Raising awareness and promoting solutions to climate change

This year, Daniel toured sites in Manitoba and British Columbia as the NDP’s Western Economic Diversification Critic where businesses, training institutions, unions and social enterprises are working to create economic opportunities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Afterward, he hosted a town hall with then-Manitoba NDP-Environment Critic Rob Altemeyer to discuss the science climate change and Manitoba-specific policies to confront the challenge head-on.

Standing up for Lake Winnipeg

During his time in office, Daniel has been a vocal defender of Lake Winnipeg. Early in his term, he raised concerns about the Energy East proposal threatening Winnipeg’s water supply where the pipeline crosses the City of Winnipeg aqueduct. 

Later, he raised concerns about a new frack-sand mine operation proposed for the shores of Lake Winnipeg, pushing the government to do its due-diligence and ensure a science-based approach to environmental decision-making.

Challenging Bill C-69 and the Trans Mountain Pipeline purchase

Daniel was a fierce critic of Bill C-69. The Harper government’s environmental assessment process put politics over science, and the Liberals’ new process left the door open to further political abuse.

"That is what it means to maintain ministerial prerogative to decide on a project regardless of the evidence.

We heard the minister say something to that effect in the debate on time allocation earlier, when she said that the government cares about science and evidence and therefore it does not need to put a requirement in the law to make decisions based on science and evidence. She said that if we wait and look at the decisions the government makes, we will see, in hindsight, that they were based on science and evidence." - Daniel Blaikie 

Purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline was another big mistake by the government. Justin Trudeau pleaded poverty when asked why the government couldn’t do more to help veterans, and shortly after that he bought a 65-year-old pipeline for $4.5 billion! Oil and gas executives got a handsome payout, while Canadians were left holding the bag.