C/O Green Venture
Green Venture’s Backyard Garden program is helping to turn Hamilton into a greener, more sustainable community
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, many turned to gardening, as seen by the tomatoes, lettuce and beans which have become a popular find in people’s backyards. Additionally, with discussions of the climate crisis taking greater precedence in the media, climate anxiety has been on the rise. In recognition of this and to support urban and community gardening in Hamilton, Green Venture, a not-for-profit environmental education and outreach organization, launched the Hamilton Seed Library project last summer.
“As the community continued to cope with the COVID-19 crisis, we were really inspired by the local community, how the resilient movement was taking place and the more need for backyard gardens,” explained Sheila Gutierrez, the garden program coordinator at Green Venture.
“As the community continued to cope with the COVID-19 crisis, we were really inspired by the local community, how the resilient movement was taking place and the more need for backyard gardens.”
Sheila Gutierrez, Green Venture Garden Program Coordinator
The Hamilton Seed Library was a joint project created in partnership with the Little Free Library, a not-for-profit book-exchange organization. It was created in keeping with their goal of maintaining biodiversity in Hamilton and helping the local community to become more self-reliant.
The rules and conditions of the Seed Library operate the same as the Little Free Library’s book-sharing boxes. Open 24/7, the seed library offers free fruit and vegetable seeds for anyone to take. There are no membership fees involved, nor set limits on how many seeds one can take, although users of the library should be mindful this is a shared resource for the benefit of the larger community.
Those who borrow the seeds are encouraged to save any remaining or harvested seeds and return them to the library at the end of the season. Just like any community resource, the seed library relies heavily on honest and fair use to maintain its supply. Other ways to support include monetary donations to Green Venture.
Currently, the seed libraries can be found outside of the Green Venture EcoHouse and six Little Free Library’s box locations across Hamilton. These include the libraries on Cannon Street, Wexford Avenue South, Jackson Street West, London Street, Salem Avenue and Kensington Avenue North. More information about each library can be found on their website.
Although the kinds of available seeds change every season, this fall users can expect to find native pollinator plants, such as black-eyed Susan and blazing star, and other veggies such as spinach and radishes.
More than ever, access to fresh food became important as people attempted to reduce outside trips, including grocery shopping trips. So, it came as no surprise that the introduction of the Hamilton Seed Library was met with so much positivity and praise.
“We know that the community is keen because when we put out the seeds, they are gone quickly. The community’s uptake [has been] very responsive,” Gutierrez said.
Additionally, alongside the Seed Library Green Venture started the Grow a Row program to better support the cultivation of a healthier, greener community in Hamilton. It was launched as part of its Backyard Garden Project, the organization’s COVID-19 resilience project. More broadly, the Backyard Garden Project strives to help Hamiltonians “build a greener, more sustainable and climate friendly future”.
“We were inspired at Green Venture to keep connecting our community and connecting them with more nature. [We are] giving them access to those skills and what they need to continue to learning their skills….So we took that, and then we came up with the Backyard Garden Project to support the urban growing and community gardening, to facilitate the sharing and knowledge of local growing and garden maintenance,” said Gutierrez.
“We were inspired at Green Venture to keep connecting our community and connecting them with more nature. [We are] giving them access to those skills and what they need to continue to learning their skills….So we took that, and then we came up with the Backyard Garden Project to support the urban growing and community gardening, to facilitate the sharing and knowledge of local growing and garden maintenance.”
Sheila Gutierrez, Green Venture Garden Program Coordinator
The Grow a Row program is for home gardeners who have excess land in their backyard to commit a row of produce to share and donate. The harvested produce is then transferred to community fridges and Neighbour to Neighbour Hamilton, an organization aimed to address food insecurity in communities. The centre currently supports 3,500 individuals in Hamilton every month.
This year, in just 10 weeks, Green Venture received over 445 pounds of produce donations through the Grow a Row program. The donations will help to ensure more people have access to fresh and healthy food, especially during these challenging times.
