NDP Launch the 2014 Platform

No more handouts. No more bail outs. No more tax cuts. That is, if you are wealthy, a corporation, or a friend of the government. The NDP start their platform with a promise to end corporate welfare and start generating a little revenue to battle the highest public debt in this province’s history.

Who will get a tax cut? Job creators. If you are able to create jobs for New Brunswickers, you get rewarded. The plan is based off a proven American model in which 6 of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment use a similair cut break. This specific maneuver alone is estimated by experts in the field to create between 15,000 and 20,000 new jobs in just the first four years.

The party also has a totally original plan to work closely with municipalities and non-governmental organizations to foster entrepreneurship while providing the tools, resources, and even the space to grow new locally-driven buisness. The program is called Community White Spaces Program and would work in conjunction with a Co-Operative Associations Act. It’s inventive, creative, and the first of it’s kind. Whether or not it can work is pure speculation.

If you have spent time in Saint John over the past few summers, you know tourism can be a major source of revenue for any community. This year, Saint John has failed to generate the same kind of revenue via cruiseships and tourism and the economy has been hit hard because of it. The NDP have a plan to use tourism as an economic driver for the entire province. They want to build a Tourism Marketing Fund- by taxing hotels (which see no profit from cuiselines, day travellers, or layover tourism) and give local stakeholders control over the program’s funds. Another aspect of their tourism campaign is allowing for more signage along the New Brunswick highways.

They promise to cut government waste, reduce cabinet from 17 to 10 members, scrap the vehicle allowance (which gives ministers money to purchase new cars), and get the books balanced by 2018 (an election year).

The New NDP will put proportional representation front and centre in demcratic reform. It can not be stressed enough why this is a great measure. It saves millions of dollars, gives us a government that is more reflective of the electorate, and produces better legislation.

They want to end the practice of corporate and union donations to political parties and drastically reduce the amount an individual may donate. And they want to reduce the voting age to 16 for provincial and municipal elections.

The platform is quite long and very detailed. Please read it here:

Click to access 2014-NDP-PLATFORM-EN.pdf

The Green Platform has Arrived

Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability! Sustainable energy, sustainable industry, and sustainable sources of food. If there is one thing to take away from this freshly released platform, it is that David Coon believes New Brunswick has been living and (barely) working fashion that just isn’t sustainable anymore. Everything from the way we clearcut forrests to how we produce energy and how we import food; it just isn’t a long term plan.

But that’s not all! Coon asserts that he would put in place certain failsafes to ensure transparency, honesty, and make for a better democracy. The Green Party under Coon would put a cap on the amount of media by corporations which have a vested interest in the province. Have you ever wondered why you never read about an Irving mishap in a New Brunswick newspaper? Coon would also prevent politicians from leaving public life and going directly into lobbying; a clear sign of a corrupt or “bought” politician. He also wants all government contracts to become public; this could possibly end patronage and give New Brunswickers assurance that they really got the best deal, everytime.

Coon and a Green government would pursue proportional representation. For those of you who don’t know what that is; it’s simple! The voting system we have now makes for 49 seperate sub-elections as part of the general election in which the party with the most votes could potentially win every seat in the house even though they have less than half the support of the province. Proportional representation makes it so that at the end of a single election, if the Greens have 10% of the popular vote they would be assigned 10% of the available seats in the legislature. This would save the government millions of dollars per election, decrease voter apathy, increase democracy, and force parties to work together rather than bicker, fight, and remain in “contant election mode”.

The Greens also propose taking money and power away from the Premier’s Office and dispersing it among the Legislative Assembly; a very Canadian idea. They would also give more protections to government whistle blowers who witness crime or corruption within government.

They would create thousands, possibly tens of thousands of jobs by updating New Brunswick’s dated energy infrastructure. It would be done over time, via co-operation between private and public industry, as the province could afford. It would lower the cost of electricity in all NB homes while giving us more energy to sell at profit to our neighbours South of the boarder.

Another major platform point is the focus on regrowing New Brunswick farms. Giving more tax protections to farmers, ensuring their product is sold first and foremost across New Brunswick, and finding new ways to produce crops not commonly grown in NB. This plan also includes using NB agriculture to provide more competitive prices for NB buisness (restaurants, grocery stores, etc) and providing better nutrition to all citizens.

In defiance of David Alward’s Say Yes campaign, Coon says No to Shale Gas. He would ban fracking (as Nova Scotia is trying to do, and as has Germany already done).

The costed platform is available on their party website and will be provided here.

Click to access PlatformGreenParty2014-E.pdf