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We are all very grateful for the hard work of those who have been mentioned by my colleagues.

I know this is not a moment for partisan comments, but I just want to trespass on a matter of some controversy and try to clear it up before we break for the holidays, and that is the citizenship of Santa Claus. I know it came up a few times today. I want to make it clear that on behalf of the Green Party, we are happy to join in claiming the North Pole. However, it is important to say that Santa Claus does not carry a passport, that Santa Claus is beyond citizenship and lives in the hearts of children all around the world, regardless of citizenship.

In the real spirit of Christmas, we celebrate Christmas with a lot of shopping and we mark it with a lot of parties. Forgive me for saying for those who are atheists and of other religions, but I think they will allow me to say on this occasion of the expectation of the birth of our Lord, that we await His coming and we celebrate Christmas in the spirit of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For those of us who are Christians, it is a very important occasion and we are happy to share it and happy to be able to say merry Christmas. For everyone else who is not following this observance as a religious event, happy holidays. May everyone have a wonderful time with family.

Thank you very much. Merry Christmas.

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Happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Let us take the peace of this season back with us when we get here so we can treat one another with the love and respect we all deserve. God bless us, every one.

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Green Party Leader and MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May extends Season’s Greetings to all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

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On November 26, I was home in the riding and on Salt Spring Island. The primary purpose for my being on Salt Spring on that rainy Saturday was to be at an event sponsored by the Institute for Child Honouring, created by my dear friend and notable eco-troubadour, Raffi.  Another friend, Pummy Kaur, heard I would be in the area and asked if I could manage to fit in her book launch.  Easy as pie.

So on November 26th at the lovely venue of Jill Louise Campbell’s fine art gallery in Ganges, a supportive crowd gathered for the launch of Pummy’s newest book, A Season of Non-Violence: 64 Ways for 64 Days.  Pummy was born in India to a Sikh family in a Hindu state, influenced by Muslims and then sent to Catholic school. Quite the range of influences!  Her first book, What Would Gandhi Do? Simple Solutions to Global Problems gave voice to the relationship between all the major global issues and our daily choices, with solutions based on Gandhian principals.  In her new book, she chose the anniversary dates of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (January 30) to the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s (April 4) as book ends for what she describes as a “season of non-violence.”  The book’s premise is that a world of non-violence is a great deal more than a world without wars, and offers 64 concrete spiritual and not quite spiritual practices to move toward a culture of non-violence.  The book has inspirational quotes from everyone from Mother Theresa to Benjamin Franklin to the Sermon on the Mount.  For “ways” she suggests everything from “recycling” to “NOT recycling” (a plea for reducing consumption), to “hug four people a day.”

During the launch, I described how I tried to embrace non-violent communication in the House of Commons.  I shared an example of how I dealt with what I had found to be extremely offensive remarks from government MPs in the (abbreviated) debate on the Omnibus Crime Bill.  Every time an Opposition MP criticized the idea of mandatory minimum sentences (and the billions required to build new prisons to house the increasing numbers of our fellow citizens to face mandatory incarceration), the government MPs would accuse us of caring more about criminals than about victims of crime.  To keep my pledge to myself, to always speak respectfully toward other MPs, I criticized what “government MPs have been forced by their talking points to say.” I did not sense that any of the government MPs took it personally when I described why I found such an accusation offensive.

As we talked about the importance of taking the personally nasty out of politics, someone in the room said, “Wouldn’t it be great if every MP had a copy of A Season of Non-Violence?”  I said I would love to give it to very MP for Christmas, and suddenly every one was chipping in and making pledges.  Pummy’s publisher gave us a deep discount and the boxes of books began to pile up in my Parliament Hill office.

So before the House rose for the holidays, every MP got a card wishing them “Peace in Parliament” and explaining that the enclosed book was a gift from my constituents in Saanich-Gulf Islands, as well as a third generation Conservative from Surrey who donated 60 books.  Quite a few MPs (of all parties) came over to thank me, and I could genuinely say my own role in the gift had been pretty minimal.

May 2012 bring greater peace and harmony.  Let us all be the change we want to see in the world.

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Green Party Leader and MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May extends Season’s Greetings to all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

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Never before in Canadian history has this country withdrawn from a treaty we have ratified – not on any issue. Ever.

