Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré
The Council of Canadians Sudbury chapter met with Nickel Belt Liberal MP Marc Serré on November 9.
As noted on his website, “Serré is currently the Chair of the Northern Ontario Liberal Caucus as well as member of the Liberal Indigenous Caucus, The Standing Committee on Natural Resources, The Canada-China Legislative Association, The Association interparlementaire Canada-France, The Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and The Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.”
Present at the meeting were chapter activists Andre Clement, Terri MacKinnon, Anne Buchanan and Glenn Murray.
Murray has posted on the chapter’s Facebook page about the various issues raised with the first term Liberal MP (whose father served as an MP under Pierre Trudeau).
Murray notes Energy East pipeline was discussed and how it would conflict with Canada meeting its obligations under the COP21 Paris climate accord (given the pipeline would generate 30 to 32 million tonnes of upstream carbon pollution each year – the equivalent of adding more than seven million cars to our roads), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (given the pipeline would cross the lands of 50 First Nations), and the UN’s recognition of the human right to water (given the pipeline would also put the drinking water for 5 million people at risk).
The chapter also raised its caution about the Trudeau government’s recently announced Oceans Protection Plan. That plan was announced just weeks before the Liberal government is expected to approve the 890,000 barrel per day Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. The plan is seen as a way to provide political cover to a project that would increase the number of oil tankers at the Westridge terminal from 5 a month to 34 a month. Council of Canadians climate justice campaigner Daniel Cayley-Daoust says, “One of the best ways to reduce risk is to avoid building new pipelines and increasing tanker traffic in the first place.”
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were also discussed, with an emphasis on the controversial “investment protection” provisions that allow corporations to sue governments for future profits when public interest legislation, most commonly in defence of the environment, impact their bottom line. The Liberal government has now said it would be “happy” to renegotiate the deal with the incoming Trump administration, though it’s not believed that will lead to the investor-state rules being removed from the deal.
Among the other issues discussed were the CBC Board of Directors (and how 8 out of its 10 members are Conservative Party supporters), the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota, and Donald Trump having just won the US presidential election.
And Murray notes, “We encourage all Council of Canadian supporters who live in Greater Sudbury, but who are not active in the chapter, to join us in our meetings and activities. Financial support to the national organization is great, but adding your opinions and ideas to meetings and physical support to activities is much better. Come join us in the New Year. Our next meeting is at Public Library in Southend, January 19th at 6:30 PM.”
For more blogs about the activities of the Sudbury chapter, please click here.
The chapter’s Facebook page is here.
