A feature interview with the Deputy Leader of the New Democratic Party

Hurricane Leslie is a vortex of energy, a force of nature, sweeping aside obstacles, drawing energy from her surroundings and channeling it right back into the landscape -- and then there is the meteorological event of the same name.

It's a torrentially wet day on the shores of Halifax Harbour with the remnants of Hurricane Leslie buffeting the Nova Scotia coastline. In a neighborhood bistro I'm sitting across the table from Megan Leslie, Member of Parliament from Halifax, the New Democratic Party Environment Critic, and the deputy leader of the NDP.

The Earth Summit of the United Nations being held in Rio de Janeiro had yet to begin, and the specialists were already predicting a dire impasse over the issues of climate change and even setbacks on such central challenges as the human right to water and the protection of biodiversity. In parallel with this tragicomedy and a few weeks after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a dramatic appeal for the protection of natural resources, social and environmental movements have marshaled their forces in the heart of the People’s Summit to propose a vision of the world based on social and environmental justice.

Today in the House of Commons Canadians will be witnessing a rare sight -- a voting marathon. I wish I could say it's a celebration of democracy, but it's not. It's a sign of a government that has lost its way and is undermining accountability with its Trojan Horse Budget Bill.

Instead of introducing a straight-forward bill that implements their budget, Stephen Harper's Conservatives decided to use the budget bill to sneak through changes that gut environmental protection, give broad new powers over employment insurance to the Minister and eliminates large portions of the Fisheries Act.