Liberal-appointed Sen. Rosa Galvez, senate’s leading opponent of fossil fuels, in the past year jetted more than 100,000 kilometres to climate conferences from Casablanca to Mumbai. Records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter show Galvez called climate change “the greatest challenge of our time.”“The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time and will require an unprecedented transformation,” Galvez told the Senate in 2023.“It will take us out of our comfort zone, yes, but it is also an opportunity for us to come together and build a better future.”Galvez is former chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee. Newly-filed records show Galvez in the past year logged 100,084 kms in air travel on climate junkets. Charges were paid by the Parliamentarians’ Network for a Fossil Fuel Free Future, American Society of Civil Engineers, the University of Pau in France and other sponsors.Galvez on Wednesday did not comment. However in Senate debate she repeatedly sought a “whole of government approach” to eliminating fossil fuels.“Government must do more to protect Canadians,” she said June 18.Fossil fuel “contributes to the climate crisis that brings destructive weather events,” Galvez told the Senate June 17.“Climate change has completely upended our relationship with the planet and the way we live and work,” she said May 7.Records show even as Galvez spoke against fossil fuels she was preparing for a May 25 flight to a Casablanca conference on “energy justice” and a May 2 meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil concerning “fossil fuel phase out in the Amazon.”Galvez on June 19, two days after her “destructive weather” speech, flew to Apulia, Italy for a conference of a “global parliamentarians’ inquiry into the progress of fossil fuels phase out.” She attended another conference by the same group last September 16 in New York City.The Senator also discussed fossil fuels and climate change at meetings in Basel, Bled in Slovenia, Bonn, Marrakesh, Mumbai and Pau, according to Senate filings.Senator Galvez has repeatedly described herself as an environmentalist. Her official Senate biography names Galvez as “one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effects on human health.”As environment committee chair in 2019 Senator Galvez expressed unease in conducting hearings in Western Canada on Bill C-69 An Act To Enact The Impact Assessment Act dubbed the “no more pipelines” bill by critics. “Rhetoric surrounding discussion of this bill is becoming increasingly hostile,” Galvez said at the time. “I’m deeply concerned for the security of senators and staff were we to travel for public hearings.”
