Note From the New Brunswick Green Party
In his book “The Unsettling of America”, first published in 1977, Wendell Berry states:
“No rational person can see how using up the topsoil or the fossil fuels as quickly as possible can provide greater security for the future; but if enough wealth and power can conjure up the audacity to say that it can, then sheer fantasy is given the force of truth; the future becomes reckonable as even the past has never been. It is as if the future is a newly discovered continent which the corporations are colonizing. They have made “redskins” of our descendants, holding them subject to alien values, while their land is plundered of anything that can be shipped home and sold.”
It is obvious that the intervening 35 years have only accelerated the process.
The New Brunswick Green Party (NBGP) believes we should be building a culture of sustainability. We do this by living within the limits of the planet, providing for everyone’s needs while not threatening the existence of other species or the ability of our children to meet their own needs.
The electorate has allowed corporate greed and government corruption to bring us to the brink of destruction. Those who were born into a particular party and those who don’t exercise their right to vote are the one’s ultimately responsible for the plight we find ourselves in. It is up to the electorate in a democratic society to hold the government accountable for their actions. We do this by being informed and voting them out if they don’t adhere to the principles of the platform on which they were elected.
Our current government is trying to sell us on the utopia that will occur if shale gas and the west-east pipeline become a reality. One doesn’t have to listen to the rhetoric very long before one realizes that they are long on promises but short on details. The promise of many good paying jobs sounds good on the surface, but there is no mention of how many jobs there will be nor the duration of these jobs. There is also no mention of the long term destruction of our natural resources such as clean air and water that future generations will have to deal with in this utopia. If the government does not manage these proposed projects any better than they have and are managing the Crown Lands then these projects will not only destroy our environment, they will also become a financial liability to the tax payers.
We cannot change the Canadian or global economy, but we can put New Brunswick’s economy on a sustainable footing. We can restrict activities that degrade ecosystems and work to restore damage that has already been done.
A Green Government would: (A) In collaboration with ALL parties involved, establish a transition plan for all forestry operations on Crown and freehold land to adhere to eco-forestry practices as established by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
(B) Restrict the use of clear cutting as a harvesting method on Crown and industrial freehold land.
(C)Ban aerial spraying of chemical herbicides and insecticides in New Brunswick forests.
(D)Develop a plan for the restoration of the Acadian forest biodiversity.
(E)Ensure that biomass harvesting for energy is managed so that wildlife habitat is protected and biodiversity maintained.
(F) Establish a transition plan and timeline to move finfish aquaculture from open-net pens to on- land closed-container systems thus capturing and treating the waste and preventing parasite infestations.
(G) Provide technical support and financial incentives to commercial fisheries to achieve Marine Stewardship Council certification.
(H) Prohibit oil and gas exploration, quarrying and mining on submerged Crown land and other sensitive ecosystems.
(I) Require all sewage treatment systems that discharge into water bodies to be upgraded to acceptable levels using ecological engineering approaches.
(J) Require all industries that discharge effluent into water bodies to adopt closed loop waste water systems according to set timelines based on the availability of technology.
(K) Establish an Environmental Bill of Rights to: (1) guarantee citizens’ right to information about pollution threats and hazards, existing and potential, within their communities;(2) provide the right to petition for investigations and guarantee access to the justice system to prevent environmental harm; (3) appoint an Environmental Ombudsman as an officer of the legislature.
(L) Prohibit field-testing and adoption of genetically modified crops.
Wayne Sabine
NBGP Victoria/Tobique
Riding Association President
