“I am so pleased to announce that we have found an excellent new location!” says Elizabeth May. “The new office will make it easier for residents to connect with me and my team and access the support they need. We look forward to welcoming residents to our new location.”

Elizabeth May is excited about the change and looks forward to welcoming even more constituents into the office. With this newer and larger space, we intend to offer free meeting space for groups to gather as needed.

The new office, at 111-2506 Beacon Avenue in Sidney, is in an area with higher pedestrian traffic, is easier to find and provides parking. Located on the first floor of the Landmark Building, it is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

The current office at 1-9711 Fourth Street will be closed to the public for walk-ins during the week of September 28, but will remain operational by phone and email. Constituency services will continue uninterrupted.

MP Elizabeth May looks forward to holding an office opening event later in fall 2026. Until then, everyone is welcome to visit.

New office effective October 5, 2026:
111-2506 Beacon Avenue
Sidney, BC V8L 3C7

The post New Constituency Office Location appeared first on Elizabeth May.

“I am so pleased to announce that we have found an excellent new location! Our constituency office will be moving to 111-2506 Beacon Ave, Sidney, BC V8L 3C7, effective October 5, 2026,” Elizabeth May, “The new office will make it easier for residents to connect with me and my team and access the support you need. We look forward to welcoming residents to our new location.”

Elizabeth May is excited for the change and looks forward to welcoming even more constituents into the office. With this newer and larger space, we intend to offer free meeting space for groups to gather as needed. The new office is in a higher pedestrian traffic area, easier to find and provides parking. The office is also on the first floor of the Landmark Building and is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

The current office at 1-9711 Fourth Street will be closed to the public for walk-ins for the week of September 28th but remains operational by phone and by email. Constituency services will continue uninterrupted.

MP Elizabeth May looks forward to holding an office opening event later in Fall 2026. Until then, everyone is welcome to visit.

Contact information remains the same:
Office hours: Tuesday-Friday from 10am-4:00pm PT
Tel: 250-657-2000 / 1-800-667-9188 (Gulf Islands) Fax: 250-657-2004 elizabeth.may.c1@parl.gc.ca

Meet Elizabeth May

Constituents can seek help with access to Federal Government Services such as:

• Immigration/passport-related inquiries
• Canada Pension Plan / Old Age Security
• Employment Insurance
• Veterans Affairs
• Canada Revenue federal matters

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Debra Eindiguer, Chief of Staff
Office of Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands
debra.eindiguer.827@parl.gc.ca
c: 613-240-8921

The post Elizabeth May MP announces new constituency office location 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.

Prior to any discussion of this specific project described as the “West Coast Oil Pipeline” As a former practising lawyer and as a Member of Parliament who respects the process of statutory interpretation, I wish to put on record the following.

It is important to note that this is the first use of the Building Canada Act (formerly known as C-5) to be used to designate a project of national interest.

Therefore, it is precedent setting.

The process by which the Privy Council reaches its decision should create a predictable pathway for future projects, and decision makers.

So far, I submit, this government is not off to a good start.

The project description in the notice on the Canada Gazette is factually incorrect. More on that error below.

Ideally, the decision-makers should have clear direction from the law creating the process. Unfortunately, that is difficult as former Bill C-5 only provides the illusion of guidance.

First to the definitions.

The definition of “national interest project” is tautological:

‘national interest project means a project named in Schedule 1.”

The excerpts below make it clear that while the word “criteria” is used, the term is not used in a usual sense to guide a decision. Criteria are provided following the decision. While the word “factors” is used, with the listing of areas of critical public concern, as in the use of the word “criteria,” there are no required elements of a proposal to be satisfied. The “factors” are only suggestions and not requirements. Had they been requirements, the legislation at section 6, would have used the word “shall” and not “may.”

National interest
4.1 (1) The Governor in Council may, by order, for the purposes of section 5, define national interest.

Criteria
(2) In order to promote transparency and predictability, an order made under subsection (1) must set out specific criteria that must be met by the proponent of a project in order for the project to be found to be in the national interest.

