Life, Family, Dignity & Culture | Catholic Conscience †

The role of families

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

(The 4^th Commandment)

The Church’s view:

The importance and centrality of the family… is repeatedly underlined by Sacred Scripture. The family is presented… as “the primary place of ‘humanization' for the person and society” and the “cradle of life and love.”

It is in the family that one learns the love and faithfulness of the Lord… It is in the family that children learn their first and most important lessons of practical wisdom, to which the virtues are connected.

A society built on a family scale is the best guarantee against drifting off course into individualism or collectivism.

The priority of the family over society and over the State must be affirmed.

(Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, § 209 – 214)

2019 Policy Declaration:

The family unit is essential to the well-being of individuals and society, because that is where children learn values and develop a sense of responsibility. Government legislation and programs should support and respect the role of the Canadian family.

We believe it is the right and duty of parents to raise their own children responsibly according to their own conscience and beliefs.

Barriers to those wishing to start or grow their families should be reduced by eliminating inequities between single and dual-income families and introducing deductions for dependent children, recognizing the economic value of parents staying at home or providing home care to family members, and by allowing splitting of income for couples with children.

No known published position.

Enacted Socially-Assisted Suicide (SAD). On May 18, 2016, in order to rush a vote implementing SAD, PM Trudeau manhandled two opposition members on the floor of Parliament.

On May 16, 2019, PM Trudeau told CBC that ‘Canadians can feel reassured that the federal government will continue to stand unequivocally for women’s rights and the right to choose.’ PM Trudeau is ‘deeply disappointed’ by ‘backsliding’ on abortion rights in some places around the world, including some US states.

As part of G20 efforts on global health, the Prime Minister announced $150 million in funding for the Global Financing Facility in support of Every Woman Every Child, to advance the health and nutrition of women, children, and adolescents in developing countries. The decision follows Canada’s recent historic investment in women and girls’ health and sexual and reproductive health rights, announced at the Women Deliver conference earlier this month.

PM Trudeau used his party’s vetting process to bar pro-life Liberal party members from standing for Parliament (National Post, 7 May 2014)

Has taken action to require health professionals to make referrals for SAD and abortion, without regard to conscientious objection.
Has opened debate to consider extending socially-assisted suicide rights to ‘mature minors.’

2019 Platform:

‘New Democrats believe in respecting peoples’ rights to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives.’

‘Only one hospital in six offers abortion, and some provinces refuse to cover the cost of surgical abortion outside hospitals… We will act immediately… to make sure that people can access abortion in all regions of the country.’

‘It’s not enough for elected officials to say they won’t reopen the abortion debate – we need leaders to take action to improve access to services.’

‘We will also ensure that full range of prescription contraceptive and reproductive health care options are easily available at no cost through Medicare and our national pharmacare program'

2018 Policy Declaration:

Will not support legislation for regulation of abortion.

Will not support legislation to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide (SAD).

The party opposes extension of euthanasia and SAD to minors, incompetent individuals, or those with developmental disabilities.

Supports legislation to ensure that all children born alive receive full benefits of life-saving care, and neo-natal intensive care to provide opportunities for viable birth.

Supports conscience rights for doctors, nurses, and other to refuse to participate in or make referrals for abortion, assisted suicide, or euthanasia

Gov’t should work with provinces, territories, medical professionals to develop a National Palliative Care Strategy as viable alternative which affirms life, regards dying as a normal process, and excludes euthanasia and Socially-Assisted Death (SAD)

We condemn discrimination through gender selection abortions.

Vision Green, 2019

‘The most important resource of a country is its people. To reach their full potential, citizens need an environment where they can grow as young people and mature within a safe, healthy, and secure environment and then be encouraged to participate fully in society.’

‘It has been said that the greatness of the country is best expressed in how it takes care of its most vulnerable citizens.’

Oppose any possible government move to diminish the right of a woman to a safe, legal abortion. We will also expand programs in reproductive rights and education to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and expand supports for low-income mothers

We believe that the government must take the lead in educating the public about end of life issues, including the limits to artificial life support systems, surgical operations, and chemical therapies to extend life and postpone the inevitable transition from life.

Supports establishment of a special program fund to provide grants to non-profit societies setting up palliative care hospices;

In view of the unanimous decision of February 6, 2015 by the Supreme Court of Canada, Green Party MPs will support changes to the Criminal Code to allow for physicians to assist death in limited cases and circumstances involving adults with full mental capacity to consent, who find their situation unbearable.

Human engineering: stem cell and embryo research

An issue of particular social and cultural significance today, because of its many and serious moral implications, is human cloning… The term can be used to refer to the simple laboratory replication of cells or of a portion of DNA… This type of cloning can have a reproductive purpose, that of producing human embryos, or a so-called therapeutic purpose, tending to use such embryos for scientific research or more specifically for the production of stem cells.

From an ethical point of view, the simple replication of normal cells or of a portion of DNA presents no particular ethical problem.

