Manitoba Election 2016

Questionnaire Response

1. What are the key issues that your party stands for? Why are these issues important?

The key issues are: poverty reduction, greenhouse gas reduction, education tax reform, health care reform and provincial debt and deficit reduction.  Poverty reduction is important because it results in a lower demand for very expensive social, health and corrections services and because it leads to improved quality of life for the poor.  Greenhouse gas reduction is important because climate change induced by rising GHG emissions is the single most important threat facing human kind.  Education tax reform is critical because of the unequal access to education funding imposed by the property tax base and the resulting inequities in school division access to education funds.  Health care reform is important because too little funding is going towards prevention and healthy living.  Lifestyle related conditions like the rising obesity rates are causing large increases in diabetes and hypertension.  Tackling the provincial debt and deficit are important because they burden future generations with rising debt costs which enrich the wealthy who hold the provincial debt.

2. What makes your party different from other political parties?

What distinguishes the Green Party of Manitoba from the others are its bold plans to:

• cut the poverty rate in Manitoba by 45 per cent by financing a Guaranteed Annual Income through reform of the personal income tax system and the elimination of existing provincial income transfer programs;
• to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through a $50/tonne carbon tax which will result in lower tax rates and a $166 million per year Green Fund to finance the measures needed to help Manitobans use less fossil fuels and improve the functioning of the economy;
• to end the unfair system of funding public schools through the education property tax by shifting taxes to the personal and corporate income tax systems and to introduce an equitable funding formula for school divisions;
• to tackle the rising provincial debt and annual deficits by constraining spending to the annual increases in the nominal GDP and to raise additional revenues through the closing of tax loopholes.

3. What are the first things you would like to do if you form government after the 2016 election?

The first things the GPM would do upon forming government is begin the design and implementation of the Guaranteed Annual Income and the Carbon tax, to undertake a review of existing tax expenditures to identify those which should be eliminated.

4. Why should a voter choose to vote for your party?

The other parties do not have the bold plans adopted by the Green Party to tackle the serious problems of poverty, climate change, inequitable financing of public schools. They offer more of the same.

5. Do you have any other comments regarding your party that you would like to share?

The Green Party is not affiliated with any special interests such as the Business community or the Union movement nor does it try to appease everyone. Its focus is on creating a sustainable society – environmentally, economically, politically and socially and all of its policies are developed with that objective in mind.  Thus, it is neither left nor right but centered on creating a sustainable future.