Good Sunday Morning,

Paddling for the Peace and the Inlet

It’s Friday night and I’m charging the batteries of my sloop as I start to write this. By the time you read it, a small crew and I will have joined some of you at the paddle for the inlet flotilla in Brentwood Bay to draw attention to that pristine environment and the peril it faces from the proposed pipeline and floating gas terminal. While we were paddling for the Saanich Inlet, Elizabeth was up near Fort St. John where she said this:

"The Paddle for the Peace has defended the natural beauty of the incredible Peace River for the past 11 years, and First Nations have been defending it for centuries”

Elizabeth goes on to point out that Site C had an excellent environmental review under the pre-2012 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. That review established that the project would cause permanent environmental damage that cannot be mitigated and that Site C would also cause permanent loss of treaty rights to Treaty 8 First Nations. The Royal Society of Canada, our premier scientific academy, has described the Site C Joint Review Panel report as the strongest and most negative review to be ignored by government.

Good Sunday Morning,

Another amazing week for Canada. Another amazing week for Greens and the values we champion. The North American Leaders' summit was striking in its focus on climate change and building a continental energy grid to transmit clean energy from region to region so we can move away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible. There was no mention of pipelines and refreshingly the word energy was not synonymous with oil. The primary focus on hydrocarbons was the commitment to curbing the wasteful and destructive methane leakage at existing facilities and a commitment to addressing shipping and aviation sources of CO2. But most significantly there was a clear signal that the Harper targets will be abandoned in favour of a shared 2025 target that aims firmly at the 1.5 degrees we championed in Paris.