Saskatchewan Needs A New Job Creation Strategy

What can we do to create good new jobs which pay a living wage? Jobs that offer a future for young people in Saskatchewan? Jobs that contribute to building a sustainable and just society?
The New Green Alliance would start with a new energy program. We are the only province in Canada without an energy conservation program. We need to retrofit older homes, revitalize our inner cities, and end Third World housing in our North. This would be a major job creation project!
We have a tremendous potential for wind power. Why not develop this industry by using our own local businesses and workers? Why import this technology from Alberta and Europe?
The energy for the 21st century will be solar. We have a great potential here. Why have we totally neglected this option? Why do the old parties only think of oil and coal which burden us with climate change, pollution and health problems?
There is a tremendous potential for biomass energy development in our province, using forest wastes and new tree crops and grasses. Yet virtually nothing is being done in Saskatchewan.
These are new high tech industries, and they create many more jobs than the old energy systems. New businesses would be locally owned and controlled. Our expertise and products would be exported. We desperately need new people in government.

What Happened to Democracy?

Why are people in Saskatchewan refusing to vote? Why do they have such a low opinion of politicians? Why do our Members of the Legislative Assembly behave like 10 year old school boys?
There are virtually no differences between the three major parties on the basic issues, like taxation and resource development. The NDP government’s policies have been little different from those of Grant Devine’s Tory government. The Liberals are the same. Thus, governments are elected with the support of only a minority of voters. Cynicism prevails.
How can we solve this problem? The New Green Alliance would bring in a system of proportional representation (PR) as exists in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, and Wales. This alternative is being pursued now in BC, Quebec, New Brunswick and P.E.I. It would allow new voices and policies to be heard.
The legislative process needs to be democratized. Our governments need to actively seek input from the general public. Confrontation must be replaced with co-operation.
We need to reduce the power of private interest groups by prohibiting campaign contributions by
corporations and trade unions. Manitoba and Quebec have done this.
The New Green Alliance is strongly committed to the right of all citizens to directly participate as equals in the environmental, economic and political decisions that affect our lives.
We also believe that we must return power and responsibility to our people, communities and regions. We need a more democratic, decentralized society where citizens know that their participation is respected and has influence.

PrescriptionDrug Costs Hit People Very Hard

The Prescription Drug Plan created by Allan Blakeney’s government has been gutted by funding cuts by the Devine and Romanow Governments. This has been a disaster for senior citizens and other people with low and moderate incomes.
A recent Ontario study revealed that low income seniors in Saskatchewan pay a higher percentage of drug costs than those in any other province. Seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) paid on average $460 per year for prescriptions, far higher than any other province. The second highest was Quebec $3 60. in Saskatchewan today, more than 70% of drug costs are born by the consumer.
The New Green Alliance will restore the funding of the Prescription Drug Plan to the level it was during the Blakeney Government. We will also remove the PST from non-prescription drugs.

Why Are Property Taxes So High?

Property taxes have risen steadily over the past 20 years as the Tory and NDP governments have cut the provincial grants to school boards and municipalities. The share of provincial funding has fallen from 60% to 40%.
The New Green Alliance is committed to restoring the provincial grants to the 60% level they were under the NDP government of Allan Blakeney. This can easily be done. It is who has political will.

Education Funding from Property Taxes

Saskatchewan 59%
Manitoba 46%
Ontario 41%
Aberta 36%
B.C. 29%
Quebec 22%

Conservation + Renewable Energy = Jobs

A New Policy on Food and Agriculture

There is a clear alternative to the present policy of promoting agribusiness and industrial agriculture. The New Green Alliance will transfer support to ecological and organic agriculture. We will actively promote the development of a food processing and distribution system that is owned and controlled within the province.
The industrial model of farming is destroying rural Saskatchewan. We will support family farms, co-op farms, community shared agriculture, producer co-operatives, and producer controlled marketing boards.
Farm incomes are low because farmers receive a declining share of the consumer’s dollar. Locally grown food is always better than imported food. We need a real change of direction in farm policy!

 

Saskatchewan Needs a New Tax Policy

The three major parties have all put a high priority on cutting corporate taxes and taxes on those in the highest income brackets. The New Green Alliance is primarily concerned with the 65% of tax payers who earn less than $25,000 per year.
The NGA is firmly committed to the good old policy of taxation according to ability to pay. We also believe that all corporations should pay their fair share of taxes. The policies of the three major parties primarily benefits those large corporations who shift their profits out of the province and the country.
In Saskatchewan we cannot have the social programs we want unless we get a fair return for the extraction and export of our natural resources. If we were to restore the taxes and resource royalties to the levels that they were during the MW government of Allan Blakeney (1971-82), we would have at least another $1 billion in provincial government revenues. We can do that.
We have endorsed the Saskatchewan Alternative Budget of Choice. It would increase revenues and services. The details can be found at their website: www.policyalternatives.ca/sk

Defend Our Crown Corporations

The New Green Alliance strongly supports the role of Crown corporations. They provide good paying jobs, contribute to economic growth, are leaders in technological development, and have provided good services to rural areas, subsidized in many cases. They are owned by all of us, and they are controlled by our democratic governments. The profits they make go to support other services for all of us in Saskatchewan.
The Tory and NDP governments privatized the Potash Corporation. What was the result? Jobs were cut. Profits now go to U.S. investors instead of the provincial treasury. PCS now pays lower taxes and royalties. Who benefits from privatization?
The New Green Alliance opposes the present slow piecemeal privatization of Sask Power, Sask Tel and Sask Energy. But we also believe that there is a need to make these Crown utilities more democratic and open in the way they operate. Reform should be on the agenda..