Sometime this morning, people started asking me for comment on the Liberals’ platform, released today. Being on a train going through the Rockeys and rural Alberta, I had trouble accessing the text of the platform. It was this evening when we pulled into Edmonton for a press conference on nuclear disarmament that one of my aides (my daughter) was able to download the PDF.
The rally in Edmonton was another success. There were close to 100 people there, all waving Green Party signs. The press conference itself was better than I could have hoped for. Former Progressive Conservative MP, also former Senator and former Disarmament Ambassador to the UN, Doug Roche, joined me to draw attention to the need for diplomatic and concrete measures to end the nuclear arms race. Doug Roche and I have been speaking over the last couple years about the lack of political will and public understanding of the nuclear weapons threat. We both believe that the only way to combat nuclear weapons is by taking steps to ban nuclear domestically and also working through the UN framework to ensure that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty is abided by all countries. I expected Mr. Roche to say favourable things about the Green Party’s commitment to global peace and nuclear disarmament. I didn’t expect him to endorse the Green Party flat out. That’s what he did. I am immensely grateful to him for his outspokenness in supporting us, and I am proud that our platform merits his recognition.
After pulling out of Edmonton, I was able to read the Liberal platform. I can’t say I was surprised to find that much of it read as though it had been pulled from our policy document, Vision Green. Many of the same topics are addressed, and (as has been pointed out by many pundits) we share a key policy plank in the carbon tax shift.
I am proud to say that the Liberal platform includes many of the concepts introduced in Vision Green. In addition to the carbon tax, the Liberal platform embraces a commitment to Green infrastructure, investment in municipalities and a National Transit Strategy. They have also embraced a food security net, increasing Guaranteed Income Supplements to seniors and many other Green initiatives. I believe the Green Party played a role in advancing the policies we are now seeing. We raised the bar for political parties when we released Vision Green. We have been putting forward new and practical ideas to combat climate change, to end poverty, to promote healthy communities and healthy people. We have also advanced some policies that we hope the other parties will adopt in the future.
I encourage any political leader to work toward nuclear disarmament and to adopt our policies in ending subsidies to nuclear, in adhering to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and in declaring Canada a nuclear free zone. I encourage any political leader to adopt a policy of working toward a guaranteed livable income, to end poverty completely in this country and to adopt our tax fairness policies and our commitment to cancelling half of student debt on graduation.
Jack Layton was on Canada AM today and said that we should do whatever we can to avoid another Harper government. This is the first time he has opened the door to cooperation with us and with the Liberals. When one looks at the record of all the political parties, it is obvious that the Greens have much more in common with the NDP, the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives than with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. It is clear that, working together, the NDP, the Liberals and the Greens could achieve many Green goals in parliament and operate a principled effective government. I welcome any opportunity to figure out how to avoid the nightmare scenario of a Harper false majority (a minority of public support and a majority of seats). In fact, the thought of a Harper on-going minority is also a nightmare. We can dream better dreams.