This week, for sundry and largely unconnected reasons, my work focused a lot on nuclear disarmament. The wonderful activists who started the Peace Train – originally last year from Vancouver to Ottawa..(volunteers from various spots in Canada and notably from Vancouver Island- Keith and Bernie Wyton) were back in Ottawa. Linked in with the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Project Ploughshares and other groups. With leadership from my office and Senator Marilou McPhedran we organized a breakfast round table for Wednesday focused on disarmament. We managed to have co-hosts, MPs from every party – Of course, NDP MP Gord Johns who is Bernie (short for Bernice) and Keith’s MP, Andreanne Larouche for the Bloc, Dave Epp for the Conservatives) and for the Liberals Taleeb Noormohamed . . . but lots of other MPs came- which was very exciting. All told, eleven MPs from all 5 parties in the House of Commons attended. All spoke movingly of their commitment. (not listing names to save space- but 3 more Conservative MPs, as well as an additional 3 Liberals. Our star attraction was Alex Neve, retired from his leadership role in Amnesty International Canada, he is this year’s Massey Lecturer.
The next day (and again as far as I know a coincidence) the organization Canadian Leadership for Nuclear Disarmament held an event at the University of Ottawa to present its Distinguished Achievement Award to Canada’s former Ambassador for Disarmament, the Hon Douglas Roche. Doug is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, former MP, and former Senator. At 96 years old, Doug shows no signs of closing down. He is an absolute inspiration. His lecture at the award ceremony was titled “Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle for Peace.”
Definitely by sheer luck, my weekly Question in Question Period was right before the event in Ambassador Roche’s honour. And double luck, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Anita Anand was in the House. As is my custom, I alerted her ahead of time what I would be asking. I asked if Canada would step up and re-engage in the work for nuclear disarmament. Her reply was more positive than I had expected, saying Canada is committed to a nuclear-free world.
That exchange is linked here on youtube:
Question Period
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bliAnmCl0A
What was not a coincidence was my decision to mark United Nations Day with a press conference on Friday. October 24, 2025 was the 80th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. For weeks ahead of time I had asked my amazing Chief of Staff Debra Eindiguer to watch our in box for invitations to celebrate United Nations Day. There was evidently nothing planned. And as it turned out, the Green Party press conference was the only event that day in Ottawa. Thanks to events through the week I had opportunistically snagged Alex Neve and Doug Roche to attend and speak about the importance of the United Nations. Another great piece of timing was that local Victoria peace activists and Green Party members Miles Craig and Frances Litman have been working for months to launch a Peace Charter- hoping for more grassroots activists to join in the effort. I announced their new initiative at our Friday press conference. I was so honoured to be joined by two extraordinary Canadians to mark the day and call for Canada to do more for peace, peace-keeping, ending poverty and for climate action.
https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/elizabeth-may-marks-80th-anniversary-of-the-un?id=f2ce485d-47f5-4a21-ae82-8b88eecd4350 I am reeling from the news that according to polls, most Canadians, even most British Columbians, support another oil pipeline across Canada. Climate action appears to be missing as a political issue. Even in a year when tens of thousands of Canadians were displaced by wildfires, politicians, federal and provincial (other than Greens) appear to think climate action was some sort of fad, now sadly out of date.
Quite casually this week, Prime Minister Carney announced another $2 billion to the building of a so-called Small Nuclear Reactor at Darlington, I add “so-called” because there are no such things operating in any modern democracy, none operating commercially. You may recall I wrote about this project as one of the first five on the Liberal government’s list of projects of “national significance” to be fast-tracked under Bill C-5. I did not expect that these projects could get massive subsidies on top of having the wheels greased for speedy approvals. The GE-Hitachi SMR project for Darlington already received a $1 billion federal loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. In the same week the prime minister gave a speech to university students about how sacrifices would have to be made, a $2 billion gift to a dangerous and untested prototype reactor does not fall in line with the argument that we need to sacrifice.
This morning finds me in Halifax to speak to a gathering of Nova Scotia Liberal women. Unusual, but a kind offer to hear from me about women in politics. I plan to share the evidence that it is the First Past the Post voting system that holds back women from getting elected at levels that approach our proportion of the population. We are half of Canada but only one third of the House of Commons. More reasons for proportional representation! By tomorrow morning, I will be back in Parliament where I feel more needed, and more effective, than ever. If only there were more Green MPs! I am hopeful that soon there will be!
All for now.
Lots of love,
Elizabeth