Good Sunday Morning!
I want to start by sharing some encouraging experiences. My community meetings are going well. Later today I will be meeting with constituents in Gordon Head, at 3 pm at the Gordon Head Recreation Centre. We have been putting extra effort into connecting with young people. We have teen town halls planned in a number of local high schools. As well, we hosted a gathering for Young Greens at UVIC. I was so gratified that over two dozen students came and participated enthusiastically! I sense an increased concern with politics as things seem to be going off the rails.
With more threats and instability, I think Canadian youth are more worried and want to play a role to protect our shared values. The increasingly terrifying events south of the border and the threats to Greenland come up in meetings with young people. They want to help protect Canadian democracy. Somehow it put me in mind of a quote mis-attributed to Leon Trotsky: “You may not be interested in politics, but politics will be interested in you.” I just double checked and Trotsky actually said, “You may not be interested in war, but war will be interested in you.” The same thought applies. When living in dangerous times, sitting on the sidelines is not an option.
I was astonished when one of the UVIC students wanted to know if I thought Trump would invade Greenland. He explained that he felt that if the US attacked Greenland, he thought he should join the army to be prepared to defend Canada. That is definitely not a conversation I would have had two years ago.
Meanwhile in other news, not surprisingly, Prime Minister Carney got a new deal with China. I am pleased overall to see tariffs drop on Chinese EVs as that will make them more affordable for Canadians. Mike Morrice (Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada, and candidate to regain his seat in Kitchener Centre) sent me this handy sense of perspective. The deal will result in 49,000 Chinese EVs to be allowed in per year, while the protected automakers (who also receive lots of public subsidies) build 1.3M in Ontario alone per year. I was disappointed that the deal will not result in allowing cheaper Chinese solar panels to be allowed into Canada. We are still applying 100% tariffs on solar panels. Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe has won big with China reducing tariffs on canola, also good news for Manitoba premier Wab Kinew. Saskatchewan has inked nuclear deals, with China expanding its promised importation of Saskatchewan uranium. Moe also got a trade deal for nuclear with the UAE.
I am concerned about the extent to which human rights are no longer mentioned as we form tighter relationships with human rights abusers. I hope the Globe and Mail will print my letter raising this concern. It seems so long ago that Canadian leaders, like former Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland, spoke of “friend-shoring” – expanding relationships with democracies with whom we share values. I quote Freeland’s line “Democracies should depend on democracies, not dictators.” Somehow those words sound so very out-dated, almost quaint now, “because it sounds so very 2015.” I wonder what lines will stick with us, “because it is 2026.” It is a new era indeed.
Meanwhile I was asked by part of our SGI volunteer team to include this call-out for support from the Citizen’s Climate Lobby. I have been working with my friend, the amazing scientist and Senator Rosa Galvez, on her bill for climate-aligned finance for years. It was first tabled back in March 2022. It was making good progress through the Senate having been endorsed by 89 organizations. Around the world it was praised as a gold standard for climate finance legislation. Like so many good bills, it died on the order paper on January 6, 2025. Now she has re-introduced the bill and efforts are re-starting to ensure that, this time, it will get passed.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is supporting Senator Rosa Galvez’ private members’ bill Bill S-238, the Climate-Aligned Finance Act, to change that. Please consider signing *and sharing* CCL Canada’s Open Letter in support of this important legislation by January 22: Sign Here.
I hope to be able to sponsor the bill once it gets through the Senate and over to the House.
I also wanted to share a great letter, in case you missed it, that was published in the Globe and Mail on January 15 – by none other than by my husband and occasional Sunday morning letter writer:
Re: editorial “Canada Needs a Pipeline to the Future”
“Pipeline” doesn’t resonate with “future.”
You say new customers for Canadian fossil fuels are essential to fight Mr. Trump, that adding capacity for Alberta oil will develop export markets, reduce reliance on the U.S. market and help our economic autonomy.
Mr. Trump also wants to expand fossil fuel sales. Other oil-supported governments are opening the taps to monetize deposits before markets peak. That’s not a wise place to compete. Strategists from Sun Tzu to Carl von Clausewitz teach that fighting on the enemy’s ground with the enemy’s weapons is a loser’s fight plan.
Instead, generate renewable energy for nationwide distribution on a smart grid. Build it using Canadian people, Canadian steel and aluminum. Enhance energy independence and resilience, reduce the cost of living, energize new industries, build new technologies and skills for export. There’s a project of national significance.
Don’t play in Mr. Trump’s sandbox. We cannot win there.
John Kidder Ashcroft B.C.
And with that I leave you for the week! Please find your own sense of agency. We do not need to pick up a gun, but the laptop, or pen, is mightier than the sword. We have to keep encouraging each other and, those, like us, who feel insanity and fascism on the rise. We all benefit enormously from hearing others speak truth to power. Speak up! Encourage and be encouraged!
Sending love and gratitude!
Elizabeth