FEDERAL ELECTION SURVEY 2015

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1 FEDERAL ELECTION SURVEY The federal debt has risen to over $660 billion with annual debt servicing charges at $30 billion. If elected, what specific actions would your party take to begin to pay down the debt? The Green Party will set a disciplined schedule to gradually pay down the debt while maintaining public services and programs that meet immediate social and environmental needs, increasing debt reduction over time but starting with modest targets to permit investment in critical programs. We will not run surpluses during recessions but we will systematically pay down the debt when the economy is growing To cut interest costs that that drove up the national debt beginning in the 1980s we will go back to borrowing from the bank of Canada rather than international lenders, reducing the interest payment. To cut the waste in the system we will cut all subsidies to all fossil fuel firms. We will cut large corporate subsidies and grants. We will patch the holes Mr Harper has punched in the tax system so we are sharing the burden of the debt more fairly. We will reduce opportunities to move income offshore and recover taxes hidden in off-shore tax havens; We will institute a full range of polluter pays taxes. We will legalize Marijuana and tax it like alcohol and tobacco. I am convinced these steps alone would wipe out the debt fairly quickly We will support provinces and municipalities in introducing congestion taxes on roads, increasing the funding available for infrastructure while reducing borrowing. 2. Intense global competition and a weakening business climate threaten our economic recovery. If elected, what specific actions would your party take to ensure the federal government is an active player in Ontario s economic future? The Quebec-Windsor corridor is home to one of the most dynamic economies in the world. It is the main source of Canadian wealth, our only megalopolis, our technology hub, and home to 55% of the population. Its success is absolutely critical to Canada s competitiveness.

2 Because it involves two provinces and many federal responsibilities - seaways, rail, the TransCanada highway, communications - the Federal government has a crucial role. The current government has actually undermined the region. A Green Government would immediately begin negotiations with the two provinces to eliminate trade barriers and develop a high speed transportation corridor from Quebec City to Windsor similar to that in the most developed regions of the world such as Japan China, Korea and Europe. A Green Government would start to reduce its dependence on oil revenues and start building a renewable-based carbon-free economy. Green technology is the greatest business opportunity of this century. We call this skating to where the puck is going rather than where it was in To improve incentives we will reduce income taxes and payroll taxes. We will shift consumption taxes toward things that harm people or the environment. We will not rely on cuts to corporate taxes to stimulate growth, since that strategy has failed and is completely discredited. We will apply border adjustments to ensure Canadian businesses do not face unfair competition from polluting jurisdictions. In order to maintain a level playing field for Canadian businesses with respect to foreign competitors, carbon-based tariffs will be introduced against countries that apply no carbon tax (or other equivalent mechanism to curb GHG emissions) or apply a lower rate of carbon tax than Canada. These border adjustments will also be distributed in the dividend to Canadians. 3. If elected, how would your party commit to advancing the development of the Ring of Fire? The region and the resource is in a provincial jurisdiction. A Green federal government would lay out a coherent strategy for developing the entire boreal shield region. Provinces would be encouraged to participate with the national government in creating a `Mid Canada Development Corridor. We would begin by laying down the principle that the chromite must be processed in Northern Ontario. The Green Party will treat the Ring of Fire as the first step in a regional development that will eventually see as many as 200 mines in Ontario s Northwest. Infrastructure must be planned to facilitate development of the entire region. The Green Party is committed to investing in the necessary infrastructure. We would support the use of 21st century technology in the region. We would insist that federally supported development be powered by low or zero carbon sources. We would

