I boarded the Peace Train Friday afternoon at Vancouver’s Central Station. I am travelling with peace activists on VIA Rail. John and I celebrated his birthday on the train. I will get off in Edmonton to get back to Parliament for work Monday morning. The Peace Train activists continue by rail to Ottawa where they will make their voices heard on the critical importance of peace-making. Their slogan “train is a verb", sets the frame on actively training for peace!

Across Canada, we are also collecting signatures on the International Peace Charter petition. It has closed for electronic signatures, but please print it out (below) and collect hard copy signatures from any Canadian citizen, including full address. Mail to my MP office, no postage required!

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas: 

• Humanity faces escalating global conflict;
• Canada has a proud tradition of international peacekeeping, diplomacy, and human rights leadership;
• The International Peace Charter is a global civil society initiative to affirm principles of peace, including, renouncing war and violence, resolving disputes through dialogue and reconciliation, advancing disarmament and redirecting resources to human development, respecting sovereignty and peoples’ right to self-determination, defending truth and countering disinformation, promoting environmental stewardship to prevent conflict, protecting human dignity and diversity, supporting fair justice and transitional accountability, and fostering collective well-being through mindfulness and reconciliation; and
• This Charter reflects Canadian values of cooperation, inclusion, and justice, and offers a unifying framework for addressing the root causes of conflict while advancing sustainable peace and security.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to formally consider, endorse, and ratify the International Peace Charter and work with Parliament, Indigenous governments, civil society, and the international community to integrate the principles of the International Peace Charter into Canadian foreign and domestic policy, ensuring Canada’s leadership role in building a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.

This week was unusually intense in Parliament.

Monday October 19, normal parliamentary business was suspended as we marked the horrific tragedy at CFB Wainwright. Each leader spoke and then we adjourned for the day. Here are my remarks.

Tuesday was long and difficult, with a midnight sitting. My last debate, on reducing pesticide regulations, wrapped up at 12:40 AM. Wednesday, I am back to Parliament Hill by 7 am. On both days we had press conferences on C-31 and C-39.

I see a common thread through multiple pieces of legislation. I raised the re-alignment of Canadian democracy with the diminution of parliament and centralization of power in the PMO in my Friday question.

We are witnessing the restructuring of Canadian democracy by stealth, reducing the role of parliament, with an unprecedented increase in powers for the prime minister and cabinet.

C-5, C-15, C-30, C-31, and C-39 grant powers to Cabinet to set aside a wide swath of existing laws. as it sees fit.

Restructuring democracy in this way should be transparent with full debate, will we be given that opportunity?

Meanwhile, the debate on C-39 has taken a nasty turn as Liberal MPs, in particular Shannon Miedema of Halifax, accusing those who oppose C-39 of being liars.

I became aware of her Oct 7 speech through an October 17 column by Althia Raj in the Toronto Star:

Opinion | A closer look at six controversial powers inside Mark Carney’s Building Canada Strong Act

“This bill has been subject to a wild disinformation campaign,” Liberal MP Shannon Miedema declared in the House of Commons last week.

The Halifax MP accused opposition members of lying about Bill C-39, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Building Canada Strong Act, telling them the bill does not do things it does.

“I have spent my entire career fighting for the environment, and I would never support something that would weaken environmental protections,” she said.

I don’t know if Miedema read the bill. Having read and listened to MPs’ speeches, it seems many Liberals have not.

The stated goal behind C-39 is to speed up project approvals and permitting so that things get built faster. The government speaks of concurrent reviews instead of consecutive ones, limiting duplication across governments and agencies, strengthening trade corridors and supporting paperless commerce. But there is much more packed into this omnibus bill. As MPs begin six days of hearings (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Impact Assessment Act, C-69, in comparison, faced 51 days of study in the House and Senate), here are a few controversial aspects explained.

I have never seen a bill drafted to be as deceitful as this one.

— Green Party Leader Elizabeth May

C-39 makes C-5 permanent Bill C-39’s summary mysteriously does not identify a key controversial change, the removal of the five-year sunset clause imposed on C-5, the Building Canada Act, by the opposition last year. Cabinet now gets permanent powers to select what projects are in the national interest (through criteria it determines and can change), those that will be green lit regardless of the outcome of environmental reviews, and to decide whether to exempt projects from certain laws and regulations, for example, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) which prevents wildlife extinction and protects biodiversity, the Fisheries Act, which protects fish habitat and controls the amount of wastewater and industrial discharge released into Canada’s lakes and rivers, and the Migratory Birds Convention Act, which protects nearly all native birds in Canada.

Bloc Québécois MP Christine Normandin.

Keito Newman/The Canadian Press

A crisis that is already frightening enough for Canadians and Quebecers is being used to justify major legislative changes that will shake the very foundations of the temple of values that we thought were otherwise secure, and that took years to build.

— Bloc Québécois MP Christine Normandin

C-39 creates “regions of national interest” where environmental reviews can’t stop projects

Bill C-39 builds on C-5 by allowing cabinet to designate new “regions of national interest.” These regions will be defined by cabinet, which also decides what kind of activity can happen in them and under what criteria (which cabinet can change or remove).

A regional assessment is required before a region is designated, but the report is not binding on cabinet. There is also no requirement that the assessment consider the types of projects that could be authorized in a region, or that it covers the full geographical area of the designated region.

When the designated minister—currently Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc —is satisfied a project in a region of national interest meets the criteria, he must provide the project’s proponent with a document “deemed” to be every required permit and authorization (all the federal green lights). Indigenous Peoples whose rights may be adversely affected must be consulted prior to the document being issued; and reviews still happen, but they only influence a project’s conditions. They can’t find that the project is too polluting, too dangerous for endangered species, or that it will destroy crucial fish habitat and should not go ahead.

And while an impact assessment is required, C-39 eliminates the planning phase that mandates meaningful public participation. When the economic zones were first floated last spring, the government’s consultation report said Indigenous participants cautioned that “pre-approval” of projects could limit the ability of rights-holders to assert their rights within their territories and would “likely lead to litigation.”

Teme Augama Anishinabek Chief Shelly Moore-Frappier.

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

When we’re at the table from the start, projects get built. When we are shut out, they end up in court, and nobody gets certainty.

— Teme Augama Anishinabek Chief Shelly Moore-Frappier

C-39 reduces protections for species at risk and opens the door for industry lawsuits

In May, after the Star reported the federal government was proposing to skirt the Species at Risk Act (SARA)’s jeopardy test so projects, such as the new west coast pipeline, could go ahead despite threatening the existence of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, a public outcry temporarily shelved the government’s plans.

“We heard directly from Canadians that they did not like this,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said. “They pushed back very strongly, and the proposal is not in this bill.”

That’s true. But C-39 still weakens protections under SARA — the law designed to prevent wildlife species from becoming extinct.

Currently, activities that affect endangered species or their critical habitat need approval from either the environment, fisheries, or Parks Canada minister. Only if the minister believes all reasonable alternatives to the activity have been considered, that all feasible measures will be taken to minimize the impact on the species or their habitat, and that the activity will not jeopardize the survival or recovery of the species, is the minister allowed to permit the activity and lay out conditions the proponent must abide by, for example, mitigation and monitoring measures.

Bill C-39 changes that in two ways. First, as noted above, if a project in a “region of national interest” meets cabinet’s criteria, SARA’s preconditions — that a project can’t jeopardize the survival of species — don’t appear to matter. This would be an end-run around the jeopardy test.

Second, C-39 obliges the responsible minister to take into account the technical, economic and practical feasibility of the conditions it considers imposing. This happens already in practice, but adding it to the law raises two issues: it risks watering down conditions and protection for threatened species, and it opens the door for industry lawsuits, if conditions are deemed too financially onerous.

The economic feasibility should help determine how an environmental obligation is achieved. It should not become a substitute for achieving the environmental outcome.

— B.C. Liberal MP Patrick Weiler

C-39 allows construction to begin on projects before an impact assessment is completed

Bill C-39 amends the Impact Assessment Act to allow a minister to permit a project proponent to do “that act or thing,” subject to potential conditions, including remediation, prior to the project receiving a decision statement from the minister. (The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission gets similar powers, though entire projects can’t be permitted this way.)

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson’s office offered as an example, a mining project proponent granted permission to build a road before the project is approved so a construction season isn’t missed. In his speech to the House, B.C. Liberal MP Patrick Weiler called on Parliament to define the kind of work that can and can’t be done.

“It should not be irreversible, it should not prejudge the final decision or replace the assessment itself, and it should continue to respect Indigenous consultation and environmental requirements,” he said.

