Policies

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Older persons represent an essential part of our society’s fabric and vitality¹;
• Manitoba’s population of persons 65y or older is increasing, in 2023 comprising over 17% of Manitoba’s total population and anticipated to rise to at least 23% over the next 25 years^2,3;
• Our Indigenous elders have and share invaluable wisdom⁴;
• The Climate Emergency impacts every aspect and segment of society, especially our most vulnerable populations including the elderly⁵;
• The Green Party of Manitoba places a focus on upstream, proactive approaches to health and healthcare⁶; 
• The United Nations General Assembly declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing⁷ ; and
• The provincial government has recently released its Seniors Strategy⁸;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports the following:

• The position and status of elders in Manitoba be significantly improved by:
• A multi-faceted approach, grounded in the wisdom of our Indigenous elders
• Continually reviewing and implementing best practices from around the world
• Emphasizing pro-active and upstream approaches
• Deeply considering the full impact of the Climate Emergency in developing policies in this area; and
• Monitoring progress in consultation with organizations, in and outside Manitoba, actively engaged with older persons;

References

1. National Programmes for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: A Guide. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2023. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
2. Demographic Profile of Older Manitobans, Manitoba Government, February 2023
3. Facts on Aging: Demographics, University of Manitoba Centre on Aging.
4. Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commision of Canada. Truth and Reconciliation Commision of Canada, 2015
5. Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, March 2023
6. Health and Healthcare – Foundation Policy, Green Party of Manitoba, Revised April 2023
7. UN Decade of Healthy Ageing: Plan of Action 2021-2030. United Nations, 2020.
8. Manitoba, A Great Place to Age: Provincial Seniors Strategy. Manitoba Government, February 2023

Approved: 12 June 2021

Whereas: 

• Agriculture both contributes to but also suffers from climate change¹;
• Increases in extreme weather events can lead to losses of crop productivity, endanger livestock, and pose dangerous working conditions for field workers. Climate change can also exacerbate disease pressures from pests and increase the competitive pressures of weeds on crops, all of which make it more challenging to produce food;
• Climate-friendly agriculture can help mitigate emissions, reduce reliance on harmful chemicals, and support healthier communities;
• Farms with healthy soils are more profitable, more sustainable, and have higher yields in floods and droughts—the kind of weather we can expect more of as our climate changes;
• Manitoba’s agricultural activities contributing the most to climate pollution are fertilizers, fermentation from livestock digestive processes, and manure management;
• Emissions from agriculture have increased significantly since 1990, primarily from the increased use of synthetic Nitrogen fertilizer;
• Studies by soil scientist Rattan Lal have shown that improved agricultural and land management practices can bring the concentration of atmospheric CO2 down significantly and, when combined with elimination of fossil fuel burning, could significantly reduce climate change;
• The Manitoba government has ignored the potential role of agriculture in reducing climate pollution and instead has promoted more Nitrogen fertilizer use and larger herd sizes with a subsequent increase in manure generation and GHG emissions;
• Low nitrogen input agriculture can produce high yielding crops to feed Manitoba and for export, increasing the net farm income per hectare, allowing young and new farmers to make a fair living from farming;
• Climate change contributes to the emergence and transmission of disease by disrupting the global ecosystem and causing disease-bearing species to relocate²;
• A food production system based on less inputs and more farm families is more stable and resilient;
• Climate change will have negative impacts on food security in Canada³;.
• Lower income and Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity^{4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9};
• Grasslands and wetlands are effective carbon sinks¹⁰  and are under threat in Manitoba;
• Wetlands contribute to the natural flood defence system and provide unequalled natural water filtration and retention capabilities; and
• Grasslands and wetlands provide habitat to many beneficial insect, plant, and animal species;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

Climate friendly best management practices including agro-ecology, regenerative and organic production methods such as cover cropping, intercropping, green manure cropping, rotational grazing, pollinator protection, tree planting and wetland protection which reduce agricultural emissions and increase carbon sequestration with:

• Awareness campaigns to increase farmer familiarity with climate friendly best management practices;
• Public funding for research into climate friendly best management practices;
• Public funding for agrologists to help farmers adopt climate friendly best management practices;
• Public funding for demonstration farms using climate friendly best management practices;
• Cost shared and Incentive programs to encourage the adoption of climate friendly best management practices;
• Reduction in application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer;
• Increase taxation of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides;
• Reduction in cattle and hog numbers in Manitoba;
• The return of Manitoba crown lands and public lands to natural forest;
• An end to tree and forest removal on public lands;
• An end to wetland drainage;
• Enhancing riparian buffer zones to improve nutrient runoff and improve water quality;
• Improve nutrient management to improve the rate, method and timing of fertilizations; and
• Establish windbreaks between crops; 

