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ARCC T e Guide To a Healthy and Sustainable

Green. Party of Canada 2000 Election Platform

www.green.ca ,. Q)o~~ The : The Politics of Public Trus ~~j 0)0-::>_ A Clear Vision A Practical Plan A Bright Futur~; ~:e I The basic approach. of the Green The has Green Parties have been ~~ ! No-s- Party is simple - we think -ahead. spent eighteen years - and drawn to parliaments around th - is- Our policies are designed to on the experience of all in the last twenty years. At the consider the needs of Canadians around the world - developing a moment, the German Greens are not only for today, but also for sensible and achievable plan to actually in power as part of a tomorrow, and for the future of attain the goals of a healthy and coalition government! These our children and grandchildren. sustainable Canadian society. Of successes for the Green Party in That's what makes the Green course, it's going to take time to so many countries suggest that Party unique. That's the vision reach those goals, which is why it's just a matter of time before that underlies all our policies, we have put forward a gradual we see Green MPs in . and that's why we believe that and balanced approach that Even now, the steady increase in they fundamentally make sense. allows Canadian businesses, citi- support that the Green Party of When you look at our platform, zens, and institutions time to Canada is receiving is forcing you're getting a glimpse of the adjust to the changes that need the big parties to rethink their future of Canadian politics - the to be made in the future. Many approach, and to adopt more development of a sustainable of our policies have already sensible and environmentally economy, a healthy society and been implemented, with success, sound policies. We are making a environment, and a democr~cy in countries around the world. difference, and we are confident that allows all Canadians to have The Green Guide builds on these that the Green Party will be a their voice count for something. successes, and offers Canadians major force in Canadian politics That's the Green Party vision for real, achievable policy choices in the 21st century. With your Canada today, and for the future. for the challenges that lie ahead. help, the Green Party can win! - A message from , * ensuring social justice, fair and just transition 1n1-981, ina General AssemDIY'KeSOlUtlon, programs to socially equitable and environmen- member states undertook to reduce the military the Leader of the Green Party tally sound employment budget and transfer the savings into social pro- of Canada ... * preventing war and conflict, and rejecting the grams. In 1992, at the UN Conference on guise of "humanitarian intervention" Environment and Development, every member Few will deny that there * protecting the environment, addressing envi- state made a commitment to invoke the precau- is an urgent need for ronmental racism, reducing the ecological foot- tionary principle, the polluter pay principle, and change. But without politi- print, invoking the precautionary principle, and the non-transferance of harm to the environment cal action, change happens moving away from the current model of over- and human health principle. In 1996, every only when it does not con- consumption member state at the Habitat II Conference com- flict with vested economic * striving for eradicating poverty, and equi- mitted to move away from car dependency. interests. The result is that table distribution of resources In Canada, we are living in a wake of negli- EFFECTIVE RESPONSES Green Parties have international, national, and gence resulting from many incidents of govern- to issues - like erosion of health care, inequitable local roots, and the political will to address these ment/corporate/military/financial collusion. This distribution of resources, environmental degrada- urgent issues by applying global principles to collusion has been perpetrated through our soci- tion, disintegration of communities, overcon- local issues, and promoting the politics of public ety's condoning of corporate "donations" to sumptive models of development, globalization' trust. In part the urgency of the global situation political parties. During the last federal election, through corporate control, and privatization of has arisen because of the failure of member the Reform/, Liberal and essential services - HAVE NOT OCCURRED. If states of the United Nations to discharge their Conservative Parties received donations from the positive change is to occur, it must come as a obligations, to act on commitments, and to fulfill following industries and corporations: banks and reflection of global/local public trust, rather than expectations arising from General Assembly res- financial institutions, co?l, oil, gas, forest, auto- at the whim of vested economic interests. olutions. Unfortunately, the global governments mobile, chemical, mining, nuclear, arms produc- The "politics of public trust," in contrast to continue to undermine these international obliga- ers, agribusiness, pharmaceutical, and of course, the politics of "vested economic interest," is tions. in the case of Reform, the gun lobby. The consistent with the international principles that Canadian governments continually claim that correlation between funding of political parties have been established through the United they have obligations and commitments under and the formulation and implementation of the Nations system. Through more than 50 years of vested-interest international agreements such as policy of those political parties has been ,}rtually concerted effort, the member states of the United the WTO, but rarely do they acknowledge that ignored. 