Aside from the Hamilton Seed Library and Grow a Row project, Seedy Saturday is another event supporting local gardening. Green Venture’s Seedy Saturday is an annual seed exchange and workshop event. Different gardeners and farmers are invited to host the workshops on seed saving, history of seeds in Hamilton and garden designing each year. In past years, Green Venture has collaborated with Tree and Twig Heirloom Vegetable Farm, McQuesten Urban Farm and Dundurn castle. Although this year’s event has already passed, those who are interested can look forward to the next one coming up in early 2022.
In the meantime, Green Venture still has many more exciting upcoming projects and events. Few examples include Depave Paradise in which volunteers take a piece of land covered in asphalt concrete and replace it with green infrastructure and regular volunteering Tuesday at EcoHouse.
The opportunities to get involved in climate and environment action are endless at Green Venture. From sharing seeds to planting trees, Green Venture offers programs to spread messages of environmental accountability and activism and teach how to live more sustainably.
“Start where you are—there is so much information out there. And it can be overwhelming because climate anxiety is really real, it is our reality. But just take a step back and start where you are and do what you can do. Whether it’s using a reusable mug or volunteering with us at Green Venture, small steps and small action really do end up making a big impact,” said Gutierrez.
By: Saadia Shahid
On Feb. 27, the McMaster Students Union promoted its three-day education campaign “Compost at Mac” which highlighted several composting bins around campus. The campaign encouraged students to locate areas within the university where compost bins should be placed.
This was done in efforts to reduce the waste produced by students and also to promote composting.
Another table that I came across in the McMaster University Students Centre asked students to make pledges to limit their use of disposable items. I pledged to limit my use of plastic cutlery, but how feasible is that really?
As a student, making sustainable choices is difficult when there are plastic straws and cutlery distributed all over campus. It is hard to make the environmentally-conscious choice when those items are so easily accessible.
It is easy for the MSU to put up boards encouraging students to help combat climate change, but would it not make more sense for McMaster Hospitality Services to abolish the use of plastic cutlery and disposable items altogether? This would probably help reduce the carbon footprint of the entire university.
This may seem like a drastic change, but the ease lies in switching to more environmentally-friendly and sustainable options like steel cutlery and straws. Reusable mesh grocery bags should be also sold on campus to make it easier for students to adopt sustainable habits.
In making these changes, the MUSC eating area could be also revamped into a proper food court with steel cutlery and plates given out in La Piazza. Students can then return to these items to workers stationed at the food court.
A system like this is already implemented at plenty of malls with food courts and helps to reduce waste due to the availability of reusable cutlery. The cost may seem a little high, but it is not higher than the one we will have to pay due to the effects of climate change.
This initiative can start during Welcome Week with new students introduced to the green changes.
Speaking from a student’s point of view, these changes would make things easier for us and also be more beneficial for the Earth. An institution equipped with the funding makes a bigger difference than opposed to individual students struggling to find sustainable alternatives.
The MSU has done a lot of things that students didn’t vote for, such as starting the composting initiative. They encourage us to follow along as it is a change for the better, but they must at least make it easier for students to adopt.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Eden Wondmeneh
Faculty representatives and Maroons can shape incoming students’ initial impression of the McMaster University community. They guide us through Welcome Week and are meant to play the role of mentor and role model.
A few days into Welcome Week, new students grow accustomed to the vibrant suits and are well-aware of the colour distinctions of each faculty. Suddenly the suit, which at first glance may appear as a horrendous fashion statement, is at the top of many first-year students’ wish lists.
For some students who hope to mentor and inspire incoming students, becoming a faculty representative during Welcome Week is not feasible.
Even if they do make it through the competitive application process, they are unable to participate due to representative fees that candidates are not made aware of at any point during the application process.
On Jan. 22, a call was released on the DeGroote Commerce Society Facebook page for 2019 business faculty representatives. Applications were due by Feb. 1, with prospective green suits contacted for interviews.
The role requires faculty representatives to attend two training sessions prior to summer break and another session the week prior to Welcome Week. Green suits are also highly encouraged to participate in May at Mac and Shine-o-rama, both orientation events running during the summer break.