Report
(3) If an order is not made within 15 days after the day on which this Act comes into force, the Minister must, within five sitting days of the end of that period, cause to be tabled in each House of Parliament a report that sets out the reasons for the delay and the expected timeline for the making of the order.

Power of Governor in Council
5 (1) If the Governor in Council is of the opinion that a project is in the national interest, the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, by order, amend Schedule 1 to add the name of the project and a detailed description of it, including the location where it is to be carried out.

Factors
(6) In deciding whether to make an order under subsection (1) or (4) in respect of a project, the Governor in Council may consider any factor that the Governor in Council considers relevant, including the extent to which the project can
(a) strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience and security;
(b) provide economic or other benefits to Canada;
(c) have a high likelihood of successful execution;
(d) advance the interests of Indigenous peoples; and
(e) contribute to clean growth and to meeting Canada’s objectives with respect to climate change.

These flaws, consisting of a complete lack of guidance to Privy Council, leave the Cabinet with unrestricted political discretion in deciding what is in the “national interest.” The process by which this legislation was rushed through parliament has resulted in a dramatic diminution in the role of Parliament- the Legislative branch of government and a massive increase in the power of the Executive branch – the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet. Due to a programming motion brought forward by the governing party and supported by the Official Opposition, Bill C-5 went from Second Reading through committee, clause by clause, Report Stage and Third Reading between Monday June 16, 2025 to Friday June 20, 2025. Senate did as instructed and the bill had Royal Assent without proper study.

This decision will be the first under the Building Canada Act. As such, it would be wise for the Privy Council to establish by precedent what the Cabinet will require of all future projects to be considered in the “national interest.”

The Green Party strongly urges that any project must be supported by an independent assessment of the economic viability of the project. A cost-benefit analysis must be transparent and verified by a third party, such as the Parliamentary Budget Office demonstrating that it is a project that will finish on time and in the black.

Such an analysis is consistent with what we demand of regulations. The Treasury Board’s Policy on Cost-Benefit Analysis, effective September 1, 2018, says:

“Canada’s regulatory policy, set out in the Cabinet Directive on Regulation (the directive), requires departments to analyze the costs and benefits of proposed federal regulations. This Policy on Cost-Benefit Analysis (the policy) outlines mandatory requirements for departments when undertaking such analysis as part of a Regulatory Impact Analysis.

This policy is supported by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s (TBS’s) Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide, which provides detailed guidance on how to analyze the costs and benefits of proposed regulations.

This sets out a template the Privy Council should adopt as a mandatory pre-condition to any project being listed on Schedule 1 as in the “national interest.”

Especially, as in this case, where public funds are underwriting the project, taxpayers need to know if the project is good value for money. Previous history with political decisions to spend tens of billions on a pipeline without such analysis should serve as a cautionary tale for decision-makers now. The TransMountain pipeline, built by the Crown corporation created for this purpose spend over $34 billion in public funds. While it is reported the TMX “makes money” it has not yet transferred funds to the government sufficient to pay the annual interest costs on the debt on the $34 billion spent in its construction.

Similarly, the public was told the TMX pipeline would diversity our fossil fuel energy exports. However, the Spring Economic Statement in 2026 confirmed that 90% of Canada’s fossil fuel exports still go to the United States. Most of the tankers loaded with diluted bitumen head south to the USA, not East to Asia.

Prior to deciding a second pipeline to British Columbia is in the “national interest” there must be a transparent cost-benefit analysis that examines the market for unprocessed bitumen in other markets.

As Peter Nicholson (a former Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada and currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Canadian Climate Institute) wrote recently https://sagecanada.substack.com/p/a-pipeline-isnt-a-field-of-dreams “If you build it..” it is not at all clear that there will be sufficient production of bitumen from Alberta to keep the proposed pipeline at 100% capacity.

“The central question is not whether Canada would like another west coast pipeline. It’s whether the oil industry itself sees a commercial opportunity large enough to justify building, and filling, one. A pipeline is not a “Field of Dreams”: it cannot be built simply on the hope that production will eventually materialize. Before committing tens of billions of dollars, investors need confidence that sufficient oil will be available over several decades to generate an adequate return. If there is no convincing answer to that question, the pipeline should not be built.” Peter Nicholson.

