David Suzuki says NDP-Green alliance a 'wonderful opportunity'
Many common causes parties can support each other on, environmentalist says
One of Canada's foremost environmentalists has given B.C.'s NDP-Green alliance a thumbs-up and hailed it as a "wonderful opportunity" to push environmental issues to the forefront.
David Suzuki, who endorsed Andrew Weaver and the B.C. Green party during the provincial election, says the alliance represents the wishes of the majority of British Columbians.
"60 per cent of British Columbians voted for the NDP and the Greens so when they come together like this, we have a majority government," he said.
The two parties signed a detailed agreement on how they would work together earlier this week in Victoria.
In it they have pledged to stop the federally approved $7.4-billion Kinder Morgan pipeline project, increase the carbon tax by $5 per tonne per year, and review the Site C dam project (but not stop it immediately as previously promised by the Greens).
While Suzuki said the carbon tax increase is nowhere near as high as he'd like to see ("it's trivial"), and continuing construction on the Site C "has no justification", he was pleased with the two leaders' commitment to stop Kinder Morgan.
"There are a disparity of issues but there are a lot of common causes that they can support each other on," he said.
"The important thing is it elevates Canada's leading climatologist [Andrew Weaver] to a position where he's going to be heard more clearly."
Future of U.S. and Paris Agreement
Suzuki also spoke about the uncertainty around the landmark Paris climate-change accord, during the interview on CBC's The Early Edition.
U.S. President Donald Trump will announce whether the U.S. will withdraw from the deal at 3 pm ET today.
He said regardless of the outcome, Canada should keep on its path.
"Canada took a very important step in Paris," he said.
"We just keep going on. We've got our own commitments. We've got to meet targets. Canada isn't coming anywhere near meeting a target that we've signed up for."
Listen to the interview with David Suzuki on CBC's The Early Edition: