Policies - Government

Approved: 2013 

Revised: 2015, 2019, 5 July 2021

Climate change is the biggest threat the world now faces. Greens recognize the urgency of replacing oil and gas infrastructure in public and private spheres with clean and efficient energy systems. 

Whereas: 

• Climate change due to global warming threatens to unleash massive changes in weather that will seriously compromise the health and well-being of all forms of life; 
• Large increases in the price of fuels are required to reduce the demand; 
• A carbon tax based on the CO2 equivalent of fossil fuels leads to increases in the price of fossil fuel that are directly related to its global warming potential;  
• Where carbon taxes have been implemented, there are reductions in fossil fuel use; and 
• The recycling of revenues from a carbon tax in the form of investments in sustainable infrastructure and rebates to households and the lowering of payroll taxes results in both equitable and efficient results for households and the economy;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports emissions reductions by: 

• Implementing an output-based carbon tax on large industrial emitters that will reduce carbon emissions; 
• Implementing a tax on the sale of a broad range of carbon-based fuels, based on their carbon equivalent emissions, that is sufficiently high to reduce consumption of those fuels to targeted levels.These taxes would be being revenue neutral, and disbursed in full on:
  • Spending on public and private green infrastructure; and
  • Cash transfer to lower income households and non-profit organizations to offset the effects of the tax;
  • Reduction in payroll and income tax. 
• Requiring the government of Manitoba to provide an annual full accounting of the revenues raised and disbursed.

Approved: 2004
Revised: 2017

The Greens recognize that there is an inherent lack of democracy in our current electoral system, allowing candidates and parties with a minority of votes to be elected. We want to strengthen democracy and extend participation in the electoral system through increased fairness and stability. 

Whereas:

• The first-past-the-post system often results in less than 50% of those voting electing a majority government; 
• Such an outcome causes many voters, especially younger voters, to feel like they are not properly being represented in the legislature; 
• Proportional representation is an electoral system that awards a proportion of seats in a representative (legislative) body that is proportional to the number of votes a party wins in an election; 
• A mixed member system can combine the major attributes of both the first-past-the-post and the proportional representation electoral systems; and 
• Changing the fundamental aspects of an electoral system is something best done in a careful and incremental manner; 

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Mixed member proportional representation as the method of achieving democratic representation, as follows:  
  • The existing 57 first-past-the-post seats in the Manitoba Legislature to be allocated 50 seats using the first-past-the-post system and 7 seats using the largest remainder method to create a more proportional legislature; 
  • The largest remainder seats will be filled by candidates who ran in the election for their respective parties who received the highest percentage of votes compared to other candidates in their party; and 
  • The minimum election threshold for gaining a seat to be 4%. 
• Consultation with the public and other political parties regarding implementing these changes; and 
• Implementing this policy without holding a referendum.