Despite the large time commitment and the cost of the $60 green suit itself, students who made it through the application process and ultimately became a green suit, were immensely excited about the experience to come.
This excitement, however, was soured with the introduction of a representative fee of over a hundred dollars that was not advertised at any point during the application process.
The representative fee is a confusing, hidden fee that prospective and new faculty representatives are appalled by. The fee is estimated to be around $120.00, but with the McMaster Students Union funding cuts, new representatives expect this to be a low-ball estimate and have yet to be informed of the final cost.
This cost is said to cover training, food and participation in Welcome Week. This contribution to Welcome Week especially annoys students who never signed up to subsidize part of Welcome Week that as first-year students we already paid a mandatory $120.98 First-Year Orientation levy for.
For business students fees to join clubs specific to their faculty is not uncommon. Most clubs require students to pay a small fee for registration.
However, in the case of the representative fee that impacts all faculty reps, the fee is substantial, and no one made them aware of the fee prior to joining. With a lack of discussion of financial support, some students are genuinely happy they didn’t make the cut.
It is simply unfair for students who underwent the incredibly extensive process to become a faculty representative to be cut from the position because of an inability to pay for the high fees.
The faculty representative fee ensures that those who are willing and chosen to volunteer their time to enrich and support incoming students secure their spot by coughing up money.
If this is the inequitable model the green suits and other faculty society representatives decide to rely on, then they should at least be transparent to their applicants.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Neda Pirouzmand
On Feb. 27, the McMaster Students Union sustainability education committee began their three day “Compost at Mac” education campaign in partnership with the academic sustainability programs office and the MSU Maroons.
The campaign marked the beginning of a movement to create more opportunities for students to engage with long-term investment towards changing McMaster’s sustainability practices.
The committee set up a booth in front of Union Market in the McMaster University Student Centre for students to take home herb plants for free.
In addition, the committee distributed cards highlighting the locations of the new compost bins that have been installed across campus.
The new bins have been placed on the first and second floors of Mills Memorial Library and the H.G. Thode Library.
Bins can also be found in front of Union Market in MUSC, in Burke Science Building and in the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery near the Tim Hortons cafe.
Tasneem Warwani, the MSU associate vice-president (University Affairs) and a member of the MSU sustainability education committee, acknowledges the importance of coordinating efforts within the MSU to achieve sustainability goals.
“I think the MSU definitely plays a role in advocating for issues such as no waste. We represent the needs and wants of our students, and this is definitely an important and topical issue,” she said.
According to Warwani, system-wide changes will only be effective with the combined effort of many teams as the task is simply too big otherwise.
Warwani expects the committee to undertake work in the near future that could set the stage for a wave of change in sustainability practices at McMaster.
Without compost bins, solid and organic waste go straight to landfills. The piling of waste in landfills prevents oxygen from reaching buried food waste, causing food waste to produce methane gas.
According to the Canadian government, methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming.
Diverting organic waste from landfills prevents hazardous effects while simultaneously allowing for the proper harnessing of methane gas for renewable energy.
The Ontario government has publicly available information on its major landfills. Currently, Hamilton houses one of the largest landfill sites in Ontario in the Glanbrook district.
Based on available information, there are less than 200 years left until this landfill runs out of space. This creates another reason to remove unnecessary organic waste from landfills.
In addition to green bins, McMaster also has electronics recycling bin drop-off locations in a number of campus buildings, including the Arthur Bourns Building, John Hopkins Engineering Building, Information Technology Building and the Ivor Wynne Centre.
Created because electronics contain harmful chemicals and cannot be easily responsibly disposed of, drop off centres take products like computers, hair dryers and microwaves.
“We are interested to see what other initiatives we can encourage next year’s committee to run. We got a ton of great feedback about the reusable cutlery,” said Connor Maclean, the chair of the committee. “I think making sustainability convenient for students can get so many people engaged in environmental protection and preservation.”
