HALIFAX – The Green Party of Canada extends heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of yesterday’s mass killings in several Nova Scotia communities – from the small community of Portapique, about 40 km west of Truro to Enfield, near the Halifax International Airport. Our thoughts are with all Nova Scotians, on this tragic day.

“As Premier Stephen MacNeil has said, we will not be defined by this tragedy, we will be defined by how we deal with it,” said Green Party Interim Leader Jo-Ann Roberts. “As Nova Scotians, as Canadians, we will reach out to each other, we will support the families of those who died. We will make muffins, sing and say prayers, we will provide counselling, we will love, and we will remember.”

Details continue to emerge on the identities of the victims, but as in most small communities everyone knows someone who has been impacted by this terrible situation. Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands), herself a Nova Scotian, is personally connected to one of those families.

“Our hearts are breaking for everyone impacted by this tragedy,” said Jenica Atwin (MP, Fredericton). “In small maritime communities like Portapique and my home community of Rusagonis, we know our neighbours and we look out for one another. Such a senseless, violent, hateful act is utterly incomprehensible. I join all New Brunswickers, and indeed all Canadians from coast to coast to coast, in sharing our deepest condolences with our neighbours to the East. Our hearts are with you today.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview:

Rosie Emery

Press Secretary

613-562-4916 ext, 204

rosie.emery@greenparty.ca

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The Old Harry site, though, is actually in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board area and would be the first ever development of petroleum resources inside the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is one of the most biologically productive areas of Canada’s coastline and is uniquely susceptible to threats from oil and gas accidents or disasters because its counter-clockwise current would take any oil around to absolutely all of the provinces in the area, which as he mentioned, is a multi-jurisdictional area, with Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

This piece of legislation deals solely with worker safety in the offshore for both the Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia boards. In fact, it is not objectionable, even though it does not go far enough to ensure those workers have an independent safety board. However, when speaking of independence, we have now had the downloading of environmental reviews to these very boards, and they have shown a pattern of consistent bias in favour of developing oil and gas, and in that, they have a conflict of interest when trying to protect the public interest, environmental concerns and the interests of fisheries and fishermen’s organizations throughout the region.

I ask my colleague if he thinks the time has come to have a look at these accords and these acts and see if we should separate out regulatory functions from offshore petroleum promotion functions.

Geoff Regan: Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that what ought to govern in these questions about what happens in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is science and evidence.

We know the history of the government. It seems to prefer policy-based evidence to evidence-based policy, and really, these decisions ought to be made on the basis of science and evidence.

I suppose on the one hand, the answer to the question depends upon how these boards are structured, who is on them and so forth. Those are important questions in terms of the kinds of decisions that would be made.

I think I have made clear that in relation to this legislation my argument has been that there ought to be a separate independent body dealing with health and safety and that area of regulation. I also know my hon. colleague is well aware of the way the Liberal Party has opposed the many negative changes that the Conservative government has made to harm, really, our environmental legislation in this country.

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“Quite simply, this Bill will allow oil and gas exploration inside a National Park and drilling, including fracking, underneath Sable Island itself, said May. “I’m disappointed that this has already passed the Nova Scotia Legislature, but we will absolutely not support S-15 until these provisions are removed.”

Oversight for Sable Island is divided between Nova Scotia and Ottawa. Both levels of government have introduced identical legislation to create a national park on this wild, iconic island. Nova Scotia’s bill received Royal Assent in early May and the Harper Conservatives have introduced time allocation to make S-15 law before the summer recess.

After years of negotiation, ExxonMobil agreed to give up its decades-old rights to drill on the island, but it insisted on keeping its horizontal drilling rights to natural gas below the island one nautical-mile away and beyond. It would also retain the right to do seismic testing on the island.

Furthermore, Bill S-15 would give the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, whose mandate is to expand oil and gas production, unprecedented power to make regulations inside a National Park, setting a dangerous precedent and undermining the integrity of our entire national parks system.

“Local environmentalists and the general public are against oil and gas exploration and extraction on Sable Island, especially once it’s a National Park,” said May. “We all want to see Sable Island protected, but it is tortured logic to think that we would protect this rare and pristine area by allowing oil exploration. We must get this legislation right.”

There is pressure to establish a new identity for Sable lsland because the Canadian Coast Guard is withdrawing its services and there is no other government agency to replace it. As a national park, Sable Island would come under the jurisdiction and protection of Parks Canada which has been weakened by the Harper Conservatives.

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“Taking on another mega energy-generating project is a political decision that should be carefully made, with all economic and environmental data in mind. In the case of the Muskrat Falls project, Stephen Harper’s rationale is unknown,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“According to the C.D. Howe Institute, small-scale hydro, wind and other renewables should more than suffice to replace the NL Holyrood power station. A move to seasonal and peak prices that rise and fall with demand conditions would make better use of resources we already have and allow Newfoundland & Labrador to meet all their energy needs,” said May.

“How was the decision made? Where is the cost-benefit analysis for Canadians? Could Newfoundlanders and Labradorians get more for $7-billion?” asked May.