(C-39) will assure a weary industry that the time to build is now, and there is a path to a decision that will lead to greater investment, jobs creation and, ultimately, strengthening our economic sovereignty.

— Canadian Chamber of Commerce Senior Director Bryan Detchou

C-39 allows a designated minister to override project conditions

The new legislation also allows LeBlanc — the designated minister — to remove conditions on a project that was conditionally approved but is now listed as a project of national interest by cabinet. For example, the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) Project was approved in 2023 subject to 370 legally binding conditions.

In August, the government announced plans to list RBT2 as a project of national interest. This would allow the project to move forward, possibly without enacting some of the conditions intended to protect southern resident killer whales, the Chinook salmon, or the western sandpipers. By listing RBT2 as a project of national interest, not only could its conditions be removed, but it could also jump over the constraints of the Species at Risk Act’s jeopardy test.

When ministers, like LeBlanc speaking to the Senate on Oct. 6, say: “We removed the government’s ability to completely exempt projects from the application of that (Species at Risk) Act” — that is not quite accurate.

The modus operandi of the Carney government in amending federal environmental legislation, rather than doing full repeals and just owning the political fallout of that, it’s been to narrow, exempt, and build in so much discretion that they can, when they need to, for their political purposes, make the laws either not apply at all, or apply in a toothless way. And that way, they can say: ‘Well, we still have these laws.’ But what are they worth now?

— Ecojustice Program Director Charlie Hatt

C-39 cements the federal government’s ability to shut down legal strikes

Bill C-39 introduces pro-labour policies to protect truck drivers from misclassification and airport workers from having their collective agreements scrapped when a new employer takes over. To limit port disruptions, it lets employers, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), or the minister seek a single bargaining agent for smaller bargaining units. The most controversial measure — denounced by unions across the country — is the power the labour minister retains to end a strike — without a parliamentary vote.

The government sets out a path to avoid that. Parties who had a binding arbitration imposed, or who had a strike or lockout, or whose agreement ran five years or more, must begin the process earlier. The conciliation period is extended by 30 days, and the minister can appoint a special mediator who, after 21 days, reports on the issues, the parties’ positions, their participation, and the likelihood of a deal. The report will be made public, unless the parties reach an agreement.

“This is designed as a package to drive people to getting their own deals earlier and at the table,” Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu told the Star. She believes public reporting will shame parties into behaving better.

If they don’t, Hajdu can use section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to take measures she considers necessary, including imposing a binding resolution, but only if she believes the strike or lockout adversely affects or might adversely affect the national interest. She can consider, but is not obliged to, whether the lockout or strike has or may have a significant impact on the Canadian economy, if it’s causing or may cause any serious social disruption, or whether the direction to the Board impacts freedom of association.

The Carney government has yet to release the Charter Statement on C-39 potential effects.

Unions argue their bargaining power comes from employers knowing a strike will cause real pain; if Ottawa swoops in to ensure that doesn’t happen, their rights are diminished. In C-39’s background document, the federal government calls workers in federally- regulated sectors (ports, rail, air transportation, telecommunications, etc.) “essential” to Canada’s economic growth — raising questions whether a constitutionally protected right to strike that can’t be exercised is a right at all.

Unions hoped Ottawa would limit government intervention, instead the government’s consultation document suggests it sided with employers who wanted s.107 maintained or strengthened.

Canada’s unions fought hard for the right to strike, and we’re gonna fight equally hard to make sure that we can defend it.

— Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske

While some cabinet ministers and Liberal MPs argue there’s nothing to see in this legislation, a closer look suggests otherwise.

Bill C-39 amends 19 acts and four regulations, it repeals one law and creates a new one. It deserves careful study from Parliamentarians, whether that’s raising some of the issues outlined here, or pressing for details to ensure some of the government’s changes aren’t an attempt to limit judicial oversight or that job cuts at Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans won’t mean reviews are shortchanged. This legislation isn’t a temporary Band-Aid to address the current U.S. administration’s threats. It sets up a system that may be with us for decades to come.

Many thanks to Althia Raj for such thorough journalism. It is far too rare these days. I was shocked when I read her column. It turned out Shannon’s speech was at around 8 pm on October 7. Later that day, around 11 pm, I delivered my speech. I was out of the House at 8 pm and missed her speech, so I looked it up. And it is truly dreadful. Here it is with light edits (my own).

Shannon Miedema,Halifax, NS

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act. There is much to discuss. This bill has been subject to a wild disinformation campaign, some of which has been perpetrated by members of this House. Therefore, I want to begin today by saying something that should not be controversial in this place. Members of Parliament are allowed to disagree. We can oppose and even criticize legislation. We can believe that government has gotten something wrong. That is democracy and that is our job. However, there is a difference between opposing legislation and telling Canadians that legislation says something it does not say. Unfortunately, we have heard quite a bit of the latter when it comes to Bill C-39. We have heard claims that this bill would eliminate environmental assessments. It would not. We have heard that it would eliminate indigenous consultation. It would not. We have heard that it would eliminate workers’ right to strike. It would not do that either.

With the rise of social media and short-form content, Canadians are less likely to get the full story. Complex legislation cannot be reduced to a viral slogan or a social media post, yet in an era when many Canadians get their news online, we have a responsibility to ensure that what we share is rooted in facts and not in fear. Therefore, let us separate the facts from the fiction when it comes to Bill C-39, and let us start with the environment.

I have spent my entire career fighting for the environment, and I would never support something that would weaken environmental protections. The building Canada strong act would make no changes to the federal environmental standards. This would be a change in process. Regardless of what kind of project is reviewed, all factors would need to be taken into consideration, including climate impacts, species at risk, ecological and nature implications, navigation, navigable waters and much more. Bill C- 39 does not say to forget the environment and build whatever someone wants. Nothing in the 244 pages of this piece of legislation says that we would bulldoze nature, yet those are the things that are being said outside of this House and in this House……However, standing in the House and telling Canadians that Bill C-39 would simply abolish environmental assessments is not a policy argument and it is not rooted in fact.

Long regulatory processes have a cost. It costs the government when federal employees are tasked with duplicate efforts. It costs communities that are waiting to see investment come to fruition. It costs workers who are awaiting new opportunities. It comes at a cost to Canada’s economic prosperity, which is something we have to be very focused on at this time.

My question to those who oppose this bill is as follows: Why should a federal regulatory process take longer than necessary once all of the information is on the table? I am open to hearing feedback on this topic from my colleagues across the aisle, from my constituents and from Canadians at large, but when this feedback is rooted in disinformation rather than fact, it is the duty of all members of this House to correct the record….

Well, that gives you a sense of it. Like Althia Raj, I wonder if Shannon has read the bill. I was so upset. I felt I had no choice but to demand a retraction and an apology. A first- time MP she once worked for the City of Halifax developing climate programmes. She is now chair of the Environment Committee. I contacted her and explained that (in parliamentary language) she had violated my privileges and those of many other MPs. I asked her to apologize. She said she would think about it. On Monday we adjourned without a chance for me to raise the issue. On Tuesday, I alerted the Speaker. It is an essential element of a point of privilege that the point be raised as quickly as possible. He understood that an apology, short of raising a point of privilege, would be preferable. But by Wednesday, I knew I had to make the point of privilege and call Shannon to account publicly. This was not an easy decision.

Mr. Speaker, I rise at this moment on a question of privilege arising from remarks made in this place by the hon. member for Halifax on October 7. I have to admit that I do so with sadness, because I much prefer, as a parliamentarian in this place, particularly as a woman parliamentarian, to encourage younger women in politics. In my 15 years as a member of Parliament, this is the first time I have risen on a question of privilege, but I have given one hour’s notice of my intention to rise on this day on a question of personal privilege, pursuant to Standing Order 48(1).

I now do so because of the remarks that were made. Let me frame this issue in terms of the offence. The offence is one of imputing improper motives and essentially doing indirectly what a member is not allowed to do directly. In reviewing the hon. member for Halifax’s second reading speech on Bill C-39, which I am sure the Speaker shall do, I do believe she violated my privileges and those of others by imputing improper motives and essentially doing indirectly what cannot be done directly, which is basically accusing other members of lying.

I will quote from her speech, in which she said, “This bill [Bill C-39] has been subject to a wild disinformation campaign, some of which has been perpetrated by members of this House.” This can only be understood as a direct attack on the honesty—

(At this point I was interrupted by Chris Bittle Liberal from St. Catherines who accused me of more disinformation! This gets recorded in Hansard as: An hon. member.)