Over the next few weeks, the MSU sustainability education committee will be taking the feedback it received from last week’s campaign to advocate for more green bins on campus.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Drew Simpson
On Feb. 26, the Green is not White environmental racism workshop took place at the Hamilton Public Library’s Wentworth room. The free, open-to all workshop, garnered intrigue from attendees interested in learning about environmental racism.
Presenters sat on a raised platform and the room was filled with chart easel pads, activist posters and resources. The Green is Not White workshop, which is organized by Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces in partnership with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Environment Hamilton and the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion started its seven-hour agenda with a land acknowledgement, icebreakers and then laid down foundational knowledge.
Environmental racism is originally defined by Prof. Benjamin Chavis as the racial discrimination and unequal enforcement of environmental policies. The types of environmental racism have expanded since this 1987 definition and currently encompass air pollution, clean water, climate migration, extreme weather, food production, gentrification and toxins in the community and workplace.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="237" gal_title="Green is not white 1"]
The crust of the issue is that ethnic minorities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. Black and Indigenous populations are most affected by environmental racism, yet this makes it no less of a collective issue. Local case studies were highlighted to drive this message close to home.
For example, most of Hamilton’s waste facilities are clustered just north of and within residential areas. This includes a proposed electronic waste processing facility, which can cause lead and mercury exposure, and an existing chemical wastes facility that is known for chemical explosions causing evacuations and serious injury. Loads of biosolids have been trucked through neighbourhoods posing disease risks from pathogens, concerns of terrible odours and ammonia use for steam filtering.
Studies show that Hamilton neighbourhoods with single-parent families and low education are the most exposed to air pollution. Since these neighbourhoods have fewer resources and are systematically marginalized, they are targeted by acts of environmental racism. The hashtag #EnvRacismCBTUACW continually discusses case studies across Canada.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="239" gal_title="Green is not white 2"]
Along with the extensive examples of Canadians and Hamiltonians living in dire conditions due to environmental racism, as well as the government’s oversight of this issue, various Hamilton organizations have taken it upon themselves to drive change.
This workshop was the third part of a four-phase action research initiative on environmental racism by ACW, which develops tools to better the environmental conditions of jobs and the workplace and CBTU, a coalition that breaks the silence on African-Canadians’ labour issues. While this third stage involves community engagement, the fourth and final stage involves a joint report and video that will be housed on both the ACW and CBTU websites.
The slogan “Green is Not White” highlights that green jobs and environmentally safe conditions should not be reserved for white people. People of colour are most likely to work and live in dire conditions, and therefore deserve economic justice and access to clean water and land.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Allison Mizzi/SHEC
Does one of your New Year’s resolutions include an attempt at becoming vegetarian or vegan? This lifestyle has many potential benefits, but the change requires reflection and careful consideration of your nutrition-related needs. There are many types of vegetarians or vegans. These include lacto-vegetarians, ovo-vegetarians, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, pescetarians, vegans, strict vegans, or anything in between. You may identify with one of these labels and enjoy finding a community of others that share it. However, you don’t have to define yourself or how you eat; your relationship with food is yours, and that can change over time.
People often choose a plant-based diet for health-related purposes. Many vegetarian options tend to contain lower fat and cholesterol, and are associated with lower incidence of chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. They also contain more fiber and antioxidants, which promote digestive and cognitive health.
Others argue that vegetarian nutrition lessons strain on the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, chemical and animal wastes are the major sources of pollution in rivers and streams. Others feel that meat and animal products are unethical and thus their diet represents a stand against the use of animals as food. Others choose plant nutrition for religious, cultural and spiritual reasons.
There may be people who disagree with or stereotype you for your chosen diet. Luckily, McMaster is a very vegetarian-accessible and inclusive university: McMaster was voted Canada’s most vegan-friendly university in 2013. Bridges Café, McMaster’s all vegetarian restaurant, provides a plethora of veggie-friendly meals, and Hospitality Services has expanded their range of vegetarian meals and snacks across campus eateries.