Be it Further resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba would:

• Cap subsidies to limit amounts going towards industrial-scale farms;
• Set goals to achieve net zero emission agriculture within 20 years;
• Integrate soil health goals into crop insurance and other incentive programs;
• Remove barriers and provide incentives to pasture-based agriculture;
• Promote renewable energy and energy efficiency on farms;
• Create immediate incentives to protect native Manitoba grasslands; and
• Place tougher restrictions on the drainage and disruption of wetlands, and provide funding and incentives for wetland reclamation and restoration projects.

References:

1. OECD Library: Overcoming barriers to the adoption of climate-friendly practices in agriculture
2. Global News: Coronavirus: How environmental destruction influences the emergence of pandemics
3. NIH: The Climate Change, Food Security and Human Health Nexus in Canada: A Framework to Protect Population Health
4. Canada Feed the Children: Why is there food insecurity in Canada?
5. Food Secure Canada: Growing Resilience and Equity
6. Food Secure Canada: Why a National Food Policy in Canada Matters?
7. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2020012/article/00001-eng.htm
8. Canadian Institute of Food Safety: Food Insecurity on the Rise in Canada
9. CTV News: One in seven Canadians experiencing food insurcity during pandemic: report
10. UC Davis: Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink Than Trees

Approved: 12 June 2021

Clean food, free of chemicals, is vital to the health of consumers. The Green Party of Manitoba realise the importance and harm chemicals do in our environment.

Whereas:

• The demand for organic food is increasing;
• Organic farming offers a good economic opportunity;
• Organic farming creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions;
• Pesticides have damaging impacts on soil health and on waterways^{1, 2, 3};
• Canada permits the use of certain dangerous pesticides that have been banned elsewhere⁴;
• Pesticide use is inefficient; the vast majority of pesticide applied does not stick to the plants, instead running off into soil and water systems^{5, 6};
• The use of herbicides has led to the rise of herbicide resistant weeds, including numerous weeds in Canada that have developed resistance to herbicide⁷; 
• Pesticide use has detrimental effects on terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity^{8, 9};
• Pollinators such as bees are in rapid decline due to pesticide use, jeopardizing food production in Manitoba, Canada and globally¹⁰;
• Pesticide use (especially neonicotinoids) has been identified as one of the significant causes of the rapidly declining  pollinator population¹¹, jeopardizing food production^{12, 13};
• Biodiversity and ecosystems are negatively impacted or destroyed by pesticides that provide critically important ecosystem services; such as the regulation of soil and water quality, pest control, pollination, and ecosystem resilience¹⁴;  and
• Organic farming supports human, animal and ecosystem health and well-being;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Increased subsidies and incentives to organic farmers;
• Cost sharing for the organic certification program and the annual inspection of organic producers;
• Research into organic regenerative production systems;
• Public funding for organic specific plant breeding;
• Public funding for organic specific agrologists(organic instructors);
• Training for farmers on best practice in organic farming, how to transition to organic farming and meeting certification standards;
• Incentives for restaurants and institutions to support local organic farmers through local purchasing programs;
• Mandated local organic programs for provincial government food purchasing;
• Increasing inspections to prevent and eliminate fraud;
• Encouraging conservation and enhancement of pollinator habitat;
• Development of incentives and payments for ecosystem services from pollinators;
• Ensuring participation and empowerment of diverse stakeholders, including rural and indigenous people, in determining pollination protection strategies; and
• Enforcement against farmers fraudulently using the organic label without certification or breaching certification requirements.

