parliament in a byelection.
Gun control, immigration, Colchester’s civic centre project and infrastructure funding were also raised during the debate.
Armstrong and Burrows both said they support eliminating the registry.
Austin said government needs to protect victims of crime but the Liberal long-gun registry “has been a debacle since day one.” And since the Conservatives came to power only three private members bills have been introduced.
“This is a phoney effort to abolish the gun registry,” he said.
Austin defended his party voting against the private members bills saying they were “not meant to succeed” and did not make provisions to protect victims of crime.
“As terrible as it is to be made to feel like a criminal because you have to register your gun, along with your car and your dog and so forth, it’s even worse to be a victim of a crime,” he said.
Hnatiuk said the only positive thing to come from the registry was finding out how not to fight crime.
“The logical way to protect Canadians from gun-related crimes is to punish the criminal use of guns and not the ownership of guns,” said the owner of Nova Scotia’s largest gun store.
The rift between the riding and the prime minister remained a hot topic.
Armstrong said on at least two occasions it was time for the riding to move on while other candidates raised it as a concern.
Candidates were also asked about their thoughts on immigration. Blanch said there was nothing more he likes than introducing his children to people from other countries and “have the opportunity to see that we’re all not like the men you see sitting here in front of you,” he said to a round of applause.

jmalloy@trurodaily.com