1. health and fitness

Your Choice, Your Voice, Your Vote
Right now you might not be sure how to
vote, or, given the current state of politics,
if you even want to vote. You might wonder if your vote even matters.
In the last federal election, just a handful
of voters (6,201 to be precise) made the
difference in electing a majority government for the Harper Conservatives. In
that same election, more than 9.4 million
It does. Every vote matters.
eligible Canadian voters did not vote.
We are all faced with the crucial questions Even more worrisome, the age group with
the lowest percentage of voter turnout
of what political leader, vision, and party
was youth aged 18-24. Nearly two out of
should lead Canada and represent us in
three young people didn’t cast ballots in
the House of Commons.
2011. This meant the difference between
You have the power to make a difference a minority and majority government.
in this federal election campaign with the
It’s time for change – and it’s starting with
vote you cast at the ballot box. By asking
candidates tough questions and demand- you. Together, let’s vote in the government
ing they commit to solid positions on im- we all need and deserve. Have your say
portant issues, we can all work to ensure on who runs this country so it reflects the
Parliament reflects the values we support. true values we all hold. Go vote!
The stakes are high for our democracy in this
election. Voter turnout has been in general
decline since the federal election in 1988
when 75 per cent of people eligible voted.
This number fell to 61 per cent in the 2011
federal election.
from voting, disproportionately impacting
students, Indigenous people, seniors, and
people with disabilities.
A key part of people’s disengagement from
voting is the need for deeper democracy.
This includes democratic reform that would
Rather than addressing this troubling trend, change our flawed winner-take-all first-pastwe’re headed in the opposite direction. The the-post-system to proportional representaringleaders of the widespread election fraud tion. It means addressing deeper systemic
that took place in 2011 are still at large, and issues, like putting an end to so-called free
thanks to the so-called “Fair” Elections Act, trade deals that put the priorities of corpoit will be easier to get away with this kind of rations and the 1% ahead of the priorities of
fraud in the future. And this legislation, if it people and the planet.
remains in place for the 2015 election, will
also prevent tens of thousands of people
ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES:
If elected,
1. What will you do to ensure Elections Canada can find the perpetrators of the 2011
election fraud and prevent it from happening again?
Protecting water
According to the Council of Canadians’
report On Notice For a Drinking Water Crisis
in Canada, as of January 2015, there were
at least 1,838 drinking water advisories in
effect in Canadian and Indigenous communities. The report showed that many families
are not able to turn on taps to get clean,
safe water – sometimes for years at time.
Defending democracy
man right and public trust, respects Indigenous water rights, creates a national public
water infrastructure fund and addresses
water pollution.
In 2012, the Harper government’s omnibus
budget bills gutted the Fisheries Act, and
changes to the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Agency resulted in the cancelWater is vital to people’s health and livelilation of 3,000 environmental assessments.
hoods. In Canada, there is no federal stratProtections were removed from 99 per
egy to address urgent water issues and no
cent of lakes and rivers under the Navigable
federal leadership to conserve and protect
Waters Protection Act, leaving waterways
our water. The 1987 federal Water Policy is vulnerable to pollution from fracking
badly outdated. Canada’s economy is built
projects, tar sands expansion and pipeline
on the myth of an abundance of freshwater, spills. Changes to environmental legislation
yet only one per cent of freshwater in Can- and funding for water research and proada is renewable. Water use and consump- grams must be reinstated to ensure clean,
tion in Canada will remain unsustainable
safe water for communities and ecosysunless protective measures are taken.
tems. Canada must exclude water from the
Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and
It’s time for the Canadian government to
Trade Agreement (CETA) and all future trade
implement a comprehensive National Water
agreements in order to curb lawsuits from
Policy that establishes enforceable drinking
companies looking to profit at the expense
water standards, recognizes water as a huof our environment.
ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES:
If elected,
1. Will you develop a National Water Policy that recognizes water as a human right,
invests in water and wastewater infrastructure in municipalities and First Nations,
bans fracking, and transitions away from tar sands and other fossil fuels?
2. Do you commit to reinstating protections on the 99 per cent of lakes and rivers
delisted from the Navigable Waters Protection Act?