References:

1. Safe Drinking Water Foundation: Pesticides and Water Pollution
2. WHO: Pesticide residues in food
3. BBC: The clean farming revolution
4. Safe Drinking Water Foundation: Pesticides and Water Pollution
5. MIT News: Reducing runoff pollution by making spray droplets less bouncy
6. NIH: The environmental risks of neonicotinoid pesticides: a review of the evidence post 2013
7. Canadian Biotechnology Action Network: Environmental Impacts
8. Ecological Impacts of Toxic Chemicals, 2011, 63-87; Impacts of Agricultural Pesticides on Terrestrial Ecosystems by Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, Centre for Ecotoxicology, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
9. Beyond Pesticides: Impacts of Pesticides on Wildlife
10. CBC News: How DNA could be key to stopping the dangerous decline of Canada’s bee colonies
11. Berkeley: Policies to Protect Pollinators: Policy Action Brief February 2015: Actions Needed to Avert a Global Crisis in Agriculture
12. CBC News: How DNA could be key to stopping the dangerous decline of Canada’s bee colonies
13. Berkeley: Policies to Protect Pollinators: Policy Action Brief February 2015: Actions Needed to Avert a Global Crisis in Agriculture
14. SpringerLink: Risks of large-scale use of systemic insecticides to ecosystem functioning and services

Approved: 12 June 2021

Whereas:

• Medical research indicates that confined animal feeding operations are breeding grounds for harmful pathogens;
• Factory farms and large feedlots cause the over-concentration of manure with the result of nutrient overloading and the pollution of waterways and lakes; and
• Animal abuse occurs in factory farming;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• A ban on new, or the expansion of, factory farms and large feedlots;
• The phasing out of subsidies for factory farms and large feedlots;
• Strict regulations on the over-application of manure;
• Strict odour control measures;
• Strong Animal Welfare standards that ensure freedom from hunger, thirst, discomfort, injury and distress, and the freedom to express normal behaviours. The GPM would: 
• Ban intense confinement methods such as veal crates, inadequate gestation stalls, and battery cages;
• Ban current cruel practices of slaughter including battery of piglets and the live maceration of chicks, and
• Ban the cruel practice of forced moulting of egg-laying hens.
• Introduction of an Animal Welfare Act to which would include protection from cruelty and neglect for farmed animals in all aspects of industrial animal agriculture including factory farms, feedlots, slaughterhouses, and transportation; and
• Increasing regular independent inspections of farms to ensure adherence to animal welfare and environmental standards;

Be It Further Resolved:

• The GPM strongly opposes Ag-Gag laws and would introduce a bill to protect ag industry whistleblowers.

Approved: 12 June 2021

Whereas:

• Governments are under heavy industry pressure to approve the use of genetically modified Organism (GMO) crops and livestock;
• GMO seed is expensive and allows the monopolization of the seed supply;
• GMO crops are modified to depend on chemical use, leading to an increased amount of pesticides applied;
• The public increasingly rejects the use of pesticides;
• GMO versions of open pollinated crops contaminate non-GMO crops (e.g. Alfalfa and Canola);
• GMO contamination has caused economic damage and eliminated export opportunities;
• GMO Alfalfa is a threat to Manitoba’s seed and organic sectors;
• GMO seed trials of unapproved varieties are conducted in secret in Manitoba and have the potential to contaminate neighbouring crops; and
• Use of some GMO crops can have negative impacts on biodiversity, due to the use of broad-spectrum pesticides which have destroyed non-target organisms that provide habitat for multiple insect species, such as  the monarch butterfly in North America;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• A complete and immediate ban on GMO Alfalfa sale or propagation in Manitoba;
• A ban on any new GMO crop or livestock approvals for sale or use in Manitoba;
• A ban on any GMO seed trials in Manitoba;
• Clear product labelling (including all fruits and vegetables) so Manitoba consumers can make a choice between GMO and non-GMO products;
• Best management practices to increase agricultural efficiency and productivity while at the same time reducing pesticide use; and
• Focusing on using natural enemies of pests and crop rotations.

Approved: 12 June 2021

Food grown in distant locations has the potential for food safety issues at harvesting, processing, shipping, and distributing¹.  

Whereas:

• The global, just-in time food delivery system has been exposed as vulnerable to disruption;
• The resilience and security of the food supply is a public health issue;
• The demand for local food grown and processed in Manitoba is increasing;
• Restrictive food processing regulations, lack of local food processors, and distribution costs are barriers to local food availability;
• Food safety regulations have been developed for large factories with infrastructure requirements not suitable for small food processors;
• Long-distance transport of animals for slaughter is inherently cruel and causes intense animal suffering;
• Supporting local food will financially benefit local farmers and Manitoba’s economy;
• Local production facilitates tracking the supply chain back to the point of origin to evaluate ecological practices²; and
• Local food promotes a more stable food supply chain with less opportunity for disruption;

Be It Resolved

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Incentive and subsidy programs to increase the availability and variety of food grown in Manitoba for local distribution;
• Investment in small scale food processors( eg. mills, abattoirs, canneries, creameries);
• Investment in food cooperatives to bring efficiency to local food distribution;
• Developing small scale and on-farm specific food processing regulation; and
• Local purchasing requirements for the provincial government

References:

1. Michigan State University: 7 benefits of eating local foods
2. McGill: Food and Dining Services: The benefits of eating local foods

Approved: 2013 

Revised: 2015, 2019, 5 July 2021

Climate change is the biggest threat the world now faces. Greens recognize the urgency of replacing oil and gas infrastructure in public and private spheres with clean and efficient energy systems. 

