Canada Loses Another Dynamic Female Leader in Former Environment Canada Minister Catherine McKenna

In Hamilton Area MP Catharine McKenna, Self-Described “Feminist” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Sees Another Young, Dynamic Leader Leave the Room

A News Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted June 29th, 2021 on Niagara At Large

When in 2015, Canada’s new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, appointed the newly-elected Liberal MP from Hamilton – Catherine McKenna – Canada’s Environment Minister ( the very first federal Environment Minister, by the way,   with the words ‘Climate Change’ in the portfolio’s name), this veteran environment journalist felt hopeful.

After too many years of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his party’s (continued to this day) climate denying ways, here was an energetic young face expressing a passion to take on the climate emergency challenge.

Catherine McKenna, who this reporter crossed paths with twice,  often mentioned  that she had young children of her own who  she certinaly did not want to see t grow up in a world that might be unbearable to live in if we don’t take bold steps to address the climate crisis now.

I heard McKenna saying this in what seemed like a very moving way Niagara-on-the-Lake a number of years ago when she paddled in from the mouth of the Niagara River with her boss, Justin Trudeau, during an Environment Week event, with smiling dumb nuts like St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle, doing a grip and grin somewhere behind her and the Prime Minister for the all-so-coveted ‘Photo Op’ – one they can use in their crappy riding brochures.

At that Niagara-At Large event, McKenna to  talked grade  school children, who she went on to encourage to get involved in environmental issues.

Little did she know at the time that Trudeau was on the verge of spending more than six billion of our tax dollars on a pipeline for the Alberta tar sands – a disgusting sell-out on all of the word salad he fed us around caring so much about the future of the planet.

Now she has announced, this June 28 that she is quitting, and will no longer run again for Trudeau’s federal Liberals in the coming federal election.

As an Environment Minister, she had gone through hell with o defending her federal government’s price on climate-ravaging carbon emissions – to a point where she was receiving extremely ugly and threatening social media messages against her and her family from right-wingers in the Conservative camps of Erin O’Toole, Doug Ford and Jason Kenney. How interesting that right-wing, populist leaders like this bring out the worst in some people.

I crossed paths with Catharine McKenna again about two or three years ago at an event in downtown St. Catharines, while she was still Environment Minister and former Ontario Environment Minister (now Niagara’s Regional Chair) Jim Bradley was there. I asked them for a photo together and said something like’ Here’s to two decent environment ministers) at which point she pointed and said something like ‘he (meaning Jim Bradley) was the best.

And now she is pulling out.

In a brief news conference she did this June 28th, she said the following –

“Like many Canadians, living through COVID-19 over a very long year made me step back and reflect on what matters to me most. And it’s two things: my kids and climate. …

“This is a critical year for climate action in the most important decade that will decide whether we can save the only planet we have,” she says in explaining her decision not to seek re-election.

“I want to spend my working hours helping to make sure that we do.”

Let’s hope she uses her talents as a public figure and as a lawyer who has done charitable work in the past to continue the climate fight for hers and for all of the other children on this planet.

In the meantime, it doesn’t say much for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and too many others in his Liberal caucus that they seem so willing to let someone with her passion and energy go.

All of this should leave Canadians wondering, where we go from here!

To watch and hear an annoucement from Catherine McKenna on why she is not running as a Trudeau Liberal candidate in an upcoming election, whenever it is called, click on the screen immediately below –

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