Very different, however, is the Magisterium's judgment on cloning understood in the proper sense. Such cloning is contrary to the dignity of human procreation because it takes place in total absence of an act of personal love between spouses, being agamic and asexual reproduction. In the second place, this type of reproduction represents a form of total domination over the reproduced individual on the part of the one reproducing it…

The fact that cloning is used to create embryos from which cells can be removed for therapeutic use does not attenuate its moral gravity, because in order that such cells may be removed the embryo must first be created and then destroyed.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, § 236

Education

The Church’s view:

Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person. It requires that the necessary conditions be present for the advancement both of the individual through education and formation in true ideals, and of the ‘subjectivity' of society through the creation of structures of participation and shared responsibility.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church § 406, 376)

2019 Platform:

The New Democratic Party seeks accessible, publicly-funded education for everyone, in order to ‘transform lives, open new horizons, and new opportunities for people from every background’ by:

Working with provinces & territories to cap and reduce post-secondary tuition fees and making post-secondary education part of the public education system ‘so kids can go from kindergarten to a career without the barrier of cost.’
Eliminating interest on student loans
Increasing access to student grants

2018 Policy Declaration:

The Conservative Party:

Supports elimination of as many barriers to post-secondary education as possible.
Support removal of post-secondary education funding from Canada Social Transfer and creation of independent Canada Education Transfer, with provisions for inflation and demographic changes.
Call for end to taxation of scholarships and bursaries.
Supports accessible loans for post-secondary students those in need.
Supports simplification of loan process, removal of impediments based on parental income, greater flexibility in repayment terms, use of preferred interest rates, and tax deductions for interest paid.
Proposes additional 8-months of interest relief on federal student loans
Supports better secondary, post-secondary, and job-related education to improve Canada’s human capital
Supports copyright exemptions for students and teachers, for educational purposes

Vision Green, 2019

While education is a provincial matter, the federal government can increase funding for number of spaces at post-secondary institutions and can offer needs-based scholarships and bursaries to reduce financial barriers, through earmarked transfer payments.

We believe that universal access for every qualified individual to affordable post-secondary education and training is a basic right.

We will work to ensure that post-secondary education is based on realistic and effective policies that promote quality, merit-based access, and green innovation.

Green Party MPs will also:

Work toward abolishing tuition;
Increase federal student grants by 25% (at a cost of $173 million); ●
Eliminate the Canada Student Loans Program In-Study Income Assessment;
Extend grant availability to Graduate and Doctoral Students at a cost of $31 million;
Work with the provinces to support lifelong learning programs aimed at enabling older Canadians to pursue post-secondary education to gain new knowledge and skills;
Increase funding for Canadian National Student Loan and Bursary and allow all students eligibility for loans up to their rate of tuition regardless of parental income;
Decrease the loan rate to the prime rate and extend the time for repayment; extend intrest-free grace period to two years after graduation;
Exempt academic materials from the GST and/or any future federal sales taxes;
restore and expand the federal student summer job program;
Invest in undergraduate research fellowships through the federal research council;
Ensure that a portion of earmarked provincial transfers is long-term and predictable, provided that provinces remain accountable to quality metrics including increasing tenure track professors, as well as a higher ratio of professors to students;
Ensure that copyright policy allows students to properly conduct and create research in a manner that is consistent with a thriving information commons, fair dealing principles, and moral rights
Emphasize funding to the federal research councils for environmental innovation and design; and
Expand industry-based job training and apprenticeship programs to address shortages of trained workers in specific industries and workers in need of retraining.

Support for families; Housing

The Church’s view:

Human rights recognized by the Church include “the right to life,… the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child's personality; the right to develop one's intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth; the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth's material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one's dependents; and the right freely to establish a family.

The demands of the common good concern the provision of essential services to all… food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom.

The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to certain forms of centralization, bureaucratization, and welfare assistance and to the unjustified and excessive presence of the State in public mechanisms. “By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending”

An absent or insufficient recognition of private initiative — in economic matters also — and the failure to recognize its public function, contribute to the undermining of the principle of subsidiarity, as monopolies do as well.

Solidarity without subsidiarity, in fact, can easily degenerate into a “Welfare State”, while subsidiarity without solidarity runs the risk of encouraging forms of self-centred localism.

In order to respect both of these fundamental principles, the State's intervention in the economic environment must be neither invasive nor absent, but commensurate with society's real needs.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §§ 155, 166, 351

2018 Policy Resolutions

Resolve to institute a funding program to modify existing non-market housing complexes to meet current health, safety, and accessibility codes; and ‘support the principle that the total cost of public non-market housing for lower income residents of Canada should not exceed 30% of their gross annual income’

2015 Platform

A strong economy starts with a strong middle class. Our plan offers real help to Canada’s middle class and all those working hard to join it. When our middle class has more money in their pockets to save, invest, and grow the economy, we all benefit.

Increase taxes for top 1%, to fund Canada Child Benefit (up to $553/month).
Implement middle class tax cuts
Provide $20 billion over 10 years for ‘social infrastructure’ – including affordable housing, child care, etc.
Prioritize investment in early learning and childcare.
Provide parental benefits for up to 18 months
Enable up to 18 months leave
Build more housing and renew existing housing
Provide tax breaks for construction of new rental housing

2019 Platform

Develop national, public, universal child care program
Create 500,000 quality affordable housing units over 10 years, by partnering with provinces & municipalities, to ‘build capacity for social, community, and affordable housing providers and co-ops’. Federal gov’t to invest $5 billion CAD in first 18 months
Create ‘fast-start’ funds to help communities get expertise & assistance to launch projects
Spur construction of affordable homes by waiving federal portion o GST/HST on construction
Re-introduce 30-year terms to CMHC insured mortgages for 1^st-time buyers.
To counter speculation, add Foreign Buyer’s Tax to sales of homes to non-Canadian citizens or residents

2018 Policy Declaration

Housing & income

Seek to eliminate inequities between single and dual-income families
Support tax deductions for dependent children
Support recognizing the economic value of parents staying at home or providing home care to family members
Support splitting of income for couples with children.
Support use of tax benefits to encourage home ownership
Support tax incentives for private-sector builders of affordable housing

Homelessness

All governments should assist in provisions of shelters for homeless and understanding of causes and solutions to homelessness

Childcare & support for children

Parents are in the best position to determine child care needs for their children; as many options as possible should be available, including option to raise children in family, with social, linguistic, and religious environment the parents judge best.
All families should be eligible for support, especially middle- and lower-income families. Strongly support Universal Child Care Benefit which provides equal assistance regardless of residence, work schedule, or choice of care format.
Supports maternal and child health care initiatives for improvement of women’s and children’s health and reduce risks to mothers, including provision of necessities of life: clean water, good nutrition, inoculations, basic medical care.