Most promotion of the pipeline is predicated on the false claim that Alberta’s production of bitumen has been hampered by federal regulations of various types. This is not the case. In fact, Alberta’s bitumen production is at an all time high.

The volatility of oil prices due to war and other Geo-political stresses must also be assessed. Bitumen is an inherently expensive form of fossil fuel to produce, while also of inherently low value. It remains a solid that must undergo an expensive upgrading process to become synthetic crude. It is only synthetic crude and not bitumen that can be refined. When world oil prices drop below $80/barrel, it is a losing proposition to mine bitumen.

So too should the impact of alternatives for the Canadian economy be assessed. Primary should be consideration of economic impacts for Canada in upgrading and refining raw bitumen in Canada for use in Canada, enhancing self-sufficiency and jobs within Canada. Failure to consider such domestic production alternatives is astonishing given the down-side economic risks, and prior to consideration of other negative impacts.

2. Error in Project Description in Canada Gazette

The failure to accurately describe the project is deeply concerning, with both market, economic and non-economic impacts in any analysis.

The “West Coast Oil Pipeline” was posted in the Canada Gazette. https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2026/2026-08-01/html/sup1-eng.html

I have bolded the factual error in the Canada Gazette.

The Canada Gazette published a notice on August 1, 2026, to consider listing the West Coast Oil Pipeline Project as a national interest project under the Building Canada Act (details via the Major Projects Office).

Project Overview

• Route: Runs approximately 1,250 km from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a deepwater marine loading facility near Delta, British Columbia.

• Capacity: Transports up to one million barrels of crude oil per day.

• Cost: Estimated between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion.

• Leadership: Advanced via a partnership involving Trans Mountain Corporation, the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, and Pembina Pipeline

The Project Description from the Government of Alberta makes it clear the product to be shipped is diluted bitumen. The market analysis for the product being shipped is very different for crude oil than for dilbit (diluted bitumen). Crude oil has a much larger range of options to reach refineries that can process crude. Diluted bitumen is far less attractive to industry destinations. Dilbit is essentially a solid at its terminus. The Diluent, used only to allow a solid to be shipped by pipe, is removed after shipment. The solid bitumen must be upgraded to synthetic crude in order to be refined. The Koch brothers in the United States built up refining capacity to handle Venezuelan heavy oil, with processes that also work for oil sands bitumen. Canada used to have 40 refineries. We now have 17. Few of them can upgrade bitumen. So any market review of the viability of the proposed project must consider which refineries are capable of upgrading bitumen. Approximately one third to one half of the bitumen Canada is currently shipping to China is used to pave roads.

In addition to market considerations, shipping dilbit instead of crude oil has significant impacts in the event of a spill. Oil spill response technologies have been designed to manage spills of conventional crude, no technology exists to eliminate the devastating impacts of an oil spill, but conventional crude is more likely to be contained in floating oil booms. Dilbit on the other hand behaves quite differently. The first spill of dilbit that identified this difference was the 2010 freshwater spill in the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge made numerous errors in response to the break in its pipe, all documented by the US National Transportation Safety Board. The dilbit separated. The heavier bitumen sank to the river floor while the “diluent” volatilized into the atmosphere, making people in adjacent neighbourhoods unwell.

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA10MP007.aspx

In 2016 the Royal Society of Canada literature review found that there was insufficient science that dilbit can be cleaned up. DFO studies have found it will separate in a spill in the marine environment, with the bitumen forming oil balls that sink. Natural Resources Canada relied on tests in freshwater vats to which salt was added, the same approach used by Kinder Morgan in its Gainford Alberta “study” that ran for 10 days only. DFO used its real-life facilities in Dartmouth that replicate the ocean environment, using actual sea water. Luck has been with us thus far and no spill of dilbit has occurred on Canada’s coasts. Most experts agree that it is only a matter of time before a dilbit spill occurs. It is not clear that we have adequate technology to deal with such a spill. The likelihood is that the bitumen will sink to the ocean floor while the diluent volatilizes and makes people sick, including increasing their lifetime cancer risk.

