Canadians have a deep and abiding love for their natural spaces, the animals that populate them and (apparently) elections. As campaign boards blossom along with spring flowers, we prepare once more to sally forth into the realms of campaign rhetoric. Each party has a strong green platform, aware of the support that this engenders from environmentally conscious Canadians. We have set out to explore the platforms of the four biggest parties here. Statements to support initiatives, encourage development or create incentives without definitive plans on how this will be accomplished have been omitted. This outline is the nuts and bolts, rather than an exhaustive expose, of the policies proposed.
Liberals will:
- Provide a $400 million Green Renovation Tax to retrofit over 1 million homes by 2017. Canadians who make energy saving renovations to their homes will be eligible for tax cuts up to $13, 500.
- Refund 50% of an energy audit that precedes renovations to homes and businesses.
- Reinstate the Renewable Power Production Inventive (RPPI) which will provide $1 billion in incentives for the development of renewable energy technologies to increase Canada’s renewable energy production to 10% of the total output by 2017.
- End the tax break to the oil sands development and use the $500 million created by tax revenue to fund development of technology to reduce green house gas emissions and other negative impacts of oil sand development. Research and monitoring of oil sand development will also benefit from the fund.
- Implement a cap and trade system for industry with an aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Pollution will be taxed at $10 per tonne, rising to $40 per ton after four years.
- Provide $100 million to restore the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Waterway, clean up Lake Winnipeg and reduce invasive species such as zebra mussels.
- Expand marine protected areas and rationalize fishing fleets to save fisheries in crisis.
The NDP will:
- Reduce air pollution to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
- Implement a cap and trade policy to tax industrial pollution.
- Use income from cap and trade (an estimated $1.2 billion) to develop green technologies, promote energy conservation, develop public transport and train workers for the green industry.
- Cut subsidies for non-renewable energy and use these funds to reinstate federal incentives for renewable energy including the development of new technology.
- Provide funds for retrofitting homes to reduce energy consumption.
- Increase assessment and regulation of fisheries and oil sand sector.
- Create the ‘Green Bonds’ fund for research and development of renewable energy technologies.
- Encourage transit use by providing tax cuts for people who use public transport to get to their workplaces.
The Conservatives will:
- Create new protected areas, marine conservation areas and national parks including the Mealy Mountains National Park and the Rouge Valley in Toronto.
- Extend the ecoENERGY retrofit program to improve the energy consumption of homes.
- Invest $113 million in to the Environmental Enforcement Action Plan with a further $25 million which will help to police industries and individuals who commit environmental crimes. This will include the creation of a team of environmental prosecutors, a public database of environmental offenders and new fines for transgressors.
- Provide investments to reduce green house gases and provide support for the development and research of clean energy and energy efficient technologies.
The Green Party will:
- Provide tax cuts for companies and individuals who live green.
- Effect tax reforms and investments to create green jobs.
- Initiate the ‘Green Jobs’ program which will help Canadian manufacturers who invest in green technologies.
- Create a green building program to provide funds to retrofit homes and make them more energy efficient.
- The green energy sector will support community power projects which allow Ontarians to contribute power to the grid by providing $540 million for solar roof programs over three years.
- Introduce a carbon tax.
