Jim Hoffice, leader of the Green Party of Canada

So, what are the options?

   
Waldeck - Sunday, June 6, 2004 - by:Joyce Neufeld
   

options

Well the election has finally been called and political goobly-dy-gook is flying fast and furious. So what are our options this time around.

 

 

Liberals

First, we have Liberal leader, Paul Martin the great defender?? of Medicare. In 1974, the federal share of health care was about 43%. By 1993 successive Liberal and Conservative governments dropped it to 26%. After cuts imposed by this same Paul Martin, it dropped to approximately 16%. This is saving Medicare?

 

 

conser-
vatives

Then we have Steven Harper (the New Conservatives) who says Canada should have supported the UN in the invasion of Iraq. Come again - there never was a 'UN invasion of Iraq" It was a US invasion wikthout UN sanction. In its wake, many innocent civilian deaths have occured. Harper's answer - 1.2 billion per year (for up to 10 years) into military spending. (Lots of money to kill people - No money to save people (health).

 

 

NDP

We then have the NDP who have gone so far to the right to appease the capitalist mentality, they look more like the 'Leaning tower of Pisa' than a political party. One is left with saying that they are, however, the lesser of three evils.

 

 

Green

For those of us disillusioned with the rhetoric of the above, to the point of not voting or spoiling our ballot, we do have another option. The Green Party platform have some very credible policies.

 

  1. Withdraw from NAFTA and instead promote fair trade agreements.
  2. Withdraw from all military alliances with the United States and promote UN peacekeeping and disarmament.
  3. Restore federal funding to health and education to the 50% level as in the past.
  4. Introduce proportional representation and promotion of electoral and financial reforms.
  5. Not allow the commercialization of genetically modified wheat and work to progressively remove other genetically modified crops and animals from Canadian agriculture with allowance for species of pharmaceutical values.
  6. Conduct thorough and open research into the true causes and transmission of BSE and impose a moratorium on the feeding of animal by-products to other animals destined for consumption pending the results of the BSE research.

 

 
  Sounds like a breath of fresh air to me.
   
 

Joyce Neufeld

   

 

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