FREDERICTON — The leader of New Brunswick's Green Party is promising to pass a law that would guarantee the right to a healthy environment if his party is elected to govern on Oct. 21. David Coon was campaigning in Saint John, N.
B., on Wednesday. He announced the pledge while standing outside a scrapyard where a fire in September 2023 burned for two days, its hazardous smoke drifting over the city as emergency officials urged people to stay inside and wear a mask.
“Over the years, we have seen government after government cover up environmental contamination to the detriment of the health of New Brunswickers,” Coon, a former environmental activist, said in a statement. “In my 40 years of experience dealing with toxic chemicals and pesticides that pose a risk to the health of New Brunswickers, Liberal and Conservative governments have almost always taken the side of industry against public health,” he said. The Green leader then cited the Progressive Conservative government's refusal to revoke the scrapyard's licence to operate in Saint John.
He also called attention to the case of Eilish Cleary, who served as the province's chief medical officer until she was fired in 2015 by the Liberal government led by Brian Gallant. Coon suggested Cleary lost her job because she investigated the spraying of glyphosate, a herbicide used extensively in New Brunswick forests. At the time, the provincial government repeatedly stated Cleary's termination was not related to her work.
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