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Elizabeth May

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
Green Party

Saanich—Gulf Islands
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 61%
Expenses Last Quarter: $112,862.18

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Feb/13/24 10:16:13 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-14

Mr. Speaker, I thank hon. Minister of Justice for sharing these comments with other members of the cabinet, particularly the Minister of Health. This is perhaps the most difficult issue any of us will ever deal with as members of Parliament. Strangely enough, I will just add that, had she been alive when I was a member of Parliament, Sue Rodriguez, who went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada for the right to die with dignity, would have been my constituent. She lived in North Saanich. There is tremendous public support in my area for medical assistance in dying being available to Canadians. However, I have to say, when it came to Bill C-14 and extending it to where mental illness was the only underlying cause, I voted for that bill only because there was a time delay, and we should be ready before it comes into effect. I support what the Minister of Justice just said. We know the provinces have spoken with one voice. I am very concerned that access to treatments for mental health are still not available and might push people toward seeking MAID because they cannot get access to something like psilocybin that could deal with their underlying causes. I very much object to using time allocation. I do not think I have ever voted for time allocation in this place, but now I must because the court deadline is approaching; March 17 is soon. We need to make sure that we do not leave Canadians in this awful gap where we do not have anything in place, as a Parliament, to deal with the current crisis. I offer those comments just to say that I will be voting differently from the way I typically have, but I still vigorously object to time allocation being used routinely.

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Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Feb/13/24 10:06:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present a petition from constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands who are concerned about the nexus between the climate crisis and the health of humanity. The petitioners note that the World Health Organization has determined that, “Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century.” The health impacts from climate change include lung disease; heat-related illness and death; the spread of infectious diseases, and we note, in Canada, the spread of lyme disease related to climate change; displacement; famine; droughts; and mental health impacts, which are already being felt in Canada and abroad, and they are expected to accelerate. Petitioners are, and I want to underline this, a particular class of knowledgeable individuals. The petitioners are described as physician mothers of Canada. They are people who are mothers and also speak with concern for our children, as many of us do, but with the added lens of the knowledge that they bring as physicians. They call on the government and the House of Commons to act on the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment's calls to action on climate change and health, prioritize the reduction of emissions as quickly as possible, implement a national carbon pricing strategy and commit to the rapid elimination of fossil fuels from our economy.

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Context: House Hansard - 157 - Feb/9/23

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Feb/9/23 12:02:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciated the words of my hon. colleague and neighbour from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke and the reflections on the failure of the initial charter to protect sexual orientation. Since the member has raised my old friend Svend Robinson in this discussion, I will mention two of my constituents. Svend Robinson is a constituent of Galiano Island in my riding, and I am enormously indebted to him for many stands he has taken over the years. Another constituent, Conservative Pat Carney, was actually the first member of Parliament to put forward legislation for equal marriage, which was one of many early efforts on her part. I want to put this to the hon. member. He says, quite rightly, that we never, ever anticipated that the notwithstanding clause would be used as Premier Ford just proposed he would do to deny teachers' rights. We never expected that it would be used for back-to-work legislation applied indiscriminately. What do we do to mobilize public opinion to protect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms from cavalier political efforts to just grab it as we—

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Member of Parliament

Elizabeth May