3. Impact of the new pipeline routing

The new proposed pipeline route, although advertised as though it “twins” the existing route actually vastly increases the risk to BC wild salmon by running the pipeline along the Fraser River to reach the new (and disastrous) proposed Roberts Bank terminal.

3a: The original Roberts Bank 2 project and threats to Species at Risk

While the promotional materials from the federal government emphasize that there have been many studies on the Roberts Bank expansion, they fail to mention that the studies were for a container port expansion, not for a pipeline terminus and oil tanker port.

Nevertheless, the environmental review of the earlier proposal for the Roberts Bank expansion made it clear it would cause permanent environmental damage threatening numerous species.

In March 2020, the Canadian Impact Assessment Agency concluded that the Terminal 2 expansion project will:

• Cause detrimental impacts on threatened Chinook salmon populations from the Fraser River that feed endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

• Destroy the legally-protected Critical Habitat of Southern Resident killer whales by increasing underwater noise and disturbance, thus reducing the whale’s ability to find and capture their Chinook salmon prey.

The Panel also concluded that these impacts could not be mitigated, offset, or compensated for by the measures proposed by VFPA. Offsetting describes the act of restoring or creating habitat elsewhere to make up for lost habitat as a result of a project.

Of particular concern is the threat to the global population of the Western Sandpiper. The Impact assessment panel acknowledged this threat but lacked sufficient science to make specific findings.

This article in The Narwhal is essential reading for decision-makers prior to fast-tracking a bulldozer over the survival of a species.

“Tiny birds, and their tiny superfood, could decline due to ‘irreversible’ effects of Vancouver port expansion

The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion at Canada’s busiest cargo port could be fast-tracked by the federal government. It’s a major stop for 3.5 million western sandpipers to eat and recharge while travelling the entire Pacific”

By Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood

Photography by Isabelle Groc

Nov. 3, 2025(Updated May 15, 2026

“Microscopic organisms make up the food — called biofilm — which supports the round, fluffy western sandpiper. Biofilm provides the little shorebird fuel as it makes an epic journey between Peru and Alaska. Thousands of western sandpipers fly in artistic murmurations and gently poke their pointy beaks into the mud, scooping up biofilm with hairy tongues. Biofilm is part of the foundation of the food chain that also supports crabs and fish, bears and whales.”…

“Bob Elner, scientist emeritus with Environment and Climate Change Canada and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, said evidence suggests this unique richness is due to the spring influx of fresh water from the Fraser River into the salt water, which causes a “shock” in the tiny diatoms, causing them to be highly active and pulse out rich omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients.

Elner said Roberts Bank “is the largest old unaltered, intertidal estuary” in the province; equivalent banks have been impacted by development. He closely studies western sandpipers, but said they aren’t the only creatures that may decline as a result of changing the biofilm.

“Really, it’s much bigger than that, because those same fatty acids [in the biofilm] are responsible for the eulachan fishery, salmon fisheries and it goes up to orcas and marine mammals. It’s really that transfer of fat — these fatty acids — through the system,” …

“The risk this will occur is very, very high, and the outcome is very predictable — species-wide impact, but also impacts at the fisheries level.”

Shorebirds are one of the “fastest declining groups” of birds in the world, he added. “Much of it, in my professional opinion, is tied to the removal of these sources of active biofilm.”…

“I believe in science,” he added. “The science has been ignored.”

https://thenarwhal.ca/roberts-bank-terminal-western-sandpiper/

Back in April 2023, when the permits were granted. I pointed out that the so-called “binding conditions” would not protect the multiple species at risk.

The excerpt below is from Hansard on June 13, 2023:

“Mr. Speaker, I am rising tonight in Adjournment Proceedings, at a later time than usual, with it being just about one o’clock in the morning, to follow up on a question I asked in question period on April 27. Just before Earth Day, the Government of Canada approved a massive nature-destroying project, a controversial one that has been fought by British Columbians since 2013 when it was first put forward. It is called the Roberts Bank terminal expansion.

