Same old parties, same old story. It’s time for sensible solutions.

Fall Session Ending Statement

NEWS

With the close of the fall legislative session today, Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner expressed disappointment with the lack of debate by the old parties at Queen’s Park on issues to strengthen our local economies and communities.

The Green Party Leader is particularly upset with the lack of attention to food and farming issues. With farmers facing an income crisis, food bank use on the rise and local processing facilities closing, Schreiner renewed his call for an Ontario Food Strategy. During the fall session, Schreiner travelled across the province to push for tax and regulatory reforms to support family farms and local processors. He also graciously encouraged all party leaders to support Ms. Horwath’s private members bill to require government facilities to purchase local food.

Issues facing our health care system remain unresolved. Schreiner is particularly concerned with the lack of urgency in fixing the home care and community care system, especially after the Auditor General’s damning report. The Green Party remains focused on ways to prevent illness, which is why he is concerned with the inadequacies around the reinstatement of the special diet allowance.

The Green Party shares the Environment Commissioner’s concerns about the lack of substance to the government’s conservation plans, especially the government’s lack of clarity on the Home Energy Savings Program. Schreiner continues to be the only political leader calling for a Green Building Program to create jobs and save money by retrofitting our buildings to make them more energy efficient. The most cost effective and sustainable way to lower electricity bills is to invest in conservation and efficiency.

Schreiner reserved his harshest criticism for the government’s lack of community engagement in implementing its energy plans. The lack of community consultation, for example, has resulted in ill-conceived locations for gas plants in King Township and the government’s expensive, albeit necessary, reversal of plans for a gas plant in Oakville. Schreiner reiterated the Green Party’s commitment to stand with citizens in King Township to push for the government to follow its own procurement rules and not circumvent legislation in imposing a gas plant on protected agriculture lands in the Holland Marsh.

The Green Party is calling for a community based energy plan to democratize energy production and create local jobs in communities across the province by shifting the priority to green energy projects that are locally owned, locally planned and with benefits flowing to the communities that host them.

QUOTES
“Ontarians are tired of the old partisan approach to politics. It’s time for new ideas and sensible solutions to build prosperous local economies that nourish our communities and promote health and well-being.”
– Mike Schreiner, Leader, GPO

“This session has continued to provide more of the same – lacklustre debate, sloganeering and a lack of pragmatic, sensible solutions to tackle the important issues of the 21st century. It’s time for fresh thinking – it’s time for Green MPPs.”
– Mike Schreiner, Leader, GPO

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For more information:
Jaymini Bhikha
416-275-8573