Since the last time I wrote about the differences between the Greens and the other federal parties, a couple of them have re-vamped their policies. The Liberals have adopted a weaker version of our carbon tax shifting policy. The NDP have reconsidered their stance on asbestos and will no longer defend the mining of chrysotile asbestos in Quebec. The Green Party still has plenty to say that the other parties have not been forced to adopt as their own platform. There are many examples of policies I would wish the other parties to borrow from us. I will list some of them here.
Afghanistan
The Green Party is the only party who recognizes that the NATO mission is ill-conceived and doomed to failure. We are the only party to advocate remaining in Afghanistan by asking for a UN peace-keeping mission to avoid a humanitarian crisis.
We are the only party that recognizes the need for poppy production to sustain the agriculture economy in Afghanistan. We favour legalizing and regulating poppy production to supply pain relieving drugs to developing countries.
Poverty
The Green Party is the only party advancing a guaranteed livable income, an idea advocated by many, including Reverend Martin Luther King. This would eliminate all the welfare, employment insurance and disability payments, replacing them with an all-encompassing negative-income-tax. Every Canadian will receive a cheque sufficient to meet their needs based on negotiations with all levels of government. We would not collect income taxes from those earning less than $20 000/year. This move would pay for itself by eliminating all the government money spent on the various programs currently in existence for poverty relief.
Through our Carbon Tax Holiday, the Green Party advocates eliminating 50% of all student loans upon graduation, including existing student loans.
Economy
The Green Party wants to implement a Green Jobs program, modeled after the effective strategy used in Germany that has created 400 000 jobs in Green technologies.
The Green Party would stop subsidies to the Alberta oil sands and to nuclear power (as would the NDP), helping to restabilize the economy by lowering the Canadian dollar to help manufacturers who rely on export markets.
The Green Party is the only party that proposes income splitting as a tax fairness policy, allowing couples with double income to pay on what they earn individually, not pooled together.
The Green Party is the only party that would renegotiate NAFTA, particularly the detrimental chapter 11, which gives foreign companies the right to sue Canada. When our government takes steps to protect the environment or human health that foreign (US or Mexican) corporations claim negatively impact their expectation of profits they have rights under chapter 11, even when the steps taken are in the public interest and scientifically valid.
The most important aspect of Green Party policy is that it is researched, proposed and decided democratically by the members of the party. This ensures that we do not cater to the preconceived views held by Canadians to win the most votes. Instead, we take principled positions that have already been debated and discussed within the party. Then all the pieces of policy are fit together and configured so that every policy works together with every other to advance the goals of national security, global peace, ending poverty and a sustainable world. The Green Party is a grassroots movement, unique among the other parties in Canada at this time, with a national vision. We continue to have ideas that are front and centre, the smartest way forward for Canada.