NASA NASA / Reuters The smoke plume (bottom) from large wildfires in and around Ft McMurray, Alberta, Canada is seen in a picture taken by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams from the International Space Station May 11, 2016. REUTERS/NASA/Jeff Williams/Handout via Reuters THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Last time we checked in with the Wildrose on climate change MLA Rick Strankman was asking the government to table specific research on why the government was bringing in a key part of its climate change plan -- coal phase out. When Graham Thomson of the Edmonton Journal followed up with him he clarified that he meant to say that he was asking for economic research. Then Thomson asked him if he believed in the science of climate change.

"Absolutely," he responded. And that should have been the end of it. Except that's when he broke out the jackhammer. "You just look in Drumheller, look at all the striations of all the lines in the river valley. It's as plain as the nose on your face. It's been going on for eons," he said. "What has?" I asked. "Climate change," he responded. Uh-oh. This is the kind of response climate-change denying politicians give when they want to diminish the impact of man-made climate change. They argue that the climate has been changing for thousands of years and what's happening now is just part of the natural cycle that has nothing to do with people burning fossil fuels.

Of course Strankman didn't just stop there. When pressed further from Thomson he broke out the trusty "I'm not a scientist" line that conservative politicians use to dodge climate questions and to kill or delay effective climate policy.

Wildrose MLA Don MacIntyre apparently reads the same talking points. Here he is debating with Mike Hudema on the issue of Lake Chad's dramatic shrinkage in the past 50 years.