Divorce

In the event of marital breakdown, law should grant joint custody and/or shared parenting, absent clear demonstration that it is not in the best interests of the child.

Vision Green, 2019

Housing & Income

The Green Party believes it is the right of every Canadian to have affordable, safe, and secure housing.

Seek appointment of a Minister for Housing to oversee development and implementation of a National Affordable Housing Plan;
Under the National Affordable Housing Plan, set an annual rate of building affordable housing so that lack of access to affordable housing is no longer a factor in homelessness by 2019;
Supports social housing payments to provincial, territorial, and municipal governments through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Funding for social housing should be dramatically increased.
Re-establish funding for housing co-operatives through new mandate for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Homelessness

CMHC programs must be directed to the communities most in need, and fast-tracked to provide homes for people at risk.
Universal housing will alleviate poverty. Universal housing provides a basis for employment, schooling, community services, and contacts. The development and delivery of adequate universal housing and emergency accommodation must be a high priority.

Green Party MPs will:

Advocate the inclusion of a clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that specifically states that everyone living in Canada is entitled to safe shelter or affordable housing

Child Care

Canadian families need access to affordable, high-quality child care as an aspect of early childhood education.

The Greens are committed to a high-quality federally-funded child care program in Canada, accessible to any family that wants to place children into early childhood education.

Workplace child care has been shown to improve productivity, decrease employee absenteeism, ensure quality care for children.

Green Party MPs will:

Restore and revamp the 2005 agreement reached between the federal government, provinces, and territories to achieve a universal access child care program in Canada;
Create a national Children’s Commissioner, as recommended by UNICEF, to ensure children’s best interests are considered in policy development and that services across the country are better coordinated;
Accelerate the creation of workplace child care spaces through a direct tax credit to employers (or groups of employers in small businesses) of $1500 tax credit/child per year

Marital Breakdown

The Green Party envisions a society where family breakdowns avoid the suffering of children, grandparents, and former spouses and which does not clog the courts. We will work to rebalance the current family law system, making it less adversarial, and place the on-going maintenance of healthy relationships, wherever possible, at the heart of the system.

The Green Party affirms the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The regrettable dissolution of family units should be handled in an economic and expeditious manner with maximum responsibility placed on separating parties with minimum reliance on adversarial legal processes. The role of the state is to facilitate the process. Greens believe that two principles can operate together. The paramount principle is ‘the best interests of the child.’
Under no circumstances should parental interests trump the best interests of the child. The best interests of the child are served through maximal ongoing parental involvement with the child, and that the presumption of equal parenting via joint responsibility and decision making is the starting point for judicial deliberations.

Aside from joint responsibility and ongoing obligations to the child, separating partners should be free to arrange their own relationships under private law and, following dissolution, should be unencumbered in pursuing their own paths unless otherwise agreed beforehand.

Child & Youth development; young workers

The Church’s view:

The planning capacity of a society oriented towards the common good and looking to the future is measured… above all on the basis of the employment prospects that it is able to offer. The high level of unemployment, the presence of obsolete educational systems and of persistent difficulties in gaining access to professional formation and the job market represent, especially for many young people, a huge obstacle on the road to human and professional fulfilment. In fact, those who are unemployed or underemployed suffer the profound negative consequences that such a situation creates in a personality and they run the risk of being marginalized within society, of becoming victims of social exclusion…

Maintaining employment depends more and more on one's professional capabilities. Instructional and educational systems must not neglect human or technological formation, which are necessary for gainfully fulfilling one's responsibilities.

Young people should be taught to act upon their own initiative, to accept the responsibility of facing with adequate competencies the risks connected with a fluid economic context that is often unpredictable in the way it evolves.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §§ 289,290

2015 Platform

Appoint Advisory Council of youths 16-24, to provide non-partisan advice to PM
Restrict marketing of unhealthy food & beverages to children, as in Quebec
Eliminate trans fats and reduce salt
Improve food labels, especially respecting sugars & dyes

We will invest to create more jobs and better opportunities for young Canadians. Good-quality job opportunities for young Canadians are tougher and tougher to find. Faced with high unemployment and underemployment, many young people have stopped looking for work altogether.

Create 40,000 ‘good youth jobs, including 5000 youth green jobs’ for each of 3 years, by investing $300 million in a renewed Youth Employment Strategy
Invest $40 million each year to help employers create more co-op placements
Waive Employment Insurance premiums for workers between 18 and 24 years old
Work with provinces to develop pre-apprenticeship programs
Invest $25 million each year in restored Youth Service Program for community projects
Increase funding for the Young Canada Works program to help prepare the next generation of Canadians working in the heritage sector.

Vision Green, 2019

Youth Development

The long-term economic and social implications of a growing group of economically disconnected and socially alienated youth is very serious and very costly

Green Party MPs will:

Invest $15 million to establish a new set of Labour Market Information (LMI) measurements, as recommended by the LMI Advisory Panel
Ban unpaid internships;
Boost access to apprentice programs in key trades, supporting those with skills to train youth through financial support to tradesmen in electricity, plumbing, carpentry, pipefitting, welding, etc;
Develop a Youth Community and Environment Service Corps that will provide federal minimum wage employment for 40 000 youth aged 18-25 every year for four years for a total of 160 000 youth positions, with a $4,000 tuition credit awarded to each participant that can be applied to further education and training. Projects will be developed in partnership with municipalities and based on local priorities.

Gender equality; women’s rights

The Church’s view:

The Church sees in men and women, in every person, the living image of God himself. Only the recognition of human dignity can make possible the common and personal growth of everyone.

The feminine genius is needed in all expressions in the life of society, therefore the presence of women in the workplace must also be guaranteed. The first indispensable step in this direction is the concrete possibility of access to professional formation…

The persistence of many forms of discrimination offensive to the dignity and vocation of women in the area of work is due to a long series of conditioning that penalizes women, who have seen their prerogatives misrepresented and themselves relegated to the margins of society and even reduced to servitude.

An urgent need to recognize effectively the rights of women in the workplace is seen especially under the aspects of pay, insurance and social security.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §§ 105, 295

June 29, 2019: News Release, Prime Minister’s Office
(https://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2019/06/29/prime-minister-concludes-productive-g20-leaders-summit)

As part of G20 efforts on global health, the Prime Minister announced $150 million in funding for the Global Financing Facility in support of Every Woman Every Child, to advance the health and nutrition of women, children, and adolescents in developing countries. The decision follows Canada’s recent historic investment in women and girls’ health and sexual and reproductive health rights, announced at the Women Deliver conference earlier this month.

2018 Policy Resolutions

Resolved to remove tariff code taxes from essential menstrual products

2015 Party platform

Will appoint equal number of male & female cabinet members
Will require compliance with existing requirement for assessment of impact of gov’t projects on both genders
With experts and advocates, we will develop and implement a comprehensive federal gender violence strategy and action plan, to include refuges for those fleeing domestic violence, stricter punishments for repeat offenders, and increased public awareness

Vision Green, 2019

Women earn, on average, only 87 cents for every dollar earned by a man (2015 stat); women within visual minorities and Aboriginal women earn even less. Lack of access to affordable housing, affordable post-secondary education, and affordable child care make the lives of women, who head the majority of single-parent households, much more difficult.

Women under 30 earn less, when adjusted for inflation …than they did twenty years ago.

There are now more women than ever in our history in Parliament, but, by December 2017, it is still only 27.2%.

The Greens will vigorously defend every hard-won victory for women’s rights and for women to advance forward towards full equality in Canada. Women’s equality is fundamental to a just society.

Among the best ways to break down barriers and advance women are poverty eradication, national affordable child care, programs to eliminate the financial barriers to post-secondary education, programs for affordable housing, and the adoption of a Genuine Progress Indicator that includes measures of unpaid and voluntary work by women

Green Party MPs will:

Oppose any possible government move to diminish the right of a woman to a safe, legal abortion. We fully support a woman’s right to choose. We will also expand programs in reproductive rights and education to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and expand supports for low-income mothers;
Pass pay equity legislation, and immediately implement full pay equity for women employed in the federal sector, and develop tax incentives for companies to meet the highest standards of gender and pay equity;
Oppose the use of religious justice systems, such as Sharia Law, in Canada that run contrary to our existing rule of law and that specifically subjugate women and diminish the rights of women;
Establish specific job re-entry programs for women with children who want to restart their working lives either part-time or full-time;
Ensure that the criteria for new appointments to public boards and agencies include equal opportunity for women;
Support greater engagement of women in the political life of Canada by advocating that all political parties nominate, train, and support more women candidates;
Create better policies and programs to end violence against women.

Diversity; racism

The Church’s view:

The centrality of the human person and the natural inclination of persons and peoples to establish relationships among themselves are the fundamental elements for building a true international community, the ordering of which must aim at guaranteeing the effective universal common good.

The unity of the human family is not yet becoming a reality. This is due to obstacles originating in materialistic and nationalistic ideologies… In particular, any theory or form whatsoever of racism and racial discrimination is morally unacceptable.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, § 433

Vision Green, 2019

Canada has been built on a diversity of cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. Our success as a country is based on our ability to not just tolerate, but to accept and celebrate our differences. This framework is best expressed in the set of values as stated in the Global Green Charter, the essence of which is respect.
Respect for one another is detailed in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the subsequent specific Agreements and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These Agreements recognize the equality and importance of all individuals and the right of free speech, assembly, and the provision of basic needs.

Nutrition and Food safety

The Church’s view:

Among the causes that greatly contribute to underdevelopment and poverty,… mention must be made of illiteracy, lack of food security.

Scientists and technicians involved in the field of biotechnology are called to work intelligently and with perseverance in seeking the best solutions to the serious and urgent problems of food supply and health care

Entrepreneurs and directors of public agencies involved in the research, production and selling of products derived from new biotechnologies must take into account not only legitimate profit but also the common good. This principle…becomes particularly important for activities that deal with the food supply, medicine, health care and the environment

The situation of a vast number of the world's children is far from being satisfactory, due to the lack of favourable conditions for their integral development… connected with the lack of health care, or adequate food supply…

The Magisterium's considerations regarding science and technology in general can also be applied to the environment and agriculture. The Church appreciates “the advantages that result… from the study and applications of molecular biology, supplemented by other disciplines such as genetics and its technological application in agriculture and industry…” however, to repeat the concept of “proper application”, for we know that this potential is not neutral: it can be used either for man's progress or for his degradation.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §§ 447, 477, 478, 245, 458

2015 Platform

Canada’s farmers and ranchers are the foundation of our food sector. The work that they do to feed Canada and the world is vital, but government support is needed to help them with challenges ranging from transportation to water management to research and food safety.
To attract investment and create good jobs in food processing, we will invest $160 million, over four years, in an Agri-Food Value Added Investment Fund. This will provide technical and marketing assistance to help food processors develop new value-added products that reflect changing tastes and market opportunities.
To support innovation in the agricultural sector, we will invest an additional $100 million, over four years, in agricultural research. To better allocate research funding, we will establish a transparent process that involves food producers.
We will invest an additional $80 million, over four years, in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for more food safety inspections of domestic and imported foods.
Restrict marketing of unhealthy food & beverages to children, as in Quebec
Eliminate trans fats and reduce salt
Improve food labels, especially respecting sugars & dyes

