Elizabeth May visits Yellowknife, calls for ban on new oil and gas business

Speaking to more than 200 people in Yellowknife on Wednesday night, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May spoke plainly about the extreme actions she believes Canada must take to fight climate change — including a ban on fracking and an end to new fossil fuel development in the North.

"We've never been a one-issue party — but if you're going to have one issue, survival is a good one," she said.

"The federal government has the power to do what is required in a climate emergency, which means banning new fossil fuel development anywhere.

"That's going to be controversial. But it must be done."

May, who is the Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands in British Columbia, was in Yellowknife on a town hall tour of Canada ahead of the October federal election. She's been asking communities across the country for their input and said she'll use what she hears to tweak the party's platform. 

Answering a question about how northern communities get off diesel power, May called for more grid connections bringing renewable electricity to communities. For example, she argued, the Taltson River hydroelectric system should be connected to northern Saskatchewan. In a later conversation with CBC, she suggested the system also be connected to the North Slave region of the N.W.T.

May repeated her frequent calls for a guaranteed minimum income, and the federal government to fight climate change with a multi-party cabinet.

Packed house, engaged listeners 

Nicole Sok, a stay-at-home mom who described herself as "a homeless Red Tory" and who voted for the Green Party in the 2015 election, told CBC she was quite impressed with May and might vote Green again in 2019.

"I like that they're fiscally responsible and they explain how they are going to pay for things," she said.

"I think it's good [that] people are getting away from the concept that there's only two parties — it allows for more innovation and more change to happen."

May pushed against what she has described "dumb partisanship" as she answered a question from Rajiv Rawat about Canada's role in destabilizing Libya.

Rawat told CBC he tends to vote Green or NDP and he was a supporter of the Green Party when he lived in the United States. He told May he appreciated her opposition to Canadian intervention in Libya in 2011.

May replied that she was the only person to vote against the intervention.

"I wasn't the only person who knew it was wrong," she added, saying there were NDP members who came up to her with tears in their eyes. "It was a whipped vote and they had to vote to bomb Libya."

2 N.W.T. Green candidates

May's town hall arrived in Yellowknife as murmurs bubble about a "Green wave" in Canadian politics. In Prince Edward Island this year, for the first time ever, Greens became the Official Opposition. And this spring, after sitting in the legislature alone for seven years, May was joined by a new Green Member of Parliament, B.C.'s Paul Manly.

Nonetheless, May told fans to manage their expectations of her party. 

"I'm not going to stand here and tell you at the end of the election I'm going to form a majority government," she said.
"You're sensible people ... you would think there's something wrong with me."

Two people are running to be the Green Party candidate in the Northwest Territories: engineer William Gagnon and lawyer Paul Falvo. Green Party members will select a nominee on July 10.