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The Green Party on Making Poverty History - Abolition de la Pauvreté

Being a supporter of the "Make Poverty History Campaign", I had sent out letters asking each of the parties to endorse the principles and objectives of this Campaign. Only two parties replied : The NDP and the Green Party.

The NDP endorsed it, and outlined their commitments in an earlier email.

The Green Party also endorsed this Campaign, adding the poignant questions, "what is real defence?" in today's reply email:

Green Party of Canada on Making Poverty History [Fran硩s ci-dessous]

Dear Make Poverty History Supporter:

Thank you for your email message about the Make Poverty History Campaign. On behalf of all Green Party of Canada candidates, I am writing to tell you that we endorse the principles and objectives of the Make Poverty History campaign, and to explain why.

Today, a staggering one billion people live on less than $US 1 a day and 40 per cent of the world's population - some 2.8 billion people - live on less than $US2 a day. Yet in 2005, for the first time in the history of the world, global military spending exceeded one trillion dollars (US) in 2005. The US alone spent $500 billion - half of the world's military spending in 2005. That is more than all the world's governments spent collectively on health care and education combined.

The Green Party asks different questions - we ask what is real defence?

Real defence is defence against the spread of AIDS - 40 million people worldwide are living with AIDS - over 25 million of them in Africa. Real defence would have been working to protect the citizens of New Orleans against the impact of Hurricane Katrina and real defence means working to reduce carbon emissions globally to prevent climate change.

Real defence is also providing meaningful support to Canadian families through Employment Insurance so that governments cannot hijack Canada's social safety net. During the 12 years of Liberal rule, a staggering $48 billion "surplus" from the Employment Insurance program has been taken from the working poor and used to balance budgets and pay down debt. One of the reasons child poverty persists in Canada is because when parents loose their jobs, they can't receive the Employment Insurance benefits that they paid with their hard earned money when they were working.

The Green Party is fully committed to eradicating the root-causes of poverty through approaches that go beyond one-off solutions, ensuring that Canadians and citizens around the world enjoy a better quality of life by building stronger and healthier communities. Clean drinking water, safe food, health services and educational opportunities are basic human rights that the Green Party holds as fundamental to living in balance with each other and the environment.

To this end, the Green Party unequivocally supports the goals of the Make Poverty History Campaign by working to cancel long-standing debts of poor countries and increase foreign aid spending to 0.5 per cent of GDP by 2010, meeting Canada's commitment to spend at least 0.7 per cent by 2015. This timetable would set the stage for greater cooperation on humanitarian goals. Alternative measurements of progress will also help create new networks of cooperation and support that go beyond financial transactions. The Green Party is at the forefront of policy options that will enable socially and environmentally responsible activity through fair trade and local measures to meet and satisfy well-being.

Specifically, Green Party MPs would pressure Parliament to:

- Propose a reform of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, placing these institutions under the authority of the UN General Assembly.
- Shift the direction of international trade away from "free trade" to "fair trade" focusing on the global protection of human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity, and ecosystems.
- Reform the regulatory environment of agriculture to challenge corporate concentration, eliminate international dumping and subsidies, and continue to allow seed saving by farmers.
- Increase foreign aid spending to 0.5 per cent of GDP by 2010, and meet Canada's commitment to spend at least 0.7 per cent by 2015.
- Erase debts with emerging countries that have been in default for over ten years to break the vicious cycle that has been hampering the allocation of resources to feed, nourish and sustain populations overseas.

Here in Canada, the Green Party would work to tackle poverty by:

- Creating a "Comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy for Canada" that would raise child benefit and employment insurance levels and expand eligibility, toughen regulations to ensure fair treatment and better wage standards for all working Canadians, and remove GST on education supplies and specific family products.
- Adopting and funding a strategy to promote sustainable and affordable housing construction and renovation so that housing is not only affordable to rent, but also to heat and operate, as well as healthy to live in.
- Supporting provinces that adopt a basic income strategy to ensure the benefits of a living wage are available to every citizen through existing federal programs.

I invite you to learn more about how Green Party MPs would work to ensure that Parliament better addresses these and other issues. Please have a look at our platform at www.greenparty.ca

Sincerely,

Jim Harris
Leader, Green Party of Canada

P.S. Please remember to vote on January 23!




Phone Toll-free: 1-866-868-3447
Information: info@greenparty.ca
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posted by Annamarie at 7:28 PM