Oh, oh!

So I said, “Mr. Speaker, I would ask the hon. member across the way to not heckle me or repeat the same disparaging remarks that gave rise to this question of personal privilege in the first place.

The Speaker: To the hon. member for St. Catharines, we are on a question of privilege, which the Chair would very much like to hear and understand.

(and he gave me back the floor:)

Mr. Speaker, this is an important point. Had the hon. member said there was misinformation being spread, I would not be standing here right now. However, as a prominent member in this place and as someone who practised environmental law, has read Bill C-39, takes issue with specific points and ties those points to the text of the legislation, it is deeply offensive to be called a liar through the smear of a “wild disinformation campaign”.

It is the job and duty of members of Parliament to study legislation and suggest ways in which legislation can be improved to allow the public to know what our concerns are. In other words, vigorous debate giving rise to disagreement is not a violation of privilege, but to essentially smear the reputation of any member who stands in this place, including the member for Edmonton Strathcona, who was specifically referenced in the member for Halifax’s speech as lying about the impact on labour rights, is.

I repeated those same critiques about part 3 of the bill. This is an omnibus bill with many sections. I will try to be concise about this, but the hon. member repeated that this bill is subject to a “wild disinformation campaign”, and she felt it her duty to separate fact from fiction. To be accused of lying and of having motives of disinformation is deeply offensive.

In reference to our parliamentary privileges, and I specifically look at Standing Order 18 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, fourth edition, there is no question that imputing deliberate deceit and dishonourable motives to parliamentarians, who are fulfilling their constitutional duty to scrutinize legislation, crosses the line. As well, Standing Order 18, and this is established in chapter 3 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, fourth edition, explicitly prohibits any reflection upon a member’s personal or professional integrity, as that obstructs our ability to discharge parliamentary duties without improper interference. There is a very large difference between opposition and deceit.

I did make attempts to ask the hon. member to apologize so I would not find myself standing here and publicly calling out her scurrilous and completely dishonourable speech. In this case, I would conclude by asking that there be a ruling that, in the opinion of this House, the remarks made by the member for Halifax accusing members of a campaign of disinformation constitute an unparliamentary reflection on members’ integrity and that she be directed to unequivocally withdraw the remarks and apologize.

And that is where it sits this weekend.

I hope there will be a clear ruling and an apology.

But it does remain a concern that opposition and criticism of this dreadful omnibus bill gives rise to attacks on my character.

We wait…

We have a daunting task as even the most rudimentary aspects of projects in the “national interest” do not receive even cursory scrutiny as to whether they meet and economic case, much less who C-39 and C-5 together trample Indigenous rights, nature and climate.

Please do continue, as you do, spreading the word, sharing this letter and writing your own letters to the editor.

I am so grateful for your support.

Love and thanks, Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #340 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

We awoke on Thursday to the – not unexpected – news that Carney has decreed the new dilbit pipeline from Alberta, running along largely the same route as Trudeau’s TMX pipeline, but south along the Fraser River and out to a new oil tanker port on Roberts Bank, to be the first “project of national interest” as legislated by bulldozer in June 2025 under C-5.

Here is the release from PMO, and – ta-da- drum roll please, the new name! “Pacific Link.”

Prime Minister Carney lists the West Coast Oil Pipeline, now known as Pacific Link, as a project of national interest to unlock Canada’s full potential as a global energy superpower. Prime Minister’s Web Site (https://pm.gc.ca/

October 1, 2026

Fort McMurray, Alberta

“Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced that the Government of Canada is officially listing the new West Coast Oil Pipeline, now known as Pacific Link, as a project of national interest.

“Canada and Alberta will share equal ownership of Pacific Link. Indigenous communities will be offered a minimum of 10% ownership interest, financed through Canada and Alberta’s Indigenous Loan Guarantee Programs. Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a private sector investor and is offering its expertise to project development, which is being led by the Trans Mountain Corporation – the company that just built the largest oil pipeline to Canada’s West Coast. The pipeline will follow a southern route which protects British Columbia’s North Coast and avoids highly sensitive ecosystems, including the Great Bear Sea.

“Over the next year, the MPO, supported by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), will lead the federal review process and consultations with all stakeholders on the conditions for this project – including the ownership, benefits, respect for Indigenous rights, environmental protections, and local hiring and oversight – with Indigenous Peoples involved from the start. The MPO will work to finalise those conditions by September 1, 2027, clearing the way to get shovels in the ground. This means that as the project proponents work over the next year to develop a final concept – from community consultations to route mapping, ecological surveys, cost estimates, procurement, and workforce planning – they will do so with confidence that the federal government supports this project. This will transform the way Canada builds major infrastructure by giving investors and builders the certainty they need to drive projects forward.”

Stunning these masters of the universe think they can claim by avoiding our north coast, they are avoiding ecologically sensitive areas! As though the Salish Sea is not ecologically sensitive! Thanks to Washington State for pushing back. The release goes on to claim this diversifies markets by opening a route to Asia… which is only relevant if markets in Asia want dilbit. So far, even after building TMX using the same lie that this was about getting dilbit to Asia, 90% of all Canada’s fossil fuel exports go to the U.S. And of the amount we ship to China, somewhere between a third to a half is used to pave roads. Once they take out the diluent and ship it back to Canada (in the US there is a south to north pipeline for returning the diluent) what they have is tar suitable for paving roads in China. But I guess PMO thinks being a “Tar super-power” sounds less nation-building than “Energy Superpower.”

John’s letter below was published September 29 in the Globe and Mail.

“Most Canadians support government efforts to reduce our dependence on the United States by making our economy more resilient and diverse. But increasing Canada’s share of European and Asian markets for bitumen and liquefied natural gas would work against these goals.

“The U.S. is determined to dominate the market: It seized control of Venezuelan oil, which in time would replace Canadian bitumen. And fossil energy markets in Asia and Europe are forecast to decline as more efficient renewables are rapidly deployed.

“Increasing competition with an undifferentiated product, in a declining market against a dominant player intending economic “conquest,” would be a failing strategy. It would embed Canada deeper with the U.S., reducing our resilience and autonomy. The opportunity cost of forgoing alternative long-term investments seems high.

“Anyone who’s raised venture money knows Canadian bankers are famously risk averse. Not so Mark Carney. This time, that’s not a good thing.”

John Kidder Ashcroft, B.C.

Meanwhile, dreadful BC premier David Eby joined Carney to announce doubling the Kitimat, B.C., LNG export facility, approving a second phase at the country’s first large-scale LNG terminal. They attempted to green wash the announcement with a second phase of Ocean Protection. “$1.2 billion in new investments to safeguard Canadian waters from increased tanker traffic, including developing a response plan to protect whales and other marine mammals from oil spills.”

As if this government understood a single thing about the behaviour of diluted bitumen in the ocean environment. Please God we will never find out how devastating a spill would be.

I want to shift gears to some inspiring news! And salute the Seniors for Climate Action and the Climate Witness caravan.

I like the story above for the good coverage and the photo of seniors blocking the road in rocking chairs. Eleven were arrested in all. A number had traveled from BC, including local Green Yves Parizeau. Arrests started Tuesday, but I was stuck in Parliament. For the protest on Wednesday, I was able to get out and cheer them on, stopping to greet friends like Lyn Adamson and Michael Polyani from Toronto on their rocking chairs. I told the Parliamentary security guards all around that these were my friends and if they needed to get into the building please to help them and take good care.

They did a great job and got quite a lot of media coverage, as did David Suzuki who joined the caravan launch and in Ottawa.

On Wednesday in Question Period, I thanked the caravan and asked if the government planned to present a business case before approving the pipeline. Clearly not.

For Friday’s question, I Zoomed from Toronto where I had received an award the night before for support for organic agriculture and retailing wonderful organic products. So nice of them. Anyway, this time I tried to get an answer about the PM’s investment summit. Nothing in my question was understood by the parliamentary secretary who gave the non-answer. Friday’s QP Question.

And so it goes!

For today, if you can please join the Old Growth rally! From 1 to 3 p.m., people from across the province will gather for Hands Off Old Growth rallies.

From the organizers:

“The rallies are intended to send a clear message to all parties and candidates in the upcoming provincial election that B.C. residents are united in their demand for protection of our rapidly diminishing stands of old-growth forests.

“The rally at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria will include speakers, music, and a giant community canvas where people can trace their hands in solidarity. But at its heart, this rally is not about slogans. It is about love for the living world that sustains us, grief for what’s been lost, and our responsibility to save what’s left.