Vision Green 2019

Develop a National Agricultural & Food Policy to improve food safety and boost nutritional health by:

Ending the obligation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to promote Canadian agri-business, so that focus is on food safety only
Eliminating conflict of interest by removing food and agri-business representatives from federal food policy advisory bodies
Acting to label sodium, sugar, and trans fats on food products;
Regulate the amount of trans fats in our food supply;
Removing tax deductibility from junk food advertising aimed at children; Placing a manufacturer’s levy on sugary drinks, earmarking the revenue to fund healthy living initiatives;
Strengthen monitoring of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, growth hormones, non-therapeutic antibiotics, and insecticides in food production, processing and storage, with the goal of an orderly elimination of detectable residues.
Establishing federally funded, community-guided school lunch programs across Canada to ensure that our children have daily access to healthy local food and can learn about sustainable food production and healthy eating;
Strengthening Plant Protection and Health of Animals Programs with measures to ensure the integrity of farm food products
Improving and strengthening the Canadian Organic Standard;
Providing transitional assistance for those switching to certified organic farming practices;
Ensuring that no animal by-products are used in ruminant animal feed;
Strengthening testing for BSE by implementing 100% testing (testing of every slaughtered animal) as soon as the process of detecting BSE in blood samples is perfected.

Legalized medicinal and recreational use of marijuana

2018 Policy Resolutions

Resolved to add prescription medicines prescribed by a licensed physician to the list of government-paid services, and work with provincial and territorial gov’ts to implement sustainable public drug plan
Resolved to add mental health services to Medicare public health plan, and work with provincial, territorial, and indigenous authorities to implement mental health programs and pilot project to value effectiveness of community-based partnerships between primary-care and mental health professionals.
Resolved to treat drug abuse as a public health issue, expand treatment and harm reduction services and reclassify low-level drug possession and consumption as administrative violations.
Resolved to conduct a comprehensive review and systematic reform of Canada’s healthcare system, to improve wait times, availability of doctors, nurses, etc., improve efficiency and reduce costs

2015 Platform

Meet with provincial and territorial leaders to discuss improvements to healthcare system. Immediately invest $3 billion over four years to improve services, including in-home caregivers, palliative care
Meet with provinces, territories, and stakeholders to develop a National Disabilities Act

2019 Platform

Proposes to add universal public coverage for prescription medicines
Proposes to add dental care to coverage under Canada Health Act
Proposes to expand mental health coverage and add eye care
Promises to work with provinces & territories to reduce wait times
Opposes ‘creeping threat’ of privatization and user fees
Promises to recruit and retain doctors, nurses, and other professionals as needed.
Proposes to add abortion on demand and contraceptive medicines to covered services
Proposes new regulations for natural health products

2018 Policy Declaration

The Conservative party believes all Canadians should have reasonable access to timely quality health care services, regardless of ability to pay.

Proposes Medicare Audit under existing Chief Actuary, to review quality and efficiency of healthcare
Acknowledges importance of wellness and prevention in promoting health
Encourages all governments to support R&D in healthcare, including techniques, medicines, and administrative efficiency
Believes government should work with provinces, territories, medical professionals to develop a National Palliative Care Strategy as viable alternative which affirms life, regards dying as a normal process, and excludes euthanasia and socially-assisted death (SAD)
Provinces & territories should retain maximum flexibility in delivery of medically necessary health services
Federal funding should be stable and transparent
Believes that the best balance between cost and innovation in health services is brought by 20-year patent term for pharmaceuticals.
Provincial and territorial health services should include a balance of public and private delivery options
Federal, provincial, and territorial gov’ts should cooperate in retention of increased supply of health care professionals, where shortages exist
Supports conscience rights for doctors, nurses, and other to refuse to participate in or make referrals for abortion, assisted suicide, or euthanasia
Supports enhanced access to natural health products & treatments

Vision Green 2019

Canadians face long wait-lists for diagnosis and surgery, overcrowded emergency rooms, and increasing shortages of family doctors. One in five Canadian children have asthma. Almost half of us face cancer at some time in our lives. There is an epidemic of obesity in adults and children. Since 1978, childhood obesity in Canada has tripled: 31.5% of our children and youth are overweight or obese.

The Greens fully support the Canada Health Act (CHA) and all of its principles. We oppose any level of privatized, for-profit health care. The five criteria of the CHA guiding the provincial public health insurance plans, which we believe to be non-negotiable, are:

Public Administration – The public health insurance plan must be managed in a public, not for-profit fashion
Comprehensiveness – All residents must be covered for ‘medically necessary’ health services
Universality – All residents must be covered by the public insurance plan on uniform terms and conditions
Portability – All residents must be covered by their public plan, wherever they are treated in Canada
Accessibility – All residents must have access to insured health care services on uniform terms and conditions without direct or indirect financial charges

Green Party MPs will:

Eliminate 2-tier healthcare
Improve the existing acute care system by hiring more staff, working with CMA to fast-track foreign-trained professionals, and improve access to alternative caregivers such as midwives
Improve our existing chronic care system by recognizing autism spectrum disorder as treatable, ensuring that seniors’ care is provided in the communities where they or their families live; expanding home support and home care programs and assisted-living services to support people with chronic care needs, working with provinces to build and open more long-term care beds, increasing funding for palliative care hospices in hospitals and our communities
Reduce the costs of Pharmacare by enforcing the prohibition of all industry-sponsored ads for prescription drugs and thereby reducing unnecessary demand for prescription drugs; initiating a public inquiry into the rising costs and over-prescription of drugs; require reporting of side-effects; establishing, in cooperation with the provinces, a new crown corporation to bulk purchase and dispense prescription drug; and studying the feasibility of a national Pharmacare program;
Improve preventative health measures and promote fitness, sport, and active living.
Reduce poverty

2019 Platform

Canada’s public health care system has the dubious distinction of having the worst wait times of any developed country. Health care costs have been increasing at an unsustainable rate, putting more and more financial pressures on the budgets of provincial governments. The situation is likely to get worse with Canada’s aging population.

