Strait talk
Elizabeth May weighs in on Northern Pulp’s plan to put effluent pipe into Strait
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May spoke to a large crowd in Pictou to address local issues, including Northern Pulp’s plan to put an effluent pipe into the Strait.
PICTOU, N.S. — It’s been more than a decade since Green Party Leader Elizabeth May ran as a candidate in Central Nova against the then-incumbent Conservative Cabinet Minister Peter MacKay, but it appears she hasn’t been forgotten.
A large crowd packed the Northumberland Fisheries Museum in Pictou on Feb. 16, filling all available seats and standing room to see May and talk with her about issues ranging from the high cost of college tuition to the ongoing concerns of those from Pictou Landing First Nation and the fishing community about Northern Pulp’s plan to put an effluent treatment pipe into the Northumberland Strait. She hugged and greeted many who had helped on her 2008 campaign.
Prior to the meet-and-greet, May met with Liberal MP Sean Fraser and members of the fishing community as well as Pictou Landing Chief Andrea Paul to talk about that issue specifically.
May said it’s clear 2020 is the legislated date and she said she would stand in solidarity with Chief Paul should the province change that. She said she believes, based on her conversation with Fraser, the province does plan to honour the deadline.
“The Nova Scotia Department of Environment should just shut down Boat Harbour at 2020 no matter what and if we’re looking for meaningful ethical work, there’s a lot of opportunities across this province that don’t involve logging and putting chipped forest into ships leaving for overseas,” May said. “We should be bringing back a saw log industry. We should be bringing back processed finished wood. Value added.”
May has had her own history fighting against the pulp mill under previous owners. In the 1970s and 1980s, she fought against pulp mills use of insecticide and pesticide — including Agent Orange — on forests in Nova Scotia.
Repeating the words of Chief Paul from their meeting prior, she said: “Enough is enough. Boat Harbour has to close.”
When Scott Paper first opened, she said forests in Nova Scotia were converted from saw log forests to pulp mill forests which she said “impoverished our biodiversity” for the benefit of foreign owners.
“When that monstrosity opened in the 1960s, how many businesses went out of business that were running beautiful little tourism cottages along the Northumberland Strait? How much did we lose?”
May said she would like for the mill to close and support be given to the workers there.
“Forget the mill, let’s give some money to the workers and see what they can do on their own to start a new business or whatever they want to do. For my point of view, close the mill.”
2019 ELECTION
With an anticipated five or six federal parties for Canadians to choose from for the next federal election in October 2019, May is predicting a minority government, which she believes will be good for both her own party and the country as a whole.
“I’m going to be going into the next federal election campaign with a very strong, confident expectation of going back to Ottawa with lots of Green MPs who will be able to speak their minds, vote their conscience and do what the people who elected them want them to do.“
She said the problem with the current state of affairs is that MPs are told how to vote by their party leaders. She believes a minority government would create greater cross-party collaboration.
“Co-operation is in our DNA as Greens. We want to be able to work across party lines.”
During the Second World War, Winston Churchill and MacKenzie King had war cabinets which included opposition members and May believes that model would be a positive approach for the next government to use to help address issues affecting Canadians.
“We need to find a way within the structure and strictures of Westminster Parliamentary Democracy to look for lessons of the past that actually transformed societies and marshalled everyone’s efforts and let everyone know they were involved,” she said.
Some key platform issues for the Green Party heading into the election are universal pharmacare and free post-secondary education.