3. Will you commit to reinstating changes to other environmental legislation and
reallocating the more than $100 million cut from critical water research and programs?
Trade justice
This federal election is critical with respect to trade policy, most notably the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). With the federal election scheduled for October 19 and ratification votes in the European legislatures expected
to begin a couple months later in January 2016, the positions taken on this agreement will
be pivotal.
If CETA is ratified as is, it will:
•
Include an investor-state dispute settlement provision that would allow transnational corporations to sue national governments for future profits affected by
local, regional and federal public interest laws.
•
Send billions of dollars to pharmaceutical corporations due to extended patent
provisions granted them in this deal.
•
Constrain municipal councils’ spending to spur local economic development in
favour of large transnational corporations.
•
Privatize public services, like water utilities, which would be hard to bring back
into public hands.
•
Undermine measures to limit and label genetically modified foods through a process of regulatory harmonization.
ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES:
2. What will you do to prioritize issues that matter to young people, as well as to
reduce barriers to voting faced by youth and students, to engage them more in
electoral politics?
3. Will you commit to introducing electoral reform to ensure every vote counts in
future elections?
Protecting the climate from extreme energy and
pipelines
Tar sands pipelines face a growing wall of
opposition across the country. The pipelines would primarily ship diluted bitumen
produced in the Alberta tar sands. Diluted
bitumen is an extreme form of energy, (like
fracking and offshore drilling) with heavy
environmental consequences when it is produced, as well as significant risks for communities it is transported through. These
projects are about exporting unrefined bitumen to lucrative international markets. They
threaten to spur tar sands expansion, which
is opposed by downstream Indigenous
communities. Proposed pipeline projects,
including Enbridge’s Northern Gateway,
Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion,
TransCanada’s Keystone XL and Energy East,
and the suggested Arctic Gateway pipeline,
are needed to support this unsustainable
expansion.
These pipeline projects are happening
under a new, significantly weakened federal
process. The Conservatives’ omnibus budget
bills gutted federal environmental regulations, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and exempted pipelines from the
Navigable Waters Protection Act. These
changes give the industry-friendly National
Energy Board the responsibility of reviewing
pipelines – although the ultimate decision
lies with federal cabinet members.
Canada needs an energy plan that meets
our needs while reducing climate pollution
by pursuing a just transition to sustainable
energy production and use. This includes
ending fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal,
stopping tar sands expansion and better
regulating the fossil fuel industry. We need
to elect MPs that support increased energy
conservation, energy efficiency measures,
public and community ownership of expanded renewable energy, sustainable agriculture
and public transit. ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES:
If elected,
1. Are you in favour of TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline?
2. Would you support greater public participation and the inclusion of upstream
climate pollution impacts in the review of pipeline projects?
3. Omnibus budget bills C-38 and C-45 gutted environmental regulations in Canada.
Would you support repealing these bills?
Saving public health care
This election will mark a watershed moment
in the history of Canada’s universal health
care system. The Conservative party plans
to cut $36 billion from health care funding
after the election, playing politics with the
well being of Canadians and starving our
public system of proper funding. This will
open the back door to two-tiered, Americanstyle health care. In short, this will mean the
end of medicare as we know it.
Now is the time to protect, strengthen, and
expand our public health care system. We
need real leadership to stand up for the
founding principle of our medicare system:
health care must be based on need and not
the ability to pay.
Financial considerations should not stop
Canadians from being healthy. Yet, one in
nine Canadians cannot afford to fill their
prescriptions. A comprehensive pharmacare
program could save Canada $11.4 billion
dollars annually in drug costs.
There is a wide range of health care issues
facing Canadians such as negotiating a new
health accord, getting pharmacare, and
improving seniors’ care, among many others. Canadians need our politicians to start
championing a healthier future for all of us.
ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES:
If elected,
If elected,
1. Do you support the ratification of CETA, or would you agree to delay it in order to
hold public hearings on the agreement?
1. Will you and your party commit to quickly renegotiating a fair and equitable
health accord before the $36 billion cuts take effect and start impacting Canadians
and our public health care system?
