I think Elizabeth May, scared some potential green voters away by saying she would bring in carbon taxes when she first talked about her platform. It is laudable that she was trying to be honest, but it was a terrible mistake politically. If no one who advises her knew this or did not forcefully enough talk her out of it, then that is another political mistake. There are other ways to start to make green things happen. In an election, voters do not want to hear about first off about additional taxes, especially on themselves, when it appears that most polluting business get off scot-free from paying anything or pay very little.
How about toll roads? Anyone who lives within the city know how much pressure all those commuters put on our environment. Or why not use part of the taxes on businesses to pay for green initiatives?
In the Friday, September 7, 2007, issue of Toronto Star (the Star), under Ontario Votes, Students Speak Out, is the following article by Star writer, Kerry Gillespie, Queen's Park Bureau. It is part of a special series in which every Friday during the provincial election campaign, the Star will feature a close-up look at a question on the minds of students, and what answers politicians have for them. These features are part of the Student Vote parallel election program taking place in more than 1,250 Ontario elementary and high schools. The aim is to get young people interested in politics.
Everyone talks about the need to save the environment, so why don't Green party candidates get treated more seriously at election time, 17-year-old Natalie Lum-Tai asks.
"Is it because we don't trut them with our money or everyone is just content to have them making noise, but don't really want to give them any power?" asked Lum-Tai, a student at Cawthra Park Secondary School in Mississauga.
A big reason the Ontario Green party isn't a serious contender on election day is because they're shut out of the televised leaders' debate, party leader Frank de Jong said when the Star asked Lum-Tai's question.
"If you ask anyone on the street they will tell you: 'Yes, the Earth is in trouble and humans are the cause of it.' The problem is the electoral system needs to modernize and we need to make sure the Green party is part of the leaders' debate and is given equal coverage to other parties if we're going to save this planet," de Jong, a part-time schoolteacher, said in an interview.
The broadcasters who run the Sept. 20 televised debate restrict to parties with seats in the Legislature - the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats.
That's sort of swaying the vote, saying these are the only people you need to listen to," Lum-Tai said.
But there are also things de Jong could do to help, she said.
"The environment is the Green party's main issue and that's what they have to push, otherwise they'd be selling out, but I still question why they don't make it more publicly known what their views are on other issues," Lum-Tai said.
The Greens' website includes "key messages" on education (it favours a referendum on ending public funding for Catholic schools) and shifting taxes from income and property to polluting industries and non-renewable resources like gasoline, but the party hasn't yet released a full platform detailing how it would run the province.
"They could definitely get more votes by showing initiative with other issues and then they could do what they want with the environment once they're in power," Lum-Tai said.
But not everyone agrees that the Green party, despite its name, has the best answers on that front.
Both the Liberals and the New Democrats say their policies are actually greener than the Green party's ideas.
"People who want to see clear, practical, thoughtful things on the environment vote for New Democrats," NDP Leader Howard Hampton said.
De Jong, who has been with the Green party since 1987, and its leaders since 1993, thinks its time is here.
"Sometimes political parties come along and then they disappear and people think, 'I'm glad I didn't get on board that sinking ship.' But the Green party has now proven itself with running stronger and stronger campaigns in every election, federally and provincially, and the issues are catching up to us . . . green issues are at the top of the agenda," he said.
"The Green party is here to stay and our goal is to become the government."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Elizabeth didn't just suggest a carbon tax but also announced that a reduction in income and payroll taxes would also occur.
It's called tax shifting and its part of the Green Party economic platform. The premise is to reward positive things (like jobs, fuel efficient vehicles) with lower taxes and increase the taxes on the negative things (polluters, SUV's).
Though I will agree, somewhat, with the questions put forward by Natalie Lum-Tai... because there hasn't been a lot of focus on the Greens outside of the environment portfolio, it's hard for voters to trust them on other issues and, thus, no elected Greens.
Post a Comment