Measuring and protecting Canada’s natural accounts

The Greens support extending Canada’s existing system of national accounts to include measures of annual changes in the depletion of and addition to Canada’s principal biological resources.

Wild fish, natural forests, and productive agricultural soils represent some of the real wealth of a nation. It is felt that as depletion or addition to fish, trees, and soils takes place, these should be reflected in measures of Canada’s worth.

A serious analysis must be made of the economic costs/values/benefits of key ecological functions. This will allow better public policies and more comprehensive statements about the true economic value of biodiversity as a whole.

Purely economic measurements – such as GDP – ignore key factors underpinning well-being.

The Green Party believes that the application of an evaluation method that seeks to account for key social, environmental, and long-term economic features in different parts of the country and local communities could provide new insights and rationales for the conservation of local and regional biodiversity. These tools stand to play a key role in making citizens aware of the attributes of strong biodiversity, and help achieve the intent of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Greens will continue to support ‘quality of life’ evaluation methods such as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as a means to improve quality of life and protect biodiversity. The Green Party will also support research into the economics of protecting biodiversity and the development of fiscal tools to limit the negative impact of human activity on the Ecosphere.

Eliminating capital gains on donations of ecologically significant land and more appropriate land-use taxes are key measures to limit demand-side pressures on biodiversity (see Part 1: The Green Economy).

3.13 Oceans

As a country bordering three oceans, Canada has a huge responsibility for ocean protection. The UN special conference on the oceans in June 2017 increased global awareness of the multiple threats:

Ocean acidification;

Massive contamination of oceans by plastics;

Alarming declines in oxygen availability in coastal zones and the deep ocean;

Illegal fishing;

Unsustainable aquaculture;

and

Land-based sources of marine pollution.

Canada must take steps to reduce our own contribution to plastic pollution of our oceans. We must ban single-use plastic items and contribute to global efforts to rid the oceans of plastics.

We must create a national coastal monitoring programme to track ocean acidification. Currently DFO does not monitor pH levels along our coasts.

Reduce run-off of fertilizers promoting algal blooms in our oceans;

Ensure climate mitigation and adaptation programmes have a clear focus on oceans.

Part 4: People

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.

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

Rights also entail taking responsibility as an individual within his or her community and promoting and protecting these rights at the national level, for the abuse of rights anywhere in the world impacts our own security and sense of dignity as human beings.

We have made considerable progress in the past as a country, but much remains to be done. The current trend to destroy civil society and spread distrust between one another will make it more and more difficult to live up to our traditional values of peace, the rule of law and the common good, and to be a positive force in the community of nations.

Once we envision the society we want, we clearly see its outlines.

Vibrant communities are places where, as Jane Jacobs described, people know their neighbours, streets are safe and friendly, and volunteering for the public good is common, leading to feelings of affiliation, belonging, and empowerment. Social networks are a key ingredient for community resilience.

Without intending to do so, government policy, by treating such goals as peripheral to economic growth, has allowed feelings of alienation, hostility, and selfishness to crowd out shared values of decades ago.

As Martin Luther King Jr. noted, you cannot legislate morality. Nevertheless, when the human scale of government policy is ignored, when the tax system, employment strategies, and labour policies all mitigate towards less leisure and family time, more time in long commutes, and an increasingly ‘time-stressed’ population, as measured by Statistics Canada, government policy should adjust its goals to re-balance and protect these fundamental pillars of our civilization – family and community.

In the last few years, quality of life, as measured in our ability to get ahead and enjoy more leisure time, has declined for 90% of Canadians. Homelessness, and mental health and drug addiction problems, have increased. The cost of post-secondary education and training has sky-rocketed. The gap between rich and poor in Canada has widened. Women, on average, still earn far less than men. The middle class is struggling. Given the wealth and resources of our country, this is tragic.