2. Do you support the investor-state dispute settlement provision that allows corporations to sue governments for future profits affected by public interest legislation?
3. Fifty municipalities across the country have expressed concern about CETA or
have asked to be excluded from the agreement. Do you support excluding them
from the deal?
2. Will you and your party commit to implementing a comprehensive pharmacare
program?
Conservative
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s leading social
action organization with more than 100,000 supporters and a network
of 60 chapters across the country. Through our campaigns we advocate
for clean water, fair trade, sustainable energy, public health care, and a
vibrant democracy. We educate and empower people to act for social
justice in their communities and hold our governments and corporations
accountable.
A Voter’s Guide
#GoVote2015
FOR THE FUTURE YOU WANT
The following information was obtained from party websites and the public record available at the time of publication. Only parties with sufficient available information are included below.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
SAVING PUBLIC HEALTH CARE
Passed the “Fair” Elections Act which
disenfranchises tens of thousands of
voters. Introduced Bill C-50 which would
undermine voting rights of Canadians
living abroad.
Voted against proportional representation.
Severely limited Access to Information,
general transparency, and evidencebased decision making. Ended the longform census, penalized whistleblowers,
and defunded civil society organizations.
Supports Bill C-51, which would undermine civil liberties.
Green
Voted against the “Fair” Elections Act and
would repeal it.
Supports proportional representation.
Supports increasing Access to Information.
PROTECTING WATER
Approved Enbridge’s Northern Gateway
pipeline.
Refused to renegotiate the health accord
and is cutting $36 billion to health care.
Has warned of a lack of export capacity,
turning the tar sands into “stranded assets,” and consistently signalled support
for pipeline projects.
The Conservative party continues to
dismantle Canada’s public health care
system and open the door to American
style two-tiered health care.
By not enforcing of the Canada Health
Act, Conservatives are allowing private
health care to flourish while at the same
time ignoring the needs of veterans and
seniors.
The Green party has advocated renegotiating the health accord, and protecting
public health care. Party has a senior’s
health care plan.
Previous Liberal governments have significantly cut public health care funding.
The NDP has been a strong advocate
that our health care must be a shared
federal and provincial responsibility; this
includes renegotiating the health accord
before $36 billion is cut. With a plan for
seniors care and clear language around
supporting single-tiered health care, the
NDP is the strongest voice fighting for
medicare.
The party’s pharmacare plan is not clear.
TRADE
Promoted resource development at
the expense of our lakes and rivers by
gutting critical pieces of environmental
legislation. Cut more than $100 million in
water research and programs. Has failed
to invest needed funds for community
water and wastewater infrastructure in
municipalities and Indigenous communities, and has yet to implement a National
Water Policy that recognizes the human
right to water, bans fracking, and transitions away from tar sands development
and fossil fuels.
Champions trade deals, including CETA.
Strong proponent of boosting Big Oil and
multinational corporations through trade
deals.
Also approved the Line 9 pipeline.
The Green party opposes all current
proposed pipeline projects to export
unprocessed bitumen. Supports the
building of upgraders and refineries near
the source, which would produce more
jobs and avoid the hazards of shipping diluted bitumen. Says rapidly expanding tar
sands production is completely incompatible with the required transition off fossil
fuels. Highly critical of environmental
regulatory changes.
Opposes Bill C-51 and would repeal it.
Voted against the “Fair” Elections Act and
would repeal it.
More than half of Liberal MPs support
proportional representation, although
party leader Justin Trudeau voted against
the motion.
When last in government, brought in legislation curtailing civil liberties, including
security certificates.
Voted for Bill C-51 but would amend it if
elected.
Trudeau initially declared support for the
Energy East pipeline but later suggested
TransCanada failed to secure the social
licence required to proceed.
Trudeau has suggested that an environmental assessment of Energy East should
include climate change.
Supports an inquiry into missing and
murdered Indigenous women.
Voted against the “Fair” Elections Act and
would repeal it.
Supports proportional representation
and party would introduce it if elected.
Would abolish the Senate.
Opposes Bill C-51 and would repeal it.