Healthcare is an exclusive provincial jurisdiction. However, for years the federal government has insisted that the provinces satisfy a series of conditions set in the Canada Health Act in exchange for transfer payments. These conditions discourage innovation.

All this confusion and undue interference leads to bickering between Ottawa and the provinces over who is responsible for the failings of our health care system, and how much money Ottawa should contribute. It prevents the implementation of sound reforms.

Canada is among the OECD countries that spend the most on health care. Ottawa’s health care transfers to the provinces have doubled since 2006, from $20 billion to $40 billion in 2019-20, with nothing to show for it.
All other OECD countries have mixed private-public systems and (with the exception of the United States) universal systems that guarantee citizens equal access.
Patients in these countries have more choice than Canadians. They can be treated in public or private hospitals, with the government or their private insurance paying for the treatment. Wait times are non-existent or very short, and nobody is denied care because of low income.

A People’s Party government will:

Replace the Canada Health Transfer cash payments with a permanent transfer of tax points of equivalent value to the provinces and territories, to give them a stable source of revenue. In practice, Ottawa will give up its Goods and Services Tax (GST), and let provincial and territorial governments occupy this fiscal room.
Create the conditions for provincial and territorial governments to innovate. They will be fully responsible for health care funding and management, and fully accountable to their citizens for the results, while Ottawa will respect the Constitution and stop meddling.

Mental health & addictions

The Church’s view:

Love faces a vast field of work and the Church is eager to make her contribution with her social doctrine, which concerns the whole person and is addressed to all people. So many needy brothers and sisters are waiting for help.. These latter often affect financially affluent sectors and groups which are nevertheless threatened by despair at the lack of meaning in their lives, by drug addiction…

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, §§ 5

Legalized recreational use of marijuana

2018 Policy Resolutions:

Resolved to add mental health services to Medicare public health plan, and work with provincial, territorial, and indigenous authorities to implement mental health programs and pilot project to value effectiveness of community-based partnerships between primary-care and mental health professionals.
Resolved to treat drug abuse as a public health issue, expand treatment and harm reduction services and reclassify low-level drug possession and consumption as administrative violations

Vision Green, 2019

In accordance with a Canadian Senate report in April 2009, the Green Party recognizes the need for improved support for mental health, and palliative care, and the need to combat ageism, abuse, and neglect.
Promote a comprehensive approach to mental healthcare
Reduce drug addictions by legalizing heroin and other opioids for clinical treatment and prevention; increase the number of detox facilities and injection clinics; create non-threatening spaces for young addicts
Prevent spread of HIV/AIDS and improve its management

Aboriginal Relations

The Church’s view:

The relationship of indigenous peoples to their lands and resources deserves particular attention, since it is a fundamental expression of their identity.

Due to powerful agro-industrial interests or the powerful processes of assimilation and urbanization, many of these peoples have already lost or risk losing the lands on which they live, lands tied to the very meaning of their existence.

The rights of indigenous peoples must be appropriately protected. These peoples offer an example of a life lived in harmony with the environment that they have come to know well and to preserve. Their extraordinary experience, which is an irreplaceable resource for all humanity, runs the risk of being lost together with the environment from which they originate.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, § 471

2018 Policy Resolutions

Resolved to partner with provinces, indigenous communities, and service providers to develop enhanced telecommunications options for First Nation, Metis, and Inuit communities
Resolved to bring high-speed internet to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities by 2025
Partner with provincial, territorial, and indigenous governments to enhance distance learning education

2015 Platform

Implement nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition, rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership, to advance initiatives for housing, infrastructure, health and mental health care, community safety and policing, child welfare, and education
Embrace Kelowna Accord and renew voting rights impacted by prior administrations
Advance investigations of missing indigenous women
lift 2% cap on funding increases.
Ensure equitable funding for 1^st Nations childcare

2019 Platform

NDP ‘seeks a future where every indigenous person has access to safe housing, excellent education, quality health care, and safe drinking water – and where government puts meaningful reconciliation at the heart of every decision we make’
Fully implement UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Calls to Action of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission
Establish a National Council for Reconciliation
Establish policy of free, prior, and informed consent with respect to all government policies
Respect treaties and support building and re-building of Indigenous governance structures
Respect Metis Self-Determination, and path established by Metis National Council
Support indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare systems; fully fund services on reserves
Establish National Day of Truth & Reconciliation
Provide safe and affordable housing in every indigenous community, on and off reserve
Ensure clean water for all indigenous communities by 2021
Fund on-reserve emergency management and prevention, safe public transportation
Provide green and renewable energy infrastructure
Provide mental health & addiction treatment services
Support indigenous food sovereignty
Provide financial support for Indigenous theatre at National Arts Centre

