arctic unprotected by tory's

ANWR not an issue to Conservatives
Julia Skikavich
January 18, 2006
www.whitehorsestar.com/auth.php?r=41019

Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is currently a “non-issue”, Conservative election candidate Sue Greetham said Tuesday evening.

She made the statement to attendees at an all-candidates’ youth forum in Whitehorse.
“I don’t think there’s a (Conservative) position. I haven’t seen a position specifically,” Greetham told Kawina Robichaud, the 21-year-old pressing her on the issue.

National Conservative spokesperson Emma Welford confirmed for the Star this morning there is no official stance from the party.

The American push for drilling for oil in ANWR is a legitimate concern, she said, and one that some of the Conservative members of Parliament were previously concerned about.

But until there is “true movement” on the issue, the party will not take a public stance, she said.

“That’s a decision of the U.S. government and it hasn’t made a decision one way or another,” said Welford.

The American push for drilling in the refuge was included in last year’s Budget Reconciliation Act and in part of the military budget last fall.

The Senate approved a budget that included drilling in ANWR in a 52-47 vote in November 2005, but it was later dropped in the House of Representatives.

Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens then made another failed attempt to push it through in the military budget, which include salaries of U.S. troops, military weapons programs, Hurricane Katrina reconstruction funding and a winter heating program just before Christmas 2005.

The Conservatives will focus on maintaining good relations with the United States so when issues such as ANWR do arise, resolutions will be able to be reached to the benefit of all Canadians, she added.

During an interview with the Star last week, Prime Minister Paul Martin criticized Conservative party leader Stephen Harper for refusing to take a public stance on the protection of ANWR and the protection of the caribou herd.

“(Harper), in fact, attacked me for insulting (U.S. President) George Bush on the issue,” Martin said. “I found it actually incredible that I was down there speaking to (Bush), and that Stephen Harper was attempting to undermine me. It’s just beyond belief.”

The prime minister also spoke to the Star in late 2005 to emphasize the importance of the ANWR issue to the government and Canadians.

Greetham initially addressed the topic of drilling in ANWR by telling the attendees about the need for integrated resource management and regulatory regimes.

Robichaud interrupted Greetham twice, first asking her to speak directly on ANWR and next asking her to tell the attendees the party’s actually stance.

“We believe we have to look at any development, not just ANWR, responsibly,” she said.

If the drilling of the 607,000 hectares of the refuge’s coastal plain in Alaska is permitted, many expect it to have devastating effects on the herd.

“Should it be push to shove, I would like to make sure that the Conservative party and myself recognize and support the people in the territory.”

Martin said Yukoners can be assured that as long as he is prime minister of the country, Canada will do whatever is required to stop the drilling in the refuge.
“I’m very proud of the Prime Minister,” said Liberal incumbent Larry Bagnell.

Martin has gone “into the den of the lion” in fighting to protect ANWR, he said. The refuge was one of only two issues the prime minister presented at the Economics Club of New York during the fall.

“I will categorically say I will always be against drilling in ANWR,” Bagnell told the attending youth.

“We’re not just protecting a caribou herd,” he said. “That caribou herd is used by the Gwitchin people in Alaska and the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

“We’d be wiping out an entire culture and an entire people if we allowed that calving ground to be disturbed.”

NDP candidate Pam Boyde also committed to the protection of ANWR.

“There is no compromise to ANWR except complete protection,” she said.
Boyde said if she is elected on Monday, she would push for the refuge to be made into a full national park.

Jonathan Champagne, who spoke on behalf of vacationing Green Party candidate Philippe LeBlond, declined to comment on ANWR.

“You know what the Green Party is about,” he said.