“In an over-heating world, protecting the last ancient forests is not sentimental. Old growth and primary forests are worth more standing: for the climate, for the water, for the web of life, for the tourists who come from around the world, and for the generations who will ask what we did when there was still time.”

Thanks to everyone who shows up to protest for climate- for old growth- for Indigenous rights.

And thanks to the growing list of star candidates for the BC Greens!!! When will the media notice? Have a look!

So, for now, much love and thanks!!

See you same time next week!

Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #339 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

And what a week! Parliament opened on Monday with the Liberals dropping a monster bill – C-39. It is another omnibus bill – 232 pages – changing the Canada Labour Code to reduce Labour’s right to strike and amending the Species at Risk Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act, CEPA, the Fisheries Act… I will not list them all – TWENTY bills amended. In June 2025 they forced through C-5, the Build Canada Act. That law is still in place allowing any and all environmental laws to be ignored if a project is deemed to be in the “national interest”. Now this bill, the “Build Canada Strong Act”, keeps all those dreadful exemptions and fast-tracking from the 2025 Build Canada Act, and adding “Regions of National Interest” or as some environmental groups are terming them “sacrifice zones”, where again the laws will not apply.

For a solid summary of C-39, I recommend this press release from West Coast Environmental Law.

As you probably know, I read every word of every bill brought to Parliament. I’m pretty sure I’m the only MP who does – all the others have party people who look at such things and tell their MPs what the bill means and how good (government) or bad (opposition) it is. So, few MPs notice authoritarian practices sneaking in, and if they do, they’re instructed how to react.

Hardly anyone noticed how the new “Build Canada Strong” Act (C-39) amends the (presumably weaker?) “Build Canada Act” (C-5), presumably, then, to make it stronger.

What makes Build Canada Act into Build Canada Strong? It eliminates the one limitation on unbridled power – the “sunset clause”. The powers granted to Cabinet would end after five years. The sunset clause was a tacit admission that Cabinet’s power to order that a project was “in the national interest” and could therefore get past all sorts of environmental and economic assessments and restrictions was a risky allocation of executive power and might need an exit option.

So now it’s gone. It makes me so angry John heard me shout from the other room. This substantive power grab is not even mentioned in the summary of changes in the legislation, as if it were of no significance at all. I am getting weary and angry at the continuous erosion of the powers of Parliament and the anti-Trump rationale for taking on the same sort of executive powers we see every day in the US – we hear about the US changes in Canadian media, next to nothing about corresponding trends here.

While Liberal MP after Liberal MP gets up to dutifully repeat talking points about how this is all just to remove duplicative procedures, it is far more than that. One MP even had the gall to state in his speech that the Species at Risk Act (SARA) is not touched in C-39, ignoring all the sections that amend SARA! Many acts are now changed so that wherever conditions were added to a project approval, now those conditions cannot be added unless “economic” and “feasible”.

This is a Trumpian power grab and now permanent.

I will have my chance to speak on the bill when Parliament resumes Monday October 5. We are shut this week due to the stat holiday for the national observance of the Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Three cheers for AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak for pointing out that bulldozing approvals in under a year looks like bulldozing over Indigenous rights, as does pushing the bill through without adequate consultation.

That was Monday, and then as we all know on Tuesday, BC Premier David Eby called a snap election two whole years early. And unlike Horgan when he pulled the same trick, Eby already has a majority. As I wrote in last week’s missive, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) had urged Eby NOT to call a provincial election during the time before BC local elections take place on October 17. Hopes are high for Green candidate Pete Fry to be the next mayor of Vancouver. He is in the lead right now, but we cannot take anything for granted! I really thought the pressure from the UBCM would be a sufficient caution for the BC NDP to wait, and even if calling a snap election years early, at least wait until November. No dice. Eby is breaking new records for cynical, opportunistic behaviour. At this rate, he is going to give politicians a bad name!

Local BC Green candidates are creating real excitement. Here in Saanich-Gulf Islands, I have mixed emotions. Rob Botterell, my own MLA, announced he will not run again. He always said he was in it for one term. Thanks to Eby that term was too short! But the great news is that our local Green candidate is BC Green leader Emily Lowan! If you live in SGI, please help out any way you can! If you are willing to join me and knock on doors, make some calls, help deliver signs, or help in the office, please fill out BC Greens Volunteer Request form. And great news, Emily Lowan’s campaign office is the same one we used for my re-election campaign last year; 9776 Fourth Street in Sidney!.

Please Donate to Emily’s Campaign

Lawn signs are on order. If you want a lawn sign, here’s the link to Request a Lawn Sign. https://bcgreens.ca/request-a-lawn-sign/

For any other questions, email teamlowan@bcgreens.ca

And if you know someone willing to step up and run anywhere in BC, please have them email nominations@bcgreens.ca. I am very excited about the candidates who are offering to run — one of whom is not yet ready to announce — one of BC’s most inspiring Indigenous leaders. BC Greens want to have a full slate, so it is a scramble, but the progress is amazing!

This Sunday I am off to Galiano for my regular non-partisan community meeting. Emily Lowan will be at the Salt Spring Island Apple Festival at Fulford from 10-11.

And in case you want to see my opening salvo from Monday’s press conference, here you go:

https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/elizabeth-may-on-green-party-priorities-govts-new-economic-bill?id=22240d6b-88c2-4152-8524-60c2a5d45b1d

All for now! Sending you love and thanks for your support through these exhausting times!

Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #338 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Tomorrow Parliament will re-open. Today I am moderating a panel of climate change writers, specifically wildfire writers through non-fiction, novel and poetry at the Eden Mills Literary festival and then will take the train from Toronto to reach Ottawa later tonight. It will be a busy week.

Of course, while constantly busy, I do not have a patch on the Prime Minister who is fairly frequently on jets from one summit to global event to another. I confess to being jealous of him for getting vacations. I was supposed to have a week off in August, but then he called those August 31 by-elections and spent 10 days in Tuscany on holiday. I do understand, he is the Prime Minister and entitled to get a vacation now and then! I am envious of him today, visiting Saint Pierre and Miquelon with PM Macron. A decade ago, I tried to convince Justin Trudeau that he should meet with Macron on Saint Pierre. Better late than never! Newfoundland’s proximity to Europe is worth emphasizing. Cate and I, and our amazing tiny dog Xo, had a lovely visit there ages ago (well before John Kidder was in my life.) I loved it. Imagine going to France on a one hour ferry trip from Fortune, Newfoundland and Labrador!

While I am appalled by much of our Prime Minister’s domestic policy and reversals, I do not doubt that he is elevating Canada’s role in the world. I admire his turn of phrase. That Canada is not seeking to be a super power “with better manners.” I would have applauded had I been in Strasbourg! On Monday, he will not be in Parliament. But I will, and I will raise concerns from constituents I heard in the eight community meetings we have held since Labour Day. One last community meeting for this round will be a week from today on Galiano Island. Due to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Parliament is adjourned the week of September 28.

That week, an event of upheaval will happen in my life, but it is a minor thing in the scheme of things. We have to move our constituency office. We have been so lucky to have had the same office for 15 years! But the landlord has other plans, and we have to be out of our space by October. The constituency office is moving from Fourth Street to the end of Beacon, through the breezeway off Beacon to a great ground floor space in the Landmark building. To manage the move, we will be closed the week of September 28. We will be available by phone! The new space is a lot more expensive, so I will be writing some of you by regular mail to ask for financial help. (If you want details of where and how to help, please reply to this email to the Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens info@sgigreenparty.ca address.) We need to raise funds for a more robust internship program on Parliament Hill as the big jump in local rent wipes out a full staff position in my Ottawa office. More to come!

Meanwhile, looking closer to home, it seems likely Premier David Eby will opportunistically seize the moment to call a snap BC provincial election. As even national observers of BC politics will have noticed, the Conservative Party of BC is circling the drain. Newly elected leader and former federal MP, Kerry-Lynne Findlay has lost nearly a dozen MLAs – some quitting to sit as independents; others forming a new right-wing party. The Union of BC Municipalities, meeting this week, passed an emergency resolution calling on the Premier NOT to call an election that would overlap with, and over-shadow, critical local elections. I find it astonishing, though I should be used to it by now, that media coverage of the split in the Conservative party and cynical opportunity for the NDP manages to all but completely ignore the Green Party with 25 year old leader Emily Lowan and two elected, strong and capable MLAs! Please be prepared to jump in and help our BC Greens in any way you can! To my BC readers, want to run to make sure every BC voter has a chance to have a great Green candidate to vote FOR!?

