New Brunswick’s Green Party released their full platform on Monday, becoming the first party in the 2018 provincial election to give New Brunswickers a complete picture of where their policies land.
As expected, many of the policies pertain to environmental issues within the province, such as putting a stop to the spraying of glysophate on crops and enacting an Environment Bill of Rights in New Brunswick.
But the 120 commitments also span a list of seven topics that include health care, fiscal management and education.
“This platform… will help transform our vision for the province we love into reality,” said Green Party Leader David Coons in his message.
The platform, titled as Our Pathway for Change, puts no commitment on budgetary expectations beyond producing budgets “that are financially responsible.”
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First Nations relations
The first plank of the Green Party’s platform is improving the relationship with First Nations.
The platform promises that a Green Party government would fully implement the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report.
In addition, the platform promises implement the recommendations from a 2010 report by the New Brunswick Child and Youth advocate which criticized the First Nations’ child welfare system.
They’ll also address the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women as “soon as they are released.”
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Living within New Brunswick’s means
The Green Party platform promises that if they were to form government, the party would live within the province’s “ecological and financial means.”
The platform says that past governments have “only paid attention to the financial accounts” while a Green Party government would also “consider the ecological balance sheet.”
Promises include establishing border tolls on the province’s four-lane highways, petitioning the federal government to increase the per capita health transfer to New Brunswick as a result of the province’s aging population and removing the property tax exemption for crude oil storage tanks.
One of the more unique proposals is the institution of a public inquiry into the sustainability of the province’s financial and ecological deficits with the mandate to reduce any debt in both areas.
They’re also pushing for all budgeted expenditures to be reviewed by the legislature’s all-party standing committee on public accounts. Any recommendations from that process would then be voted on by the legislature.
As part of the party’s ecological stewardship, they’ve also committed to legislating a cap on industrial carbon pollution, legislating water-quality standards and waste-reduction targets.
Their goal of enacting an Environmental Bill of Rights will guarantee individuals the right to information about pollution threats, the right to petition for investigations into environmental risk, access to the justice system to prevent environmental harm and create a new legislative officer called an environmental ombud.
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Good health in the province
The Green’s platform promises to make the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health an independent arm of the province’s Department of Health.
They would report directly to the legislature and the Green Party says the office would have its staff and resources restored after they were removed.
The platform proposes a 20 cents/litre tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, with the revenue of the tax being used to fund child wellness and health school food programs in the province.
Ambulance services would once again be placed under public management with a public inquiry being set to find a way to improve them.
Mental health and addiction services in the province would receive a boost, with the proportion of the Department of Health’s budget tackling those issues, seeing an increase to nine per cent.
The party also proposes a plan to add eight new community health centres around the provinces and to integrate midwives into each of the province’s health regions.
The Greens also promise to immediately implement the recommendations of the 2016 select committee on climate change in order to address the risks and impacts of climate change.
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A promise to share the wealth
A central promise in the Green Party’s platform is to raise the minimum wage by $1 a year until it reaches 15.25 per hour. The minimum wage would then be indexed to inflation.
They’ve also announced a plan to implement a three-year-long basic income program in three regions of the province, if they were elected.
Social assistance rate would immediately be increased under the Greens with individuals seeing a 13 per cent increase and other groups seeing 5 per cent.
Transportation in the province would be overhauled with the goal of developing and maintaining a “convenient and affordable” public transportation system within and between regions of the province. The proposal would include buses, marine and river ferries as well as rail.
Any rail costs would be financed by carbon pollution levies and border tolls on all four-lane highways, the platform indicates.
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Education and Culture
The Greens say they’d restore the system of decentralized school districts if elected and transform underutilized school buildings into community hubs for “learning, training and wellness.”
Provincial student loans would have their interest eliminated under a Green government and they’d also reinstate the tuition rebate program for recent graduates.
The platform also states they’d develop comprehensive, accessible adult French- and English-training programs to increase fluency in the two official languages.
They are also committed to creating a stand-alone Department of Culture and Heritage by transferring the responsibility for tourism to a new Department of Community and Rural Development.
Developing a green economy
The Greens say they’ll consolidate the province’s economic development agencies into a single government department in order to help strengthen local economies through the province.
Their platform also indicates they’d require government departments, hospitals, schools and community colleges to “increase their purchase of local goods and services by at least 10 per cent.” Universities and municipalities would be encouraged to do the same.
They’d also reduce loan guarantees and payroll rebates by half, with the money being redirected from “large, profitable corporations” to “local enterprises” participating in the local production of essential goods and services.
The Greens are also planning to “green the electrical grid” by requiring that renewable sources of energy provide 50 per cent of the province’s electrical needs by 2025. That would increase to 75 per cent by 2035 and then be 100 per cent by 2050.
Shale gas extraction would be prohibited under a Green Party government.
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Revitalizing democracy
The Green Party says their goal is to restore power to local governments. They say they’ll amend the Municipalities Act and Community Planning Act, replacing the current system of Local Service Districts with local elected government designed by citizens to “best meet their needs.”
If they form a government, they’ve also promised to implement proportional representation in the provincial legislature and lower the voting age to 16.
The Greens would require representation on legislative committees to be from all parties while also aiming for gender parity.
They’ve committed to giving legislative committees the power to call witnesses and hold public hearings on matters of public interest while also giving citizens the right to present on those committees.
A 40 per cent cap on the concentration of print media ownership would be legislated and cross-ownership of media and non-media businesses would be prohibited.
MLAs or public servants would face a three-year cool-down period before they could work as lobbyists.