GPM Platform - Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
The Green Party of Manitoba was founded in 1998 with the objective of achieving a socially,
ecologically, and economically sustainable society. Manitoba Greens have recognized the
interdependence of these three areas from our beginning. Today we have a broad array of
policies, a full executive council, a committed group of volunteers, a downtown Winnipeg
office to serve as a hub for Green Politics, a website that is updated weekly, and a growing
number of supporters and contacts in Manitoba and abroad.
The Green Party of Manitoba is proud to present to you this 2007 electoral platform. It is the
culmination of over eight years of policy work and we believe offers a vision and direction
that, if acted on, could allow Manitoba to achieve sustainability. This platform is
fundamentally different from the grey parties platforms, which focus on simply expanding
economic activity (production and consumption) without concern for future generations.
The Greens suggest it is time to rethink progress and the idea that growth (of the
economy) is always a good thing. Questioning the ideology of growth is critical if we are to
achieve a sustainable society, because a sustainable society is not one that is continually
increasing its material and energy input (resources) and output (products and waste). We
must limit the amount of throughput (matter and energy moving through the economy) at
a level that can be sustained by the Earth's absorptive (of waste) and regenerative (of
resources) capacities.
Moreover, the Greens seek to question the creation of waste in our economy. We suggest
that it is possible to make our economy like Nature, where there is no waste. This will
require fundamental redesign of many of our social and economic systems based on
ecological principles and ecological literacy. That is why ecological literacy is the
centrepiece of our platform: because ecological literacy is needed if we are to achieve a
sustainable society. Flowing from that ecological literacy and the principles of ecology are
the ideas of localizing production of goods consumed in Manitoba, fostering cooperation in
our communities, redirecting our energy policy from expanding supplies to managing our
demands and improving efficiency, and reclaiming and protecting the commons (air, land,
water, forests, and public institutions).
The Manitoba Greens strongly endorse the precautionary principle:
“When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment,
precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships
are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity,
rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the precautionary principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include
potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of
alternatives, including no action." - Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary
Principle, Jan.1998.
We live in an age of global warming, mass extinctions, growing inequality, and increasing
violence for control of energy and other resources. The ways of thinking and seeing the
world that created these problems cannot solve them. We must change directions from
constant growth in production and consumption, to the well being of the land, our
communities, and individual Manitobans.
With this in mind, we advocate the following platform to deal with the threats posed to us by
continued ecological illiteracy, reliance on unsustainable sources of materials and energy,
and the problems they have caused: global warming, soil erosion, water pollution, chronic
disease prevalence (cancer, diabetes, etc), mass extinction and loss of biological diversity,
decline of social cohesion and participation, and poverty.
It is time to set a new course for Manitoba and the world. The Green Party of Manitoba asks
you to join us in calling for a review of economic progress measured as increasing gross
domestic product (GDP) and to re-focus our energies from growth to well-being and
sustainability. The Green Party of Manitoba has developed a platform that will begin the
long process of redesigning our society to fit within Nature's cycles and processes, and to
honour and respect the Earth and each other.
There are many other groups working to forward these aims and we hope you will contact us
about how you can get involved in the Global Greens movement (www.globalgreens.info) for
sustainability and social justice.
|