2018 Policy Declaration

The importance of building long-term partnerships with aboriginal peoples should be considered as a part of needed reforms of Canadian federalism
Application of federal funds should be governed by legislation which specifies levels and standards for use of funds for health, education, social welfare and infrastructure.
Indian Act should be replaced by new legislation proposing new deal with First Nations based on autonomy, taxation, capacity, transparency, accountability, and property rights.
Auditor General should be empowered to review spending of Aboriginal governments and organizations that receive public funds.
Future Aboriginal legislation must balance collective rights of Aboriginals under Section 35 of the Constitution Act with individual rights under the Charter of Rights & Freedoms.
All Comprehensive Claims and Self-Government Agreements must balance economic and social needs of Aboriginals with national need for certainty and finality of terms.
Federal gov’t should consult provinces, territories, and aboriginal leaders to implement an independent and non-partisan audit of all social services provided to aboriginal communities, to assess effectiveness and efficiency.
Supports development, with First Nations, of a First Nations land ownership act that would transfer reserve land title to from Crown to willing First Nations.
Supports development of a First Nations matrimonial property code to protect spouses and children in cases of marital breakdown.
Proposes that choices should be offered to First Nations with respect to schooling options

Vision Green, 2019

Various committees within the United Nations system have criticized Canada’s treatment of Aboriginal peoples. Greens will speedily move to implement the UN Declaration.

Ensure that governments and corporations alike respect the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada Sparrow decision upholding Aboriginal rights such as fishing and the right of Aboriginal peoples to be consulted about decisions and accommodated in those decisions that impact their resources and their future.
Honour Canada’s fiduciary responsibility, treaty rights, and other rights of Aboriginal peoples, including their inherent rights of self-government;
Press Canada to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery;
Set a date for the Repeal of the Indian Act, ideally in less than 10 years, to allow all nations and interested parties to prepare;
Immediately implement the lands claims agreements already negotiated, particularly for First Nations in the territories;
Ensure that negotiations of treaties and self-government are not based on the extinguishment of Aboriginal title and rights and assimilation, but on reconciliation and negotiations that recognize the diversity of traditional self-governance;
Fully implement the recommendations of the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, including true nation-to-nation negotiations on a full range of outstanding legal issues and land claims;
Ensure that every First Nations, Metis, and Inuit child has access to quality educational opportunities based on the expressed cultural, political, and social priorities of the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit governments following meaningful consultation;
Remove the 2% funding cap and fully funding the program backlog (at a cost of $424 million);
Negotiate and legislate primary hunting, fishing, trapping, and logging rights for Aboriginal peoples on traditional lands, subject to standards of sustainable harvesting;
Promote Aboriginal culture, language, and history as a fundamental source of Canadian identity;
Support the development of Aboriginal education curricula that are language and culture specific;
Assist the delivery of health care, education, and other services in a way that incorporates traditional practices and recognizes the role of extended families and elders;
Set up task forces to address the treatment of Aboriginals in the Canadian justice system and to investigate and address the disappearance of Aboriginal women;
Ensure, through consultation with indigenous organizations representing the concerns of Aboriginal women, that the rights of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations women are protected.
Work with Northern Residents to develop a strategy for sustainable development of the North
Improve and increase monitoring of indigenous food (e.g. caribou, salmon, etc.) to ensure Inuit and First Nations, particularly pregnant women and nursing mothers, are not being over-exposed to persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals that build up through the global food chain and pool at high levels in the Arctic.
Address issues of food security and high prices for food for Canada’s Northern peoples;
Invest in renewable local energy sources to avoid dependency on expensive and polluting diesel
Support training and equipping the Canadian Rangers, many of whom are Inuit and First Nations people who live in the North and are experienced survival experts, to comprise the backbone of emergency support throughout the Arctic

2015 Platform

We will:

Make reuniting newcomer families a top priority by doubling the number of applications allowed for parents and grandparents, to 10,000 each year and the budget for processing family class sponsorship; reducing wait times; and restoring the maximum age for dependents to 22 from 19.
Grant immediate permanent residency to new spouses entering Canada, eliminating the two-year waiting period.
Restore the residency time credit for students
Work with banks to ensure low-cost access to transfer service, explore ways for Canada Post to offer remittance services, and impose tougher penalties on those who abuse the system and take advantage of newcomers.
Fully restore the Interim Federal Health Program that provides limited and temporary health benefits to refugees and refugee claimants
Establish an expert human rights panel to determine designated countries of origin, and provide a right to appeal refugee decisions for citizens from these countries; and appoint individuals with appropriate subject-matter expertise to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.

2018 Policy Declaration

Supports non-partisan, well-managed, welcoming immigration system based on transparent and efficient process; compassionate measures to assist in family reunification; encouragement of skilled immigrants and families; workable and efficient process for immigrants to obtain equivalency in international skills, training, and experience; confirmation of adequate long-term funding for settlement; maintaining Canada’s humanitarian tradition of providing safe haven for refugees.
Will ensure that immigrants have the best possible opportunity to contribute to Canada’s economic and social well-being by working with the provinces and municipalities on policy relating to settlement support, adequate and equitable provision of language instruction, adaptation to Canadian values
Will encourage admission of temporary workers, with options for transitioning to permanent residence

Vision Green, 2019

Opportunities for new immigrants vary. The backlog of files is too long.

Canada must embrace the energy and creativity of all our cultural communities and ensure genuine equality of opportunity and equal treatment of all Canadian citizens, regardless of their country of origin.

Green Party MPs will:

Eliminate the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and increase immigration where labour shortages are established;
Lead a national discussion to define ‘environmental refugee’ and advocate for the inclusion of environmental refugees as a refugee category in Canada and accept an appropriate share of the world’s environmental refugees into Canada;
Improve accreditation processes for foreign credentials for professional immigrants, and ensure professionals being considered for immigration will have the licensing requirements for their professions clearly explained before entry.
Allocate increased funding for training in official languages (ESL and FSL) for new immigrants;
Establish a program to deal with the estimated 200 000 people living in Canada without official status that leads to full landed immigrant status for those who have become contributing members of Canadian society
Implement recommendations of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to immediately allow those who have refused or left military service regarding a war not sanctioned by the United Nations permanent resident status in Canada
Repeal legislation imposing jail time retroactively and targeting people who arrive by ship

2019 Platform

To enjoy the privilege of living in Canada, immigrants – although proud of their own cultural heritage – must pledge their allegiance to the new land which they have chosen to call their home. We are, rightly, proud of our tradition of accepting immigrants and refugees. In order to protect the process for legitimate immigrants and refugees, a firm hand must be taken to protect Canadians from those who do not value our democratic values and who may pose a threat to Canada’s national security.