0 Nations have created public trust international < \-1 they have obligations and commitments under m' obligations through conventions, treaties and international public trust law. The vision and covenants, commitments through Conference It is time to be bol<¥ ~. policies of the Green Party of Canada are Action Plans, and expectations through the ~U consistent with obligations, commitments, and General Assembly Resolutions in which they and to change in thg ;~ expectations created through the UN system. For have undertaken the following actions: example, in 1966 through the Covenant of o * guaranteeing human rights, including labour 21st century. o Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, every () •.. women's rights, indigenous rights, and C h member state of the UN incurred an obligation to _ 3inclU1.ing the human rights to food, housing, cor- ~ ~. guarantee the human right to food and housing. m r ~piat -free edu~ation, and. univer~ally accessible I ~ J In 1972, at the UN Conference on Humans and ?l ~. ~ht{Dlt care, whIle preventmg envlfonmentally- It is time to Vote G~een. the Environment, every· member made a commit- I .., ~ j irfu Ied diseases and poyerty-related illness. ment to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. L~~ n J, A Sustainable Economy Our current economic approach, which revolves around exploitive economic growth, has caused great harm to o.urenvironment and our health - but it hasn't been able to solve economic injustices like unemployment and child poverty. What can we do? The Green Party believes that there is a better way. to do business. It's time for our economy to make the transition from growth to : A Socially Just and Fair Trade, Not Free Trade The Reduced Work Week Ecologically Sound Economy Canadian democracy is being eroded by It's amazing to think that Canadians The Green Party would redirect and glo~alization a~d the devolution of power haven't had their work week reduced in reassign government funds to support ~the t? big corporatIOns. Trade arrangements over fifty years. The shift to a 32-hour transition to sustainability through the hke ~A~TA and the ~TO cater to lar?e week - with no overall ~eduction in pay, following measures: mult~natIOnal corporatIOns, and cause Jobs since lower health and social assistance ' * implementing the Precautionary to I~l1grateto wherever labour costs and expenses will result in lower taxes - is Principle, and ensuring that corporations environmental standards are low~st. Even long overdue, and it's a step that will are responsible for their products from worse,. these arrangements ovemde t~e allow us to'lead less stressful and healthi- cradle to grave authonty of ou.r own ?~v~mment,. WhiCh er lives while reducing unemployment. * enforcing the Polluter Pay principle by ~eans .that ~aJor decIsIOns affectmg our Plus, all Canadians will enjoy a 3-day requiring polluters to pay compensation hves ~re ?emg made by unelected trade -weekend, every weekend! for previous destructive use of resources orgamz~tIOns, and not by ~ur ~l~cted rep- * establishing programs that will phase resentatlves. T? remedy thIS CrISIS,the Community Economic out harmful activities coupled with a fair Green Party Will: Development and just transition pr~gram for workers ~ abrog~te NAFTA, and promote the The Green Party supports loca~ business and communities dlsmantlmg of the WTO * work out new trade deals in accordance because we believe that jobs, profits, and decisions should stay in the hands of our A Renewable Energy Future with international public trust laws that protect and promote human rights, social local communities - not with the distant head offices of huge mega-stores that Clean and reJ.?-ewablesources of energy justice, peace, and the environment. like wind, solar, small hydro, and fuel undermine the health of local businesses, cells will be the foundation of a sustain- and promote car dependence. The Green able Canadian economy. The Green Party Party will support small businesses by will promote renewable energy by: promoting LETS (Local Exchange * levelinlZ the plavinQ: field in the ener Trading Systems), cooperatives, and other and fossil fuel technologies, and working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions * providing incentives for renewable Guaranteed Income energy development such as a $0.05/ kWh Supplement tax credit for green energy producers, and The Green Party will work with the rebates for green energy consumers provinces to ,create a jointly-administered * redirecting research funding toward Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) field trials for renewable technologies, to .program. The GIS provides a base encourage their reliability and efficiency income to unemployed Canadians, and * promoting energy conservation, to tops up the incomes of those who are lessen our current dependyncy on fossil working in entry-level jobs that are too fuel and nuclear power plants Arts and Culture low-paying to support a family. We will * stopping the sale of CANDU reactors, Recent Canadian governments have also introduce a Guaranteed Annual ending uranium mining, and providing a unfortunately been ignoring Canadian arts Income for parents who choose to stay at fair and just transition program for all and culture. The Green Party will support home, and offer university students the affected workers and communities these activities not only because of their option of repaying loans through student positive effect on our quality of life, but job creation programs. Alternative Progress Indicator because the costs of doing so are low, but The Gross National Product is a flawed the economic multiplier effects are high. Peace and Common Security indicator of our economic progress. Why? We'll promote the arts and culture in Because it adds, but it never subtracts: all Canada through the following measures : We need to reduce military expenses, economic activities, even those that have * providing stable funding for the CBC and promote a culture of peace through catastrophic effects such as the depletion * eliminating the GST on books, films, Canada's withdrawal from NATO, by of our East Coast fisheries, are counted as newspapers, compact disks, videos, and closing our waters to nuclear-powered or economic gains, with no thought to the all other means of artistic expression nuclear-capable ships, and by continuing social and environmental consequences. * maintaining and increasing funding for Canada's peacekeeping operations. The The Green Party will introduce the the arts, especially for smaller, communi- savings should be redirected to social Genuine Progress Indicator, which keeps ty-based participatory arts and recreation- programs, health care, environmental track of our environmental and social al activity protection, and to provincial transfers. progress along with the fiscal bottom line. * improving federal support for our A Clear Vision. A Practical Plan. A Bright A Healthy Environment and Society The Green Party is strongly committed to preserving and improving on Canada's cherished system of universal health care - but we must also address the reasons why we are getting sick in the first place. We believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that the first step to good health· is a healthy environment that provides clean and safe water to drink, air to breathe, and food to eat: Universal Health Care Clean Air and Water Organic Agriculture The Green Party will build on the strong We don't have much