3 invest in innovative transportation systems that minimize environmental impacts, both for industrial and community use. These include the Hybrid air vehicles and transport hovercraft being investigated at CEMI in Sudbury. We would ensure that any road or rail system complement development in the province and not be designed simply to remove resources as quickly as possible. We would negotiate a co-management approach with the existing population, which is almost entirely aboriginal. We would support the creation of a regional government in the Northwest. 4. If elected, what actions would you take to ensure the federal government commits to its one-third funding to advance the Maley Drive Extension? The Maley Drive Extension is both fiscally irresponsible and bad urban design. We should work to get federal funding for projects that significantly improve the city examples: re-engineering the Four Corners; moving the rail yards out of the downtown core; or supporting the development of our mining supply and services sector. 5. Ontario and the nation on a whole are currently operating in a data vacuum as a result of insufficient, inconsistent and unreliable labour market information. What steps will you take to ensure stakeholders have access to timely and accurate local labour market information? The Labour market information system is very weak. However, as an economist I do not believe the problem is going to be solved with more data. We would reinstate the longfrom Census and invest in improved social and economic data of all sorts. 6. The regional discrepancies in the EI system place a disproportionate burden on Ontario employers and employees. If elected, what would steps would you take to reform Canada s EI system? The EI system is an important support for families and it encourages labour mobility. It also serves as a macroeconomic stabilizer. While we need some regional differentiation of EI access based on local conditions, there is an unmistakable element of unfairness inherent in the complex system of 58 different economic EI zones across the country. We need a comprehensive overhaul of EI.

4 I personally support eliminating the EI premiums payable by employers and employees, and integrating EI in a unified and simple universal income support system. See our Policy book for more details. 7. If elected, what would you do to ensure that adequate infrastructure funding is being allocated to Northern Ontario specific projects? Personally I would bring some vision to the federal government. It is important to focus federal funding on projects of national importance (unlike Maley Drive). Federal collaboration to make the rail system more efficient and safer, for example leads to support for moving railcards out of Sudbury. Federal commitment to the Mid-Canada Corridor concept leads to federal investment in transport systems accost Northern Ontario. 8. If elected, what steps would you take to break down barriers to internal trade and labour mobility of skilled trade workers across the country? I would work to reinvigorate federal-provincial relations, since barriers are all at the provincial level. I would insist that federal funding be conditional on reducing barriers, and would preferentially invest federal research and development funds in multi-province export-oriented projects only when the interprovincial markets are open. 9. If elected, how will you plan to support mineral exploration and mining innovation in Canada s northern regions? I assume that you mean Ontario s Northern Regions. Again, you are asking about Provincial jurisdiction. Exploration is only economic when claims can be sold, and claims are sold when development is possible. Exploration therefore depends on the transportation infrastructure. A long range transportation plan for the Boreal Shield region is essential to support exploration. The Green party also supports flow through shares as a way to spread the risk of exploration.

5 10. If elected, what steps would you take to ensure employers have better access to the skilled labour they need to complement their workforce? As most economists point out, Canada does not suffer primarily from labour shortages. Low levels of business investment hold down productivity. It is true, however, that competitive pressures have led most employers to stop investing in employee training. That lack has been increasingly filled by public sector education. It is fair to say that graduates are less ready for the special jobs on offer than they were for the less specialized jobs of the past. It is also true that employers have less capacity to absorb new graduates. I support Green proposals to encourage more hands-on learning in our post-secondary education system, expand on-the-job training patterned on Quebec s Emplois-Québec and the USA s Workplace Development Boards, introduce a training levy for employers and and regulation that makes workers repay training investments if they leave before employers can get a reasonable payback on their training investment. I would support Federal efforts to standardize qualifications and licensing across the country to increase labour mobility. I would support collapsing the almost 50 assorted bilateral federal-provincial-territorial agreements that are currently grouped under four federal-provincial labour market programs broadly devoted to helping various categories of unemployed people get back to work into a single transfer/training/placement system. 11. What is your personal statement to the business community? Remember that Canada has had a very strong economy historically and even the economic blunders that Mr Harper has made have only moved it from being one of the top performers in the OECD to just below the middle. Courage and imagination can put us back on top. And please note that the Green party has a full array of policies to make Canada fairer and more productive. None of them will matter if we have a federal government that cannot even admit that climate change is our most pressing issue and opportunity. We need to introduce carbon taxation immediately simply to get incentives right. We should make the carbon pricing system revenue neutral by combining it with our carbon dividend. A technological revolution is underway and Canada can t sit on the sidelines pretending that the world is not going to change. The latest research shows it is now feasible for

6 Canada and the USA to get 100% of their electricity from renewable resources within two decades. We can electrify the transportation system in that time as well. By 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. David Robinson