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Green Party of Nova Scotia

The Green Party of Nova Scotia recognizes the intricate connections of a healthy environment, conservative use of our natural resources, thriving communities, and a sustainable economy.

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Green Party Supports Friends of Northumberland Strait: #nopipe

April 16, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

Green Party Supports Friends of Northumberland Strait: #nopipe

Federal and provincial Green Party leaders joined the Friends of Northumberland Strait in Pictou on Saturday, April 14, at an event to show their support for the #nopipe movement.

“It’s obvious to any Nova Scotian who visits the site that Boat Harbour is an ecological disaster.  No pipe! It’s time to think about what can be, without the miasma of pollution hanging over Pictou,” said provincial party leader Thomas Trappenberg.  “How many businesses and industries have not succeeded or not been pursued because of the mill?”

“The risk to fisheries waters is unacceptable,” added Green Party of Canada deputy leader Jo-Ann Roberts, who has recently returned to live in Nova Scotia. “We’re talking about an impact that will extend to other provinces, as our PEI neighbors have pointed out.”  

Trappenberg and Roberts were joined by Green Party of Nova Scotia deputy leader Jessica Alexander, David Hachey, who ran in the Pictou riding for the Green Party of Canada, as well as Green Party of Nova Scotia executive members June Trenholm and Charlene Boyce.

The #nopipe event featured a reading from The Mill by author Joan Baxter, along with a chowder tasting and lobster crafts for the kids, to underline the importance to local fishers of protecting the strait.

At a post-rally gathering at the Stone Soup Cafe, the group was joined by local Green Party members, No Pipe activists and Pictou West MLA Karla MacFarlane, who is the interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. A cordial and lively conversation followed.

The Green Party of Nova Scotia aims to bring a similar event to Halifax in June, to keep extending the conversation on how to successfully transition from the kind of industry the mill currently represents to our greener future.

Filed Under: General, Media Releases

Where has the discussion about classroom conditions gone?

February 22, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

Green Party Condemns McNeil Government for Losing Perspective on Education Reform

(HALIFAX) – The Green Party of Nova Scotia has long held that an education strategy should be developed through broad and transparent consultation, not the opaque and top-down approach favoured by the current Nova Scotia government.

“The McNeil government is irresponsibly picking and choosing reforms from their own report,” says Green Party leader Thomas Trappenberg, “They claim this will put more money in the classroom, but they can’t tell us how much money, or even where it will go.”

The immediate proposed changes from the report – eliminating school boards, creating a College of Teachers and removing administrators from the union – are primarily aimed at the administration and governance side of public education. However, teachers and parents have been vocal that the issues they see are in the classroom. There is not a clear connection between the government’s actions and the desired outcome of better education.

“Where has the discussion about classroom conditions gone?” says Trappenberg.

“The government must address cross-departmental issues that affect children in classrooms, things teachers are doing now single-handedly. They must commit to looking at different models of classroom composition, cap individual program plans per class. They must increase student services staff. They already have all the evidence they need for this,” notes Trappenberg.

“Education is the key to a prosperous and sustainable future. It should not be used as a battleground for pushing a particular labour relations agenda,” adds the Green Party Leader.  “With Bill 75 still standing, the Liberals continue to treat education like the wild west.”

The Green Party of Nova Scotia supports the collective bargaining rights of all workers in the province, both private sector and public.

Filed Under: Media Releases Tagged With: education, labour

Glaze Report a step too far

February 19, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

Cape Breton teacher Adrianna MacKinnon, who ran for the Nova Scotia Green Party in May of 2017, recently made news across the province for her heart-breaking resignation video. The Liberal government’s approach to education saw the province’s first major job action by teachers last spring, and a strike vote tomorrow indicates that Stephen McNeil has not scored any points with teachers since then. The government has announced they will disband school boards and remove principals and administrators from the union.

Veteran teacher posts video, resigns from system ‘full of holes’

TheChronicleHerald.ca–Feb. 8, 2018
It’s like rowing desperately for shore in a dory riddled with holes. That’s the way veteran Cape Breton teacher Adrianna MacKinnon described classroom conditions under the Liberal government of Stephen McNeil before announcing in an online video that she is resigning from her elementary school job.

Cape Breton Teacher Resigns Publicly [VIDEO] | goCapeBreton.com

https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-teacher-resigns-publicly-video

Feb 8, 2018 – A veteran Cape Breton teacher of 27 years has publicly announced her intention to resign in a Facebook video. Adrianna MacKinnon is a teacher at the Coxheath Elementary School for grades primary and one. She says intolerable classroom conditions lead to her decision.

Filed Under: In the News

Cynical political manoeuvring? Frack that.

February 12, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

Cynical political manoeuvring? Frack that.
Frack Free Future
Western Australia’s protest campaign against fracking is called Frack Free Future.