I asked the hon. Minister of Transport how it could be justified, with the opposition and the clarity the environmental impact assessment, itself, found, and it is very rare to get such strong language from an environmental assessment review, that there would be significant and irreversible adverse effects that threaten the survival of a number of species. Still, as the Minister of Transport explained, the project was approved because it had 370 binding conditions, and somehow this devastating project was going to be magically purified through those conditions.

I also included in my question my favourite of the conditions, number 14.7.1, which requires that they paint the cranes to be used at this massive port expansion in a colour that is compatible with the surrounding landscapes. The minister responded that there were other conditions as well. I have gone through all those conditions, and there is no doubt that this project threatens the survival of numerous endangered species. The Fraser River estuary is rich in biodiversity, and the environmental assessment points to numerous endangered species with 102 species at risk.

… It is a $3.5-billion project, and it is going to add $3 billion in added GDP, so what are a few species when we really come down to it? This is an absolute violation of everything the government says it stands for.

The Minister of Transport, … said, “the economy and the environment go hand in hand.” No, the economy goes to the bank. The species at risk go to their graves. This will cause species at risk to go extinct.

Besides the very endangered southern resident killer whales, besides the endangered salmon and so many species, I want to mention one in particular because it is so clear that it cannot be moved somewhere else. One of the conditions says that the people are going to find places in mud flats to create more food for this particular species, the western sandpiper. It has a very interesting, almost hairy tongue that manages to get into something called “biofilm” and gets all its nutrients from that. Over 3.5 million western sandpipers, which makes it look like it could not be endangered, but that is the whole global population, stop at some point every single year on Roberts Bank. The biofilm is specific to that area. People cannot move it around. Experts say they cannot move this bird around, so “endangered” mean nothing to the government when its eyes are flashing with dollar signs.” ….

{and this from the former Parliamentary Secretary, Irek Kusmierczyk ‘s response:

“The conditions include protections for marine mammals, including for Southern Resident killer whales. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will be required to ensure that the project does not increase underwater vessel noise in the Salish Sea, an important part of minimizing disruptions to the whales…

“These conditions rely on the existing and planned work by the Government of Canada, including all the protection measures in place to reduce the impact of marine traffic on the southern resident killer whales. The announcement in budget 2023 of $152 million to protect endangered whales shows our commitment to doing this important work.

The other conditions imposed on the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority include more than 100 measures to protect the local fauna, as well as develop and implement an adaptive management approach to prevent any adverse impacts on migratory birds. They also set out the requirement to use emissions free handling equipment and to provide enough provisions to the ships when they are docked at the terminal.”

In closing I raised two other points, now forgotten – opposition from the trade unions and the existence of an alternative:

“ The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says that this approval of Roberts Bank threatens jobs because the way the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority wants to operate it is automated. The union thinks it is going to wipe out jobs.

By the way, let us look at the other alternatives. There was another proposal from Global Container Terminals for half as much footprint and less environmental damage. It was not great, but they decided to go with the Roberts Bank, the biggest and most damaging project.” https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/house/sitting-212/hansard

3b: The revamped Roberts Bank 2 project as terminus of new dilbit pipeline

It needs to be asked if the expansion and repurposing of the Roberts Bank expansion, now to include a terminus for a new dilbit pipeline and deep-water port for oil tankers for shipping this hazardous product are bound by the previous conditions. Certainly, the new oil terminus on Roberts Bank will increase shipping and noise and further erode critical habitat for SRKW.

As other briefs have mentioned, notably from the US communities of Washington State on the San Juan islands, this whole area is in a highly active seismic zone. In the case of a large earthquake, this area will experience a rapid disappearance, in a process known as “liquefaction.” The impacts on the adjacent communities and ecosystems are wholly different with the repurposing of a container terminal on Roberts Bank to an oil tanker port and dilbit shipping area.