It is important to replace meat with nutritionally equivalent alternatives. As a major source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, eliminating meat without replacing it with plant-based options may lead to protein and nutrient deficiencies. Luckily, there are several nutrition and delicious vegetarian protein sources to fill up with. These include tofu, tempeh, beans, seitan, eggs, milk and milk alternatives like soy and rice milk, high protein grains like quinoa, wild rice and amaranth, lentils, edamame, protein powders and nutritional yeast. It’s helpful to make a conscious effort to include protein with each meal and snack you eat throughout the day, paired with healthy portions of carbohydrates, to set you up for a balanced and healthy vegetarian diet.
In the initial transition, it might be particularly beneficial to connect with others, for support and to gain insight into their tips and tricks. Be prepared for some trial and error, and listen to your bodily needs.
Photo Credit: Bettaveg
[adrotate banner="16"]
[feather_share show="twitter, google_plus, facebook, reddit, tumblr" hide="pinterest, linkedin, mail"]
By: Isaac Kinley
McMaster University President Patrick Deane is assembling a fossil fuel divestment advisory group in response to a petition demanding that the university pull its endowment out of fossil fuel investments.
The petition, an initiative of Fossil Free McMaster, aimed to collect 1,000 signatures but has so far managed to garner just over 900 in the two years that it has been online. Its text warns of the disastrous effects of climate change and says that McMaster students “deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos.” It calls on the university to halt new investments in fossil fuel companies and to divest from all fossil fuel-related investments within five years, which it argues is also a financially responsible decision.
The advisory group will counsel the McMaster Board of Governors’ Finance Committee, responsible for the University’s investment decisions, on whether to divest from fossil fuels. Deane aims to form a group that is unbiased and includes both an undergraduate and a graduate student. To this end, he has contacted the Student Representative Assembly and the Graduate Students Association to ask them to provide candidates.
Conner Hurd, the head of Fossil Free McMaster, feels that this lack of bias may be difficult to achieve. “There’s very few people who sit on the fence on this issue,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to find an unbiased sample.” He expects that the advisory group’s eventual verdict will be in Fossil Free McMaster’s favour, but also stresses that his group advocates an approach that will allow the University to avoid losing money.
“Going forward with integrity doesn’t just mean taking the moral high road on any argument, it means being pragmatic. Ultimately we don’t want the university to lose out on money that comes back from endowment funds because it goes towards bursaries and grants,” he said. “Plus it is donated money, so the people who’ve donated [it] want to see it go back into the University.”
Professor emeritus of economics Atif Kubursi, who has been involved with the initiative along with Biology professor James Quinn, is also optimistic about its outcome, although he said he would like McMaster to move more quickly on the matter. “We should be at the vanguard of things,” he said. “It would be terrible if the university were a laggard and always reacting to others.”
He also feels that the recent 50 percent drop in oil prices may provide McMaster with a financial incentive to divest. “If they had listened to us, they would have saved a lot of money. This is an opportune moment to rebalance your portfolio by going into the kinds of investments that are sunrise, not sunset. The oil industry is a sunset industry. Sunrise would be renewable energy,” he said. “The University, even for pure financial reasons, is ill-advised to remain in fossil fuels.”
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
[adrotate banner="16"]
[feather_share show="twitter, google_plus, facebook, reddit, tumblr" hide="pinterest, linkedin, mail"]
By: Celine Ferreira
After one of the longest election campaigns in Canada's history, the Liberal Party's victory is not the only surprising change to come out of this election.
Professor Karen Bird, whose research involves comparative politics, gender and politics, and indigenous and minority groups, spoke on a panel organized by the Department of Political Science on Oct. 21 concerning the 2015 Canadian Federal Election.
"The share of women among the newly elected Parliament is little better than before. Women now hold 26 percent of the seats, compared to 25 percent. The glass, for women, is still only half full," she said. “The evidence overall suggests we’ve been stuck at about 25 percent for a long time and it doesn’t seem to fix itself on its own.”
The addition of new ridings and the insurgence of new candidates suggested that more women would be elected. However, the one percent increase does not truly reflect this hypothesis. Prof. Bird said that is due to the lack of seats won by the New Democratic Party which had the largest proportion of women in their caucus.
