Week in Review: February 18 – 21 (le français suit)
(Jenica Atwin and Paul Manly signed the Kids Reject Teck banner on February 18)
Family Day made this a short week, but it started with a bang and was as full as any other. In a statement on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the protests and blockades happening across the country in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. Following Trudeau’s statement, the PM called Elizabeth to a meeting to discuss the issue. That same night the Green Caucus sat until midnight in an emergency debate on the Wet’suwet’en crisis, and despite not being allocated a speaking slot, intervened multiple times.
While Elizabeth met with the Prime Minister, Green MPs met with youth opposing the Teck Frontier Mine. Climate activists are coming to Parliament Hill daily ahead of the February 28 deadline, when the Liberal government will decide whether to approve or reject the project.
The Green Caucus held a press conference to share their recommendations for the Federal 2020 budget, which will be tabled in March. MP Jenica Atwin met with students and youth organisations, MP Paul Manly discussed the issue of freighters anchoring in the Southern Salish Sea with the CEO of the Vancouver Port Authority, and MP Elizabeth May, alongside members of the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, discussed the ballooning costs of the Trans Mountain Pipeline at a press conference hosted by Stand Earth, Greenpeace, and Dogwood.
(Patrick Bonin of Greenpeace Canada, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, Green MP Elizabeth May, NDP MP Laurel Collins, and Alexandra Woodsworth of Dogwood at the press conference about the ballooning costs of the Trans Mountain Pipeline)
Read on for the Green Caucus’ interventions, questions, and statements in the House this week.
For further updates on Elizabeth’s activities, you can visit her website, follow her on Facebook, and on Twitter. For updates on Paul’s activities, visit his website, follow him on Facebook, or on Twitter. For updates on Jenica’s activities, follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
(Jenica Atwin with students from the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University at an event with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations)
Key Moments
- Elizabeth May responds to Prime Minister Trudeau’s statement on the protests in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en
- Paul Manly on the Wet’suwet’en protests: This situation was avoidable and predictable
- Elizabeth May: Don’t condemn the allies of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs
Question Period and Member’s Statements
- Elizabeth May maintains that the Wet’suwet’en are acting within the rule of law
- Paul Manly: We must act now to save Pacific Salmon
- Elizabeth May asks if the Liberals are aware that fracked gas has the same carbon footprint as coal
- Paul Manly: The government should forgive the interest on Federal student loans
Press Conferences
Statements and Press Releases
In Their Own Words
- Elizabeth May – Good Sunday Morning weekly blog
- Jenica Atwin on CBC’s Information Morning – Fredericton discussing Wet’suwet’en
- Paul Manly – Wet’suwet’en: Pipelines, Politics and UNDRIP
Petitions
E-Petitions
- Closes February 28! Stand with Wet’suwet’en
- Public Climate Finance
- Reduce Microplastic Pollution
- Closes March 9! Electoral Reform
- Pesticides at CFB Gagetown
Paper petitions
For paper petitions to sign and share, visit elizabethmaymp.ca/paper-petitions
Events
Please visit the Green Party of Canada events calender at https://www.greenparty.ca/en/events/all