OTTAWA – The Green Party of Canada today asked the Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, to protect the rights and privilege of members of parliament by suspending sittings of the House until further notice.

The Speaker will rule in the near future on a point of privilege raised by Green MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith).

Speaking in the House this morning, Manly said that the rights and privileges of many members would be violated by any proposal to proceed with regular House sittings in which they could not participate.

“Parliament is not a debating club for the benefit of large organized political groups or parties,” said Manly. “Parliament is an assembly of duly elected members. All MPs are equal, just as their constituencies and constituents are equal.”

Manly said that under existing provincial quarantine orders, members from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador could not participate in House sittings without undergoing a 14-day quarantine, isolated from their families, upon returning home.

“Quebec members have also been asked by their government not to travel. The idea of a small number of MPs meeting in Ottawa violates their privileges and offends the efforts of the Quebec government.”

The Green Party opposes any proposal to reintroduce regular sittings of parliament until public health advice makes it possible for every member to attend. Parliament should reconvene only when it needs to debate and vote on urgent legislation.

Green MPs urge the Speaker to pursue a virtual Question Period without delay.

“Businesses across the country have demonstrated leadership, shifting their workspaces online to respect social distancing,” said Jenica Atwin (MP, Fredericton). “The House of Commons should be no different. When legislation needs to be passed, you can count on Green MPs to be present in the House of Commons. All other debate, including Question Period, can and must be done virtually.”

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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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OTTAWA – Green Party MPs will not support any proposal to introduce regular sittings of the House of Commons during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The opposition Conservative Party is demanding four sessions a week to allow MPs to hold the government to account. The Liberals reportedly are offering weekly sittings until the technical obstacles to virtual sittings are overcome. Greens say both options are unacceptable.

“It is not reasonable for the House of Commons to meet in person, unless we have to pass legislation to help Canadians,” said Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands). “Translators, staff, guards and MPs congregating is taking large chances against the advice of public health officials. And for what? The media spotlight of Question Period?”

“We can certainly organize Question Period at a distance through existing technologies, such as we are now using for Standing Committees. Andrew Scheer may be willing to put his desire for media coverage ahead of public health, but I think that Canadians expect a better example from their elected representatives.”

Ms. May said that MPs from all parties have been given abundant opportunity to provide input to the pandemic relief effort through the committees established by the government. “The government has been very open to ideas and criticisms and has shown itself willing to act on our proposals. The system is working and, as we do this work, we demonstrate the value of dispensing with partisanship and collaborating towards a common goal.”

Green MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) said that the proposed regular sittings would not be in the interests of democracy, as its proponents claim.

“Having a small group of MPs in Ottawa does not represent the country as a whole,” he said. “We need a system that gives all MPs the opportunity to represent their communities and regions. Let’s follow the example of other countries and work together online until this crisis is over.”

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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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Green Party Leader and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May introduced Mr. Page prior to his talk on the future of Canada and how we need to make decisions based on research and evidence.

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“The non-partisan work of the Parliamentary Budget Office has been enormously helpful to me and to the Green Party, even before I was elected as an MP. I have been very grateful for the deeper and more reflective work of Page and his small but dedicated team,” said May. “The reaction to his work from the Harper Conservatives has been a nasty, ad hominem campaign. He deserves the thanks and praise of every Canadian.”

The Green Party Leader stated that the Parliamentary Budget Officer must be fully independent, chosen by a majority of party leaders, and accountable to Parliament, not the Cabinet; he or she must have a clear mandate with adequate powers, security, and funding to ensure that the federal government and its various departments are open and honest about their spending plans and practices.

“Parliamentarians and citizens alike have had a crash course on how easy it is for taxpayers’ dollars to be spent without explanation, and how valued public services can be cut without scrutiny,” said May. “Now that we have seen how vulnerable our democratic system is in this and other areas, we must insist on immediate changes.”

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If you have had any exposure to the talking points repeated, ad nauseum, by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Environment Minister Peter Kent, and Michelle Rempel (Kent’s Parliamentary secretary) on Canada’s actions in reducing Greenhouse gases (GHG), you will have heard that ‘Canada is half way to our Copenhagen target.’ This is the target adopted by Stephen Harper when he attended the climate talks, COP15, in 2009.

It represented the second time Harper weakened Canada’s target. The first, rejecting the Kyoto pledge (6% below 1990 levels by 2012) in 2006, was immediately after he became Prime minister. He cancelled the previous government’s climate plan, which actually would have gotten us quite close to the Kyoto target. Instead, he promised to reduce 2006 levels by 20% by 2020.

The United Nations gathering in Copenhagen was tragically hijacked by a backroom deal, orchestrated by the US, called the ‘Copenhagen Accord.’ Unlike the legally binding Kyoto protocol, The Copenhagen Accord was described as ‘politically binding.’ It also gave Stephen Harper a chance to weaken our target further by adopting the same one announced by Barack Obama – 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. As it happened, Canada’s emissions were higher in 2005 than in 2006—a convenient anomaly that further weakened our pledge.

