Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Nanaimo-Ladysmith candidate Paul Manly address supporters Saturday at an early Earth Day rally at Maffeo Sutton Park. (GREG SAKAKI/The News Bulletin)

With their party leader getting married on Earth Day today, the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Greens celebrated the occasion early.

The Green Party of Canada held an Earth Day rally Saturday at Maffeo Sutton Park, with speeches and musical entertainment including Rick Scott. Nanaimo-Ladysmith candidate Paul Manly got up on stage himself to play bass for a few numbers.

May said there are a lot of issues her party is talking about on the byelection campaign trail, mentioning the housing crisis, general affordability, healthcare and student debt.

“We have a lot of immediate, short-term priorities, but we keep our eye on the ball,” she said. “If we don’t solve the climate crisis, we don’t have a world to save.”

PHOTOS: Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says ‘I do’ on Earth Day

Manly said people talk to him on doorsteps about climate, affordability and healthcare, and he said voters in Nanaimo-Ladysmith know the issues when it comes to the environment.

“And they’re pretty upset with the kind of corporate welfare that we’re seeing right now … tax gifts to foreign multinationals to frack our province and export liquefied fracked gas. Or the pipeline issue, buying a pipeline when we could be utilizing that money for other things.”

May said other party leaders talk about climate change but don’t understand the issue well enough to come up with the action she said is needed.

“What must be done does require cross-party co-operation,” she said. “We really need to ensure that we’re working together so that it doesn’t become a partisan issue, because every issue that becomes a partisan issue is undone by the following government. We need to make changes that stick.”

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editor@nanaimobulletin.com

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