None of this seems to be considered important, or even moderately interesting, to our new government.

The implicit assumption appears to be that the Roberts Bank project has had sufficient consultation with Indigenous Nations and rights holders and adequate environmental review and study. The ongoing court case from the Lummi Nation of Washington State is being ignored, as is the opposition of Chief Harley Chappell and the Semiahmoo First Nation near Surrey BC.

The reality that this project is substantially different from that first proposed – just as the difference between “crude” and “Dilbit” appear to have escaped the notice of this build fast government. Facts matter. Details matter. Think first, plan well, and then build. This government has ignored facts and science to race to completion for a project without an economic case.

4. Indigenous opposition is strong to dredging Burrard Inlet, to expanding Roberts Bank and to new pipelines

On August 9th, 2026 the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UNCIC) sent an open letter to the federal and Alberta governments:

Wildfires and Floods are Devastating Communities; Canada and Alberta Must Stop Expanding the Fossil Fuel Industry and Respect First Nations Rights https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/ol_wildfires_floods_idwip2026

On August 13, Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam supported the UBCIC: “If the B.C. chiefs say no, I respect what the B.C. chiefs want. ”

5. Climate impacts

If this project is fast-tracked, who can ever believe this prime minister on any issue ever again?

This excerpt is from Hansard, Question Period on October 17. 2025. It was a solemn pledge just hours before the House of Commons voted on the November 4, 2025 federal budget.

Right Hon. Mark Carney (Prime Minister, Lib.):

“I can confirm to this House that we will respect our Paris commitments for climate change, and we are determined to achieve them.

I can confirm with this House that consistent with our Kunming-Montreal commitments, the nature strategy will be released in the coming weeks.”

Since that statement, climate commitments have been broken. Where the budget pledged no Investment Tax credits for enhanced oil recovery, that specific pledge was violated ten days later in the October 27 MOU with Alberta. The government’s climate credentials, never strong, lie in tatters.

The entangled projects of expanding Roberts Bank, dredging Burrard Inlet and building a new pipeline ensure we violate commitments to nature and endangered species as well as to climate.

The government’s own internal process, working with scientists within Environment Canada and Climate Change and academics from across Canada has issued a peer-reviewed, authoritative update. It was released in early September 2026. The review is chilling in confirming the degree to which our economy, communities and ecosystems are at risk. The report makes it clear that dangerous levels of additional warming with attendant negative and dangerous changes for Canadians are now “locked in” by changes to the chemistry of the planetary atmosphere that are irreversible.

These impacts include more extreme drought, flooding, heat domes, wildfires and dangerous weather events of many kinds. The report, unfortunately, could give rise to complacency. If these are “locked in,” why try?

This tendency to complacency is reinforced as analysis after analysis demonstrates Canada is not on track to meet our internationally legally binding commitments under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.

The most recent assessment from the Canadian Climate Institute finds that we will not hit our 2030 goal, even the initial one tabled with the UNFCCC by the previous administration of former prime minister Stephen Harper in May 2015.

https://climateinstitute.ca/news/canada-more-than-20-years-behind-2030-emissions-target/

According to the Canadian Press article (link below). The office of Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin said Ottawa is still committed to reaching net-zero by 2050 through “a pragmatic and durable approach.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/article/canada-wont-even-hit-2030-emissions-target-by-2050-new-study-suggests/

This statement is typical in attempting to confuse the public with a bait and switch approach to our Paris target.

Our legally binding commitments are those tabled with the Secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the terms of the Paris Agreement, these targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) can be changed at any time, but only to be “ratcheted up,” only to be increasingly ambitious in reducing emissions.

Our initial NDC, from May 2015 was an INDC, pre-Paris and stated as an “Intended NDC”. The Harper target was 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.

In April 2021 the former administration of Justin Trudeau increased our target to 40-45% below 2005 levels.

That remains Canada’s legally binding commitment.

