Don’t be afraid to vote Green in the next federal election: That was the main message about 100 politicos heard at a Green Party of Canada town hall meeting at Totem Hall Monday night.
Green party leader Elizabeth May and West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country Green candidate Ken Melamed laid out the party’s platform and answered questions from the crowd.
May said there should not be a concern in Squamish about vote splitting in the next election.
“The key to avoiding the repetition of a Conservative winning a riding is not by worrying about vote splitting, it is not the real problem. Our real problem… is vote abandoning, the fact that 40 per cent of Canadians didn’t vote in 2011,” May said.
“I know it weighs on people’s minds, but the reality of this riding is that… the support for the Conservatives has plummeted so your choice is much more between the Liberals, New Democrats or Greens here than your choice of it being close.”
Melamed said he would not step down in order to defeat the Conservative incumbent candidate John Weston if there was strong support for another party.
“I can’t in good conscience,” Melamed said. “I operate on the simple principal that if you don’t vote for what you want, you will never get it.”
Although the event was held at the Squamish Nation’s Totem Hall and opened with a welcome by Squamish Nation performers, Green Party policy on aboriginal issues wasn’t discussed until near the end of the event, after a question from the audience about engaging with First Nations.
“One of the biggest challenges on the agenda of the next Parliament is responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Report,” said May, adding she had tabled the report to Parliament just before the summer break.
“The healing, reconciliation and justice path that we must all be on primarily falls on those of us who are settlers and non-First Nations who are responsible, not directly or personally, but we bear the responsibility of trying to meet those recommendations and live that path of reconciliation in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.”
Melamed said he is going to focus his campaign on jobs and the economy.
The biggest rounds of applause from the audience came when the leaders spoke of the Green’s policy on fossil fuels and affordable housing.
“About $34 billion a year in subsidies [go] to the fossil fuel industry – one of the wealthier sectors in the Canadian economy – that is not right,” said Melamed.
“If we remove those subsidies it gives the investors… Canadian entrepreneurs, a chance to compete in alternative energy to get energy retrofits going and you can redesign, refit our houses, get people building and back to work.”
Melamed reiterated his opposition to the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant, referencing the health of Howe Sound.
“It is so incredible to see Howe Sound coming back to life. Why on earth would we want to go back to the dirty old past?” he asked. “We need to protect what is close to us and there are industries that are compatible with that.”
The Sea to Sky Gondola created more jobs for “a $25-million investment” than Woodfibre LNG is promising with about a $60-million investment, he said.
However, Woodfibre LNG's own estimate is that the company's investment will be between $1.4 and $1.8 billion, according to a spokesman.
Regarding housing, May said the Green Party would create a tax incentive for purpose-built rental housing.
Melamed spoke to the need for a federal housing strategy.
“The federal government used to be in housing… we have to get back into housing, a federal program,” he said.
Election day is October 19.