chance to be The way we produce food in Canada foundation of the Canada Health Act by healthy if we can't safely breathe the air will be one of the keys to the future of our bringing in the f?llowing health reforms: of have access to safe drinking water. The health and our environment. The Green * increasing research funding for healing Green Party will take a number of steps to Party will support organic agriculture and techniques that complement drugs and ensure that all Canadians have access to wild fish stocks by taking these steps: surgery, and ensuring the availability of clean, safe air and water: * phasing out support for large-scale less expensive, generic prescription drugs * promoting renewable energy sources to "agribusiness," and taking steps to restore * instituting a program of reproductive diminish the need for coal and gas plants, the financial viability of the family farm health and choice and to address the issue of climate change * supporting funding for field research * endorsing the precautionary principle, * encouraging environmentally-friendly into alternative, ecologically adaptable and researching the causes of illness to business practices through the Green tax crops such as grains, legumes, fruits, address environmentally-induced illness, shift, and by heavily taxing polluters native perennials, and hemp. and poverty-related health problems ,* initiating a federal public transportation * providing tax incentives for Canadian * initiating an effective public education infrastructure program that promotes light farmers for conversion of their farms to program about the health benefits of rail and other means of providing conven- organic methods, and removing the uncontaminated food, water, and air, ient and affordable public transit current tax-free status of pesticides * implementing a mandatory labeling * adopting the "reverse onus" principle, * working with ecological agricultural strategy for all non-nutritive substances which means that chemicals or substances organizations to establish organic farming affecting food must be proven safe before they can be standards and certification processes * working cooperatively to address the released into the environment, rather than * banning genetically modified foods and health concerns of Capada's First Nations citizens being forced to prove their harm fish farming, and restoring wild fish stocks by enforcing the Fisheries Act Making Our Democracy Work mocr"t:cye all, how democratic is an electoral system that keeps producing artificial majority governments, and allows big corporations to wield heavy influence over our politicians through huge contributions? The Green Party recognizes how badly we need reforms that will give all Canadians a voice again: Proportional Representation Fair Elections Judicial Reform Our obsolete first-past-the-post electoral One reason why we often don't trust We need a series of reforms to the system dates back to the 19th century, politicians is that they are influenced by administration of justice in Canada, which I when there were only two major parties. the big corporations that provide them will balance our individual rights with It's a simple system, where the candidate with generous donations at election time. collective s'ecurity: The Green Party will with the most votes in each riding wins- Why should this be allowed to happen? promote the following provisions: but when there are more than two parties, Corporations are not citizens - they can't * all Canadians will be guaranteed the the winner often receives only 30-40% of vote, and they should not be able to have right to clean air, clean water, and uncont- the votes in that riding. On a national such effects on the outcome of elections. aminated food through an Ecological Bill scale, this means that parties can earn big To remedy this situation, and to ensure a of Rights majority governments with less than even level playing field for all parties, the * discrimination will be prevented on half of the popular vote across Canada! Green Party will implement these steps: grounds of gender, sexual orientation, In 1997, for example, the Liberals won a * we will end the practice of corporate ethnicity, language, religion, disability, majority government, though just 38% of sponsorship of our political parties, and age, or other differences. all Canadians who voted supported them. place reasonable limits on the donations * citizens will be empowered to take Most democracies today use some form made by individuals polluting corporations, individuals, or of proportional representation, in which * we'll ensure that all pol~tical parties governments to court, with legislation the share of seats that parties receive after have equal access to publicly regulated protecting them from counter-lawsuits by elections is equal to their share of the media during elections corporations that try to discourage such popular vote. For example, a party with * we'll end the shameful practice of legal action by means of intimidation ' 15% of the overall vote receives 15% of incumbent governments using taxpayer * legislation that recognizes same-sex the overall seats. Every vote counts, so funds prior to elections to promote their marriages and common-law relationships there's no need for "strategic voting." The own parties * honourable settlements that lead to choice is clear - Canada needs to adopt a * we'll phase out limits to participation, culturally and economically self-sufficient form of proportional representation. like $1000 refundable candidate deposits successors of original nations Future. It's definitely time to vote Green. The Green Party needs your help! Do you like our approach, and our commitment to a healthy and sustainable future for all Canadians? Then, why not give the Green Party a hand?

There are many ways that you can lend your support:

* you can put a Green Party sign on your lawn

* you can volunteer to canvass your local neighbourhood

* you can make a financial contribution (you receive 75% of your donation back as a federal tax credit, up to the first $200)

* you can join the Green Party of Canada by sending $5 - 25 to Green Party of Canada at our head office in

Contact Us! Here's how to get in touch with Greens in your region of Canada:

Leader - Joan Russow (250) 598-0071, [email protected] Election Organizing Chair - (416) 929-2397, [email protected] Head Office - Cheryl Yeary (416) 929-2397, [email protected]

If you would like to make a contribution, please send a cheque made out . to "Green Party of Canada" to our head office at 244 Gerrard St. East, Toronto, ON, M5A2G2