Cultural development & cultural institutions

The Church’s view:

Faced with the rapid advancement of technological and economic progress, and with the equally rapid transformation of the processes of production and consumption, the Magisterium senses the need to propose a great deal of educational and cultural formation… one cannot fail to draw attention to the new responsibilities and dangers connected with this phase of history ... Thus a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed, including the education of consumers in the responsible use of their power of choice, the formation of a strong sense of responsibility among producers and among people in the mass media in particular, as well as the necessary intervention by public authorities.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, § 376

2015 Platform

We will prioritize investment in cultural and recreational infrastructure
CBC/Radio-Canada is a vital national institution that brings Canadians together, promotes and defends our two official languages, and supports our shared culture. We will reverse cuts and re-invest $150 million in new annual funding, in consultation with the broadcaster and the Canadian cultural community. We will review the process by which members are appointed to the CBC/Radio-Canada Board, to ensure merit-based and independent appointment
We will double investment in the Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million each year; increasing funding for Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, with a new investment totalling $25 million each year; and restore the Promart and Trade Routes international cultural promotion programs, and increasing funding in these programs to $25 million each year.
We will increase funding for the Young Canada Works program to help prepare the next generation of Canadians working in the heritage sector.
We will also make significant new investments in cultural infrastructure as part of our investment in social infrastructure.
Renew the federal government’s commitment to our official languages by developing a new official languages plan to support English and French linguistic minorities
Establish a free, online service for learning and retaining English and French as second languages

2019 Platform

Seeks to expand Official Languages Act to improve access to services in the language of choice.
Promotes revitalization of indigenous languages, with acknowledgement that Canada’s linguistic heritage must include reconciliation.
Require Netflix, Google, Facebook & other digital media companies to pay taxes, support content in both official languages, and take responsibility for content, like other media outlets
Increase funding for CBC and Radio-Canada.
Ensure long-term, stable funding ‘to grow and promote Canada’s diverse cultures and histories.’ Assist Canadian media with transition to digital platforms
Implement income-tax averaging for artists and cultural workers
Provide internet and wireless telephone capabilities for all Canada

2018 Policy Declaration

Affirms federal gov’t role in preservation of natural and historical heritage, including national parks, museums, and historic sites.
Encourage government to consider diverse cultural nature of Canada and its shared history in working to strengthen opportunities in domestic and international markets for our creative works.
Programs for the support of arts and culture should be transparent and accountable. Benefits should be based on merit and non-politically motivated.
Supports investment in amateur sport as a means of legacy and heritage.
Supports Official Languages Act to ensure English and French have equal status and privileges as to use by all federal government institutions.
Supports CBC-SRC as a public-service broadcaster
Recognizes important roles played by private broadcasters in Canada. Private broadcasters are primarily businesses, and must survive by competition.
Supports updating of Broadcasting Act.
Supports efforts to better educate users and creators concerning copyright laws in Canada
Government should create an environment that encourages private sector investment to increase broadband infrastructure, particularly in remote and rural Canada.
Recognizes historical value of light stations as well as their utility in monitoring marine activity and contributing to Canadian sovereignty claims.

Vision Green, 2019

Key societal goals:

Ensure Canadians have more time for friends, family, and community engagement.

Travel and tourism is the world’s number one employer and represents more than 10% of global spending. Canada was once in the top seven destinations in the world, but dropped to 18^th. Tourism in Canada goes beyond creating jobs and foreign exchange revenue. It enables Canadians to explore our land and helps knit our country together.

Wes believe we must foster a sustainable, green tourism industry and market it responsibly throughout the world.
We believe we must provide exceptional tourist experiences by having the finest National Park system, the best museums and cultural activities, and the most hospitable service. The Canadian government must play a bigger role in promoting, coordinating, and guiding efforts across the entire country.

Green Party MPs will:

Restore the GST-HST rebate to foreign visitors, reject changes to penalize seasonal workers in the Employment Insurance system, and eliminate the requirement for a permit to visit Canada from those countries where no visa is required;
Create a separate federal Department of Tourism to coordinate all aspects of tourism.
Increase funding to the arts, culture, and heritage sector
Build a low-carbon tourism sector based on intermodal rail and bicycle touring
Support multicultural communities by assisting cultural organizations to obtain charitable status
Increase funding to all of Canada’s arts and culture organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, orchestras, theatres, and publishers
Provide stable base funding for the CBC; restore CBC international short-wave service;
Reverse CRTC approval for commercial advertising on CBC Radio 2;
Ensure that the CRTC reserves more bandwidth for independent and non-profit stations;
Enact legislation that requires cinemas and video chains to have at least 20% Canadian content
Ensure that heads of Canada’s cultural organizations are not appointed for political reasons, but by an arm’s length committee of competent diverse stakeholders in Canadian society;
Set a small tax of 5% on internet streaming, such as Netflix
Provide protection for indigenous intellectual and artistic property rights;
Increase support for community arts programs and facilities across Canada by establishing stable base funding at a set percentage of the federal budget;
Extend income tax relief and incentives to artists (on the very successful models established by Ireland and the city of Berlin).
Protect Canada’s cultural identity during trade negotiations;
Protect the copyright for artists so it is not surrendered to museums and galleries in the process of permitting exhibits.

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