Green Party platform 2011
romanP @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:43 am
Here it is, if you haven't read it yet!
http://greenparty.ca/platform2011
Caelon @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:43 am
Form the CBC website this is what May is saying today plus some of the planks in the platform
$1:
A Green Party government would raise corporate taxes to 2009 levels and charge $60 per tonne of carbon emitted, but promises a revenue-neutral "green tax shift" that would cut EI and CPP contributions for both workers and employers.
Leader Elizabeth May was announcing the party's election platform in Toronto Thursday morning, a platform she says is fully costed.
The party wants to raise the corporate income tax rate to 19 per cent and introduce a carbon tax, but says the extra revenue would allow them to cut EI and CPP contributions by one-third. They would also eliminate income tax for people making less than $20,000 a year and give a carbon rebate to low-income earners, similar to the GST rebate.
"At the back of our platform you'll find a fully costed budget that takes you out three years," May said. "We're a serious political party. If we were to form government tomorrow, these would be our priorities."
"Our goal is to be that voice of conscience, that voice of reason," she said.
The platform also includes:
a "toxic tax" based on the toxicity of emissions;
cancellation of tax credits for logging and mineral exploration;
legalization and taxation of marijuana;
income-splitting for same-sex couples and single parents with working children;
a reduction in military spending and a focus on peacekeeping.
May says the party has submitted its budget to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page because they're serious about getting the numbers right.
True to the party's name, the platform has a focus on environmental priorities, such as energy retrofits for low-income housing, promoting mass transit, a solar-energy plan and more funding for a national rail system.
May also promises a shift to organic farming, $15 million specifically earmarked to pay for scientific staff at Environment Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Health Canada, and a municipal fund to support cycling, sports and cultural facilities, and wastewater treatment.
"This is the strongest commitment to municipalities that you're going to see in any platform of any party," she said.
The platform also focuses on youth, promising tuition credits for students who participate in a proposed municipal work program and post-secondary education bursaries.
And although she pledges to legalize marijuana, the platform proposes $43 million a year for a national campaign to discourage smoking pot. The campaign would be modelled on current anti-tobacco programs
Leader Elizabeth May was announcing the party's election platform in Toronto Thursday morning, a platform she says is fully costed.
The party wants to raise the corporate income tax rate to 19 per cent and introduce a carbon tax, but says the extra revenue would allow them to cut EI and CPP contributions by one-third. They would also eliminate income tax for people making less than $20,000 a year and give a carbon rebate to low-income earners, similar to the GST rebate.
"At the back of our platform you'll find a fully costed budget that takes you out three years," May said. "We're a serious political party. If we were to form government tomorrow, these would be our priorities."
"Our goal is to be that voice of conscience, that voice of reason," she said.
The platform also includes:
a "toxic tax" based on the toxicity of emissions;
cancellation of tax credits for logging and mineral exploration;
legalization and taxation of marijuana;
income-splitting for same-sex couples and single parents with working children;
a reduction in military spending and a focus on peacekeeping.
May says the party has submitted its budget to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page because they're serious about getting the numbers right.
True to the party's name, the platform has a focus on environmental priorities, such as energy retrofits for low-income housing, promoting mass transit, a solar-energy plan and more funding for a national rail system.
May also promises a shift to organic farming, $15 million specifically earmarked to pay for scientific staff at Environment Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Health Canada, and a municipal fund to support cycling, sports and cultural facilities, and wastewater treatment.
"This is the strongest commitment to municipalities that you're going to see in any platform of any party," she said.
The platform also focuses on youth, promising tuition credits for students who participate in a proposed municipal work program and post-secondary education bursaries.
And although she pledges to legalize marijuana, the platform proposes $43 million a year for a national campaign to discourage smoking pot. The campaign would be modelled on current anti-tobacco programs
The details are lacking on the funding of the promises, but the party has 'submitted its budget to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page because they're serious about getting the numbers right.' means everything is just fine.
OnTheIce @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:30 am
And they wonder why they don't have any seats in the House.
bootlegga @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:31 am
Well, despite their claims that they are "not a one issue party", almost everything in the economy section of their platform is tied to the environment. The only thing on their platform I like is the idea of moving to proportional representation from FPTP.
DanSC @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:40 am
I guess no one ever told the Greens organic farming can't feed the world.
PublicAnimalNo9 @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:41 am
May: You have to really love the environment to join the Green Party
Plebe: I do love the environment.
May: Oh really. How much?
Plebe: A LOT!
May: Right then, you're in.
romanP @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:49 am
DanSC DanSC:
I guess no one ever told the Greens organic farming can't feed the world.
You wouldn't know if you haven't tried it. Just because industrial agriculture is producing more food than we can eat doesn't mean it's working.. it's also producing food that, even if we do eat it, we get nothing from it. There are other methods of farming that don't include turning vast swathes of forest into enormous carbon emitters, and we have no idea how they would work on the scale needed to feed everyone.
Caelon @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:54 am
romanP romanP:
it's also producing food that, even if we do eat it, we get nothing from it.
Could you please explain what you mean by this statement.
raydan @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:54 am
The only parti that considers "dirt" to be a good thing. 
...or, as PA9 would say.
May: We did a background check on you.
Plebe: You did???
May: Yes, and we found dirt... a lot of dirt.
Plebe: OMG!!!
May: Right then, you're in.
DanSC @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:55 am
romanP romanP:
DanSC DanSC:
I guess no one ever told the Greens organic farming can't feed the world.
You wouldn't know if you haven't tried it. Just because industrial agriculture is producing more food than we can eat doesn't mean it's working.. it's also producing food that, even if we do eat it, we get nothing from it. There are other methods of farming that don't include turning vast swathes of forest into enormous carbon emitters, and we have no idea how they would work on the scale needed to feed everyone.
We know exactly what the world food supply will be like without industrial farming. One may just open a history book.
Bruce_the_vii @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:06 pm
I sort of see May as an armchair engineer, full of half-baked technical ideas - some of her own creation.
dino_bobba_renno @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:19 pm
Bruce_the_vii Bruce_the_vii:
I sort of see May as an armchair engineer, full of half-baked technical ideas - some of her own creation.
Key word being "baked". I see now how this is all playing out; "Green Party", legalizing weed, growing their own food (ie munchies) ..... coincidence, I think not.
andyt @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:30 pm
That legalization would bring in a lot of tax revenue. A lot of her ideas don't seem so bad to me at all.
dino_bobba_renno @ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:32 pm
andyt andyt:
That legalization would bring in a lot of tax revenue. A lot of her ideas don't seem so bad to me at all.
We will both be nothing more than dust in a grave before they ever legalize pot. Decriminalize maybe, but legalize a product that our largest trading partner considers "the root of all evil", nadda, ain't gonna happen.