News

  • Green Party leader calls for landfill ban for organic wastes and recyclables

    Posted by · January 29, 2021 10:08 AM

    Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton wants the Province to ban organic wastes and recyclables from landfills rather than allowing regional solid waste commissions to build higher mountains of garbage.  The Fredericton Solid Waste Commission has applied to the Department of Environment to add 29 metres, or almost nine stories, to their garbage mountain.

    “The idea that building higher piles of garbage is how our wastes should be managed in the 21st century reflects the complete abdication of Conservative and Liberal governments to any meaningful commitment to environmental progress,” said Green Party leader David Coon. “Organic wastes are the raw material for producing renewable natural gas, while recyclables are the basis for new manufacturing ventures in a circular economy. This is what is happening all around us in Nova Scotia and Quebec.”

    The last provincial strategy to cut into the mountains of New Brunswick’s garbage goes back two decades to the government of Bernard Lord.  It was never implemented. 

  • Green Party leader says the political appointment of election officers must end

    Posted by · January 28, 2021 9:01 AM

    FREDERICTON - David Coon, Leader of the Green Party and MLA for Fredericton South, says its time for the government to take the politics out of the appointment of returning officers and elections clerks, as recommended by Elections NB.

    “Its time to end the political appointment of election officers,” said Coon. “Most people will be appalled to learn that the party in power appoints the electoral officers who run the election in their ridings.  Our Chief Electoral Officer is recommending that her office take this over, and I support that.” 

    Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth released her report on Wednesday on the pandemic election last fall, making nine recommendations, including the appointment of returning officers by the independent electoral commission, extending the minimum length of campaigns in the case of snap elections, and improving mail-in voting. 

    “Its no surprise that the Chief Electoral Officer found there were issues with the election that need to be fixed,” said Coon. “During the campaign, my candidates and I experienced some of these first-hand.”

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  • Green Party leader says New Brunswick has fallen short on climate commitments

    Posted by · January 22, 2021 9:20 AM

    FREDERICTON - The most impactful commitments in New Brunswick’s 2016 Climate Change Action have yet to be implemented, says David Coon, Leader of the Green Party, former member of the Legislature’s Select Committee on Climate Change, and MLA for Fredericton South.

    “The Action Plan was designed to put us on a path to transition to a low carbon economy, but failure to implement its most impactful commitments has failed to put us on that trajectory, so the status quo prevails,” said Coon.  “The last major province-wide climate action initiatives were launched 15 years ago by former Premier Lord.” 

    Coon pointed to the failure to implement concrete targets for building energy efficiency; to expand the use of renewable energy to supply electric power and space heating; to improve access to public transportation and electric vehicles; and to ensure carbon tax revenue would be held in a climate change fund to help families, small businesses and communities reduce their carbon footprint rather than buried in general revenue.

    New Brunswick’s Climate Change Action Plan and its Climate Change Act requires carbon emissions to be reduced to 10.7 million tonnes by 2030 and to 5 million tonnes by 2050.  This will require a 20 percent reduction in emissions from the current level of 13.2 million tonnes over the next nine years.

    “We have a choice.  We can choose to fight for our children’s future and set a course to get off fossil fuels, or we can avert our eyes and tinker with the status quo.  As a Green, I choose to fight,” said Coon.

  • Greens Call for Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister to Resign

    Posted by · January 19, 2021 1:17 PM

    FREDERICTON – David Coon, New Brunswick’s Green Party Leader, is calling on Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland to resign his cabinet seat because he wrote the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) to tell them how he thinks it should deal with an Irving Oil application to increase wholesale charges on fuel oil, gasoline and diesel.

    “This was an egregious abuse of power by the Minister, to try to influence the work of the EUB,” said Coon.  “The EUB is an independent and quasi-judicial regulator that makes legally-binding rulings based on the evidence provided to them, and on the strength of the arguments made by the applicant and official intervenors.  The Minister must be held to account for trying to influence the work of the EUB,” said Coon.

    Irving Oil is seeking an increase on the wholesale charges permitted in New Brunswick by the EUB on furnace oil, gasoline and diesel fuel.  If granted, wholesale charges would increase between 63 and 75 percent.  

  • Green Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries critic Statement on Local Food and Beverage Strategy

    Posted by · January 18, 2021 5:13 PM

    FREDERICTON – Green Party Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries critic and MLA for Kent North Kevin Arseneau released the following statement today on the government’s new “Local Food and Beverages Strategy: 2021-2025.”

    “This is the first time New Brunswick has had a concrete local food strategy, so it’s a good first step. It comes after Greens have been pushing for a strategy for six years, since Green Party leader David Coon first tabled his Local Food Security Act bill in 2015. I am pleased to see that the strategy finally includes a definition for local food and that the government is admitting that there are economic opportunities in increasing food self-sufficiency.

