Welcome to Elizabeth May's parliamentary week in review! This weekly e-newsletter recaps her work in Parliament when the House is in session. At the links below, you can watch videos of Elizabeth's interventions in the House, keep up with her media releases, and read articles she has written. This newsletter covers Elizabeth's work from May 5, 2017 to May 12, 2017.
 

Key Moments in the House

Question Period

– Will Canada’s lakes and rivers remain unprotected under weak Transport Committee recommendations?

Debate

– Questioning the Liberals’ use of Time Allocation and Omnibus Budget Bills

Statement

– Recognition of National Nursing Week

In the Media

Policy Magazine: A Green Balance of Power in BC, by Elizabeth May

Radio: Tune in to hear Elizabeth on CBC's The House with Chris Hall, Saturday, May 13th at 9AM, CBC Radio One

TV: Tune in to watch Elizabeth on CTV's Question Period, Sunday, May 14th at 11AM ET, 8AM PT 

Podcast: Listen to Elizabeth on CBC's The House midweek  – BC's Minority Report

Public Statements

Statement on Vesak Day 2017

Statement on Lyme Disease Awareness Day 

Elizabeth May released the following statement ahead of Lyme Disease Awareness Day, part of Lyme Disease Awareness Month: 

"Thanks to the tireless advocacy of researchers, doctors, and patients, awareness of Lyme Disease has spread in recent years. However, thousands of Canadians continue to suffer from this debilitating disease, while other advanced countries move ahead with progressive and publicly funded treatments."

"From May 15 to 17, 2016, Canada held a conference to develop a federal framework on Lyme Disease. This conference was mandated by Bill C-442, the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act, a result of my private member's bill."

"Last month, Lyme Disease researchers, doctors and patients called on Minister of Health Jane Philpott to update the Draft Federal Framework on Lyme Disease with the latest medical and patient best practices before it reports back to parliament. Advocates say the current draft framework is incomplete and does not include the latest Lyme Disease medical research.

"I remain very grateful for all-party support for Bill C-442. This issue remains non-partisan. I have confidence in Dr. Jane Philpott to hear the concerns of those who remain concerned in the Lyme-literate medical and patient community, and to re-write the draft framework before the publication of the approved framework."

Petitions

Elizabeth introduced the following petitions to the government this week:

• Implement international aid policies to support small family farmers and ensure that Canadian policies and programs help protect the right of those in the developing world to preserve, use, and freely exchange seeds.
• Put in place a national affordable housing program, along the lines of the resolution passed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, looking to reform the tax system to increase benefits to developers in building purpose-built rental housing​
• Bring back part-time non-Christian denominational chaplains for federal prisons to assist people in prison to find their way forward and return to healthy and productive lives.
• Press the People's Republic of China to stop discrimination against the practitioners of Falun Dafa and Falun Gong.

​​Read the governments' responses to petitions Elizabeth has introduced here.
 

Community Newsletter

April 2017 Newsletter – Earthquake Preparedness
 

Committee Briefs

Brief Submitted to the Expert Panel Reviewing Environmental Assessment Law

Brief Submitted to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for the "Let's Talk Parks Canada" Consultation

Brief Submitted to the Standing Committee on International Trade for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Consultation

Brief Submitted to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in Response to their Review of the Navigation Protection Act

Brief Submitted to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans in Response to the Review of Changes to the Fisheries Act

Brief Submitted to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development on the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
 

Private Members' Bills

Elizabeth May has introduced the following bills:

Bill C-269: This bill will abolish mandatory minimum sentences for all crimes of except murder and treason.

Bill C-258: This "Think Small First" bill would require that every new bill introduced in the House undergo an assessment to determine how the bill would impact Canadian small businesses.

Bill C-259: The Open Science Act would require all federal departments to make all publicly funded scientific research available to Canadians on their websites.

For a list of private members' bills Elizabeth May has seconded, please visit elizabethmaymp.ca
 

Recent Events 

Monday, May 8th – Elizabeth attended the Yad Vashem National Holocaust Day Remembrance Ceremony in Ottawa

Upcoming Ev​ents

Wednesday, May 17th – Elizabeth May & Nathan Cullen host bipartisan event for electoral reform

Friday, May 19th – Elizabeth delivers the 2017 Robert Hunter Memorial Lecture at U of T

Saturday, May 20th – Join Elizabeth for Mayne Island Conservancy's 12th Annual May Day Celebrations

Saturday, May 27th – Join Elizabeth at the opening of (in)finite, a 60th Anniversary Exhibition by the Anglican Foundation

Walk for the Salish Sea – May 25th-29th:

• Thursday, May 25th – Join Elizabeth as she speaks at Pulling Together – All Nations's Gathering Against Kinder Morgan, a potluck dinner fundraiser
   
• Friday, May 26th – Join Elizabeth as she speaks at an Oil-Free Salish Sea Rally aboard BC Ferries
   
• Sunday, May 28th – Join Elizabeth as she speaks at the Fossil Fuel Freedom Fest

The post Elizabeth May’s Week in Review – May 12, 2017 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

We do not have the opportunity to sit on committee, and every time debate is limited, we are precluded from any opportunity to speak to the bills. While it is always antidemocratic for every member in the House, it is particularly egregious in the case of members like me, who never have an opportunity to speak for 10 or 20 minutes on the bills that are debated in this place, because there is almost always time allocation.

I would like to ask the junior minister to please reconsider limiting debate, because it is particularly antidemocratic.

Ted Menzies: Mr. Speaker, with no disrespect meant to my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands, she had 30 seconds or perhaps a minute—I was not timing it—to ask me a substantive question about this, to follow the debate, instead of asking what I hear so often from the NDP, a process question. There are a lot of things in this piece of legislation that could be discussed, a lot of positive things that Canadians are waiting for. They are urgently asking us to get this done. I refer to the funding for Genome Canada. Also, the mandate of the Nature Conservancy of Canada will soon expire, and it is looking for the replenishment that we have set out in the bill to help preserve natural lands all across this country. The Nature Conservancy is hoping we get this done as soon as possible.

The post Economic Action Plan 2013 (Bill C-60) appeared first on Elizabeth May.

I happen to know the rules quite well because I have the somewhat unique perspective of being able to bring forth both deletions and substantive amendments at report stage. In this case, it is a disservice to those who might be looking at this debate, or reading Hansard later, to think the official opposition is obsessed about the short title. It is simply looking for a chance for democratic debate.

Hon. Vic Toews: Mr. Speaker, I do not know what that party’s or that member’s position is. She is not a member of the official opposition.

The official opposition is the New Democrat Party. I see from what they have brought forward that all of those issues have been fully considered and that we are beginning to spin our tires by bringing forward amendments that would delete the short title of the act.

The post Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act (Bill C-42) appeared first on Elizabeth May.

This Parliamentary procedure is traditionally used for matters of great urgency and national importance. For example, from 1913 to 1956, a period of over 40 years, time allocation on debates was used 10 times.

However, since being elected with an majority government on May 2nd, a mere 10 months, the Harper Conservatives have used time allocation 16 times. (This does not include time allocation in the Senate, or in Committee.)

Look at the list below, and see for yourself how the Harper Conservatives have repetitively silenced democracy.

The post Silencing Democracy Through Time Allocation appeared first on Elizabeth May.