Supports $15 minimum wage and $15 a
day federal childcare program.
Supports an inquiry into missing and
murdered Indigenous women.
EXTREME ENERGY AND PIPELINES
Supports Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion and TransCanada’s Energy
East project. Lobbied and spent millions
in the U.S and Europe in support of the
Keystone XL pipeline and against legislation that would limit market access for
tar sands.
Does not support a national pharmacare
plan.
Would cancel Enbridge’s Northern
Gateway pipeline. Supports Keystone XL,
“sustainable ways of getting resources
to market, while respecting Indigenous
rights, the natural environment and
earning trust of local communities,” and
greater west-to-east pipeline capacity.
The party’s website says Liberals support
publicly funded universal health care. Liberals say they will work in collaboration
with provincial and territorial partners
to address critical health care issues
like reducing wait times, and strengthening homecare, seniors care, mental
health prevention and treatment, and
pharmacare.
Supports an inquiry into missing and
murdered Indigenous women.
Liberal
NDP
May 2015
For more information about the issues outlined in this Voter’s Guide
call toll-free: 1-800-387-7177
www.canadians.org
300-251 Bank St., Ottawa, ON, K2P 1X3.
The Council of Canadians is an independent, non-partisan, public interest organization and does not endorse any specific party or individual
candidate.
STAND UP.
SPEAK UP.
SHOW UP.
VOTE
Take the Voter’s Pledge online at www.canadians.org/election or text
“vote” to 123411
You can change the game this election by pledging to vote and by challenging at least two other eligible voters to take the pledge with you.
Don’t let candidates avoid the real issues. Join the debate. Make your
voice heard at an all-candidates meeting in your area. Write a letter to
your local newspaper outlining what you think should be an election
issue. Post your opinions on news and information websites. Vote for
the candidate you think best represents your interests and those of your
community.
THIS ELECTION, BE THE
GAME CHANGER NO ONE
SAW COMING.
Would cancel the Enbridge Northern
Gateway pipeline project and opposes
the Keystone XL pipeline.
Opposed to Line 9 - says the environmental assessment process is unreliable.
Supports increasing west-east pipeline
capacity.
Will support pipeline projects if they pass
a more rigorous review that includes
climate change impacts, Canadian jobs,
national and regional energy security,
and a First Nations consultation process.
Greens would enshrine the right to water
in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, remove water from the scope of
the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic
and Trade Agreement (CETA) and replace
federal guidelines for drinking water
quality with binding national standards.
Greens support a national moratorium
on fracking and a plan to transition our
economy off its dependency on fossil
fuels.
Recognizes the need to protect and
ensure clean drinking water for all
Canadians, including First Nations. Has
yet to commit to the $4.7 billion needed
for water and wastewater in First Nation
communities and promotes risky publicprivate partnerships that can be more
expensive and stifle local democracy.
While the Liberals passed the National
Environmental Assessment of Fracking
resolution at their 2014 convention and
have discouraged B.C. from putting all its
resources into liquefied natural gas, they
do not oppose fracking in principle.
Supports establishing and implementing
a National Water Strategy, including legislation and standards that recognize water
as a human right and a public resource.
Respects water rights and entitlements
of First Nations, and investment in public
water and wastewater systems. Calls for
mandatory disclosure of fracking fluid
components and a review of the Canada
Water Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to protect drinking
water through a ban on fracking.
The Greens oppose CETA and the “antidemocratic Investor-state dispute settlement mechanism that allows foreign corporations to sue Canada and challenge
democratically-passed Canadian laws
that impede their profits.” The Green
party opposed the Canada-China FIPA.
The Liberals support CETA and are
expected to vote alongside the Conservatives to ratify the deal. The Liberals also
supported the Canada-China FIPA even
though they expressed some concerns
about the agreement.
The NDP has been supportive of CETA
but has been critical that the text was
released only after the negotiations had
been completed. Concerned with some
parts of the deal including the investorstate dispute settlement provision.
Mulcair has said Europeans shouldn’t
ratify an agreement with the investorstate provision, but has not made a
similar statement in Canada. Opposed
the Canada-China FIPA.