While the Green Party didn’t quite get the Parliamentary representation they were hoping for in the October 19 election, winning only a single seat in the House of Commons, they could have the opportunity to implement their policies in another way. Not one, but three different online petitions have asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appoint Green Party leader Elizabeth May as Minister of the Environment. The authors of the petitions each had a similar idea: Trudeau should show his willingness to introduce change in the government by appointing May to his cabinet. Furthermore, this precedes the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, which Canadian delegates will attend at the end of November, and “[w]e need a strong voice in Paris”, according to Gillian Turner, an author of one of the petitions.
May says it is unlikely that Trudeau would appoint her to the role, but was encouraged by the support. In addition, as Environment Minister she would essentially be working for the Liberals, which she said was not what “voters of Saanich-Gulf Islands [her riding] asked for”.
Turner said the whole thing was “a bit idealistic” anyway. But she declared victory for the petition on October 27, after Trudeau invited May to be a part of the Canadian delegation that goes to Paris later this month. He also intends to ask Tom Mulcair, leader of the NDP, and the Conservative Party leader (either Stephen Harper, or a new leader) to come along. This presents a stark contrast to Harper’s approach, which entirely excluded opposition party members as delegates at international conferences. In fact, to go to the UN Climate Change Conference in 2013, May was forced to attend as part of the Afghan delegation.
As of October 31, the petitions had a combined total of just over 110,000 signatures. Hopefully this show of support for opposition parties will be an incentive for Trudeau, who will choose his new cabinet on November 4, to further honour his promise of an “inclusive” government.
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