{"id":1958,"date":"2013-04-28T05:10:17","date_gmt":"2013-04-28T12:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2014-02-09T05:12:59","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T13:12:59","slug":"the-greens-green-party-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2013\/04\/28\/the-greens-green-party-101\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greens: Green Party 101"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elizabeth<\/a>
Elizabeth May with Canadian author Yann Martel, Man Booker Prize winner for the novel \u201cLife of Pi\u201d. Twitter photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FOUNDED in 1983, the Green Party is, at its core, geared toward sustainability. Environmentalist, writer, lawyer, and former executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada Elizabeth May stands at the helm of this federal party. May secured a spot in the House of Commons\u2014the first, for herself, and among the Greens\u2014in the 2011 federal elections.<\/p>\n

But the Greens also stand for more than the environment. They aim for a \u201csmart economy,\u201d \u201cstrong communities,\u201d and a \u201ctrue democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart economy<\/h6>\n

\u201cA smart economy is a green economy,\u201d states the party in their Green Book 2011, dubbed their \u201cfull and comprehensive vision\u201d of Canada\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 \u201csmart economy\u201d aims to \u201c[turn] old-industry blue-collar jobs into new-industry green-collar jobs\u201d; it stands upon \u201cnon-polluting systems and energy sources,\u201d hoping to jumpstart thousands of jobs by investing in renewable energy and expanding this industry.<\/p>\n

The party seeks to build more sustainable modes of farming, fishing, and forestry and has set their sights on a revenue-neutral carbon pricing architecture.<\/p>\n

Strong communities<\/h6>\n

\u201cStrong communities mean creating opportunities for young Canadians,\u201d to the Greens. To build stronger communities, they aim to: lower income taxes and introduce full income splitting for married couples and families; re-work the standard nine-to-five job by creating opportunities to work at home, share jobs, adjust working hours, and grant leeway for child care for working parents.<\/p>\n

The Greens also plan to secure long-term funding to repair and rebuild infrastructures for recreation, transportation, water works, and arts and culture.<\/p>\n

A strong community also means that \u201colder Candians are active and engaged\u201d\u2014that they should \u201c[live] with dignity and independence.\u201d To this end, the Greens aim to secure pensions and programs on mental and physical health for the elderly.<\/p>\n

True democracy<\/h6>\n

\u201cCanadian democracy is in trouble,\u201d warn the Greens. According to this federal party, \u201c[p]ower is increasingly centralized\u201d into MPs who become \u201cmore and more irrelevant.\u201d To this end, the Greens intend to engage and debate to involve the citizen and to \u201c[m]ove to a fairer electoral system that reflects the true will of the voters.\u201d The voting system ought to be reformed by way of a national discussion, says the party; consider, for instance, whether the \u201cfirst past the post\u201d policy ought to be replaced.<\/p>\n

In addition, \u201cwhatever is \u2018dumbed down\u2019 must be \u2018smartened up\u2019\u201d in Canadian journalism, to keep corporations from controlling the media. The Greens also state that Canada should adopt the spirit of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to secure human rights. They urge as well for the country to stick to its commitments and achieve the Millennium Development Goal to make poverty history.<\/p>\n

10 Core Principles of the Green Party of BC<\/h6>\n
    \n
  1. Sustainability<\/b>\u2014the party strongly advocates for stewardship of the Earth.<\/li>\n
  2. Social justice<\/b>\u2014the party states that \u201cpoverty and inequity [are] unacceptable,\u201d vying for individuals to \u201cfulfill their potential\u201d regardless of the color of their skin, their citizenship, gender, or sexual identity.<\/li>\n
  3. Grass roots democracy<\/b>\u2014the party aims for further public participation and citizen involvement in the government’s decision-making processes.<\/li>\n
  4. Non-violence<\/b>\u2014the party maintains that “violence is almost always self-defeating” and always the last choice.<\/li>\n
  5. Community-based economy<\/b>\u2014the party believes that the economy should “provide for human needs within the natural limits of the earth.”<\/li>\n
  6. Gender equality<\/b>\u2014the party stands against “domination and control,” opting instead for “the ethics of cooperation and understanding.”<\/li>\n
  7. Diversity<\/b>\u2014the party welcomes the “cultural, sexual, and spiritual diversity of the human race.”<\/li>\n
  8. Decentralization<\/b>\u2014the party states that “power must be returned to local communities” in matters that directly affect them.<\/li>\n
  9. Personal and global responsibility<\/b>\u2014the party believes that “responsibility [should be] shared at all levels of society” for the sake of global sustainability and international justice.<\/li>\n
  10. Ecological wisdom<\/b>\u2014ethical rootedness to and awareness of the earth and its many life forms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Elizabeth May<\/h6>\n

    May was the executive director of the Canadian faction of the Sierra Club from 1989\u20132006. The Sierra Club, a global volunteer-based organization, is one of the largest and oldest of its kind, dating back to 1892.<\/p>\n

    May is a steward of the environment since the early \u201880s. In 2001 she staged a 17-day hunger strike in front of Parliament Hill to urge the relocation of families affected by Canada\u2019s biggest toxic dump, the Sydney Tar Ponds. She helped found Environmental Defence Canada (then the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund), a charity that aids against pollution of the environment and its effects to the individual\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

    In 1986, May worked as Senior Policy Advisor to then federal Minister of Environment Tom McMillan. May had a hand in agreements to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions that lead to acid rain; May wrote new legislation, created five new national parks; contributed to the clean-up of the Great Lakes and the Sydney Tar Ponds. May also took part in the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that phased out production of substances known to deplete the ozone layer.<\/p>\n

    For more info, visit www.greenparty.ca<\/a> and www.greenparty.bc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    FOUNDED in 1983, the Green Party is, at its core, geared toward sustainability. Environmentalist, writer, lawyer, and former executive director …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news-ca","mauthors-april-sescon","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}