Elizabeth May unveils her party's Green vision for Canada
OTTAWA – Green Party leader Elizabeth May unveiled the party's sweeping Vision Green policy document today and invited Prime Minister Stephen Harper to incorporate all or any of its hundreds of policy innovations in tomorrow's Speech from the Throne.
"It's time for visionary leadership and for policies that focus on our future, not more of the same tired old ideas designed to achieve some fleeting political advantage," Ms. May said. "I respectfully urge the Prime Minister to study what the Green Party is proposing because I believe that it will give him new insight into what real solutions look like."
Ms. May and party deputy leader Adriane Carr are launching Vision Green at events in Ottawa and Vancouver today. The 160-page document lays out a comprehensive blueprint for "the kind of Canada we want in 2020 and how we get there from here," said Ms. May. Developed by the party's 31-member Shadow Cabinet with input from experts, activists and citizens who participated in cross-Canada policy workshops, it presents leading-edge thinking and realistic solutions for all the issues facing Canadians – from foreign policy to forestry, from taxation to toxic chemicals.
"The Green Party is the only party that's telling Canadians the truth," said Ms. May, "and the truth is that the days of politics dominated by short-term band-aid fixes are over, that the old battles between left and right are irrelevant, that what we need is a fundamental shift of direction towards a stable, fair and sustainable future. Vision Green is the detailed, practical expression of that change of direction."
Ms. May said that in her travels around the country since becoming Green Party leader last year, she had become aware of a growing sense of unease and disappointment among Canadians – and a growing alienation from the politics practised in Ottawa.
"They feel it in their bones – something is askew. They are working longer hours, leading more stress-filled lives in a deteriorating environment and yet their leaders keep telling them that they are better off," she said.
"Green Party policies are designed to support a society where the pressure to make a living doesn't crowd out having a life, where having more is less important than being more. Unlike the other parties, we understand and accept the scientifically verified limits to growth imposed by the carrying capacity of our planet. We acknowledge that if we do not work within these limits we will exhaust resources, destroy our environment and put our economy, health and children's future at risk.
“Our opponents who dismiss us as a one-issue party now have their response. The solutions contained in Vision Green cover every aspect of Canadian life – the economy, social policy, the environment and our place in the world."
Vision Green can be found at http://www.greenparty.ca/visiongreen
"It's time for visionary leadership and for policies that focus on our future, not more of the same tired old ideas designed to achieve some fleeting political advantage," Ms. May said. "I respectfully urge the Prime Minister to study what the Green Party is proposing because I believe that it will give him new insight into what real solutions look like."
Ms. May and party deputy leader Adriane Carr are launching Vision Green at events in Ottawa and Vancouver today. The 160-page document lays out a comprehensive blueprint for "the kind of Canada we want in 2020 and how we get there from here," said Ms. May. Developed by the party's 31-member Shadow Cabinet with input from experts, activists and citizens who participated in cross-Canada policy workshops, it presents leading-edge thinking and realistic solutions for all the issues facing Canadians – from foreign policy to forestry, from taxation to toxic chemicals.
"The Green Party is the only party that's telling Canadians the truth," said Ms. May, "and the truth is that the days of politics dominated by short-term band-aid fixes are over, that the old battles between left and right are irrelevant, that what we need is a fundamental shift of direction towards a stable, fair and sustainable future. Vision Green is the detailed, practical expression of that change of direction."
Ms. May said that in her travels around the country since becoming Green Party leader last year, she had become aware of a growing sense of unease and disappointment among Canadians – and a growing alienation from the politics practised in Ottawa.
"They feel it in their bones – something is askew. They are working longer hours, leading more stress-filled lives in a deteriorating environment and yet their leaders keep telling them that they are better off," she said.
"Green Party policies are designed to support a society where the pressure to make a living doesn't crowd out having a life, where having more is less important than being more. Unlike the other parties, we understand and accept the scientifically verified limits to growth imposed by the carrying capacity of our planet. We acknowledge that if we do not work within these limits we will exhaust resources, destroy our environment and put our economy, health and children's future at risk.
“Our opponents who dismiss us as a one-issue party now have their response. The solutions contained in Vision Green cover every aspect of Canadian life – the economy, social policy, the environment and our place in the world."
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Vision Green can be found at http://www.greenparty.ca/visiongreen
