Good Sunday Morning!
Yesterday was the fabulous annual May Day on Mayne Island. Cold and rain did not deter the legions of fairies and woodland sprites in the celebration of spring, complete with dancing round the Maypole! I am so glad that I was once again able to perform MP functions. As this last election campaign was a snap election, it left a number of Saanich-Gulf Islands communities unable to organize all-candidates meetings (or at least meetings for 3 out of 4 candidates). It turned out Conservative candidates across Canada were instructed to skip an essential element of democracy, showing up! In any event, Mayne, Galiano and Saturna Islands did not have all-candidates meetings, so it was great to get to Mayne again!
I start with an important correction from last week’s letter. Thanks to Andy Shadrack for setting me straight on the fortunes of the Greens of England and Wales. I had misread the results, being distressed to see gains from the right wing Reform Party.
From Andy: “The UK Green parties are now elected in 900 council seats, 860 in England and Wales (8 in Wales), 35 in Scotland, and 5 in Northern Ireland. Of the 79 newly and re-elected Green councilors in England as of May 1st, 65.8% are on 9 county and unitary councils out of 23, including 1 metropolitan. Forty-five (57%) of the seats were within 11 metropolitan/districts and in four, Greens are already running municipal/district minority governments in Lancaster, Warwick, Stroud and Forest of Dean.
“In 2025, English Greens are now involved in running local governments in 33 districts, 5 unitary authorities and 1 metropolitan borough, with another 5 county and 3 unitary governments having to decide who will run council when they first meet.
“What is tough is that the extreme-right Reform have won control of ten county, unitary and municipal governments and have elected 805 councilors, 677 in this election. But since last May’s local elections the Green Party only lost 4 seats to Reform and 3 to Conservative, winning a seat back from Reform in this May’s election. Thus they have a better track record of beating back Reform than any other party in England.”
More news from UK Greens is the leadership race underway. This from the Guardian:
“People in the UK are fed up. That’s the message received on the campaign trail with Zack Polanski, the deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, who is now running to be leader.
“The Labour party, nearing a year in office, has so far failed to deliver on the change it promised, and has brought in a host of unpopular policies, from cutting pensioners’ winter fuel allowance to raising taxes on business and ripping up planning laws to allow developers to build on areas protected for nature.
“The anger this has caused was expressed in the recent local elections, where the far-right, climate-denying Reform hoovered up a large chunk of those fed-up voters, spooking Labour.
“Polanski thinks there needs to be an alternative to Reform, and a bold message on wealth equality, infrastructure investment and the environment could cause the Greens to surge in the polls.” (byline Helena Horton)
Meanwhile, votes are still being sorted from the Australian election due to the complex voting preferential system in the lower house. As leader Adam Bandt lost his seat, a new interim leader, a Green senator has been chosen. Senator Larissa Waters was chosen by a consensus decision of the governing council. Meanwhile other Green MPs appear to have survived in the lower house. Fingers crossed for Elizabeth Watson Brown in the Queensland seat of Ryan. The best news is that the Greens will hold eleven Senate seats and have the balance of power.
