Voting Green: GPO means jobs

The Green Party has the most forward thinking and creative job creation strategy of all the parties that balances the budget by 2015. The plan boils down to a very simple philosophy: If we reduce personal and business taxes, than individuals and businesses will have more incentive to save. As they save, they will be able to put more money into innovation, research and ultimately invest money in job creation.

This requires an incremental process that does two things:

1)      Reduce personal income tax and business tax. This will result in more money in the pockets of people who currently make an income or own a small business.

2)      Increase tax on pollution (carbon).

a.       This process would happen gradually, with relief for people with low income, seniors and rural areas.

b.      Every penny charged in a carbon tax will be offset by income and business tax cuts and WILL NOT go to increase government spending

This will allow each individually to have more control over how much money they give to the government. If you want to drive a car that has a lower mile per gallon rating or you want to buy and old house and not take advantage of the Green proposed tax incentives to renovate it for energy efficiency: You can. If you want to drive a smarter car, take transit, live in an energy efficient home then you get to save more of your money.

The best thing about this process is we won’t even be pioneers, we know it works because we’ve seen it start to work in Nordic countries and even in BC. It’s only the stubbornness and paralysis of our current political leadership that prevents us from getting there.

To read more details about the GPO job creation strategy, check out: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_econ.pdf

What does this mean for Guelph?

More jobs. More job security. More money in our pockets.

Voting Green: Energy Generation

It's likely that this will be the biggest issue of the upcoming Provincial election. Skyrocketing hydro bills, unemployment and the security of Ontario can all trace their roots to energy. The Green Party of Ontario supports the following:
-Residents, communities and businesses can and should be able to generate their own power and feed it into the power grid.
-Power generartion decisions need to be community based with excellent two-way communication. This will reduce the 'not in my backyard' syndrome as well as prevent big projects that circumvent government rules (like the Holland Marsh Peaker Plant)
-A loan guarantee program will be established to ensure that power projects are locally owned and controlled, to enhance community sustainability and to prevent massive hydro/wind/solar projects being developed against community's will

What does this mean for Guelph?
Over a longer period of time we'll have lower and more predictable energy prices. We will get to control where solar panels, wind turbines and hydro projects go.
The biggest loss of electricity is in power lines travelling long distances (it converts to heat in the power lines). Locally owned and controlled projects create nearby power sources that are far more efficient and lose less electricity.
We will generate local jobs in the development of new energy sources.

Voting Green: Long Term Energy Plan (*updated)

Hydro prices are blowing through the roof, largely as a result of Ontarions not have had to pay the actual cost of electricity due to extreme mismanagement from both the Liberal and Conservative parties.

We use 50% more energy per person in Ontario than they do in New York State. That's ridiculous, so the first part of our platform will be to invest in energy efficiency through a smarter power grid and reinstating/expanding the home energy saving program.

Here are some of the specifics:
-$600 Million in tax credits for home and business retrofits
-Revise the building code to require new buildings to be more energy efficient
-Work with Banks to create energy save mortgages to assist homeowners who want to retrofit
-Negotiate agreements to purchase inexpensive hydroelectricity from neighboring provinces and increase hydro generation in Ontario (the most a homeowner pays for electricity in Quebec is 7.5c/kwh!)

To learn more about what the Green Party of Ontario has to say about Energy, click here: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_energy.pdf

Look for a post on the micro-FIT, FIT programs from me soon!

*Update from original post: 4:45pm
What does this mean for Guelph?
-It means that homeowners and business owners who may not currently have the money to retrofit can retrofit their buildings, saving them money in the near term in energy costs and reducing environment impact.
-It means that local contractors will have increased demand for business, in turn creating more local jobs so that people can live, work and play here (as opposed to being swallowed as a bedroom community)
-It means that suppliers will have increased demand for their products to contractors, creating more jobs.
-It means that suppliers of energy efficient materials will be looking for competitive edge, likely increasing money in Research and Development. Don't forget that the technology to develop the oil sands was created as a result of the industry funding University's to do research (partially with government subsidies!. The same thing can happen with energy efficiency and generation.
What about Leadership?
These are good ideas that have clearly laid out paths to success. Voting Green is a vote for a representative who can have transparent, honest and straightforward conversations with representatives from all parties and is a move away from electing representatives who can only tow a party line.

Voting Green: It's Time

I've decided to write a series of short blog posts giving some reasons to vote Green. I believe there's a long running problem that the Green Party has not been able to define who they are or what they want to do besides the generally perceived idea of 'be good for the environment'. I'm going to cherry pick some ideas out of the Green Party platform and share them here! Every blog post dedicated to this idea will start with "Voting Green:..."
It's time we elected a Green Party representative in Guelph.