Friday was the deadline for comment on the proposed new pipeline for dilbit across BC. I am sharing the link with you here. I wrote over 5,000 words, but there are so many details and I am determined to force the Liberals to, at least, make a cost-benefit analysis public before wasting another $34+ billion to build a pipeline, threatening ecosystems, endangered species, the climate and Indigenous rights. I hope, if you have the time, you will read it.

And, also on Friday, the government launched another consultation, this time to fast track deep geological disposal of high level nuclear waste, deadline for comment October 26:

“Ottawa, ON, September 18, 2026 – Canada is advancing the critical infrastructure needed to build a stronger, more sustainable, and more independent economy. Investing in nation-building infrastructure is essential to strengthening economic resilience, enhancing energy security, and creating long-term prosperity by connecting communities, supporting industry, enhancing sustainability, and attracting investment.

Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, announced the publication of a notice in the Canada Gazette for the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) Project, marking the next step in considering whether the project should be listed under Schedule 1 of the Building Canada Act (the Act) as a project of national interest.”

To the notion that we can build this kind of project fast, I will keep recommending the Carney cabinet read How Big Things Get Done.

I know they have it at Tanners Books if you are in Sidney. It is worth a read. Based on a database of 16,000 projects, it established that the projects most likely to go off the rails, cost WAY more and overshoot timelines by orders of magnitude can be predicted. One they cite is any project for deep disposal of nuclear waste. Funny, the Prime Minister told me he had read it. Maybe, like his own book Values, he needs to read it again.

Have a great week..and as ever Illegitimi non carborundum – which is well known and not Latin, but sounds good anyway. I prefer Stan Rogers…whenever the smiling bastards are lying to me… and as John Kidder says “do not let the liars win!”:

And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Rise again, rise again – though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you’ve lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

You can find and sign this petition here.

Love Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #337 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Perhaps unexpectedly, I am starting this morning’s letter with memories of that awful September 11th, 25 years ago. My step-son was living in New York, and worse, worked in the office of the New York Department of Justice as an assistant D.A. That building was only a block or so from the World Trade Centre. From his office window he watched in horror as people jumped. The blow by blow of that day is fresh in my mind. Incredibly, my godfather, actor Cliff Robertson, was in a small plane that morning and saw the whole thing unfolding. He phoned my mom in Cape Breton to tell her of his experience. He was flying his Cessna from Long Island into Manhattan. He saw a large black cloud ahead, and thought it must be an unexpected thunderstorm. Then he looked down just in time to see the second plane fly into the second tower. He immediately thought “we are under attack.” And almost as soon as he thought it, he was contacted by the FAA. He was ordered to follow a new flight path and land in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Once on the ground, he was there for two weeks.

Years later, I heard directly from the decision-maker who had told the FAA to get all the aircraft in the skies over North America on the ground immediately. The Navy Captain who made that call is a friend from Sidney by-the-Sea Rotary, Mike Jellinek. As is normal in the shared North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), leadership is shared between US and Canadian armed forces. It was a Canadian in control that morning. I had asked Mike if they had considered shooting down the hijacked planes? He explained that whatever they might have considered, the first problem was the hijacked planes were invisible. Once the terrorists took control of the cockpit, they shut off the transponders. Looking at North American radar and the crowded airspace of the eastern seaboard, there were just thousands of dots in the air. The only way to sort out the clogged image was to get the legitimate flights out of the sky immediately. I find it incredible that any bureaucracy, even military or the FAA could move so fast that my Uncle Cliff was re-routed within minutes.

The whole tragedy remains unbearable. Every day around the world, lives are lost in wars, by blockades and cruelty, yes, in horror after horror. But this one day traumatized those directly involved and those watching on television. People say that day “changed everything.” I do not think so. It shattered many things. It gave the US the illegitimate excuse to launch an illegal war on Iraq. But we still live in that fragile world where all that can pull humanity through is the rule of law, international law and a deep commitment to world peace. That commitment remains shaky. But we have to keep trying. As feeble as that sounds, Canada must re-engage for world peace, diplomacy and nuclear disarmament – and do it with renewed vigour.

Next, an apology for an error in last week’s letter. Looking at media coverage, failing to go to original sources (which I always try to do), I had wrongly credited the Canadian Climate Institute with a new climate report.

Actually the Climate Institute was commenting on a much more substantive and significant scientific update from Environment Canada. It is the most impressive work of science I have seen from Environment Canada in years. The full report runs nearly 1500 pages. I recommend this 66 page summary. It makes it clear that as global average temperatures rise, due to humanity’s burning of fossil fuels and removal of forests, Canada, and particularly our North, warm far faster than the rest of the world.

Have a look at the colour image at Figure RS.5. It gives an overview of all of Canada.

Headline statement 4:

“Warming temperatures have driven wide-ranging, interconnected, and sustained changes across Canada. The changes include more extreme heat, less extreme cold, longer growing seasons, longer fire seasons, earlier peak stream flow, shorter snow and ice cover seasons, thinning glaciers, thawing permafrost, warming oceans, and rising sea level. Human-caused warming is the only explanation for the collective changes observed.”

I do worry about the media coverage. It is true what we have done is irreversible, but that does NOT mean it is too late to save ourselves and our grandchildren from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Only massive efforts to shut down the use of fossil fuels for energy will stop global average temperature from rising, potentially triggering unstoppable and self-accelerating rates of global heating. We must redouble efforts to reduce emissions drastically – all countries and all at once. Simultaneously we must do more to be prepared for what is coming. We must develop community resilience and national capacities to save lives and protect ecosystems.

Instead, Canada is doubling down on fossil fuel expansion.

This week our prime minister is welcoming bankers and investment giants to Toronto for his so-called “Investment Summit.”

Here is how the Clean 50 newsletter presents it:

“Canada for Sale?

• • • Breaking news: Ottawa pitches 167 projects to some of the world’s biggest investors, from offshore wind and batteries to new oil pipelines and LNG
    • What the project list says about the economy Canada wants to build, plus a link to the full investment summit pitch book.”

To prepare for the summit, the government announced slashing environmental assessments for favoured projects.

We must not be silent – nor allow the false narrative that these projects are “good for the economy.”

We must, at least, demand a public, independent assessment of the business case for each project. A cost-benefit analysis. Right now there is no such case for the new pipeline, nor for destroying the ecosystems of Roberts Bank and Burrard Inlet. If there were a business case, wouldn’t private sector companies be asking to build the projects?? This argument – “show me the money” may prove more powerful to the rest of Canada than “hands off our salmon and our Southern Resident Killer Whales!” Why is the current government willing to spend public dollars so recklessly, increasing debt and deficit for projects the business community will not touch? One way or another, we have to push back.

Thanks for all who said hi at Salt Spring Fall Fair yesterday. This afternoon is Cordova Bay’s meeting. Tomorrow is Pender Islands’ town hall and Tuesday Mayne Island! Check here for the schedule: https://elizabethmaymp.ca/events/.

And hope to see you soon!

Lots of love,

Elizabeth

And P.S.

PLEASE help me get signatures above 10K for the National Gallery to – at long last – hold an exhibit of the works of one of Canada’s greatest artists: the Robert Bateman petition closes Sept 25.

You can find and sign this petition here.

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #336 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

It was a tough August. Our by-election results were strong. Nationally, people took note of how strongly Shelley Luce did in North Vancouver-Capilano. And we had such a wonderful candidate in Bruce Livesey in Beaches-East York.

We would have done better – with at least 10-20% of the vote in North Vancouver if not for the last minute shift as all eyes were on Carney walking away from Trump’s so-called “trade talks.” I feel foolish that it did not occur to me until the wee hours of Monday September 1 that the last minute drama was pre-ordained. Ever since July 26, what I found so inexplicable was so glaringly obvious. Why were the by-elections called in August? Only twice since 1867 have any federal votes been called in August – and the last time was 1953. It is a terrible time for an election. Voters and volunteers are on vacation. Local civic organizations have no capacity to organize all candidates meetings. Voter turnout is always lower in by-elections than in general elections, and August voting drives down participation even more.

Mark Carney picked August 31 as election day at the point Trump had already threatened 50% tariffs and set his own August deadline. It was on July 20 that Trump declared August 21 his deadline. Six days later the PM dropped the writ in three by-elections for August 31. The talks received an extension to August 23. Regardless of the outcome of the trade dispute, the high wire act was a certainty to be top of mind when Canadians in three electoral districts voted August 31st. The surge in Liberal support was palpable. Lisa Van Dusen, editor of Policy magazine, has named it Carney’s “Trump Defiance Dividend.” As a banker, Carney knew he could bank on it.