As well, the Copenhagen Accord included a commitment from signing nations that their collective resolve must avoid allowing the global average temperatures to increase by 2ºC above what they were before the Industrial Revolution. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessed the collectivity of pledges by the Copenhagen Accord signatories and concluded that the pledges fell far short of avoiding the 2ºC threshold. No matter how you slice it, Copenhagen targets were too little, weak and inadequate.

So, it may be that we are inured to the idea that the target matters. Or it may be that our cognitive processes automatically reject the possibility that the whole government, including departmental reports, can be lying to us.

The February 15 update states: that ‘Canada’s 2020 emissions are projected to be about one-half of the way to the target.’ Before examining the actual claim that we are halfway to the target, let’s underscore the blazingly obvious point that the self-congratulatory sentence confirms—by the date the pledge is due, by the deadline year of 2020, we will have failed to achieve the goal.

Half of What?

Now, let’s look at that claim that in 2020 we will be half way there. In 2005 emissions were 740 Megatons (Mt). 17% of 740 is 126. So Harper’s pledge (17% below 2005 levels by 2020) means, that by 2020, Canada should have reduced by 126Mt.

But the emissions graph used in the Environment Canada report shows our 2020 emissions at 720Mt. Not tough math. 720 is 20 less than 740, and there isn’t any new math in the world that makes 20 half of 126.

So, how can they get away with even attempting to say that 720Mt is half-way to the target?

Well, they have thrown in a red herring.

The graph includes an estimate (the red line) of what they claim would have happened without government action—a ‘business as usual’ figure for 2020 of 850Mt. Not uninteresting, and perhaps of some use for other comparisons, if in fact, the estimate is based on any reasonable assumptions and methodologies. (We will have to guess on that because no set of assumptions or methodologies are disclosed).

To re-state the obvious, the Copenhagen pledge was straight-forward (although weak and inadequate) and no element of the Copenhagen target makes a business-as-usual figure relevant. The imaginary whopping big 850Mt that won’t happen is only useful in confusing the picture.

The Conservatives’ talking points also claim that they have reduced GHG emissions. And it is true that in 2010 emissions were down to 692Mt. This is explained by some provincial actions, but primarily was due to the world- wide recession.

I think it is unlikely that the Prime Minister would claim credit for the recession as a deliberate climate policy.

It is galling to hear the lie repeated over and over that the Conservative policies are responsible for reducing emissions. Especially as emissions are rising rapidly, slated to go from 692Mt in 2010 to 720Mt by 2020.

Maybe no one can absorb the numbers – admittedly, as I write this, I worry there are too many numbers. Environment Canada further complicates the picture by adjusting 2005 levels to 731Mt, making the 2020 reduction only 11Mt).

But the millions of tons of GHG Canada dumps into the global atmosphere really matter. Our trail of broken promises will be noticed, if not in Canada, around the world.

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Throughout the program, participants work together in a collaborative environment to develop strategies for teaching about Parliament, democracy, governance and citizenship.

Participants are officially recognized for their excellence in teaching.

For more information, to apply (by April 30th), or to receive free educational resources, please visit the following websites:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/teachers
http://www.parl.gc.ca/education

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Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I was very emotional as my dear friend, the member for Calgary Centre, stood to announce his resignation. As some may know, I worked as senior policy adviser to the federal minister of the environment in the Mulroney government, and one of the luckiest breaks I ever got was when the hon. member for Calgary Centre, who worked in the prime minister’s office, took the time to help advance an issue and make sure that the great environmental goals of that government were achieved.

It has been one of the greatest pleasures for me to serve in Parliament with an old and dear friend. But he is not that old. I want to clear something up. He first worked with John Diefenbaker when he was only four or five years old. I do not know what use he possibly was to the prime minister in that era, but it speaks well of Progressive Conservative policies for child labour that we still have the hon. member for Calgary Centre among us. We will miss him very much.

I wish him the best of luck in his position with the Alberta government.

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Calgary Centre MP Lee Richardson is resigning from federal politics to take a post in Premier Alison Redford’s government.

The long-serving Tory MP told the House of Commons on Wednesday that he will become Redford’s principal secretary.

There were laudatory speeches from a number of other MPs, including Green party Leader Elizabeth May.

View the full original article >>

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Kathleen’s varied background, working in media, non-profit organizations, government, and a political party, has given her a unique, well-rounded perspective on various issues.  Her media work has included print, radio, and television.  For several years, she wrote opinion columns for The Issues Network, a journalist-run syndication service, which appeared in papers across the country.  Her columns have also been published in the Toronto Star and rabble.ca.  On a voluntary level, Kathleen helped found Transition Kingston, which supports the international Transition Town movement, dealing with peak oil and climate change.  She was also active in the Save Our Prison Farms campaign, which attempted to prevent the Harper government from closing Canada’s six internationally respected prison farms.

“I believe in the work of Elizabeth May and have long been an admirer of her determination and dedication to Canada and to the planet.  I am very happy to lend my skills in liaising with Press Gallery media, with the goal of increasing exposure for Elizabeth’s amazing work in Parliament,” said O’Hara.

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