‘We don't believe in climate change, it's a big hoax,’ Freedom Party leader says at KPU panel

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s political science department and the Kwantlen Student Association hosted a provincial election debate on Oct. 4 at the Surrey campus from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. 

NDP candidate from Surrey-Newton Jessie Sunner and Freedom Party Leader Amrit Birring answered questions from the audience after a quick round of introductions and a land acknowledgement by KSA Women’s Representative Suhana Gill. The debate was moderated by political science instructor Ross Pink. 

Sunner is a labour and human rights lawyer for the Hospital Employees Union and grew up in Surrey. She said the city where she grew up playing hockey and cultivating close friendships had been ignored by the then-Liberal provincial government, which Conservative Party Leader John Rustad was a part of, and thus decided to pursue a career in politics.

“I chose to stand with David Eby and the BC NDP because he tends to fight for workers, fight for families, fight for everyday British Columbians to make sure that we can make a good life here and succeed,” she said. 

Birring, a software engineer, grew up in India and moved to Singapore for work. Being in India, he realized that “something was very wrong.” Due to rampant corruption by the government, Birring said he never felt comfortable and “always felt choked.” In 1996, he moved to Canada and went to the University of British Columbia for a degree in computer science. 

Birring said his party’s vision is to lower taxes and invest in health care in the province. 

“We have all these fundamental problems created by the government and to fix and expose them, I’m in politics. God willing, if I go to Victoria, we will fix all these things,” he said. 

The candidates began by answering questions about how their parties would invest in mental health at the post-secondary level. Birring said the root cause of deteriorating mental health issues is unaffordability and government propaganda. 

Sunner said the NDP has tackled these affordability issues through a holistic model that introduced medical service premiums, taking tolls off bridges, and grocery rebates. 

“The NDP government is going to put money back into people’s pockets,” Sunner said. 

“Every incentive, every taxpayer money the government gives you, it’s coming from your pocket, because the government makes zero money,” Birring said. 

On the education system, Birring said his party’s main objective is the K-12 schooling system, SOGI 123, and lower academic standards. He said these issues are core to every other problem.

The current schooling system does not produce “competent children” who want to pursue higher studies, thus leading to a shortage in medical professionals, he said. 

Sunner said her party’s stance on involuntary care is limited to “a very small number of patients.” The majority of her party work aims to increase voluntary care and treatment.  

On crime, Sunner said the NDP aims to create trauma-informed and culturally sensitive policing in Surrey, as well work with schools to identify students who are at risk of getting involved in crime.

Birring said people are pursuing crime out of desperation and inaccessible health care and food. 

“There are no doctors. And why is it happening? You can thank the BC NDP …. We need to tackle these fundamental issues to … minimize [crime].” 

On meeting climate targets in B.C., Birring said, “We don’t believe in climate change. It’s a big hoax. There’s no proof. It’s just propaganda.”

He said the climate tax is a “giant mechanism” to make people poor. 

“Climate change is real. Climate science is real,” Sunner said. “We want to make sure we’re creating a world that ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, can still continue to live here, and we’re not destroying the planet in the process.”

She also said the NDP has taken an aggressive approach to ensure the province has an efficient climate plan. The party is aiming to remove the carbon tax, if the federal government agrees. The party also has also introduced rebates for heat pumps and electric vehicles. 

On housing, Birring said the government needs to reduce “red tape” and build more houses. Sunner talked about rental restrictions and putting more houses on the market in addition to the NDP’s plan to build 300,000 new homes in the next 10 years. 

On the recent cap on international students, Birring said Canada needs to re-evaluate housing availability and affordability instead of making “inhumane” promises and charging students exorbitant tuition fees.

“It’s common sense that when you bring in people, you make sure there’s a place to live,” he said. 

Sunner said it’s important to have the resources to support international students. She said her party has created more than 10,000 housing spaces for students and protections for temporary foreign workers to prevent workplace exploitation. 

On the opioid crisis, Sunner said dignified treatment and safe supplies should be provided to individuals. We need to build a system to save lives, she said, and understand that addiction is not a straightforward issue. 

“Just because someone gets into treatment once does not mean that they’re fine and they’re never going to relapse again. I’ve worked a lot with individuals that suffer from substance use disorders, and over 90 per cent of them relapse at some point,” she said. 

“First, we drive people into taking drugs to make them desperate by the [government’s] own policies, and then we provide them safe sites to take injection,” Birring said. Voting day for the 2024

provincial election is on Oct. 19. For more information, visit elections.bc.ca/2024-provincial-election/.