We all felt it. Going door to door, voters who were enthusiastic about Shelley Luce as their future MP on Saturday, by Sunday August 30 were saying, “I love Shelley, but.. I have to vote for Mark Carney.” In that context it is remarkable we did as well as we did.

Please keep sending donations to the North Vancouver-Capilano EDA. Falling short of the 10% of the vote means they will not receive the electoral rebate we confidently expected. That small percentage point difference is a body blow. Shelley Luce is determined to keep the local team together and positive. Replenishing that bank account is critical.

Thank you to all who came and helped, whether from next door or from Saskatchewan as campaign manager Naomi Hunter did. And Marlene Wells from Nova Scotia. And Micheal Holbrook, our candidate from Simcoe North, who was one of my roommates at the apartment of great North Van volunteer Kathy Porter where we billeted. Special thanks to all the Saanich-Gulf Islands volunteers who made the trek – Bob Mackie, Tom Mitchell, Shelagh Levey, Tom Niemann, Tim Lambert, and if I keep listing people I will forget someone! And Rani and the phone canvassers. THANK YOU!! We had an amazing team. We were inspired by an amazing candidate! Shelley Luce and her family gave it their all!

And as I always say, “when Greens do well anywhere, Greens do well everywhere!” On Friday night I was back in Vancouver for an event with Pete Fry. Helping the VanGreens do well in October’s vote does matter! Pete Fry is a lead contender to replace regressive Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim. Please help if you are able.

Back to the pressing threats to climate and whales, sandpipers and indigenous rights, threats are coming from multiple directions. Just ahead of the by-elections on August 28, the Carney administration listed another horrific mega project for fast-tracking under the Building Canada Act, C-5.

The Roberts Bank Expansion is now on the short list that will allow it to bypass, actually violate, other laws. So too is the promised new pipeline to take dilbit alongside the Fraser River and out to the new Roberts Bank expansion for export. On August 1, the pipeline itself was placed on the Canada Gazette, with a deadline for comments on September 18!

The “West Coast Oil Pipeline” was posted in the Canada Gazette.

The “project description,” as posted, is factually in error. It describes the project as shipping crude oil, when it is clear from the Alberta government project description that the pipeline is intended to ship diluted bitumen. It is shocking to me that the government does not think it makes a difference if they make factual errors in the Canada Gazette. Neither crude oil nor dilbit are good for our marine environment when spilled, but dilibt is far more hazardous to human health and the environment, and as far as we know from scientific reviews, dilbit is impossible to contain and clean up in an ocean spill. To run a dilbit pipeline along the Fraser River is unconscionable. But it is in the “national interest” you know. Questions cannot be tolerated.

This is the email address to send your comments.

The government plans to announce its decision by October 1.

Fortunately Dr. David Boyd has shared his brief with me. (I will share mine with you when it is finished!) Here is Dr. Boyd’s conclusion:

“Science, law, and ethics are aligned in the same direction with regard to the proposed West Coast Oil Pipeline, associated infrastructure, and the Very Large Crude Carrier vessels needed to export more diluted bitumen. The International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have made it crystal clear that existing reserves of oil, gas and coal cannot be burned if the nations of the world are to fulfill their obligations under international law.

There has never been a worse time or a worse place for such a proposal. Science, law, and ethics should compel the Government of Canada to reject the proposed designation as a project of national importance, reject the entire West Coast pipeline proposal, and redirect its energy and resources into the development of a sustainable, ethical, and diversified 21st century economy compatible with respect for human rights and our obligations under international law.”

Dr. David R. Boyd,

Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (2018-2024)

Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia

As if it was not glaringly obvious that Canada is not on track to meet our international commitments, the Canadian Climate Institute issued its most recent update on Friday.

“…recent shifts in federal policy have put Canada’s net-zero commitment further out of reach, while undermining our credibility to press other countries for the emissions reductions we need to stave off 5° C of heating.

“This report should concern every decision-maker in Canada. All orders of government should significantly accelerate both emissions reductions and adaptation, because the current level of effort is nowhere near enough to prepare us for what is coming.”

Maybe, just maybe, I can make enough noise once Parliament resumes to get any Liberal to pay attention.

For now, hope to see you today or tomorrow at the Saanich Fair!

Love and thanks for all your support,

Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #335 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Today – August 30 – is the last day of active campaigning before tomorrow’s voting in three by-elections. Best of luck to Bruce, Nathe and Shelley! I am holding in my mind the by-election victory of Green “Hannah the Plumber” – Hannah Spencer – last February. The U.K. mainstream media did not see it coming when a Green MP was elected in the strong Labour country of Andy Burnham, now UK’s PM. By-elections are different, as we know from Paul Manly’s first win in May 2019. Campaigning in North Vancouver is a heart-in-my-throat experience. So much is at stake and for every door that opens with a smile I am encouraged and then so nervous. Shelley Luce, her whole family and the local team are working flat out. We paused on Thursday afternoon (between canvasses) for a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of me becoming leader of the Green Party of Canada, August 27, 2006. Honestly, it seems like more than twenty years ago! We had a party that was like a family reunion. Adriane Carr, former Vancouver City Council member, former leader of the BC Greens, who was co-campaign manager for that campaign for leadership came and spoke, as well as Deputy leader Rainbow Eyes, and Vancouver Green Pete Fry, currently in a real contest to be Mayor of Vancouver, former candidates – dear friend and scientist Lynne Quarmby, George Orr, Dana Taylor and of course our local hero, Shelley Luce! John Kidder, also a co-founder of the BC Greens, led us in Stan Rogers’ “The Mary Ellen Carter” – “rise again!” We sang lustily hoping the Liberal and Conservative campaign offices – all within a few blocks – could hear us. Campaign manager, Naomi Hunter, also leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan, reported volunteers from the bigger parties are amazed by what they call the “Green Army.” We sure are trying!

Most of the news this week centred on reverberations of Trump’s irrational and illegal tariffs and, in almost equal measure, his attention-seeking antics. Best to ignore lunatic proclamations to rename Lake Ontario. Time for some version of “Keep calm and carry on!”

The biggest impacts that threaten Canada come from the uncertainty. Actual impacts seem to be less dreadful than initially feared.

From The National Observer: “the new tariffs apply to only around five per cent of Canada’s exports south of the border, representing, according to RBC, about 0.4 per cent of total Canadian GDP and employment. …The truth is, a few days ago TD calculated the new tariffs could cut Canadian GDP growth by 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the coming year; meaningful, but not an economic cataclysm. And today, abiding concerns were likely dispelled by Canada’s latest GDP data, showing the economy grew in fact at a 3.3 per cent annualized rate in the last quarter, with exports up 3.6 per cent and business investment up 2.3 per cent. The US’s trade hit is landing on an economy that just had a very strong quarter.”

So while the Canadian media focused on the economy, the real news was the horror of the glacier collapse in Nepal, also impacting Tibet. Thousands have died. Maybe tens of thousands. People and whole villages have been washed away.

This is from The Guardian: “On Wednesday morning local time, a landslide of ice and rock resulted in a torrent of mud, water and debris bursting the banks of the Trishuli River, also known as the Bhotekoshi, which runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away.

Experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said water levels on the Trishuli River rose by as much as nine metres in half an hour. The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Trishuli, was most affected, they said.”

Representatives of Nepal’s government initially thought the disaster was triggered by an earthquake. It turned out it was the other way around. The seismic event registering 5.2 on the Richter scale was caused by the glacier’s collapse. And the glacier collapse was caused by global warming. We have known for decades that climate change would cause glaciers to retreat, and eventually disappear. It was one of those predictable things we cited at Environment Canada when I was there in the minister’s office in the 1980s. The official statement was that if we did not act, we could see glaciers retreat by 2030. So, as ever, as emissions rose rapidly instead of falling, disasters are coming faster. Meanwhile the loony echo chambers of the denial team pump out fake quotes claiming time had proven those warning of climate disasters were like Chicken Little. None of it is happening, according the the local North Van Peoples Party candidate. I wish the climate scientists had been wrong. But there was little to no doubt among them forty years ago. There is no doubt now.