I don’t see how other delegations that dealt with Canada’s obstructionist position in Durban, in which we negotiated as a Kyoto party, will possibly regard this as anything but negotiating in bad faith.

Ever since CTV broke the story that the Harper Cabinet had decided to legally withdraw from Kyoto – with no debate and no vote in the House – I have been, at one and the same time, certain the leak was correct while hoping they would not go through with it.

And now they have.  It is devastating.  It is even worse than all the other regressive steps of the Harper government in blocking climate action.

Kent announced legal withdrawal with a flurry of bizarre and untrue scare tactics.  As if the Kyoto Protocol had effective sanctions for law breakers like Canada.  As if Kyoto had the kind of draconian mandatory minimums of the Omnibus Crime Bill.   Kyoto has no effective enforcement mechanisms.  The only penalty would be for a country that decided to enter into second commitment period negotiations (NOT Canada). And even then it would only mean that the target Canada would negotiate (if we were negotiating) would have a top up of .3 of a tonne for every tonne we agreed to.  So in negotiations we could take into account the amount of the penalty and set out target low enough to absorb the penalty.  Each country negotiates what it will accept.  That’s why in 1997, Australia’s Kyoto target was 8% above 1990 levels, when all other industrialized countries were to go below 1990 levels. (Canada by 6%, US by 7%, and the EU by 8 %.)  True most European nations did not hit 8%.  They cut 20% and more.  Europe as a block has more than met its Kyoto targets.

Kent claimed staying in Kyoto would cost $14 billion.  Rubbish.

What are they spinning?  The cost of trying with no plan and a year from the target to reduce our emissions enough to meet the 6% target — and then deciding to buy enough credits to meet the target — could be $14 billion.  I haven’t checked their math because the whole idea is screamingly bogus.  Nothing in Kyoto obliges us to spend one dime.  Nothing in Kyoto could induce or require a country to buy credits.

And now, despite Harper’s death wish for Kyoto and Kent’s “Kyoto is in the past,” look what was approved in Durban:  a second commitment period under Kyoto.  Not enough countries have signed up to accept targets, but the intention is to do so.  Hardly “in the past.”

What’s in the past?  Canada’s reputation as a country with any integrity.  Canada’s reputation as a country showing environmental leadership.

What must not be “in the past” is our chance to avoid cataclysmic climate change.

We are running out of time (see latest International Energy Agency report).  Durban’s agreements are weak and Canada just gave them a swift kick in a place that hurts.

So although, like me, you may feel like throwing yourself down and weeping for the betrayal of our future, for the loss of Canada’s ratification of Kyoto, do not waste the energy.  Get back up.  And fight.

Get back up and resolve: Stephen Harper must not be allowed to get away with this.  There must be a political cost.

Write letters to every newspaper denouncing the will of the majority of Canadians who support Kyoto was ignored.  Spend some time on media websites.  Write comments. Vote thumbs up and down. If you have a Conservative MP, leave them messages on the constituency phone lines.  Demand an appointment. Organize protests. Go on line to petitions.  Send a donation to the Sierra Club, Suzuki Foundation, or WWF and ask them to mount campaigns to demand we stay in Kyoto.  Our legal withdrawal does not take effect until next year, so we have time to push back.

Ask why Parliament was allowed to vote on Kyoto ratification (December 17, 2002) but given no chance to debate or vote on withdrawal in 2011.  Ask why they are lying to Canadians and claiming staying in Kyoto would cost $14 billion.

I know it is almost Christmas, but how can we rejoice with our children and grandchildren when a lifeline to their future was just sawed off by a reckless government?

This is not a partisan issue.  Mulroney showed global leadership on climate.  Chretien ratified, but never gave us a plan.  Paul Martin (with Dion as Environment minister) produced a decent plan.  Stephen Harper killed the plan within weeks of becoming Prime Minister.  It is clear that the Prime Minister does not have one single solitary clue of why reducing GHG matters.  But he does understand political cost.  This betrayal must cost.

Even though it is almost Christmas, almost Hanukkah and holidays, skip some last minute shopping.  Whatever you were going to buy, your children need a liveable world much much more.

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