Greens may not vote for throne speech

OTTAWA— Capping a week of meetings with opposition leaders, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Friday with the Green party’s Elizabeth May, who says she will vote against the Liberal government in confidence motions unless it commits to measures that lower Canada’s carbon emissions sharply.

May said she invoked the names of Trudeau’s three children in her push for a more aggressive approach to fighting climate change.

“I was very clear with him. This is about whether Ella Grace and Hadrien and Xavier are going to have a livable world by the time they’re adults. This is not impersonal, this is real, it’s personal and it’s a question of moral courage.”

They discussed a number of areas where the Green party and Liberals share common ground, and May said her caucus of three will be willing to vote for individual laws that are in keeping with Green priorities, including implementing a universal pharmacare program and harmonizing Canada’s laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

But when it comes to confidence motions such as the upcoming throne speech, which the Liberal minority can pass only with support from other parties, May said she cannot vote with the Liberals if they keep their recent course.

“We could never vote confidence in a government that was pursuing pipelines and increasing greenhouse gases,” she said.