Good Sunday Morning! And a shout out to one very loyal Good Sunday Morning reader, my friend Bill Judge, who turns 100 today! See you later at the birthday party and then the flight back to Ottawa.
As you start reading, a plea to please go to the end for important Green Party news. Deadlines for voting! Thanks!
I mentioned in last Sunday’s letter that I was in Edmonton for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities national conference. It went very well. I was the only political keynote, with Liberals, Conservatives and NDP also presenting, to get a standing ovation. Here is my speech, if you have time to watch (about 20 minutes.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnzHMgXYS88
At FCM and in last week’s letter I mentioned I did not know how I would vote on C-20 – the Build Canada Homes Act. In the end I voted “no” joining the 5 remaining NDP MPs).
Most of this week I have been at the Finance Committee, waiting for many hours for my amendments to the omnibus budget bill to come to the committee for a vote. The process is called “clause by clause” and Greens are the only party to have submitted amendments to undo the damage proposed to pesticide regulation. I am deeply shocked tht the Carney administrations has, without warning, discussion or evidence, buried deep in an omnibus budget bill, what amounts to sweeping rderegulation of dangerous persticides.
There was nothing in the budget itself to suggest regressive changes were contemplated. In fact, this one anodyne line is the total of what was in the budget, and the second line, what was in the Spring Economic statement about pesticides:
“In Budget 2015, the government proposes to amend legislation to remove cyclical pesticide re-evaluations to enable modern risk-based management.”
In Spring Economic Statement 2026 the government proposes to amend the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the PCPA to amend mandates of the CFIA and the Pest Management regulatory agency to include consideration of food security and cost of food.” (p 145)” Once pushed through second Reading, “on division” so no recorded vote, it went ONLY to the Finance committee, despite my plea that they send those sections to the Environment committee. Than at Finance, they moved so quickly that other than government witnesses, no independent health or environment witnesses were allowed. My team and deep thanks to Steve Parkinson, my MP team legislation director worked with EcoJustice lawyers, with Steve working til 2 am the night before the deadline to submit my amendments.
I have worked on pesticide issues for the last 51 years.
The dangerous amendments to the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) in C-30 are the most retrograde change to pesticide regulation since the PCPA was first enacted in 1969. Initially it was placed under the authority of Agriculture Canada, But even then, an individual minister could stop the use of a carcinogenic pesticide without risk of being overturned by cabinet as a whole. In the late 1980’s Mulroney’s former Health Minister, the late Jake Epp, stopped the re-registration of Alachlor (a carcinogenic herbicide) even though Ag Canada had already told Monsanto they would get their registration back – for economic reasons. I was the lawyer for Friends of the Earth in the Alachlor review. Under Chretien, in 1995, the PCPA was moved under Health Canada. C-30 moves so far backward, 1969 looks good.
Of course, I could not share this in the House because I was not given a speaking slot in the 3 hours of debate at C-30 Second Reading before Time Allocation.
I have 8 amendments to C-30 on the order paper…
Many environment and health groups have sent written briefs to the Finance committee. But without any animus toward those Finance committee members, when I raise my concerns with them, they have a blank look. They have not had time to consider the impact of saying that a finding by a minister that the environmental risks of a pesticide require they be banned, can be overturned by Cabinet as a whole- on political discretion without evidence. This line from the brief from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment should give the Liberals pause. Thanks to CAPE for this strong message:
“Economic considerations must not supersede scientific evidence when public health is on the line. Please support amendments to strip Division 8 entirely from Bill C-30 and defer this debate to the proper statutory review process.”
Finance committee clause by clause last week, started Monday and continued until Midnight Wednesday night, stalled by a Conservative filibuster. I did not mind much, except for the mindnumbing experince of being in the same room, not allowed to speak, in suspended animation. But I hoped against hope, more time, would allow more environmental groups to contact members of the Finance committee and beg them to vote for my amendments. So far I have only one vote, for sure, from the Bloc. Liberals aon the committee should be contacted, before the vote, Tuesday morning- Ryan Turnbull, Finance Parl sec and MP for Whitby, [email protected], new MP and medical Doctor for University Rosedale Danielle Martin “[email protected]”, [email protected] (Burnaby Lib, beat Peter Julian), [email protected] (new Lib MP Quebec)and ..[email protected] (former provincial minister of finance in Quebec).
