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There have been multiple accusations by the NDP government that the opposition doesn’t believe in climate change, and more points of order than you can count on one hand. 

In particular, Calgary-Foothills Wildrose MLA Prasad Panda got up Wednesday, upset that Environment Minister Shannon Phillips “quite regularly” calls his party climate-change deniers. 

“How do I protect my own rights and privileges in this house if I am constantly — constantly — being assaulted?”  he asked. 

“I studied science.  I believe in science.  I worked in an industry for 30 years which has world-class monitoring of the environment.” 

In the end, Speaker Robert Wanner ruled that using the term “climate-change denier” “clearly does on occasion create disorder,” and asked the government to be “more conscious” of when and how it’s used. 

That went out the window Thursday, when Premier Rachel Notley used the term once again, drawing the ire of opposition MLAs. 

By Thursday afternoon, the Wildrose Party had proposed two amendments, as had the Progressive Conservatives, including a proposition by Calgary-North West MLA Sandra Jansen to review the legislation and report back after a year, to see how it’s working. 

The Alberta Party had also thrown one into the mix, but every amendment was voted down. 

Government house leader Brian Mason said that’s because Bill 20 has been “carefully drafted with a lot of public consultation” and is based on expert advice. 

While the spring session was due to wrap up Thursday, the Wildrose has vowed to continue debate, with official Opposition house leader Nathan Cooper saying to expect a couple of late nights next week. 

“Caucus is passionate about defending Albertans in this discussion around the carbon tax right to the bitter end,” he said outside the house Thursday. 

It looks like they will be able to continue, too.  Mason said he’s not interested in imposing a time allocation on the Bill 20 debate. 

egraney@postmedia.com

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