The biggest news this week in Canadian politics was the swearing in of Mark Carney’s new cabinet. There were a number of surprises from my point of view, but one that did not get much, if any media notice was the ham-fisted way he dealt with his cabinet hopefuls. Ten ministers sworn in on March 14th to his first cabinet were cut from the second. Many were familiar names from the Trudeau years, Jonathan Wilkinson, Bill Blair being prominent. What worried me was that it seems he did not do the rejected ministers the courtesy of phoning to tell them. As recently appointed, now turfed Housing Minister Nathaniel Erskine Smith put it, “it was hard not to feel disrespected.” Nate is a good friend and is a more maverick member of the Liberal caucus who has worked with me on animal rights issues, among others. He was in the last group of cabinet ministers under Trudeau and then made the cut for Carney’s first cabinet. He did not even make it to the new second tier of junior ministers, Carney’s “Secretaries of State”. The same fate for Terry Duguid, the Manitoba MP who was briefly Minister of Environment and Climate Change (the briefest ministerial run ever – March 14 and effectively ending with writ drop March 23). Rachel Bendayan had the same short term as Minister of Immigration. What undid Justin Trudeau was a failure to respect and engage members of his internal team. I would have hoped Carney would not make those obvious mistakes. Another one that worries me is his decision to fly to Rome for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV bringing along twelve Liberal Catholic MPs. Such a trip should not be partisan. Conservative Interim Leader Andrew Scheer is also a practicing Roman Catholic and should have been invited to be part of any Canadian delegation. Maybe he was? But it is a rookie mistake if he was snubbed. I hope for Carney’s government to be successful – Canada needs strength, unity and success right now. I hope that someone gives our new prime minister better advice, and soon!
As for the key portfolios that impact Green issues and Saanich-Gulf Islands, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson was one of those March 14th appointments that survived through last week’s swearing in. She represents the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of St.Johns’ East. Given that she was first sworn in as Fisheries Minister just before the election, she is essentially brand new on the job. I have already invited her to come out to BC soon and receive a briefing on key issues from First Nations and knowledgeable fisheries experts. Brand new to cabinet is the former Parliamentary Secretary for both Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources – Toronto area MP Julie Dabrusin. Parks Canada was hived off from Environment in Carney’s first Cabinet (the March 14th one!) and stays separated in his May cabinet. Parks stays with Steven Guilbeault, even as Guilbeault has been moved out of Environment and Climate Change. His new portfolio cobbles together issues of Canadian identity, culture, heritage and parks. All of our issues with derelict boats, anchorages and buoys are now with Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland. Housing and Infrastructure went to former Vancouver Mayor, and first-time MP Gregor Robertson. Immigration is now with Halifax MP Lena Metlege Diab, and please do write her to press for fast work to get Zain Haq back home to Vancouver. It is significant that for the first time an Indigenous minister is Minister for Indigenous Services, Cree leader Mandy Gull-Masty.
While I still do not know the parliamentary calendar for June and July, at least I know we start sharp at 8am on May 26 and will hear the Speech from the Throne from King Charles the next day.
For all hoping I could get them tickets to the SFT, all MPs have been informed there will not be much space for seating. I will be, as is traditional, standing with my MP colleagues behind the brass bar at the far end of the Senate Chamber. Only nine days from now, but it seems a year away. So much to attend to in catching up with my MP work, and getting as much money raised as possible for the Green Party as we take stock after our poor election results and serious financial challenges. I am confident we will get through it all and elect more Green MPs soon – or at least “soon” at the next federal election! I am so grateful to the hundreds of volunteers who worked to get me re-elected! I feel more sorry for the NDP right now, as the seven remaining MPs have splits that got into the media. Behind the scenes I am doing all I can to ensure the governing party grants them equal rights. As an MP denied equal rights since my election in 2011, I know the rules. The so-called “recognized party” rules are a combination of black letter law, passed in 1963 to give larger parties more money, and a bunch of bad habits without foundation to deny us rights to sit on committees or speak in question period more than once a week.
Thanks so much for my dear Deputy Leader Rainbow Eyes for consistently reminding our internal Green Party team that healing and love drawn from Indigenous teachings will get us through… and by “us” I do not mean only the Green Party but all those who understand the threat to our Mother Earth. We see and confront the forces of greed and selfishness that drive so many of the powerful.
So as I write my weekly letter I do so knowing that so many of you reading this are also grounded in love and hope for a better world. We cannot fail. We have no choice but to do the impossible.
With much love and gratitude,
Elizabeth
P.S.: I am heartbroken about the recent Lapu Lapu Day tragedy and everyone affected are in my thoughts and prayers. This excellent article by Meyen Hiponia Quigley is worth reading.
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