Natural Resources Canada has evolved into the Department of Oil and Gas

A few decades ago, the department now known as Natural Resources Canada was called Energy, Mines, and Resources. The department had robust analysis and did work on our energy sector, as well as mines, and substantial research and science and policy innovation in forestry. Under Stephen Harper, the slaying of the Canadian Forest Service was ...

House of Commons Emergency Debate on Climate Change

Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC: Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to stand here today and I acknowledge we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin peoples. To them I say meegwetch. I am very honoured to be part of an emergency debate tonight on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...

Salt Spring Elementary School petitions for spending on renewable energy, not pipelines

Elizabeth May Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition. This was put together by citizens of Canada. Some people do not recognize that our petition process can accept signatures from those under 18 years of age. This petition comes from Salt Spring Elementary School. The petitioners ask the government to reconsider spending $7.4 billion on ...

Propaganda about the oil sands seems to get away with teh aura of fact

Elizabeth May Mr. Speaker, I think the debate around jobs needs to bear in mind that the number one goal of the labour unions of northern Alberta, the Alberta Federation of Labour and Unifor, is to protect jobs. However, it should be noted that these organizations are against the Kinder Morgan expansion. We know they ...

The government is not meeting the goals of the environment and the economy going hand in hand

Elizabeth May Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague, the member for King—Vaughan for the wonderful work she does as chair of the environment committee. The problem is that the government is not, at all, meeting the goals of the environment and the economy going hand in hand, because that is only true when the ...

In an open ocean, bitumen will likely sink, emulsify and form a lard-like substance

Elizabeth May Madam Speaker, bravo to my colleague from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke for knocking that last answer out of the park. We both have ridings adjacent to each other. Our constituents are of the same view as my dear friend, the late Arthur Black, who used to say, when they talk about getting bitumen to tidewater. “Tidewater? ...

Bitumen is a solid shipped most safely by train

Elizabeth May Madam Speaker, I know my hon. friend from St. John’s East is on the other side of the country all together, so he can be forgiven for not knowing anything about dilbit. Bitumen is a solid. While he just said in the House that the safest and most environmentally-friendly way to ship it ...

Elizabeth takes issue with carbon price report

May 23, 2018 (OTTAWA) — Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands) is questioning the conclusions of the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report The Impact of a Pan-Canadian Carbon Pricing Levy on PBO’s GDP Projection, tabled in parliament this week. The report projects that the impact of a carbon levy rising to $50 a tonne in 2022 will ...

Oil and gas reserves may expand, but our carbon budget is shrinking rapidly

Elizabeth May Mr. Speaker, there are a number of points in my friend from Bow River’s presentation that require a bit of a fact check. There is a big difference on the west coast of B.C., particularly between Haida Gwaii and the coast. Hecate Strait particularly is an extremely active body of water. There is ...

Proponents decide to cancel projects for market and internal reasons: Energy East

Elizabeth May Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague from Lakeland referenced the decision to abort the energy east pipeline and blamed the government for that. Energy east was being built by the same company, TransCanada, that is also building Keystone. It made a business decision that two pipelines, both shipping bitumen diluted with diluent for export, ...