Public and media confusion was created (and I believe deliberately) when the previous government introduced the Climate Accountability Act, C-12, which I opposed for this reason. It ignored our Paris target. It rejected any mention of the core Paris global goal to hold global average temperatures as far below 2 degrees C as possible and to strive to hold global average temperature increase to no more than 1.5 degrees C of warming, as compared to global average temperatures before the Industrial Revolution. Instead, C-12 introduced the target of “net zero by 2050.” This target CANNOT replace the Harper 2030 target nor the Trudeau target for 2030. It amounts to a massive retreat. It creates the false notion that getting to some far distant destination -2050 – is possible and avoids 2 degrees C of global average temperature increase, It cannot. The use of Net Zero by 2050 in the Climate Accountability Act was an act of duplicity by ECCC having confirmed in advance with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers that they would go along with the NZ by 2050 goal. Of course they did. It allows growth in emissions for decades with some fanciful notion of rapid cuts at the last minute. As was made very clear by the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, April 4, 2022, the only way to avoid exceeding 2 degrees C is for rapid cuts in global emissions, at the latest before 2025.”

Canada must do far more than is currently anticipated, starting with rejecting any new fossil fuel infrastructure- whether for fracked gas or mining bitumen.

The only fossil fuel infrastructure consistent with reaching Paris targets and building Canada’s economic sovereignty would be expanding Canada’s domestic refinery capacity, particularly to upgrade bitumen to synthetic crude for domestic refining for domestic markets.

The Green Party has advocated ceasing importing any foreign petroleum products and using only Canadian oil until our reliance on fossil fuels is completely phased out. This strategy, “Mission Possible,” was released in 2019. The current proposal is to ship out unprocessed solid bitumen to foreign, primarily US, refineries, exporting domestic jobs with the raw bitumen.

What we learn from the recent Environment Canada report is critical.

The report makes it clear that impacts on Canadian communities, nature and our economy could get very much worse based on global average temperature increase and the extent to which all nations, but particularly the big polluters, like Canada, reduce emissions and how quickly we, collectively do so. That message needs to be incorporated into this government’s thinking- and quickly.

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/science-technology/changing-climate-report-2026/cccr-report-summary-en.html

To say the issue requires collective global effort does not absolve our leadership of the requirement to save Canadian lives and communities and other species. Canada has always “punched above our weight” to use Lloyd Axworthy’s phrase.

We are the worst performer in the G-7 on climate.

If even at this late date, we changed course- and committed to the world that we were going to cease reliance on fossil fuels, claim an Energy super-power status as a “Renewable Energy Super Power” and commit to meeting our targets, reject any new fossil fuel infrastructure and use regulations (CEPA part 4) to require facilities to slash their emissions, we could be a leader, encouraging other nations to do the same. The going off oil projects has positive implications for our foreign policy. Shut down all Russian oil. End the dependency on fossil fuels globally that drives war and geopolitical uncertainty. IT aids our efforts to modernize our economy through an east- west north-south electricity gird of 100% renewable energy. This will require a restructuring of our current electricity generating and distributing system. This is the ultimate challenge in reducing interprovincial trade barriers. Only through a tough and frank conversation, transparent so all Canadians can identify the challenges in moving to much cheaper electricity – everywhere can we make it to anything close to our Paris goals.

Our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s future security depend on our actions in the next few years. So, it must be worth it to take the challenge seriously.

On June 17, 2019, the House of Commons voted that we are in a climate emergency.

Building a new pipeline will only confirm that we are a Parliament of liars.

The post Response to Canada Gazette post of August 1, 2026 to recommend the West Coast Oil Pipeline as a project of national interest 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

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Link to Householder Fall 2026

The post Elizabeth’s Fall 2026 Householder appeared first on Elizabeth May.

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Canada’s measures to address forced labour and labour exploitation in global supply chains.

More people are living in conditions of modern slavery today than at any point in recorded history. Forced labour, debt bondage, human trafficking, and other forms of exploitation continue to generate enormous profits by stripping millions of people of their freedom, safety, and dignity.

Canada has committed to helping eradicate modern slavery by 2030. Achieving that objective requires more than transparency and corporate reporting. It requires enforceable legal obligations, meaningful consequences for non-compliance, and effective remedies for workers whose rights have been violated.

