Green Party leader stops in Sask., criticizes politicians stoking carbon tax fears

Green Party leader Elizabeth May hastravelledinto the heart of one of the provinces opposing the federal carbon taxin court and says it appears some politicians are more focused on making people afraid of solutions to climate change than tackling the problem.

May is on her Community Matters tour of the country that saw her make stops in Regina and Saskatoon to hold town halls

"This is a province that has traditionally relied on agriculture," she said in Regina Wednesday.

"We're setting in places that conditions that will make agriculture virtually impossible. We're setting in place conditions that will make the future for our children highly problematic, potentially impossible."

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May said it's not enough for politicians to say they oppose a federally-imposed carbon tax, which has been described as one tool in the fight against climate change.

"If you don't like them, what are you going to do instead?" she said, pressing the need for all of humanity to move off fossil fuels.

Premier Scott Moe has called the carbon tax "an ineffective policy that simply does not reduce emissions," saying it moves jobs and opportunities to other parts of the world instead. The government's legal fight against the tax argues the federal government is violating its jurisdiction in imposing the tax.

We know how to band together, we know how to work together and that's what we need right now- Elizabeth May, Green Party leader

May said it seems that far too many politicians want to create or stoke regional differences, pitting British Columbia against Alberta, for instance, or Western Canada against Eastern Canada.

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She argued that fighting climate change requires a countrywide effort and compared itto the national effort during the Second World War.

"We know how to band together, we know how to work together and that's what we need right now."

Loss of public transportation

May also pointed to another common concern she said Canadians share: access to public transportation.

Western provinces have grappled with the loss of Greyhound bus routes, while the Atlantic provinces have similarlylost Maritime bus services, she said.

"Everywhere in Canada is struggling with a loss of public transportation. And nobody's talking about it," she said, adding she wants to see it raised when parliament resumes sitting.