I asked in Question Period, WHY the government was eviscerating pesticide legislation, as I am told, even industry was not pushing for this much! https://youtu.be/OJgwxRBr2sc?si=IhqauZboM1szCanA
Surprisingly, the Conservatives gave me a birthday present this week. They gave me a few rounds of their time to ask questions in Environment Committee of the two experts who quit the government’s Net Zero Advisory Board. Cat Abreau told the committee that even the Trump administration is now doing better on climate than Canada!
I also did a late debate on science, raising the issue of the severity of the cuts to the committee on endangered species, COSEWIC. Only the next day to see Sarah Cox raising the same issue in The Tyee. Thank heavens someone else is noticing!
https://youtu.be/FLeRrvlUahQ?si=oj9sI4W9uci_l8hs
More groups are speaking out and calling out what the Liberal government is doing to nature. I joined them on Tuesday for this presser:
MPs and Civil Society Groups Protest New Pipelines – June 9, 2026 – Headline Politics – CPAC.ca
We need to be louder- and fast, as the climate crisis accelerates:
A powerful El Nino has officially formed in the Pacific Ocean, with meteorologists warning Thursday that it is poised to reach historic strength and intensify extreme weather events across the globe. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres echoed this urgency, describing El Nino as an “urgent climate warning” and stating that “El Nino conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world.” Meanwhile, as I mentioned last week we see more attention on the links between AI centres and boosting fossil fuels:
“The federal government could have easily said data centres have to be powered by new renewable energy sources,” Stewart argued. “Instead, Canadians will get dirtier air alongside higher electricity prices, all so corporate CEOs can try to take away our jobs with AI.”
PLEASE read- Important Green Party news:
I want all dear Good Sunday Morning Readers to be clear about me stepping down as leader, what that means and the importance of the upcoming July 4 Special General meeting. These are all important but not entirely connected occurrences.
First thing, is please, if you are not a Green Party member, now would be a good time to join!
As you likely recall, last August I announced I would step down as leader once a new leader was elected. Since then a group of dedicated volunteers have worked hard to develop the rules for the 2026 leadership race. Now that the rules have been approved, we are off to the races. On June 11 the leadership race kicked off. See this link for access to rules and timeline. PLEASE JOIN so you can vote for your choice of best new leader(s). The race will end with (I hope) a BIG in person convention in mid November.
https://www.greenparty.ca/en/news/green-party-of-canada-launches-leadership-race
Under our rules, I will not be allowed to endorse a candidate for leadership, or candidate team for co-leadership. But I can share that from rumours I am confident the leadership hopefuls will ensure stable growth for us as a party. Meanwhile the Green Party of New Brunswick is also gearing up for a leadership race. Long-time leader and phenomenal human, David Coon will step down, but continue as MLA and able to help guide and support the future new leader, as I intend to do in Ottawa for our new leader.
The Green Party of Canada is holding a Special General Meeting (SGM) on Saturday, July 4th at 1:00 PM ET. Here is one place of connection between the leadership race and the July 4 SGM. If we do not have a successful July SGM, one that fixes our quorum rules and allows for in person meetings, we will not be able to hold the big in person convention to propel us forward. We have not had an in person national gathering since September 2018. This was due to COVID, but since then has been due to being stuck with changes to our rules that put the priority on virtual rather than in person. Please register to attend on July 4.
Members are strongly encouraged to attend. If you have already registered, thank you! If you have not, please register now.
One way the team of volunteers is working hard to make the July 4 (virtual only) meeting speedy and efficient is by using a familiar (to long time Greens) method called a Bonser ballot. Your vote now will help organize by level of grassroots support the very specific changes being brought forward on July 4th.
I have already received my Bonser Ballot. If you are a member, you should have also received an email to the address registered with the Party for your membership. If you have not, please write to [email protected].
ALSO: you can use this link to become a member: https://www.greenparty.ca/en/become-a-member
Please feel free to ask me questions about any of this! I know it can be confusing!
And we DO need participation!
Thanks.
Much love,
Elizabeth
PS IT looks like the government bulldozer will shut down debate and force through any remaining bills by Wednesday evening. Pray for me to get through this.. Sorry to ask, but I know when it is a miracle I am still standing!