Green Caucus Week in Review: 04/12-16

Welcome to the new and improved Green Caucus Week in Review! This week is the first of five sitting weeks in a row. This is a very busy time for Jenica, Paul and Elizabeth. The federal budget will be tabled on April 19th, and there remains many pieces of important legislation to be worked through before June. Read on for this week’s highlights, as well as petitions and articles for further reading. Also, follow our MPs on social media for daily commentary!

Banning Glyphosate in Canada

Thursday was a historic day for Jenica as she presented her first ever Private Members Bill to ban the use of Glyphosate, a toxic herbicide used in forestry and agriculture. In the context of Laval’s decision to ban glyphosate in city limits this week, Jenica called on the government to join the growing global consensus recognizing that Glyphosate has been deemed a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).The press release announcing Jenica’s PMB and the text of the bill can both be found online.

Question Period

On Monday in Question Period, Paul pointed out that the Bank of Canada used to provide low interest loans to build public infrastructure. He asked if the government would go back to borrowing from the Bank of Canada after paying 1,300,000,000,000 in interest – that’s 1.3 trillion taxpayer dollars – on loans from private banks and foreign lenders since 1974.

In her question on Tuesday, Jenica pointed out that while big corporations have raked in profits during the pandemic, regular Canadians are facing extreme financial hardship. She confronted the government for not increasing the capital gains tax or implementing a wealth tax. She called for the upcoming budget to include a fair path towards prosperity for all Canadians.

In Question Period on Thursday, Elizabeth again drew attention to Canada’s abysmal climate record. She pointed out that carbon emissions and fossil fuel subsidies are still increasing, while the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers met with the government in a secret committee during the pandemic. Elizabeth asked the Minister of the Environment to improve Canada’s climate target at the climate summit to be held by President Biden next week.

Pursuing fairness in Question Period

The Green caucus continued its push for a fair allocation of questions during Question Period this week, with both a Unanimous Consent motion and a Point of Order. Paul moved the Unanimous Consent motion on Tuesday. It would have doubled the amount of questions allocated to MPs that do not belong to one of the four big parties, and was expected to succeed, with all parties having claimed prior to support it. However, the motion was denied at the last minute by the Conservative House Leader. Elizabeth moved a Point of Order on Thursday, appealing to the speaker to stand up for democracy and fairness where the Conservative Caucus would not. The Speaker is expected to return with a reply in the coming days.

Interventions

Banning Glyphosate in Canada

Question Period

Pursuing fairness in Question Period

Interventions

Questions and Statements

Key moments

Debate on Bill C-15

Petitions

Further reading

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