    However, ultimately the merit of the strategy will be judged on how it is implemented. The Minister must set concrete targets and timelines for government procurement of local food, increasing the area of production for fruit and vegetables, and expanding the number of and distribution of abattoirs.

    Food sovereignty in New Brunswick cannot happen if we continue to hand over our food system to corporate monopolies and encourage industrial practices. Instead, the government must support small and medium-scale farmers and encourage cooperatives and local autonomy over our food systems.

    I look forward to working with the Minister of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries to ensure that this strategy is implemented in a way that benefits New Brunswick farmers, harvesters and consumers.”

  • Coon says Official Languages Act Review should be Conducted by Legislators

    Posted by · January 15, 2021 4:06 PM

    Commissioners Should Investigate Second Language Training

    FREDERICTON – Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon says that a public review of the Official Languages Act should be conducted by a committee of the Legislature, not by commissioners appointed by the Premier. 

    “MLAs are the lawmakers in this Province, and it should be MLAs who recommend to the Legislative Assembly how the Official Languages Act can be improved to advance the equality of New Brunswick’s two official languages and two official language communities,” said Coon.  “My colleague Kevin Arseneau proposed that a Standing Committee on Official Languages be created 18 months ago, and its first task should be to conduct this review, but this fell on deaf ears.”

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  • Green Party Leader Calls for Public Funding of Public Transportation

    Posted by · January 14, 2021 9:08 AM

    A handful of municipalities are looking to use some of their property tax revenue in a last-ditch effort to try to maintain bus service for their communities to connect people with healthcare services, work, and school. With Maritime Bus set to end routes to Campbellton and Edmundston as soon as tomorrow, New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon is calling on Premier Higgs to use revenue from gas taxes to fund inter-city bus service.

    “Public transportation is a public good, that needs to be publicly funded,” said David Coon, Leader of New Brunswick’s Green Party. “Everywhere else in Canada 50 percent of the costs of public transportation is publicly funded, with the balance coming from ticket sales.  In a province where so many people lack the ability or income necessary to drive, yet need to doctor frequently because of high rates of chronic disease and cancer, it is atrocious that the Government of New Brunswick will not provide funding to support this essential transportation infrastructure.”

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  • Green party leader calls on Premier to use carbon windfall to keep buses on the roads

    Posted by · January 07, 2021 9:08 AM

    FREDERICTON – Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon says the Higgs government should use its unexpected carbon rebate from the federal government to keep buses on the road in New Brunswick.

    “It is just wrong to leave people living in the northern half of the province stranded without public transportation services. It is blatantly discriminatory. Not everyone can afford a car.  Some are unable to drive. Bus service is essential when you no longer have a rail system, and it is an essential part of meeting our emission reduction targets” said Coon.

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  • Green party leader says cuts to bus services will reduce access to healthcare for some New Brunswickers

    Posted by · January 05, 2021 10:46 AM

    The immediate impact of today’s announcement by Maritime Bus that it is cutting public transportation service to much of New Brunswick, will be to substantially reduce access to health care services for New Brunswickers of modest means, according to David Coon, the Leader of New Brunswick’s Green Party and MLA for Fredericton-South.

    “Public transportation is an essential service for anyone who cannot afford to own a car or is unable to drive,” said Coon. “I am calling on Premier Higgs to join with his colleagues in Nova Scotia and PEI to negotiate a contribution agreement that will keep the buses on our roads, just as Premiers King and McNeil already have done.”

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  • Greens Hoping Third Time Will be the Charm for Local Food Security Bill

    Posted by · December 16, 2020 9:00 AM

    Fredericton – On December 16, Green Party critic for Agriculture and MLA for Kent North, Kevin Arseneau, tabled a bill for the third time from the Greens calling on the province to create and maintain a sustainable, self-sufficient local food industry that puts people’s need for food at the centre of policies. 

    “We only produce 8 percent of the fruits and vegetables we consume in the province,” said Arseneau. “In the spring Premier Higgs committed to increasing the local supply of food here in New Brunswick, so that is why I am bringing the bill forward for the third time.”

    The bill aims to strengthen and ensure a sustainable local food economy in New Brunswick, promote local food procurement and access for public institutions, improve the health of New Brunswickers through increased availability of fresh local food and provide students with food, agriculture and garden-based education in schools.  

    “We have been trying to move this file forward since Green Party leader David Coon first tabled a similar bill in 2015, but it was defeated by the Liberals” said Arseneau. “With grocery prices expected to rise significantly next year, it is vital that we act now to produce more food here in New Brunswick that supports sustainable livelihoods and respects the work of all food providers.”

    On another Agricultural related topic, MLA Arseneau extends his solidarity to the tens of thousands of farmers in India who continue to protest new agricultural laws undermining small-scale food producers by rendering them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations.