Interview with Bruce Hyer, MP for Thunder Bay - Superior North

Continuing with the series of interviews that Think Forward is conducting with MPs and candidates for the 2015 Federal Election, Think Forward Managing Editor Michael Hurley recently interviewed Bruce Hyer, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and Deputy Leader of the Green Party, to discuss a number of pressing issues in this election, from climate change to Bill C-51 to post-secondary education.

The following is a transcript of the e-mail interview that Michael conducted with Mr. Hyer this past week.

You have served as the Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North since 2008, and in 2011 you won re-election with almost 50 percent of the popular vote. However, in the 2008 and 2011 federal elections, you ran and won as a New Democrat.

You are now seeking re-election as a Green Party MP after joining the party in 2013. Given that voters in Thunder Bay-Superior North have never elected a Green MP in the riding's 39-year history, and in light of the fact that the Greens attracted 3 percent of the vote in the riding in 2011, do you feel that you are facing an uphill battle in this election?

Not at all. In the past, this has been a Liberal city and currently we are seeing a strong shift toward the Green Party. The Conservatives have not won a seat here in 84 years. The two MPPs are Liberals, one of whom has served their riding for 20 years. In the last election the NDP received 30 percent support nationally, while as you point out I received nearly 50 percent of the vote. Our extensive internal polling shows us WELL ahead in this election, with the Liberals and NDP vying for second place. It is at best a three-way race, where voters are realizing that vote-splitting and electing a Conservative is not a concern here.

Most people in my northern, mostly rural riding “get it” instantly. They understand that the only time they see party leaders in this region is a few months before an election. They know that the three large parties have their roots in regions other than this riding and will not prioritize issues, jobs, and federal money for Thunder Bay-Superior North. My riding likes the fact that I refuse to shut up and let Thunder Bay-Superior North’s interests be marginalized. That’s why they elected me in the first place - they see that I am the riding’s best hope for negotiating deals and resources for this region.


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has confirmed that climate change is real and is caused by human activity. It has also stated that reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is essential to avoiding irreversible impacts on people and the environment. 

The Harper Government has committed to reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to 30 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030, but our total GHGs have increased every year since 2009. Our country also ranks 58th out of 61 countries assessed on the Climate Change Performance Index. It is fair to say that the current federal government has shown a complete lack of leadership – and even a disinterest – in addressing climate change.

What is the Green Party's plan for reducing Canada's GHGs, and how will your party ensure that we are doing our part to help mitigate and adapt to climate change?

The Green Party will take swift and concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and return Canada to a global leadership role in the fight against climate change. Canada should commit to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Our long-term target should be to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with further cuts to greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80 to 90 percent compared to 1990. To accomplish these reductions, we will establish a revenue-neutral Carbon Fee and Dividend system to phase out carbon emissions and promote renewable energy. Carbon Fee and Dividend would put a clear price on carbon pollution, and every dollar generated by the carbon fee would be returned to Canadians through an equal, per-capita dividend payment.

The Conservatives and Liberals have no plan to reduce CO2 emissions, and are leaving it up to the provinces to deal with this problem. What leadership! The NDP have a highly flawed, expensive, and bureaucratic cap and trade plan. The Green Party plan will combine some regulation and investments with a national price on carbon. Our Carbon Fee and Dividend plan will reduce both CO2 emissions and poverty. It is not a tax, it requires no new bureaucracy, and it will actually put money into pockets of the majority of Canadians.

Canada can also realize significant emissions reductions by increasing the efficiency of existing housing and building stock. We will unleash an army of carpenters, electricians, and contractors (jobs!) to plug the leaks in Canada's buildings, where energy waste makes up 30 percent of our national carbon pollution.

The Green commitment to infrastructure includes huge investments in energy savings in public transit and water systems. The Green Party also supports making our fair share of global contributions to the Green Climate Fund. Our goal should be an annual commitment of $500 million each year beginning in 2016. Finally, we will cancel the $1.3 billion dollar annual subsidy to fossil fuel companies.

The Green Party believes that the federal government must show leadership in developing an adaptation strategy in collaboration with the provincial, territorial, municipal, and First Nations governments that aims to mitigate and reduce the impacts of climate change. Even with significant global GHG reductions to stabilize the climate, it will take decades, perhaps centuries, to arrest climate change.


It is estimated that there are currently between 100,000 to 300,00 unpaid interns in Canada. But because the Canada Labour Code and most provincial labour laws do not regulate unpaid internships, thousands of young workers are being exploited by employers who refuse to pay them, even though they often perform the same work as paid employees.

Instead of addresing this issue, the federal government has contributed to the problem by employing 961 unpaid interns since 2008. And it has only hired 22 of those interns for paid positions.

Should the federal government take steps to regulate unpaid internships through the Canada Labour Code, and ensure that interns who perform the work of employees are paid for their work?

Yes, the federal government should amend the Canada Labour Code to ban unpaid internships where the federal government has jurisdiction. Exploitative work is unacceptable. The situation you describe, of young unpaid workers working alongside paid workers, does not benefit anyone except employers. Unpaid internships undercut the ability of paid employees to negotiate for adequate wages and work conditions. And they do not provide the income that younger people need to pay for their own basic living costs, never mind tuition.

In 2011, the Conservatives won a majority of seats in Parliament and 100 percent of the governing power by garnering only 39 percent of the popular vote.

Since then the party has passed a wide array of controversial and unpopular policies with little support from the opposition, and this has many citizens asking whether and how we can elect a government that represents and listens to the majority of Canadians.

What will the Green Party do to make Canada's electoral system fairer and more representative of voters' wishes?

Our current first-past-the-post system does not produce governments that reflect the diversity of people in Canada, nor does it accurately reflect voters’ wishes. Canada is one of the last free and prosperous nations in the world to still use this antiquated voting system. Winner-take-all elections classify half of all voters as losers unworthy of representation. It is time for change. It is time for democratic reform.

The Green Party believes that Canada must switch to a proportional voting system that fairly and directly translates all votes into representation in Parliament. Green Party MPs will legislate the end of first-past-the-post voting, establish an all-party Democratic Voting Commission to review past research on electoral systems, and conduct a public consultation on the style of proportional representation best suited to Canada. The Democratic Voting Commission will make recommendations to Parliament. The final step would entail drafting and passing new legislation implementing democratic reform in Canada.


In your opinion, could reforming our voting system potentially compel more young people to vote?

I think electoral reform will affect all demographics, not just young people. Having a system in place that more accurately represents the people of Canada is bound to attract greater participation from voters of all ages.

At 13.2 percent, Canada's youth unemployment rate is just under double the rate of the genreral population, and one-quarter of university graduates between 25 and 29 are currently underemployed. While most Canadians under 30 have some form of post-secondary education, nearly half work in retail, service, or clerical jobs that do not require a degree.

The federal government has responded to these issues by introducing its Youth Employment Strategy, and by continuing to support the Federal Student Work Experience Program. But the Employment Strategy primarily subsidizes low-wage summer jobs, and the Experience Program cannot keep up with student enrollment and demand from employers.

What types of policies will the Green Party pursue to address high youth unemployment and underemployment in Canada?

Remarkably, among member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada has the highest rate of individuals with post secondary education certificates but the highest proportion of people with post secondary certificates who make less than half of the median income. In other words, we have well-educated and trained individuals but too few appropriate jobs. It is especially hard to find jobs when two to four years of practical experience are required.

We need to provide incentives for employers to train workers and invest in productivity improvements for the long term. We also need to provide sufficient income support to enable workers to manage their cost of living while in training. The Green Party’s proposed Guaranteed Livable Income (plus Carbon Dividends!) will help with that. Germany’s extensive apprenticeship system and similar initiatives in the Nordic countries, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland have helped to shield these nations from the job shortages associated with the European economic crisis. Apprenticeships are integrated into formal education and students receive a wide range of vocational training in high school. On-the-job training is blended with classroom training. These countries all provide tax credits for enterprises that increase training year-over-year.

The Green Party supports adopting a requirement, as in Quebec, that businesses above a certain size invest at least 1 percent of their annual payroll in training or pay a levy of the equivalent amount. And, as in France, we could include a pay-back clause that requires employees to reimburse their employers for the cost of training if they leave the employer within a certain time period after their training is completed.

Entrepreneurship can also play a large role in our employment statistics. Small business loans and entrepreneurial incentives are part of our plan to increase youth employment. A more detailed discussion about investing in workers and workplaces can be found here.


You have stated that Bill C-51, the Harper Government's omnibus anti-terrorism legislation, "will restrict free speech, override certain privacy rights, expand police powers, and increase the powers of spy agenices to monitor citizens' communications." You have also noted that, under Bill C-51, some forms of non-violent civil disobedience – such as attempts to block pipelines – could be considered a terrorist threat by the government.

Six out of ten Canadians oppose Bill C-51, and your party and the NDP voted against the bill in the last Parliament. The Liberals voted in favour of Bill C-51, but now say they are committed to repealing aspects of the bill.

If the Conservatives fail to form a government in this election, does the Green Party intend to work with other parties to repeal Bill C-51 in the next Parliament?

The Green Party will immediately repeal Bill C-51. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was the first MP and party leader to stand against Bill C-51, and the first to call for its repeal. Bill C-51 will not make Canadians safer. It will do the opposite. According to security experts, changing CSIS from an intelligence gathering service into a secret police force empowered to “disrupt threats” could well lead to the kind of interagency confusion that allowed the Air India attack in 1984 to happen. The RCMP should disrupt threats, CSIS should gather intelligence, and both need oversight. Bill C-51 cannot be fixed. It must be repealed in its entirety. We need to go back to the drawing board and think more deeply about what needs to be done to protect the security of Canada.

Despite several grassroots efforts to boost voter turnout among youth, only 39 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the last federal election, and more young people than ever are turning away from electoral participation at every level of government.