The NDP has implemented various practices that have increased their number of female MPs, including reaching out to women and offering the support they need to run. A great effort is put into recruitment and a mandate has been established requiring justification for why a female candidate was not found if that’s the case. Bird later stated that such efforts should be adopted by all parties if there is going to be a translation to a more gender balanced parliament.
Due to the higher proportion of women with a post-secondary education, women are increasingly doing well economically, therefore resources such as those provided by the NDP are not of prime interest. Bird went on to say that something must be done at an institutional level to address the lack of women represented in parliament.
Female representation is also topical at McMaster. Last year’s “MSU Wants You” campaign urged more female candidates to seek high-ranking positions within the MSU, and while this initiative is a step towards better female representation at McMaster, it also signifies the work that remains to be done. The federal election can be examined to see how our student government can become more representative of the undergraduate student body at McMaster.
Out of the top nine research universities in Canada, McMaster has the second lowest representation of women in its council especially in executive positions. When asked about her opinion regarding this, Bird said that this is not due to the fact that the women are less qualified for the position or that voters are voting against women; it is a result of structural hindrances.
“I think that if there was some information about what the office involves – what the work is on a day-to-day level, what kinds of tasks are involved – a lot of women would say, ‘I have exactly those skills,’” she said.
Bird further stated that explicitly publicizing what the job involves would attract more women as they would recognize that student government is something they would like to be involved in and that they do have many skills and accomplishments that would make them strong candidates for that position.
Bird hopes that in future elections, whether on the federal scale or at the university level, women will recognize that they possess the skills, experiences and ideas needed to hold key positions that shape public policy.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
[adrotate banner="16"]
[feather_share show="twitter, google_plus, facebook, reddit, tumblr" hide="pinterest, linkedin, mail"]
Among other party values such as non-violence, social justice and democracy, the Green Party is predictably focused on the environment. The shift to sustainable energy use will be facilitated through the implementation of a carbon tax, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and a support for the divestment movement on fossil fuels.
Peter Ormond, the Green Party candidate for the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas riding, believes that it is time to redefine the system.
“Times are changing. I always say that seasons change, and so naturally the times are changing. We have to get aligned with the times. We have an older population, we have more diversity . . . let’s adapt to that.”
One of the ways the party hopes to do this is to shift focus to community sustainability. By raising corporate taxes, the party will be able to reallocate funds to municipal initiatives, such as water quality, public housing and public transit. The party also aims to facilitate the creation of jobs within the community, likely in green economy.
Another aspect of the Green platform is to have equal pay for equal work, or a Guaranteed Livable Income, though the specifics will be ironed out in detail in the future.
“I don’t know exactly, with the student factor in there, we would bring that [to] the table and discuss it,” said Ormond.
This is where the Green Party hopes to integrate collaborative discussion by opening up issues like equal pay to conversation within a new board, the Council of Canadian Governments. The Council will be chaired by the federal government and bring together the provinces, territories, municipal governments and indigenous people to discuss national strategies.
Ormond says that the Green Party does have a plan for tackling student debt, as they hope to abolish tuition for college, university and skill training programs by 2020.
“By relieving student debt, we are going to allow people to have the freedom to invest in things that make your life more beautiful . . . Instead of paying that money to the bank for the first ten years of their working life, they can invest in the economy.”
The Green Party has also taken a stance on several issues that caused a ripple of dissent within the student population. When it comes to the controversial Bill C-51, the Green Party sustains that such laws have no place in Canadian legislature. The Green Party has said that it will be looking to reverse Bill C-51 if elected.
Ultimately, the Green Party believes that the root of all of these issues is the environment. If we take care of our environment, the rest will follow.
“Energy is the economy, is the environment, ” said Ormond. “The thing we have to do is to have the mind shift.”
Dear McMaster Students,
There’s good reason for you to feel disillusioned with politics. We face runaway climate change, pipelines, student debt and skyrocketing fees, unemployment and underemployment, unaffordable housing, an unconscionable gap in quality of life between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people, and a wealthy country where citizens still live in poverty, yet youth are offered the same stale ideas from parties presenting themselves as the only choice. While the oldline parties fight over the turf at the cutting edge of the status quo, the Green Party is offering new ideas. We need you to vote because not voting is a vote for the status quo.