This week we mourn the loss of one of Canada’s most brilliant and prescient scientists. My dear friend Jim Bruce died last Sunday, August 23. He was 97. He was so sharp, remembering all the details when I needed to know things about almost any waterway in Canada. His work was extraordinary. He played a huge role in water policy, working on the Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and flood reduction plans, back in the days when we had federal-provincial flood mapping. Jim played a huge role in setting up the IPCC. Back in June 1988, at the first large, international climate conference, “Our Changing Atmosphere: implications for global security,” chaired by the late Stephen Lewis, over 300 scientists gathered. Jim penned the words for the consensus statement, opening with this: “Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to global nuclear war.”

That Toronto conference, co-hosted by the UNEP and WMO, led directly to the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC). God knows Jim has earned his rest.

Much love and sympathy to his whole family and especially his dear wife Ruth. It was such an honour to have been his friend.

And now we must redouble efforts in his memory and for our children and grandchildren. May God forgive us for the wasted years; for allowing the masters of BIG OIL to make their billions, robbing future generations in broad daylight. In Nepal and Tibet they scramble to reach people who may still be alive in tunnels under a mountain of rubble, while the criminals who knowingly increased the risks of fires and floods and heat domes plan their next world cruise. As John ended a recent Sunday letter- “Don’t let the liars win!”

I must close here and get back to work – reaching the voters of North Vancouver-Capilano.

Much love and thanks,
    Elizabeth

And P.S. Important book launch!

Book Launches & Celebrations for Listening Once Again to Our Great Mother: The Fairy Creek Blockades and the Life Story of Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones, by Elder Bill Jones and Karen Moe.

• September 13th The Nanaimo Harbourfront Library 1pm.
• September 17th Russell Books Victoria 6:30pm

$10 ticket/ VIP $30 with signed copy of the book.
Reserve your spot!
Walk-ins also welcome depending upon space.

• September 22nd Saltspring Island Public Library 7pm.
• September 24th The University of Victoria First Peoples House 1:30pm

Reserve your spot!
Walk-ins also welcome depending upon space.

• September 30th UBC Truth & Reconciliation Orange Shirt Day Parade! Elder Bill is the keynote speaker! 11:45 am to 3:00pm, beginning at the amphitheatre below the clock tower (1956 Main Mall) on the Vancouver campus.

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #334 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

This was a roller-coaster of a week. This roller-coaster was in the very unamusing amusement park circus run by ringmaster Donald J Trump. We thought we had a trade deal… and as the clock ticked toward the midnight Friday deadline, the whole thing blew up.

Paul Manly, Green Party former trade critic, former Green MP and current member of Nanaimo City Council, North Vancouver by-election candidate Dr. Shelley Luce and I held a press conference on Friday. We addressed the brinkmanship of Trump’s self-imposed deadline and threat of 50% tariffs. At that point, we thought there was a deal to avert Trump’s outrageous threat of 50% tariffs.

Just after midnight Friday, we knew there was no deal. By early Saturday morning, I was asked by The Globe and Mail for an immediate reaction.

I sent them this:

As leader of the Green Party of Canada my reaction is one of shock. It had seemed we were close to some sort of deal, and the question for Canadians this morning would be, ‘Is this a fair deal?’

But now, the questions are around the credibility gap between what US officials claim and what Canada’s team is saying. What we know is this, Trump has violated the CUSMA agreement he agreed to in the last round of talks. In any question of credibility, I believe Canadian negotiators. We must stand firm as Canadians. And I take the Prime Minister at his word. He promised ‘no deal is better than a bad deal.’ Greens stand with Team Canada. If we walked away, then that speaks for itself. This was a bad deal. We stand with all sectors and workers impacted by this. And our efforts must be directed to protect those impacted by US actions that violate trade rules. Elbows up.

When I sent this to the Globe, the Prime Minister had not yet spoken to the media. Reporters asked me to share my thoughts after tuning into the Prime Minister’s press conference. With time to reflect and after working with Paul and Shelley, putting our heads together in the North Van campaign office, I sent these further points:

We support actions by our government, but we call for a more strategic response. Dollar-for-dollar retaliation is reasonable, but insufficient. Retaliatory tariffs hurt consumers. When you are in a boxing ring with a bully, a bully with an economy roughly 12 times the size of Canada’s, our push-back has to be targeted to where it hits that bully in ways that cause pain. It is time for strategic reserves for Canadian aluminum, potash, and wood products. Holding back resources the US wants will hit their industries in key districts the US President needs in upcoming midterms. It is time to stop expansion of fossil fuel exports to the US, as all proposed pipelines will do. We must be far less reliant on fossil fuels with their concomitant increased competition with US in Trump’s fantasy markets. We must boost electrification of clean steel production for European and other markets. We need to consider export tariffs on Canadian raw resources to the US, including energy. There are things we can do that will build our economic sovereignty. It is time to go beyond an eye-for-an-eye to a real shift in our subservient relationship with the USA.

As our national ‘elbows up’ mood grows, so does petition 7531 calling for U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra to be declared ‘persona non-grata’. As I write this, the petition hovers at approximately one quarter of a million signatures. It is open only to Canadian citizens, but citizens under 18 can sign.

I spent the beginning of this week in the beautiful Toronto riding of Beaches–East York. With our impressive candidate there, nationally respected journalist Bruce Livesey, we met with supporters and voters who are hoping for an effective alternative.

Back in BC by Wednesday, with the exception of one day’s commitment at home in Saanich-Gulf Islands, I am now staying put in North Vancouver-Capilano through August 31– Election day! I am really sad to miss Tuesday night’s concert in Victoria of The Guess Who and Chilliwack, Randy Bachman had even given me tickets! (Bummer! But I have to stay focused and every conversation with every voter counts!)

Thanks to amazing supporters in this campaign, local residents and folks pouring in from outside the riding, the Elect Shelley Luce campaign now has 200 volunteers! We had to beg and twist arms to get any all-candidate meetings in a snap August by-election. Community groups were scrambling and unsure if they could pull it together. I am very grateful that the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce agreed to hold an all-candidates meeting, in partnership with The North Shore News. If you want to get a sense of our wonderful Green candidate I urge you to watch the un-edited youtube of that August 17 debate. I think you will agree Shelley won – hands down!!

And check out her campaign website to see how the campaign is building with endorsements and support!

Advance voting has started in all three by-elections. If you can, please reach out to anyone you know in Chicoutimi–Le Fjord, North Vancouver–Capilano and Beaches–East York. Urge them to use the amazing power of their vote and VOTE Green! Advance polls are also open tomorrow (Monday).

The single most effective climate message–the single most important message for old growth and salmon and SRKW–will be electing Green MPs on August 31!

Paul Manly recalled how after his win in the May 2019 by-election, reporters asked then PM Justin Trudeau how a Green won in an upset. He said, “I guess people in Nanaimo–Ladysmith care about climate.” Winning is not about the Green Party scoring partisan points. It is about showing the PM that Canadians care about the issues and pledges he has betrayed and abandoned.

With love and thanks for all your support, kind messages and donations. We do not give in to Bully Trump and we never give up in fighting to end our suicidal addiction to fossil fuels, For the love of our precious planet and all its creatures, we never give up!

Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #333 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

This morning finds me in Sackville New Brunswick, home of Mount Allison University. Yesterday I had a great meeting with local concerned citizens in Moncton about the multiple threats to New Brunswick of Capital B BIG projects, and the night before I attended another in Fredericton. Citizens are waking up and organizing against the new US-owned LNG plant planned for the Tantramar Marsh area, a huge AI data Centre planned for Lorneville, the proposed Sisson tungsten and molybdenum mine, and more.

Just as I found in Nova Scotia on Monday at an anti-uranium mining effort in the Halifax area and on Tuesday at the AGM of a long-standing, well-respected international conservation organization, Friends of Nature, people are angry at their governments. Nova Scotia’s Premier overturned the moratorium on uranium mining in place since 1981. Nova Scotia had a long Royal Commission of Inquiry in the early 1980s that concluded with a 1985 firm recommendation from Judge Robert McCleave that uranium exploration and mining were incompatible with Nova Scotia’s existing industries and public health. Premier Tim Houston reversed that decades-old decision, one enshrined in law, without any public consultation. Similarly, he reversed the provincial fracking ban. As one local citizen pointed out “PROBLEM, we have a Houston!”

This afternoon, we head west by train at least as far as Montreal on VIA’s legendary route, “The Ocean.” Lucky for me, since John could not come with me, my dear friend Karen joined me so I had company on long drives. And the amazing Syd and Sandy Dumaresq, mainstays of Friends of Nature, lent me their plug-in hybrid! They take the train from Halifax today and as they disembark in Sackville, I give them the keys to their fully charged car and board for the overnight trip to Montreal. At least that is the plan!!