“We don’t know if there is coordination with Nova Scotia to use this new energy to phase out coal. The imbalance in competition with Quebec created by the federal subsidy has not been discussed with the concerned provinces. The Greens are advocating for a National Energy Strategy and these examples show we urgently need a real conversation,” concluded May.

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Green Party leader Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands, Mary Gorman, Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition, Dr. Lindy Weilgart, Research Associate in Biology at Dalhousie University and an expert in seismic impacts on marine life, and Dr. Thomas Duck, Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, also called on Canadians and regional provincial governments to join them in stopping the Harper Conservatives’ aggressive extraction agenda in the Gulf.

“We need as many concerned Canadians as possible and their provincial representatives to join us in our call for an exploration moratorium in the Gulf of St. Lawrence” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands. “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just spent the past few months pushing through his pro-oil budget and omnibus Bill C-38, and now he thinks nothing can stop him. We have to demonstrate that’s just not the case.”

The elimination of federal regulations for offshore development are likely to have dire consequences for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a highly sensitive ecosystem with over 2,000 marine species that spawn, nurse, and migrate year around, including lobster, herring, snow crab, mackerel, tuna, endangered blue and right whales, leatherback turtle, and harlequin ducks.

Environmental assessments for exploratory drilling, which can be as dangerous as production drilling, were eliminated in the new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 (CEAA 2012) introduced in Bill C-38. It should be recognized that the largest oil spill in American history, the BP Macondo Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, was an exploratory well.

Environmental assessments of seismic blasting were also eliminated. “Marine mammals and fish are highly impacted by seismic surveys. Whales can strand and die, often bleeding from their eyes; dolphins can go rigid, catatonic, and drown, and the hearing cells in fish can be ripped apart. To carry out this destruction in as productive and biologically rich an area as the Gulf is madness,” Dr. Lindy Weilgart warned.

The Harper Conservatives are eliminating environmental regulations and protections to fast-track offshore drilling in spite of the fact that the Gulf provides a renewable global and regional food source, generating a thriving fishery – including Mi’kmaq and Acadian fishers – which, together with the tourism industry, is worth one billion dollars and creates approximately 50,000 related jobs. At the same time, the Harper Conservatives have not amended the current industry liability limit which now stands at 40 million – nothing compared to the billions BP has spent in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf has unique characteristics making exploration and extraction particularly risky. It is a partially landlocked, inland sea with strong, counter-clockwise, tidal currents that only empty into the Atlantic once a year. There is no feasible way to clean up an oil spill because the Gulf is one of the windiest regions in North America. Due to the currents, one oil spill could damage five provincial coastlines (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Newfoundland).

“As coastal landowners, we feel betrayed and abandoned by our governments who are gambling recklessly with everything we have worked for our entire lives – our property values and net worth along with our Gulf’s pristine beauty, recreational pleasures and unique maritime culture,” stated Mary Gorman.

“I would like to formally welcome Prime Minister Harper to the 21st century and advise him that humans are not the only species on the planet. It is long past time to shuck off this anthropogenic attitude of superiority and mastery and learn a small lesson in humility. It is good for the soul. While the rest of the world is embracing change, our government is clinging to 20th century philosophies and business models. This may have been acceptable in the 1950s, but we have moved on. We urge the Canadian government to do the same,” said John Percy, Leader of the Nova Scotia Green Party.

This aggressive extraction agenda is taking place as the government’s ability to monitor negative impacts has been greatly weakened. Professor Thomas Duck highlighted the ongoing reduction of scientific capacity at Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“Sound policy is informed by science, yet the Harper Conservatives have dismantled much of our capacity to monitor the impact of fossil fuel exploration and development. The elimination of scientific assessments and oversight — indeed, the whole of Harper’s war on evidence — puts the health and safety of Canadians and their environment at considerable risk.”

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May will introduce a Private Member’s Bill calling for the development of a national strategy to address the challenges of the timely recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease.  The bill also calls for funding for provinces and territories to implement the strategy.

“Lyme disease can be devastating. Too many Canadians are now disabled, deprived of the joy of family and friends, of school or work, due to Lyme disease.  The public and the medical community need to be educated as to the increasing incidence and range of this disease,” said May.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is that is spread to humans and animals through the bite of certain types of ticks, particularly the black-legged tick.  Notoriously under-diagnosed and under-reported, the disease can cause serious symptoms if left untreated including recurring arthritis and neurological problems.  

The risk of exposure to Lyme disease is highest in parts of southern and south-eastern Quebec, southern and eastern Ontario, south-eastern Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and much of southern British Columbia.

Warming temperatures are leading the increase in range for the black legged tick.  Scientists are endeavouring to create enhanced surveillance tools, such as risk maps.  A national strategy could support this work and ensure that people can be vigilant in areas where the tick is becoming established.  If doctors know that the local risk has increased, they can help with early diagnosis and prevention.

Early treatment of antibiotics can avoid potentially serious long-term disabilities or even death.  Chronic Lyme disease requires improved diagnostic testing and treatment.

“Scientists are warning that a warming climate will expand the geographic range of Lyme disease-carrying ticks further into Canada, so it is imperative that we are proactive,” said May.

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