I’m pleased to share some of these bold new ideas with you.
Climate Change
Climate change is both the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity that Canada has ever faced. While the consequences of failing to address climate change would be catastrophic, our transition to a green, sustainable economy will create good local jobs, shorter commutes, more livable cities, and cleaner air and water.
Our plan is to move to the virtual elimination of fossil fuel use in Canada by midcentury. Our shortterm target is 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, while we are calling for 80 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2050. These are ambitious targets, yet the scale and urgency of this challenge demands nothing less. As Canadians, we will rise to this challenge and, in doing so, create a strong, stable, and prosperous economy today and for our children and grandchildren tomorrow.
Given climate realities and volatile international oil prices, expanding oil sands production is simply not on. Most of the bitumen in the Alberta oil sands must remain in the ground.
Climate and energy are two sides of the same coin. We urgently need a comprehensive, sciencebased national climate strategy to address rising sea levels, drought, extreme weather events, changing rainfall patterns, increased forest fires, melting permafrost and crumbling Arctic infrastructure.
A robust Canadian Climate and Energy Strategy begins with eliminating all fossil fuel subsidies. Canada currently provides more than $1 billion dollars a year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, meaning, on a per capita basis, Canadian taxpayers provide more handouts to the fossil fuel industry than almost every other country in the G20.
Next, we must work together to put a national price on carbon. In the complete absence of federal leadership, the provinces have taken up the challenge of climate change on their own. Although some progress has been made, notably in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, this patchwork of climate strategies is an inefficient way to tackle an issue that faces all Canadians. The Carbon Fee and Dividend Plan is the smartest, most efficient, and most effective way to shift away from burning fossil fuels. We will place a fee on carbon, and pay the funds it generates directly to every Canadian over age 18 in the form of an annual carbon dividend. This plan will defend our climate, diversify our energy mix, grow our economy, and ensure energy security for Canadians.
The Carbon Fee and Dividend Plan is the smartest, most efficient, and most effective way to shift away from burning fossil fuels. We will place a fee on carbon, and pay the funds it generates directly to every Canadian over age 18 in the form of an annual carbon dividend. This plan will defend our climate, diversify our energy mix, grow our economy, and ensure energy security for Canadians.
Pipelines
Every pipeline – whether it’s Enbridge’s Northern Gateway, KinderMorgan’s expansion through Burnaby Mountain to the Burrard Inlet, Energy East, or Keystone XL, are all about one thing: getting raw, unprocessed bitumen to coastlines.These pipelines and supertankers are premised on a risky economic strategy. We have already seen how Harper’s strategy of putting all our eggs in the bitumen basket has hurt our economy. On top of that, one accident could cripple the entire billion dollar fisheries and tourism industry upon which our coastal communities depend.
The Green Party opposes any and all pipeline proposals that involve the shipping of diluted bitumen. Moving diluted bitumen is just not worth the risk. Green MPs will continue to challenge the deeply flawed pipeline review process and to seek ways to stop this risky pipeline.
Post-Secondary Education
Whether Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, or Finland, many of the world’s most successful economies have proven that expanding the public education system to include postsecondary increases prosperity, equality, productivity, and economic competitiveness.
We will start investing in Canada’s future by abolishing tuition fees for students without adequate financial means, including removing the inadequate 2% annual cap on increased funding for post secondary education for all First Nations and Inuit students. Through consultation and collaboration with provincial governments and universities and colleges, by 2020 we will abolish tuition fees for postsecondary education and skills training for Canadians, guaranteeing that income is never a barrier for
qualified students. It is widely recognized that Canada’s success depends on an educated population, yet we burden youth with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.
As our plan to abolish tuition fees is being phased in, we will invest in the success of current students, jumpstart the Canadian economy, and give our graduates a handup by implementing a debtforgiveness program. Our plan will eliminate any existing or future student federal debt above $10,000. We will abolish charging interest on new student loans and will increase available funding for bursaries.