Last week, Stephen McNeil told the Halifax Chamber of Commerce that he is willing to consider lifting the ban on hydraulic fracturing if a community builds local support for it. His comments are strategic political manoeuvring.

The Liberal party, which introduced the ban on fracking, now wants to make it clear to everyone that maintaining the public will to support the ban is everyone’s responsibility, except perhaps its own.

Justin Trudeau used this approach to justify abandoning electoral reform: blaming the population for not miraculously developing a unified voice. McNeil wants to weaken the ban without taking responsibility.

Let’s not dwell on how cynical it is to propose downloading the costs of a referendum or appropriate public consultation to municipalities, especially as McNeil’s own government has already paid for the Wheeler Report. Or, how fracking can release uranium and other radioactive minerals currently in our bedrock, Into our water supply,  possibly contributing to our province’s already high bladder and kidney cancer rates.

Let’s instead consider why anyone might want to frack.

Fracking can contaminate groundwater and deplete our freshwater supply.  Like coal mining, it is an industry that is dangerous, removes valuable resources from our province and can adversely affect the health of our population. Like coal mining (along with pulp and paper and cod fishing, and briefly, in Halifax, attracting Amazon), it is being positioned as our Last Chance to Get Rich!™

The number “60 billion dollars”, which has been proposed as a value on the natural gas that is embedded in our ground, may sound like a very juicy amount indeed, but that number is extrapolated, and is suggested to be a high estimate. Assume we start by finding a partner through our usual process of offering low to no taxes, payroll rebates, low- to no-interest, often forgivable loans, other subsidies, very favourable locations, plus an offer that we’ll take care of any ‘externalities’ like pollution. That partner will likely be some giant conglomerate with shareholders far afield. The timespan of the project will necessarily be short, as the price of alternative energies drops and the gas gets harder to extract. By the end, the amount generated in revenue to the province dwindles to a much smaller number, if any.  

Frick and Frack
Frick and Frack were funny, but fracking is no laughing matter.

In 2014, the Globe & Mail reported that the number of green energy jobs surpassed jobs in the oilsands. We need to invest our province’s resources into building jobs that are long term and forward facing, instead of propping up dying industries.

 

Nova Scotia has tremendous natural resources and as we cultivate diverse new industries (like biomedical devices, ocean technology, video game development and nutriceuticals), our rich resources really only help us by staying here.

There are many Nova Scotians looking for natural resources labour jobs like those that fracking might supply. People want to stay in rural Nova Scotia and earn a living. If we assign ap

propriate value to sustainable forestry, organic and sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry, those jobs will be there for more than just a few years. If we build the right infrastructure, more opportunities will open up in these areas. We will find ourselves much better off in the long run. Nova Scotians will be healthier, and the odds are, both our health system and tourism operators will benefit.

As voters, every time you go to the polls, you can choose a same-old cynical party, or a hopeful, healthier future. Expect better of your elected officials. Tell Premier McNeil, frack that.  

 

Filed Under: General, Leader's Blog Tagged With: Carbon Economy, fracking, Green Jobs

On the Promise of Wealth and Selling our Environmental Riches

February 5, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

By Thomas Trappenberg, PhD, Leader, Green Party of Nova Scotia

I listened to Premier Rachel Notley’s strong words yesterday on the radio, and I agree with her that we need a strong leadership. I also understand that the oil industry is currently a strong component of Alberta’s (and hence Canada’s) industry. Where I don’t agree is that this should be the status quo. I do believe it is now time to turn to our future industry in which our kids will thrive; I do believe we should stop making a quick buck on the future of our planet; I do believe that we should listen to the wisdom of our native elders; and I do believe that it is time to give our young entrepreneurs a chance instead of feeding the rich.

In Nova Scotia there is now a new campaign to imply the potential for carbon riches. The federal government approved new drilling off our coast, and we are told that there is lots of potential for fracking here. I do understand how people get excited by this dream of wealth; also, it is easy to be taken by the scare that losing this industry would kill our economy. It is difficult to argue against the powerful lobbies in our society. However, I believe that a government is there to watch out for all of us. I know know the other parties believe that they do their best by helping the big industry. However, and quite frankly, I question their abilities to see the bigger picture.

I believe we should not just think about the current jobs of a dying industry; instead, we need to think about the new jobs they prevent and the opportunities for people outside the lucky 1%. Other economies, specifically in the north of Europe which have climates and population densities similar to Canada, have been turning around their fortunes by moving away from the carbon economy and embracing a vision of a healthy society. Selling out our environmental riches for a bargain price to the pulp industry while poisoning our citizens is wrong. I came to Nova Scotia because I believe it is one of the best places to live, and I will not give up the fight for this to continue to be true for all.

Filed Under: General, Leader's Blog Tagged With: Carbon Economy, fracking, Green Jobs, vision

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