The City of Regina is reconsidering the invitation they extended to ecologist and Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore to deliver a keynote speech at a sustainability conference, due to his questioning of man-made global warming.
Moore, who has a PhD in ecology, was invited to speak at the city’s upcoming Reimagine Conference 2020, taking place May 20-21. His scheduled talk is titled “Fake, Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom.”
Moore challenges the notion that human carbon emissions are the main cause of climate change. While this goes against the media’s narrative, Moore says that’s all the more reason to hear him out.
However, Regina mayor Michael Fougere called Moore’s views “problematic” and has since asked councillors to review the invitation.
In addition, an online petition is calling for Moore to be removed from the conference. The online petition titled “Remove climate change denier Patrick Moore as a speaker at sustainability conference!” had 1,700 signatures at the time of writing.
“We demand the removal of Patrick Moore as keynote speaker for the Reimagine Conference, given his lack of credibility and history of misleading the public on environmental issues,” states the petition.
“Clearly, this is much more controversial than I thought it would be in a way that I don’t think I expected to happen,” said Fougere.
City council co-chair Mike O’Donnell is standing by the decision to invite Moore, saying his ideas are “interesting” and would invoke discussion.
“If you’re not controversial, you’re not shaking anything up at all. I just don’t see why that should be taken as a reason why I shouldn’t be speaking somewhere because I’m controversial,” said Moore.
