Good Sunday Morning!
Last Sunday, the prime minister, not unexpectedly, announced three by-elections to fill currently empty seats. Two of those vacancies are due to the prime minister’s desire to clear the decks of some Trudeau-era Cabinet ministers he wanted to move elsewhere- Chrystia Freeland to duties in Ukraine while living in the UK, and Bill Blair to High Commissioner from Canada to the UK. Only the Terrebonne by-election was due to events not driven by Carney himself. The Supreme Court of Canada nullified the results that had elected a first-time Liberal by only one vote. On April 13th voters in University Rosedale, Scarborough Southwest, and Terrebonne will choose their next MP. Greens are off to the races. Yesterday I was with Scarborough Southwest candidate Pooja Malhotra walking gingerly up icy driveways. Pooja took one quite dramatic fall on a particularly icy patch, but in good Green fashion bounced back up proclaiming “no damage done!” We had a surprisingly good reception at the door. The new Liberal candidate had, mere hours before her appointment as Liberal federal candidate, been the Ontario NDP’s deputy leader. And in more floor crossing news, this week Carney got closer to a majority after Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout joined the Liberal ranks. Lori is a very dedicated Inuk woman and we are friends, but I wish she had not made that move.
Meanwhile our University Rosedale Green candidate Andrew Massey is finding Liberal voters quite angry that the federal Liberals are (apparently) supporting Doug Ford’s move to expand the Toronto Island airport. Ford wants to massively extend runways to where commercial jets can land in downtown Toronto. Former Toronto Mayor David Miller won on the issue of keeping the Toronto Island airport small. “No Jets” is a familiar urban Toronto rallying cry. Toronto area Liberal MPs are now suggesting, times have changed.
Globally Greens have done well in two recent elections. As I shared on Sunday’s March 1 letter, on February 27, the Greens of England and Wales won a decisive victory in the Manchester area by-election in Gorton and Denton. And last Sunday, the German Greens pulled off an upset win in German “car country” electing the first premiership by a German of Turkish origin. Good and inspiring news all round! As quoted from the Guardian: “Significantly, Mr Özdemir met this challenge head-on, foregrounding the economic opportunities unleashed by a confident green agenda. As he told one broadcaster: “If you unite climate action and the economy, you can find a lot of support.” His victory showcased the potential of a pragmatic programme focused on gamechanging climate investment and improving the quality and delivery of public goods, from rail networks to social housing.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/09/bitter-result-friedrich-merz-greens-baden-wurttemberg-cem-ozdemir
The three April 13th by-elections are not likely to be the last this year. Rumours increase that Mark Carney will name North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson to a European diplomatic post.
This week my efforts to raise awareness of the routine bulldozing of dreadful bills through parliament got a tad more media notice. For the first time since Carney became Prime Minister, the Senate amended a bill. C-4 the Affordability Act had a hidden bit if weirdness in amending the Elections Act, with changes to take effect 26 years ago. The Senate amendments would have required he government to deal with privacy protections for Canadians’ information held by federal political parties within three years. Not only did the Liberals reject the Senate amendments, they were joined by the Conservatives, the Bloc and the NDP. I was the only MP to speak in favour of keeping the sensible Senate amendments. I blasted them all and asked if they were not embarrassed to be standing for a bill that had hidden sections operating a time machine. Maybe they were embarrassed. Maybe that is why not one MP asked me a single question. Within moments, the Speaker proclaimed that as debate had collapsed and no recognized party had requested a recorded vote, C-4 rejecting Senate amendments was now carried on Division. Royal Assent quickly followed.
Here is my Speech on Bill C-4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfuUYVO4UWE
In more climate backtracking, this week Mark Carney’s welcome announcement of investments in Arctic sovereignty included massive subsidies to oil and gas. Going all the way back to the efforts to develop the gas deposits of the Mackenzie Valley.. Carney’s announcement included $1,5 billion for the 800km Mackenzie Highway project, now being referred to the Major Projects Office. While $1.5 billion is stated, the true costs will be double or triple that. The big winners will be mining and fossil fuels.
Work this week also included opposing the widening war in Iran, in both my question in QP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpgVnmbb5uk and my speech in the Take Note debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBW5CjtdqcE.
And noting that March 9th marked Mark Carney’s first anniversary as prime minister, I held a press conference to provide something of a review.
Press Conference: https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/green-party-leader-elizabeth-may-speaks-with-reporters–march-12-2026?id=5ed73856-d44d-4b76-aafb-c7bec5ca5bdc.
I am grateful for the many notes I received from readers after last week’s letter.
Please hang on to hope. There are positive glimmers to be found in the beating hearts of democracies everywhere.
love and thanks
Elizabeth