We received some great news on Friday. Likely in anticipation of the upcoming Toronto by-election in Beaches East York, the federal government has announced it will not support Premier Doug Ford’s plan to expand the Toronto Island airport to allow jet travel. It is a good sign the Carney Liberals can be moved by fear of losing a seat! The Greens in Beaches East York will have a nomination meeting soon. Two great candidates are vying for the chance to represent the Greens in the upcoming race.

In other encouraging news, the government has confirmed it received over 20,000 emails in response to the May 8th discussion papers that had threatened major rollbacks of environmental and Indigenous rights protections. Canadian Press reporter Nick Murray reached me on the road. His article was full of interesting points.

I prepared a submission for the Green Party and it is posted in full  on my MP website: Response to the May 8 Discussion papers: “Getting Major Projects Built in Canada” and “Strengthening One Canadian Economy through trade and transportation”

Now we must be hyper-vigilant for the legislated changes based on the May 8th papers still poised to be legislation in September.

And in lockstep with Carney’s “move fast and break things” approach comes Premier Eby with this announcement: Delta’s Tilbury LNG expansion project gets green light from B.C. government More GHG emissions. More fracking. How do elected leaders in this country fail to notice we are on fire? And they call it progress when they pour fuel on the flames!

This week my focus shifts to the Vancouver area. We have a fundraising event for the campaign to elect Shelley Luce in North Vancouver-Capilano on Friday night. If you would like to come and meet Shelley, please email us at <info@sgigreenparty.ca>. The writ drop is likely for August 25. That means advance polls will be over the Labour Day weekend. No time to waste in getting prepared! I will tour Pride at the Pier in North Vancouver with Shelley on August 1. The next day is the big Vancouver Pride parade. Join us! Vancouver Greens, BC Greens and GPC volunteers and leaders will all march together.

One last thing. This petition is getting a lot of attention. If you want to sign on, deadline is July 30.

e-7395

Petition to the House of Commons

Whereas:

• As Canada enters a building phase, Prime Minister Mark Carney asked for cost saving ideas;
• Since 1950, Stornoway, 541 Acacia Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, has been the official residence of Canada’s Leader of the Official Opposition;
• The main building has 19 main rooms, approximately 9,500 square feet (883 meters);
• Stornoway is served by a staff of three: a chef, chauffeur, and household administrator;
• The National Capital Commission manages this property, which is closed to the public;
• Canada is the only western democracy to fund a residence for the Official Opposition;
• This cost saving petition is deliberately silent on implementation.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to stop funding Stornoway as a private residence for the Leader of the Official Opposition.

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Sign/e-7395

Thanks. Take care and more in your in box next Sunday!

Love from New Brunswick! and Via Rail!

Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #327 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

If you are near Victoria and feel like a good joyful march, BC and federal Greens are meeting TODAY at 10:30 on Government Street between Chatham and Herald. Pride parades are a new summer tradition. Toronto’s Pride was the first big one of the 2026 season, although the June Pride week events where I live in beautiful Sidney by the Sea were super. Next up is Salt Spring Island on July 19. The more the merrier!

Upcoming deadlines of note:

July 17 (this Friday!) is the deadline to apply to run for leader of the Green Party of Canada. Details here

And reminder, I am looking forward to passing the torch in November to a new leader, or co-leaders, but I am NOT retiring! I will be working hard in Parliament as a Green MP!

July 22 is the deadline to submit comments on two discussion documents released May 8: the federal government’s assault on species at risk, an expedited review of big projects, in the name of “streamlining” approvals of projects big and small. As I shared over a month ago, it was a big win to get the “BUILD BIG AND FAST” bulldozer to slow down long enough to give people time to comment. The original deadline of June 7 was pushed back to July 22. I think this was mostly thanks to Althia Raj writing in the Toronto Star that one suggested change to the Species at Risk Act seems targeted on the legal extinction of our Southern Resident Killer Whales. 

Quoting from Raj’s May 14 article:

“In a discussion paper released last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government proposed, among other things, to grant cabinet the ability to “exempt specific projects from the application of the jeopardy test for species at risk, but only if it’s in the public interest and if the proponent (of the project) has made all reasonable efforts to avoid or reduce impacts on at-risk species.”

“The “jeopardy test” is a prohibition on driving a species to extinction. “Not just kills the individuals, but wipes the species forever off the planet,” explained Environmental Defence’s Counsel and Ontario Environment Program Manager Phil Pothen.

“Several sources — including two within the government, who spoke on condition of anonymity — told the Star that the measure is a carve-out for the southern resident killer whales, in particular.”

These threats remain and strong responses are needed.

1. Getting Major Projects Built in Canada – Discussion Paper on Proposed Legislative, Regulatory, and Policy Reforms
2. Canada’s new government to simplify and accelerate Canada’s regulatory process

This week, blink and you missed it, the Prime Minister removed one more Conservative MP. Richard Martel, Conservative Quebec MP, was appointed to the Senate. His seat is now vacant adding another by-election to the political calendar. 

The number of by-elections since the April 2025 federal election breaks all records – we just hit double digits. If you are trying to keep score, there were three by-elections in April 2026, (two created by the PM naming Liberal MPs he did not want in his cabinet to foreign assignments, and one by-election was due to court action.) In the result, the three seats were Liberal after the federal election and they stayed Liberal. 

Now, because the PM has appointed Jonathan Wilkinson (who I believe did not want to quit Parliament) as ambassador to the EU, there will be a by-election in North Vancouver Capilano. I hate seeing Wilkinson go. Although he and I did not agree on everything, as Fisheries Minister, he created the wild Pacific Salmon Strategy, as Energy and Natural Resources Minister, and as former Environment Minister with Steven Guilbeault, he played a key role in establishing the now cancelled climate policies.

Of course, my dear friend former Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will be officially leaving Parliament altogether, likely in August, requiring a by-election for his seat of Laurier-St Marie. NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, who was the last remnant of Jack Layton’s 2011 Orange Crush in Quebec and the only NDP MP from Quebec, is already sitting as an Independent, preparatory to leaving the federal Parliament. He plans to run as a provincial candidate for Quebec Solidaire in the October provincial election. One Bloc MP has left Parliament to run provincially for the PQ, so that makes four by-elections for Quebec federal seats. One Conservative Saskatchewan MP retired (Cathay Waganthall from Yorkton Melville) and lastly, a very progressive, animal rights and climate activist, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine Smith, made it official last week when he  announced he is leaving federal Parliament. He quit his role as Toronto MP for the Beaches East York. So, the clock starts ticking on holding a by-election there.

That makes seven upcoming by-elections likely before the end of 2026—four in Quebec, one in Saskatchewan, one in Ontario and one in BC.

Chronologically from the first seat formally vacated, the earliest by-election to be called, perhaps as soon as early August, will likely be North Van. My hope is that citizens concerned about the new pipeline announcements, upset about threats to the South Resident Killer Whales, who are angry about $10 billion being spent to build Roberts Bank, AND make it the terminus for a new pipeline ALSO to be built with public funds, will decide that the North Vancouver by-election is a referendum on these horrors. If enough people get involved, we will elect a Green MP in that by-election. Our candidate in North Vancouver will be announced next week, so tune in next Sunday morning to find out more about the future MP for North Vancouver-Capilano! Nothing would communicate to the new Liberal government that voters want them to implement the platform they ran on rather than the one Poilievre ran on, nothing would be as powerful a message as losing what they assume is a “safe” Liberal seat.

In very good news, thank heavens someone is standing up for the marine environment of Burrard Inlet. This week theTsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) filed an application for Judicial Review of the Second Narrows Dredging. 

The work in restoring the marine environment has been painstaking. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation took years to rehabilitate the area. After a century of industrial use, it was almost a dead zone. I was talking the other day with Nikki Wright, the founder of Sea Change, the NGO featured on the TWN website documenting the work. Nikki said Burrard Inlet is now “teeming with life.” And the BC government and Ottawa want to destroy it to more fully load dilbit tankers! The TWN/ SeaChange partnership is inspiring. Restoring Burrard Inlet with Treaty, Lands and Resources. Full disclosure, I have joined the board of SeaChange. Please support its work with a donation

Next week I will share how we best support the TWN in this court action.

As ever, thanks for reading my little weekly missive – and thanks so much for good wishes and shared commitment to Mother Earth, love and hope!

All together now!
Elizabeth

The post Good Sunday Morning! Issue #326 appeared first on Elizabeth May.