Canada’s forced labour import prohibition and the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act were important steps forward. However, transparency alone is not accountability. Canada now needs a comprehensive human rights due diligence regime supported by enforcement, civil liability, and independent oversight.

The following recommendations are intended to ensure that Canada’s approach aligns with its commitment to eradicate modern slavery and reflects emerging international standards for corporate human rights accountability.

Recommendation 1: Eradicate All Forms of Forced Labour

Canada should not create a system that effectively distinguishes between forms of forced labour that will be tolerated and those that will not.

The objective must be clear: no forced labour, debt bondage, human trafficking, or severe labour exploitation should be permitted to sustain goods or services entering the Canadian market.

Canada’s legal framework should be designed to prevent and eliminate exploitation throughout supply chains, rather than merely requiring companies to disclose its existence. Efforts to combat forced labour should focus on protecting workers and preventing harm, not simply increasing corporate reporting.

Recommendation 2: Create Civil Liability for Failure to Conduct Adequate Due Diligence

A due diligence obligation without meaningful consequences for failing to meet it risks becoming little more than another reporting exercise.

Workers subjected to forced labour or serious labour exploitation should have a statutory right to bring claims in Canadian courts against companies that fail to exercise adequate human rights due diligence over their operations and supply chains.

Civil liability is essential because corporate accountability cannot depend entirely on government enforcement. The possibility of litigation, damages, and other legal consequences creates a strong incentive for companies to identify, prevent, and address risks before harm occurs.

However, a right that cannot realistically be exercised is no right at all. Parliament must address the significant financial and procedural barriers faced by workers bringing claims from abroad. This should include protections against prohibitive legal costs, mechanisms for representative or collective proceedings, and clear rules governing available remedies and damages.

This need is particularly acute following the elimination of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. Workers should not be left without either an effective independent complaints mechanism or a realistic pathway to seek justice through the courts.

Recommendation 3: Establish a Strong, Independent Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise

Corporate due diligence cannot rely on companies effectively regulating themselves without independent oversight or enforceable accountability.

Canada needs an independent institution with the authority and resources to investigate allegations of forced labour and serious human rights abuses, monitor corporate compliance, identify systemic risks, and hear directly from affected workers and civil society organizations.

The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise was intended to help fulfill this role. However, it never received the powers necessary to do so effectively. Without the authority to compel documents or testimony, its ability to investigate corporate conduct was fundamentally limited.

Eliminating the office did not address those shortcomings; it removed one of the few existing mechanisms through which workers and civil society could seek independent review of corporate conduct.

Canada should establish a new independent Ombudsperson or Commissioner for Responsible Enterprise with genuine investigatory authority, including the power to compel evidence, receive complaints directly from affected workers and civil society organizations, conduct independent investigations, and issue enforceable findings or orders within its jurisdiction.

Oversight must be independent of the companies being investigated and sufficiently empowered to uncover facts that companies may have little incentive to disclose voluntarily.

Conclusion

Canada’s commitment to eradicate modern slavery must be reflected in a legal framework that prevents exploitation, holds companies accountable, and provides meaningful remedies to those harmed.

Important progress has been made through import restrictions and supply chain transparency requirements. However, transparency alone cannot prevent forced labour, nor can it guarantee accountability when abuses occur.

A credible Canadian approach requires mandatory human rights due diligence, effective enforcement mechanisms, civil liability for companies that fail to meet their obligations, meaningful access to justice for affected workers, and an independent oversight body with the authority to investigate and act.

Canada should ensure that no business operating in or benefiting from the Canadian market can do so at the expense of workers’ fundamental rights. The costs of forced labour and exploitation should be borne by those who enable or profit from them, not by the workers subjected to abuse.

If Canada is serious about achieving its commitment to eliminate modern slavery, it must move beyond transparency and establish a system that prevents harm, delivers accountability, and protects human dignity throughout global supply chains.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth May, O.C. Member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands Leader of the Green Party of Canada

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