FREDERICTON – Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon will present a motion in the Legislative Assembly this morning requesting that the Legislative Assembly designate September 30th as the Day for Truth and Reconciliation in New Brunswick. 

 “Over the course of more than 100 years, some 150,000 Indigenous children were ripped from their families and forced to attend church and government-run Residential Schools,” said Coon. “Officially recognizing this day is an important step towards reconciliation in New Brunswick.”

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FREDERICTON – Kevin Arseneau, the MLA for Kent North and Green caucus advocate for Developing and Strengthening Communities, has released a video of his attempt to travel between his home near Rogersville and the Legislative Assembly in Fredericton using only New Brunswick’s fractured public transportation system.

“A good and reliable public transportation system could be used by all New Brunswickers,” said Arseneau. “But, this requires the political will to remove barriers, ensuring better coordination between rail, intercity bus and municipal transit while investing in strategic infrastructure.” 

 

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FREDERICTON – This afternoon, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Economic Policy, Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon proposed amendments to Service NB Minister Mary Wilson’s Bill 96: An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act that would make it more difficult for landlords to “renovict” a tenant.

“It’s a well-known secret among landlords that if you are looking to cash in on increasing market rents in the face of rent cap – evict your tenants under the guise of major renovations and bring in all new tenants at high rents,” said Coon. “This is the biggest loophole in the government’s rent cap bill that needs to be closed.”

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Last Friday was the first official day of the by-elections in Miramichi Bay-Neguac and Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin.  Green party leader, David Coon, joined both candidates in Miramichi to officially kick off the writ period.  The energy was palpable - people are excited about the possibility of electing a Green MLA for the first time in these ridings!

Chad Duplessie and Julie Guillemet-Ackerman also signed the Stop Spraying New Brunswick Pledge, adding their names alongside those of David Coon, Kevin Arseneau and Megan Mitton.  

Just last week in the legislature Kevin added more names to the petition to ban the spraying of Glyphosate in the province.  It is the largest petition ever tabled in NB now with 35,753 names attached.  Despite the commitment of Minister Mike Holland to reduce glyphosate spraying under power lines, no official directive has yet been issued. 

On top of that, Higgs is choosing to allow Irving to rake in record profits on gas while New Brunswickers are being squeezed at the pump.  The Green MLAs have been offering concrete solutions Higgs can take immediately to alleviate the stress that New Brunswickers are feeling right now.  

A by-election is the perfect time to send a strong message to the Conservative government.  Chad and Julie need your support to get to Fredericton and help keep Higgs in check. 

I invite you to join them for these next 4 weeks of campaigning! 

Sincerely, 

Marco Morency
Executive Director, Green Party of NB

 

Meet the candidates:

Chad Duplessie
Miramichi Bay-Neguac

Twice elected Miramichi city councilor, father of three, with a career in community building on issues such as access to healthy food, inclusion, youth mental health, and homelessness.  Read more… 

Julie Guillemet-Ackerman
Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin

Communications professional with experience in corporate and non-profit communications, mother of two, and committed to putting her Green values into action.  Read more…

 

FREDERICTON – Findings of severe biodiversity loss in New Brunswick’s forests were published today in the online journal Nature Ecology & Evolution by an international collaboration of scientists led by New Brunswicker Matthew Betts, currently a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University.

The scientists looked at the degree to which forest degradation – the reduction or loss of biological complexity – in the form of clearcutting and then thinning or replanting single tree species affected bird habitat and long-term trends in bird populations.

“The scientists’ findings should be a call to action for Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland to order a halt to forest degradation caused by clearcutting older forests and then thinning the regrowth or replanting single tree species,” said Green Party leader David Coon.

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Sackville – Megan Mitton, the MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar and the Green Party’s Education and Health critic, released the following statement today in response to Child, Youth and Seniors Advocate Kelly Lamrock’s recommendations on COVID protocols in schools:

“Child & Youth Advocate Kelly Lamrock has issued thoughtful recommendations regarding COVID protocols in schools today, including the return of masking in schools for at least the next month, while policies are reviewed. This needs to be implemented immediately.

Education also needs to implement his recommendation to ensure rapid tests are available to all students and staff in schools. We need widespread access to rapid tests - not once a week by appointment. You shouldn’t need to have symptoms.”

By David Coon

Earth Day, in its original iteration in the United States, was a call to political action.  Citizens in large numbers organized events to pressure their political leaders to create laws to cut pollution and stop the extinction of species. In Canada, the first Earth Day was quietly marked by people doing their civic duty to pick up litter.  

Litter clean-ups continue to this day because it gives one a sense of achievement, counted in the number of garbage bags you fill and the tidy look to the roadside or shorefront you traversed. I well know the sense of satisfaction that comes from helping to beautify your community. It, however, does nothing to reduce our footprint on the Earth.

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FREDERICTON – David Coon, the NB Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South, and Megan Mitton, the Green Party’s Health Critic and MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar, are calling on the Higgs government to make rapid tests available to all New Brunswickers ahead of the Easter long weekend.

“We know from experience that long weekends are followed by an uptick in COVID cases,” said Coon. “New Brunswickers want to have peace of mind that they won’t be putting elderly or immunocompromised family members at risk by visiting them this long weekend.”

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On Friday morning, I delivered my official response to the budget. 

The Higgs government presented a budget of small measures when we need bold ideas and policies that launch us down the road to transformative change in health care, in energy production and use, in transportation, and in housing.

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