About | Green Party EDA Ajax

THE GREEN PARTY VISION

AFFORDABILITY FOR ALL

One in seven Canadians struggles to make ends meet, find housing, buy groceries and live a healthy lifestyle even though Canada is among the richest countries in the world. Ending systemic poverty means rethinking the system that was developed almost 50 years ago. It is time for the next major innovations – pharmacare and Guaranteed Liveable Income. We can eliminate poverty and create a healthier, stronger Canada.

PROTECT AND EXPAND HEALTH CARE

Canada is the only industrialized nation with universal health care that doesn’t have publicly funded prescription drug coverage, also known as pharmacare. Canadians pay the second-highest rate among developed countries for pharmaceuticals. Privatized prescription drug coverage, dental benefits, and addiction prevention and rehabilitation programs have created a two-tier health system where wealth opens the door to a full range of care.

LAUNCH MEANINGFUL ACTION TO AVOID CLIMATE CATASTROPHE

The climate emergency is the single most dangerous health and security threat Canadians will ever face. We can hear it in the growing alarms from leading climate scientists; we can see it in Canada’s increasingly severe natural disasters – in storm surges on our coasts, in our melting Arctic ice-caps, in the wildfires that consume our forests. Ambitious climate action is the only way forward. Greens aren’t willing to risk our survival for the profits of the obsolete fossil fuel economy. As Canada’s only political party committed to bold, transformational climate action, we know we need to encourage Green innovation and move our energy sector to renewable sources by 2030. These moves are both necessary, and urgent.

END COLONIALISM AND OPPRESSION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Canada has a profound legal obligation to reconcile and provide restitution for the colonial relations – marked by violent expropriation, displacement, and forced assimilation – that have undermined the cultural, governance and economic foundations of the Indigenous Peoples of this land. The Green Party of Canada recognizes the ongoing leadership, resistance and resilience of Indigenous Peoples in the face of systemic oppression and inter-generational trauma.

DEMAND DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system must go. It represents neither our voices nor our values. It tips the scales for the establishment parties, who win 100 percent of the power with less than 40 percent of the vote. It encourages politicians to play divisive party games to whip votes, curry favour and get re-elected, usually with the support of fewer than half the voters in their ridings.

SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS

It’s time to abolish tuition. High fees for university and post-secondary training programs burden students with crippling debt and deny countless Canadians access to the full range of educational opportunities they deserve. Costly tuition widens Canada’s wealth gap, causing cyclical poverty and promoting a system in which only the wealthy can pursue higher education with ease.

INVEST IN THE GREEN ECONOMY

The green economy means good, stable jobs. Many Canadian industries are already there, from ecotourism to renewable energy, fisheries to fine wines, green infrastructure leads to economic growth and more liveable communities. Green jobs grow Canada’s middle class and strengthen its global competitiveness.

SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESS

Small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. Small businesses create more employment in the private sector than the big corporations. They create good, stable jobs. They offer competitive wages and benefits. And, because they’re small, they are flexible and nimble in adapting to changing global markets. Best of all, their success stays local. They circulate dollars in regional economies and improve the communities around them.

PROTECT AND CONSERVE OUR FRESH WATER

Canada is endowed with abundant freshwater resources. We have seven per cent of the world's renewable fresh water, about a quarter of the world’s wetlands and 20 percent of the world’s safe water supply. It’s our duty to defend and conserve our fresh water so that future generations inherit clean, safe water supplies. It’s time for a new water legacy based on smart stewardship and balanced preservation.

GREEN TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

It’s time our cities, towns and transportation systems entered the 21st century. Canada’s city planning is outdated. Eighty-two percent of Canadians live in urban centres, yet our roads, public transit systems, sprawling suburbs and disproportionately small municipal budgets are relics of a time when most of us lived in rural areas. Poor planning means gridlock, longer commute times, mismanaged bike lanes, overcrowded buses, smoggy skylines and unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions from private cars.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DEFENCE

Multilateral institutions through which sovereign nations talk to each other, collaborate on regional and global initiatives, and attempt to resolve disputes are under immense strain. Commitments to multilateralism are weakening, with potentially serious consequences for global stability and security. Canada’s long-standing commitment to multilateralism builds on Lester B. Pearson’s legacy as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A Green government will support such international engagement, recognizing that isolationism and nationalistic jingoism create a dangerous path and must be vigorously resisted. We will strengthen Canada’s role in promoting peace and global cooperation.