Are you new to the Green Party? This post by Paul Kompass explains our values and what we offer the people of Canada.
Canada’s Green Parties are part of the Global Green political movement. They strive to improve the well-being of the people of the world and the environment in which we all live, work and play. The Green Party believes in the values of diversity and cooperation in society and government for the common good, rather than unproductive partisan power serving. The Green Party will provide responsible cooperative political leadership in government.
The Green Party is fiscally conservative, socially progressive and environmentally sustainable.
Ecological Wisdom
Human beings are part of the natural world. Greens respect the specific values of all forms of life on the planet. We also respect the ancient wisdom of the indigenous peoples, custodians of the land and its resources. We acknowledge that human society depends on the ecological resources of the planet, and so must ensure the integrity of ecosystems preserving biodiversity and the resilience of life-supporting systems. We must learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet.
Social Justice
The key to social justice is the equitable distribution of social and natural resources to meet basic human needs unconditionally, and to ensure that all citizens have full opportunities for personal and social development. There is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice.
“The Green Party is not like any of Canada’s other political parties. Our mission is to rescue grassroots democracy from the hyper-partisan spin that makes voters recoil. Our goal is to ensure that the planet, the biosphere and our part of it, survive and thrive for our children and theirs and theirs....”
Participatory Democracy
The Green Party believes that, in a democracy, all citizens have the right to express their views, and to directly participate in the environmental, economic, social and political decisions which affect their lives. Parliaments and legislatures can better reflect the significance of every vote cast by our citizens through needed electoral reforms.
Nonviolence
We declare our commitment to nonviolence and strive for a culture of peace and cooperation between states, inside societies and between individuals, as the basis of global security. We believe that security should not rest mainly on military strength but on cooperation, sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and respect for human rights.
“The Green Party is…not a party powered by lobbyists, not a party powered by corporate insiders, not a party powered by backroom deals. We are a party powered by Ontario’s citizens…by you!”
Sustainability
We recognise the limited scope for the material expansion of human society within the biosphere, and the need to maintain biodiversity through sustainable use of renewable resources and responsible use of non-renewable resources. We believe that to achieve sustainability, and provide for the needs of present and future generations within the finite resources of the earth, global growth of consumption, population and material inequity must be halted and reversed.
Respect for Diversity
We honour cultural, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context of individual responsibility toward all beings. We defend the right of all persons, without discrimination, to an environment supportive of their dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being. We promote the building of respectful, positive and responsible relationships across lines of division in the spirit of a multi-cultural society.
Are these your values? Do you wish we had better government? Do you want to be a part of this life-sustaining change?
We stand on these life-affirming principles. Green MPs serve in more than thirty Parliaments around the world, implementing policies that create jobs in a new green economy based on waste reduction, innovation and clean technology revolution, with full employment and wealth for all.
