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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

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

Jun/5/24 3:16:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is World Environment Day. I am so honoured that visiting Ottawa the next few days are British Columbians who work night and day to protect our southern resident killer whale population, yet the government makes decision after decision after decision that further threatens their survival. There are only 75 whales of this population left in the Salish Sea. The approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline and building the Trans Mountain pipeline increase the risk of spills and the certainty of increased noise. Also, there is the doubling of the Roberts Bank port in Vancouver over the objections of scientists who told the government it would threaten the survival of the southern resident killer whales. Does the government understand the goal is to protect, not exterminate?

128 words

Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

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

May/23/24 10:15:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a great honour to rise today on behalf of many constituents, with a petition directed to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and to the Parliament assembled. The concern of the petitioners is the very perilous state of the southern resident killer whale population. These killer whales are an endangered population under Canada's Species at Risk Act. Their legally protected critical habitat is located in an area about to be increasingly trafficked with Aframax tankers loaded with dilbit, as a result of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which, lamentably, all Canadians own. The underwater noise and physical disturbance from vessels will affect the ability of the southern resident killer whales to communicate with each other and to survive, feed and reproduce. They could lose more than 50% of their echolocation range when commercial shipping traffic is near. There is a lot more to the petition, but I will summarize to say that the petitioners want Canada to protect our whales as much as Washington state protects theirs. In Washington state, there is a mandatory vessel distance regulation. Recreational vessels and commercial whale-watch vessels must not be closer to southern resident killer whales than 1,000 metres. That should be the standard. The petitioners tell the House and the government that should be the standard in Canada as much as it is in Washington state.

234 words

Context: House Hansard - 212 - Jun/14/23

Ms. Elizabeth May

Jun/14/23 1:04:38 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is hard to know what to say in the face of the list of what jobs are going to be created. Let me just perhaps talk about the people in British Columbia worried about jobs. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says that this approval of Roberts Bank threatens jobs because the way the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority wants to operate it is automated. The union thinks it is going to wipe out jobs. By the way, let us look at the other alternatives. There was another proposal from Global Container Terminals for half as much footprint and less environmental damage. It was not great, but they decided to go with the Roberts Bank, the biggest and most damaging project. It just puts such a lie to all the fakery, God damn it, the fakery of saying, “We care about whales and we cares about species.” They approve this? They are causing extinction, and they cannot reverse it.

163 words

Context: House Hansard - 77 - May/30/22

Ms. Elizabeth May

May/30/22 11:57:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am moving on to southern resident killer whales. By the way, one of my constituents whom the minister will also know, the Hon. Pat Carney, has said for many years that we do not have an oceans protection plan but an oceans protection wish list. I would like to see an oceans protection plan and not just a pile of money and a list of things to do. In relation to southern resident killer whales in my riding, the interim sanctuary zones around Pender and Saturna have been there since 2019. Nobody has ever been charged and nobody has ever been ticketed. There have been numerous violations. The local volunteers and whale-sighting groups have now established that whales are present year-round, yet this seasonal so-called sanctuary zone is only operating June 1 to November 30. Is the minister willing to look at the new science and recognize that whales are present year-round?

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Member of Parliament

Elizabeth May