As a result, most political parties and leaders tend to focus on seniors and "the middle class" during election campains, and issues affecting students, recent graduates, and young workers are largely ignored. As The Globe and Mail notes, "the less youth vote, the less the parties reach out to them, and the more disengaged they become."

What steps would the Green Party take to increase voter turnout among youth? And what, if anything, is your party doing to attract support from young voters in this election?

Our education system has wonderfully prepared this younger generation to vote Green. Students are studying the effects of environmental pollutants and industrial waste on our water, air, and land, as well as the causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon-based fuels. We do not have to convince them that without strong intervention, our world is in trouble.

I also believe that the Green Party platform is a natural ideology for young people who are seeking positive change. We are not a one issue party, though admittedly our environmental stance is what people usually think of first. If you look at our platform, there are many facets that affect youth and their families. One that is particularly germane to youth is that we are passionate advocates for education at all levels, and we believe that universal access for every qualified individual to affordable post-secondary education and training is a basic right.

Another Green Party proposal is to lower the voting age to 16, since young people today have legitimate concerns for their future.


Since the 1990s, federal government grants as a share of university operating revenue have fallen dramatically, forcing average tuition fees to rise by three times the rate of inflation.

As a result, student debt is now at record levels in Canada, and college and university are becoming increasingly unafforable for low and middle income students.

You've stated in Parliament that the Green Party believes the federal government has a role to play in reducing student debt. How will your party make college and university more affordable for students, and what is the Green Party's plan for reducing student debt in Canada?

Our party believes that it is time to break the status quo on education in Canada and abolish tuition fees for college, university, and skills training programs. Whether Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, or Finland, many of the world’s most successful economies have proven that expanding the public education system to include post-secondary increases prosperity, equality, productivity, and economic competitiveness.

We will start investing in Canada’s future by abolishing tuition fees for students without adequate financial means, including removing the inadequate 2 percent annual cap on increased funding for post secondary education for all First Nations and Inuit students. Through consultation and collaboration with provincial governments and universities and colleges, by 2020 we will abolish tuition fees for post-secondary education and skills training for Canadians, guaranteeing that income is never a barrier for qualified students.

It is widely recognized that Canada’s success depends on an educated population, yet we burden youth with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. As our plan to abolish tuition fees is being phased in, we will invest in the success of current students, jumpstart the Canadian economy, and give our graduates a hand-up by implementing a debt forgiveness program. Our plan will eliminate any existing or future student federal debt above $10,000. We will abolish charging interest on new student loans and will increase available funding for bursaries.


Looking back on the last seven years, what would you say is your proudest achievement as an MP so far?

I have introduced more legislation than all of the previous MPs for my riding combined. Two achievements in particular stand out so far.

Number one: I worked hard to gain enough votes from all three parties in the House of Commons to get the Climate Change Accountability Act through three readings and ready to become law, only to have the Harper-controlled Senate kill it. I have the dubious distinction of having the only Bill in the history of Canada passed in the democratically-elected House, but killed without debate in the unelected and unaccountable Senate. In an environment where so many are committed to working AGAINST all-party co-operation on the important issues facing this country, I consider it a great accomplishment to get as close as I did to passing this bill into law. It is crucially important for our country and its economy.

Number two: Over a period of 35 years, I had the foresight, contacts, and knowledge to get the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Act passed in the last two weeks of this year’s Parliament. Not only passed, but passed unanimously! Again, this was an example of all-party persuasion at its best. The new Act protects an area of over 1 million hectares, including over 600 islands. Not only will traditional use of land and water continue – such as fishing, hunting, trapping, and boating – but tens of millions of dollars in federal funding will be gained, with many direct jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs created. The Lake Superior NMCA Act is ecologically important and will also kick-start the renewal of the tourism industry on Lake Superior’s north shore.

While I am proud of these two huge legislative achievements, I am even more proud that I had the courage to stand up to Mr. Mulcair and his bullying NDP whips, who were determined to put the wishes of urban voters – especially those in Quebec – before my own constituents. I chose to become an Independent MP for almost two years in order to best represent my constituents, as I had promised.

Notably, parties are nowhere mentioned in the Canadian Constitution. From 1867 until 1970, party names were not even on the ballot. In 1970, Pierre Trudeau amended the Elections Act to put party names on the ballot. I believe that was a mistake, but far worse was that in the fine print, it required that national leaders sign the nomination papers of their candidates. Soon MPs were under the thumb (and sometimes the heel) of their leaders and back room party hacks. Within months of his Election Act changes, Pierre Trudeau called his own back-benchers "mere trained seals." Which is exactly what most of them are today. This is very, very sad. It means that power is centralized in the hands of the small group of people who surround the Prime Minister. Regions with small numbers of seats, like my region, will never do well under such a system.

The voters in Thunder Bay-Superior North have a choice to vote for three well-intended people who will find that they are totally controlled by the three large parties, or for the person who has shown that he always puts the interests of his constituents first.

Finally, what advice would you give to young people who may be considering a career in politics?

You are inheriting a non-democratic and dysfunctional parliamentary mess, and a planet at great risk. It is your future. Become informed and engaged. Know where you stand, then stand there!