The Green Party of Canada, buoyed by public opinion polls showing it could be competitive in some ridings on the June 28 election day, is proposing an agriculture policy that would penalize pesticide use and stop “the spread of genetically modified foods.”
Leader Jim Harris, contesting a Toronto riding, insisted in late May that the party is electorally competitive for the first time.
“Surveys have consistently put support for the party at five percent nationally,” Harris said as he released the Green election platform. “It’s expected that these numbers will translate into seats in the upcoming election.”
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On agriculture, Harris offered a farm plan that he said would reverse decades of drift.
“Over the last five decades, federal policies and subsidies have supported the production and export of cheap commodities, much at the expense of family farmers, the environment and the sustainability,” said the platform.
“In short, agriculture has become agribusiness.” To combat that, the party supports:
- Taxing the use of pesticides in agriculture.
- Creation of policies “that halt the spread of genetically modified foods and encourage a transition to organic agriculture.”
- Move government research funding from biotechnology projects to sustainable food production.
- Protection of farm product marketing boards “that provide stable markets, viable pricing and easier access for smaller family farms.”
- Working for market reform that returns more of the consumer food dollar to farmers.
The party said it supports balanced budgets and it would lower taxes on income, profit and investment, while increasing taxes on pollution, waste and inefficiency.
Harris said he is a former Progressive Conservative who became an “ecological conservative” in the 1980s.