Youth Unemployment and Training
It is unacceptable to the Green Party, and should be unacceptable to every Canadian, that the unemployment rate among Canadian youth is twice the national average. The actual youth unemployment rate is likely much higher as many young people have given up on finding that first job and are no longer counted.
Investment in Canadian skills, training, and education is a proven means to create real jobs, and is the backbone of Canada’s future as a sustainability superpower. But for many young people just getting out of school, they face a Catch22. They cannot get hired in new jobs because they lack experience. But unless they get that first job, they’ll never have experience. Greens will create a national Community and Environment Service Corps, which will provide $1 billion/year to municipalities to hire Canadian youth to do work that needs to be done.
Housing is simply unaffordable for too many Canadians. The Green Party is committed to equitable and accessible housing for all. To this end, Green MPs will implement a National Housing Strategy based on Housing First principles, quickly moving people experiencing homelessness and providing additional supports as needed. As part of this strategy, we will advocate for increased funding and ambitious affordable housing targets, both the construction of new units and the restoration of existing housing.
Affordable Housing
Greens will leverage all policy tools at our disposal to facilitate this expansion in federally subsidized housing, including by providing significant subsidies, capital grants, credit and loan guarantees for non profit housing organizations and cooperatives, and needed changes in tax and mortgage insurance regulations. We will also provide support for energyefficient upgrades to social housing, and provide rent supplements or shelter assistance for an additional 40,000 lowincome households per year for the next decade.
Support strong First Nations and Indigenous communities
We need to move to implement the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The path to justice, healing and reconciliation begins with accepting a painful truth: the horrors of the residential school system constituted a policy of cultural genocide. There is no way to undo the damage nor to
compensate for the grief and loss of many generations of children and families. The truth is hard to absorb, but absorb it we must.
True reconciliation will take time, and while we work to build a new, nationtonation partnership based on mutual respect and understanding, there are urgent and important steps that must be taken by the federal government to put the relationship on firmer footing.
We begin by recognizing indigenous rights and title, and will negotiate in good faith to settle land claims, establish treaties and selfgovernment arrangements, and move to repeal the Indian Act should that be the consensus of First Nations. We will respect the rights of First Nations to take leadership of development projects on their traditional territories.
Creating opportunity for indigenous communities and their people means ensuring access to quality public services for all First Nations, Metis and Inuit. It requires adequate funding for housing, education, and health care, both on and off reserves. We will work to expand rural health care infrastructure by investing in telehealth and mobile medical units, to ensure indigenous communities have access to critical care.
The ongoing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women must be urgently addressed. We will launch a national inquiry and work to ensure that structural violence against indigenous communities is addressed.
We also recognize the critical importance of defending languages and cultures, and will provide new federal funding for culturally appropriate education in traditional languages.
Poverty
The Green Party plans to introduce a Guaranteed Livable Income (GLI) to ensure no Canadian falls below an income level necessary to live with dignity. A GLI would provide a regular payment to every Canadian, at a subsistence level above the poverty line, to meet Canadians’ basic needs while encouraging additional income generation. For higherincome Canadians, the amount of the GLI is merely taxed back in whole. A GLI would empower those living in poverty and free service providers to focus on the root causes of inequality. We believe it is time to advance bold ideas like a GLI. Nevertheless, it will take time for study, reflection, and support from all levels of government. We are committed to opening dialogue on the idea, while pursuing short term measures to make progress immediately.
We need you to vote. Find a friend who didn’t vote last time, and get them to vote too. I encourage you to go to the returning office even ahead of the advance polls. You can be sure to be registered and even vote any day until advance polls start on Thanksgiving. The unfair elections act will make it harder for students to vote, so please go early.
You have the power to turn these bold ideas into our shared reality. I know that we share the profound faith that together, through hard work, compassion and cooperation, we can build a better future. When youth vote, everything changes.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some of our ideas with you.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth May
Photo Credit: Patrick Doyle / The Canadian Press
