Green economic principles are pragmatic. Thanks to the influence of Green parties around the world, these core principles have been tested. They work.
Central to our policies is understanding that there is no conflict between environment and economy.
A smart economy is one that is resilient. A smart economy is diversified, less vulnerable to global shifts. A smart economy enriches localized value chains, producing more goods and employing more Canadians. According to numerous studies, notably Michael E. Porter’s work at Harvard Business School, the more ambitious environmental standards and regulations are adopted, the more competitive and productive is your economy.
Most Canadians enjoy one of the highest qualities of life of any people in the world. We are blessed with abundant resources and a skilled and educated workforce.
While thanks to a regulated banking system we endured the 2008 financial melt-down better than many other countries, our economic indicators are flat-lining. Our employment picture is relatively stagnant. Youth unemployment is particularly worrying, at double the national level.
We face a serious crisis of lack of productivity. Productivity is a measure of innovation and investment in Research and Development. We are falling far behind the United States for the first time since productivity has been measured.
Since the 1970s, our economy has shifted from a majority of our exports being manufactured goods to our current majority of exports being unprocessed raw materials. With this shift, we have lost Canadian jobs in ‘value-added’ but we have also lost ground in productivity. Raw resource production as a sector invests far less in Research and Development and innovation than manufacturing.
The Harper Conservatives have increasingly skewed our economy towards the export of fossil fuels. Putting all our eggs in the bitumen basket was never good economic policy. The dropping price for a barrel of oil makes this more transparent, but even if oil prices rebound the threat to Canada’s productivity remains a real drag on our economic health.
“Productivity may not be everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything.”
Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist
Too many small businesses are going bankrupt, while major industrial sectors such as manufacturing and forestry struggle to stay afloat. Meanwhile, the auto sector received giant bailouts from provincial and federal governments without adequately protecting Canadian jobs or committing to making the transition to green technology.
Unfortunately, employed Canadians are also among the most overworked citizens in the industrialized world. A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) states that the richest 10% of Canadians are the only ones not working longer hours. The report concludes that, despite being better educated and working harder, Canadian families are now “running faster just to stay put and the bottom half is actually falling behind.”
It is essential that we become far more creative in reducing our unbalanced dependence on trade with U.S., and that we significantly invest in a National Clean Tech/Energy program to remain price competitive and sanction-free. And finally, that we conserve natural resources and invest more in long-term education and re-training.
This generation has the potential to capitalize on the single biggest business opportunity in human history: the shift to a post-fossil fuel economy. Whether this is driven by the need to end the recession through economic stimulus, high energy extraction costs, or collapsing oil prices, strategic geopolitical threats to foreign oil, the climate crisis, or all of them combined, the country that mobilizes resources to develop and commercialize smarter technologies (e.g. alternate fuels, renewable energy, and energy efficiency) will survive and thrive.
Canada should be that country.
1.1 Principles guiding the Smart Economy, the Green Economic Plan
1.2 Applying these principles to economic decision making
1.3 Reporting the well-being of the nation more accurately
1.4 Fair taxes – fiscal reform
1.5 Balanced budget – debt reduction
1.6 Removing corporate subsidies: Distorting the market
1.7 Income trusts
1.8 Labour
1.9 Open source computer software
1.10 Small business loans and entrepreneurial incentives
1.11 Co-operatives
1.12 Railroads – re-establishing the national dream
1.13 Green urban transportation
1.14 Infrastructure and communities
1.15 Agriculture and food
1.16 Genetically engineered organisms
1.17 Fisheries
1.18 Green forest vision
1.19 Expanding cultural tourism and ecotourism
1.20 Mining
1.21 Energy industry: No to nuclear
Natural Resources Canada has evolved into the Department of Oil and Gas
January 28th, 2019
Report from COP24 in Poland
December 12th, 2018
Elizabeth explains the Federal Court of Appeal ruling on Kinder Morgan
September 4th, 2018
“The difference between a plan and a wish list” (Hill Times)
June 14th, 2018
Opinion: I was arrested for protesting against Canada’s pipeline – and the battle is far from over
May 31st, 2018
Elizabeth May: An Oilsands Bargain that Actually Makes Sense
April 25th, 2018
Elizabeth May celebrates Chinese New Year
February 8th, 2019
Elizabeth May’s Statement on Black History Month
February 8th, 2019
Elizabeth May Statement on Black History Month
February 4th, 2019
Distinguished economists validate Elizabeth May’s economic policy
February 1st, 2019
Elizabeth May’s statement on the situation in Venezuela
February 1st, 2019
Statement on the second anniversary of the Quebec City mosque massacre
February 1st, 2019
Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act (also known as the Free Willy Bill)
December 14th, 2018
Bill S-203: The Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act
November 29th, 2018
External review of the critical habitat section of the draft amended recovery strategy for Resident Killer Whales
November 8th, 2018
Elizabeth May’s 2018 Remembrance Day Message
November 6th, 2018
House of Commons Emergency Debate on Climate Change
October 16th, 2018
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