- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Green Party
- Saanich—Gulf Islands
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 61%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $201,868.20
- Government Page
- May/21/24 8:00:32 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. It is more than just ironic. It is unbelievable that the government continues to give subsidies to fossil fuel industries despite all the promises to cancel subsidies and government support.
For example, $34 billion has been invested in building the Trans Mountain pipeline. This flies in the face of our efforts to protect our climate and, as the member said, it flies in the face of public health interests and the need to protect the public from pollution. We can do more, and we can make better and wiser decisions, but not with this bill.
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/9/24 10:46:16 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am curious to know how I am going to vote on today's opposition day motion that we are talking about, at least peripherally. The discussion around carbon taxes always brings to mind, because it is a complex problem, the H.L. Mencken comment, “For every complex problem there is a solution which is clear, simple and wrong.” I could add, as an update, that it very rarely rhymes. I would love to see a discussion that is fact-based, listening to the experts, such as the 200 economists who say carbon pricing works, or to sit down with the premiers and listen to the science.
I recently, in this place, spoke of the record of the late Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, who definitely worked with provinces, imposed additional costs to stop pollution and made actions count. We do not have a carbon tax crisis; we have a climate crisis. I would welcome an opportunity to listen to the scientific and economic experts and bring everyone together.
Could members of the official opposition confirm that, should this meeting with premiers take place, they would listen to the top experts on climate science at the meeting about the threat to our economy posed by wildfires, heat domes, floods and storms of all kinds that are driven by the climate crisis?
224 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 7:15:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that my anger at the situation is less directed at the federal government than it is at the province, Imperial Oil and Exxon themselves. When Brad Corson, CEO of Imperial, testified at committee, he was terribly apologetic, but he described the problem as a communications failure. It is a pollution failure, and it is a poisoning failure. Moreover, it is going on right now. It has not stopped.
Even in the business of communication, there were three meetings with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation committee working with Imperial over the course of the summer, and Imperial never told the committee that it was looking into this constant pollution that was happening. It is time to charge them. We get their attention when they realize that they are criminals, that their social licence has been used up and that they must stop polluting the lands and the waters of this country, that province and the territory of the Athabasca Chipewyan and the Mikisew Cree.
168 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jan/31/23 10:11:40 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak while you are in the chair.
I want to wish you, Mr. Speaker, a very happy new year, as the statute of limitations on saying that starts tomorrow, February 1.
I am proud to present a petition regarding a very important issue for Canadians, especially those in my riding.
It is the question of the pollution of our oceans with plastic. Ocean plastics is a crisis. It is recognized globally and it was recognized recently at COP15.
The petitioners in this case call for the Government of Canada to strengthen regulatory definitions to include more single-use plastic items and close loopholes that currently allow a tremendous number of plastic items to be replaced with more problematic plastic; to remove the exemption that allows banned products to continue to be manufactured; to implement a clear action plan to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2030; and to bring proposed regulations into force within six months of their publication.
173 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/31/22 4:14:58 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill S-5
Madam Speaker, I happen to have worked in the administration under former prime minister Brian Mulroney. I worked on acid rain and worked on the treaty that protected the ozone layer. I can contrast, from first-hand experience, why the current Liberal government is not hitting targets and Brian Mulroney's government did. At no time did we in that government decide to fight acid rain while subsidizing acid rain. At no time did we say that we must make our other colleagues happy and build, for instance, more pollution into our system while trying to fight it. We cannot meet climate targets doing this.
I know the members opposite think it is important to build pipelines. We must cancel the Trans Mountain pipeline if we have any interest in making sure our emissions go down. We have to be consistent and fight for what our goals are, one of which is to make sure we have a livable world for our kids. That is not hyperbole. That is what the scientists are warning us about.
176 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/30/22 11:56:00 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Chair, moving on, I was really pleased to hear the minister say that she recognizes that polystyrene is a real problem of plastic pollution in our coastal areas, but I was disappointed to hear that it sounded like DFO is not interested in getting it out of the ocean.
Is DFO working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to improve the regulations currently under review for ocean plastics to put polystyrene's use in the marine and coastal areas on a list so that we avoid getting it into the ocean in the first place?
96 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/25/22 3:56:19 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is hard not to comment briefly that the hon. member for Miramichi—Grand Lake cannot possibly assert to this place that he honestly thinks the NDP members sit in the Liberal caucus. I will set that aside.
My question for him relates to his claims about SUVs and light trucks, and the notion that dealing with the pollution from those vehicles means we do not like the people who drive them. That is not the case. The pollution from automobiles between 1990 and 2015 dropped by 23% in Canada. In that same period, the pollution from light trucks, SUVs and vans increased so much that it actually doubled.
I will ask the hon. member to consider that the pollution from these vehicles creates more hospital visits, more smog and more asthma, and drives a climate emergency that his province knows well from extreme flooding. I ask him to reconsider deciding to treat a policy problem as though it is a personal vendetta against people who are still driving vehicles that need to be properly regulated regarding their emissions.
182 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
