In her letter, the Green Leader and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands emphasizes the need to diversify Canada’s energy portfolio while placing a price on carbon: “The key point is that, within the constraints of your own policies, action is needed now on climate and some portion of your budget should speak to the necessity of carbon pricing.  As well, the existing commitment to end subsidies to fossil fuels should be accelerated.”

Ms. May offered her suggestions to increase revenue and curb spending. Suggestions include:

• Fulfill commitments made at the G-20 and eliminate subsidies to fossil fuels. (+$1.2 billion)
• Cut the Prime Minister’s Office budget by 50% to levels of the Chrétien government. (+$5 million)
• Reduce government spending on advertising to 2005 levels. (+$90 million)
• Implement Estate taxes on estates exceeding $5 million. (+$1.5 billion/year)

Investment propositions include:

• Fund and expand the Eco-energy Retrofit programme. Expand it to include hospitals, schools and universities. ($1 billion)
• Invest in renewable energy and mass transit. ($1 billion)
• Invest in First Nations Education, housing, water and health care. ($1 billion)
• Establish a National Affordable Housing Program. ($834 million)
• Replenishment of the Sustainable Technology Development Fund, critical for Clean Tech.

A detailed summary of variations in revenue and spending, as well as deficit reductions, is included in the letter to Mr. Flaherty.

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The Harper government has slashed budgets in the public sector, cutting about 10 percent of the workforce.  Cutbacks include the elimination of more than twenty percent of the National Research Council’s budget and severe job cuts at Environment Canada.  The cuts are targeting scientists and scientific support staff.  “Canada will feel the loss of our scientists and researchers. The deep cuts to climate sciences show the ideological basis for this exercise,” said May.  “If our public sector is unable to carry out science and research, our economy will feel the long-term consequences as we will be unable to remain resilient and stable in the face of global changes.”

“The Canadian economy will not be served well by losing all of our highly trained public servants working on key scientific questions,” said May. “Without our scientists, Canada will very quickly fall behind in the global knowledge-based economy.  We need to better prioritize our spending with long term planning in mind.”

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