Voting Day!!!

Tomorrow is the day to vote! Are you voting? For which party?
I will be voting GREEN tomorrow. Big surprise, eh?
My husband (organic apple farmer) was wondering why I would choose them.
Here is one reason why (okay, more than one...):
(I copied this right from their website- Green party food and agriculture policy paper)

Canada needs a Forward-Thinking Food Policy

The Food Policy of the Green Party of Canada builds a strong agri-food sector by carefully balancing the social, environmental, and economic needs of our farmers, our citizens, and our country to produce high quality food and maintain the capacity and the right to grow food into the future. The Green Food Policy is a blueprint to build the energy efficient, democratic food economy Canadians want with commonsense policies that work.

The Green Vision -  think local, choose organic, know your food, support your farmer

The Green Party works to decentralize food production, bringing the processing jobs back to local communities and the profit back to the farm. We recognize the link between food quality and healthcare and we chose to pay the farmer, not the hospital. We work to end hunger by teaching people to grow food for their communities and helping them access foodland. In this time of global change, the Green Party builds diversity and resilience into our food system to limit the effects of crop failures and trade disruptions.

ü  Provide affordable and nutritious food, safe from disease and chemical contaminants

ü  Produce 85% of Canada’s food on Canadian farms

ü  Require that food imports meet Canada’s health, environmental and labour standards

ü  Invest in local food processing mills, bakeries, canners, abattoirs and creameries to cut food transportation and bring jobs back into rural communities.

ü  Design appropriate food safety regulations for small direct sales operations

ü  Expand the food supply by investing in research of innovative organic management techniques

ü  Wean food production off its oil dependence and contribute to solutions for climate change by removing the impediments to organic production

ü  Invest in on-farm energy generation

ü  Treat farm animals with respect

ü  Bring profit back to the farm by developing a Best Practices Handbook to reduce the need for expensive inputs

ü  Invest in Young farmers with an Interest Free Succession Plan program to facilitate intergenerational farm transfers without the burden of bank interest charges.

ü  Clamp down on absentee land speculation

ü  Shift taxpayer subsidies to reward the small, productive family farms and small local businesses Canadians want

ü  Protect Canada’s reputation for high quality exports by preventing the hormone, antibiotics and GMO contamination which our trading partners don’t want.

ü  Regulate the railways to provide efficient service at a fair cost

ü  Give farmers control of their Canadian Wheat Board and facilitate cooperative marketing.

ü  Renovate Supply management to promote new entrants and niche markets by removing the cost from the bottom tier of quota.

ü  Require Honest food labels which detail origin and processing of each major ingredient

ü  Require Honest labelling which identify genetically modified foods

ü  Restore and protect our precious soil, water and biodiversity so that all generations maintain the resources to feed their families

I think these are some good reasons to vote green. There are more, and I have to say that I haven't done a ton of homework on all of the parties this year, as I have done in the past. But I know enough to confidently cast my vote this way.

If you're undecided it would be great if you'd join me.  I would love to see more GREEN representation-even if we don't see Elizabeth May as our next prime minister, I'd like to at least hear them speak at the next debates.