Elizabeth May’s climate conference hypocrisy

This week, the Green Party sent out a fundraising email questioning our commitment to fighting climate change and attacking the NDP for not sending representatives to recent meetings of the Conferences of the Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It’s unfortunate to see Ms. May maligning progressives on the environment in order to raise funds.

The NDP has attended COPs in the past, and we are working hard to hold the government to account on climate change. In fact, we are the only party that has presented legislation that would require the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

And New Democrats believe in the importance of international action on climate change, too. Leader of the Official Opposition Thomas Mulcair has promised to attend the pivotal COP in Paris 2015 as one of his first acts as Prime Minister to help close the deal on the next global climate agreement.

Ms. May’s partisan email is especially unfortunate given her past comments disparaging international environmental negotiations:

"I'm not going to jet off to every useless talk-fest that occurs just because it's happening and I'd get to see a bunch of old friends… I think the world would be better off and the climate would be better off if we could have avoided all the greenhouse gases from people flying there, and all the money." – Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada, August 28, 2002

New Democrats are committed to ensuring Canada does its part to reduce emissions, and we will continue to work with other progressive Canadians to ensure that our government assumes leadership on the climate change file.