Whereas: 

• Climate change due to global warming threatens to unleash massive changes in weather that will seriously compromise the health and well-being of all forms of life; 
• Large increases in the price of fuels are required to reduce the demand; 
• A carbon tax based on the CO2 equivalent of fossil fuels leads to increases in the price of fossil fuel that are directly related to its global warming potential;  
• Where carbon taxes have been implemented, there are reductions in fossil fuel use; and 
• The recycling of revenues from a carbon tax in the form of investments in sustainable infrastructure and rebates to households and the lowering of payroll taxes results in both equitable and efficient results for households and the economy;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports emissions reductions by: 

• Implementing an output-based carbon tax on large industrial emitters that will reduce carbon emissions; 
• Implementing a tax on the sale of a broad range of carbon-based fuels, based on their carbon equivalent emissions, that is sufficiently high to reduce consumption of those fuels to targeted levels.These taxes would be being revenue neutral, and disbursed in full on:
  • Spending on public and private green infrastructure; and
  • Cash transfer to lower income households and non-profit organizations to offset the effects of the tax;
  • Reduction in payroll and income tax. 
• Requiring the government of Manitoba to provide an annual full accounting of the revenues raised and disbursed.

Approved: 18 May 2023

Whereas:

• The climate emergency impacts every aspect and segment of society¹;
• Our Indigenous elders have and share invaluable wisdom about our natural environment²; and
• The Manitoba Climate Action Team, comprised of several well-respected local NGOs, recently reported the “Manitoba government has not achieved (or attempted) any meaningful climate progress to date.”³

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports the following:

• Recognize the climate crisis for the Emergency that it truly is;
• Recommend development of a provincial Climate Emergency Response Agency that would bring together environmental, health, engineering and other professionals with Indigenous leadership, government personnel and members of the lay public to oversee the coordinated planning and action on Climate Emergency mitigation and adaptation;
• Advocate for a provincial Citizens Assembly on the Climate Emergency with an emphasis on incorporating Indigenous wisdom on climate and the natural environment; and
• Emphasize the Climate Emergency in new and revised GPM policies where relevant.

References

1. Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, March 2023.
2. Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commision of Canada. Truth and Reconciliation Commision of Canada, 2015
   
3. Manitoba’s Road to Resilience: A Community Climate Action Pathway to a Fossil Fuel Free Future, Volume 3 Policy Solutions – Coordination and Finance, Climate Action Team, April 2023

Approved:   28 May 2023

Whereas:

• According to Elections Manitoba, “Campaign finance legislation is based on the premise that money is a significant factor in electoral success”¹;
• Presently (May 2023) Elections Manitoba limits total annual political contributions by any Manitoba resident to $5,000 (Parties and candidates combined) and to $3,000 per leadership candidate during Party leadership campaigns²; and
• 
The current limits benefit more affluent contributors and those Parties and candidates typically supported by such contributors;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba advocates 

• reducing the annual political contribution limit by any Manitoba resident as follows (adjusted for inflation from 2023): 

• • An annual limit of $500 in total to any and all political parties plus;
  • An annual limit of $500 in total to any and all candidates/constituency associations plus; and
  • An annual limit of $500 for leadership campaigns.

References

1. ”Campaign Financing”, Elections Manitoba.
2. “Contributions”, Elections Manitoba.

Approved: 2019

Whereas: 

• Most parents want their children to acquire some post-secondary education and training; 
• An ever increasing number of jobs require some post-secondary education and training; 
• Significant post-secondary student debt is becoming ever more prevalent; and 
• The prospect of significant post-secondary student debt can be a barrier to students aspiring to post-secondary education and training, especially students from low income circumstances;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• the Department of Education ensuring that students in need of financial assistance receive at least 50% of eligible assistance as non-repayable financial assistance; and  
• the repayment of all assistance which is received as a loan be through an Income Contingent Repayment plan, based on the ability to pay.

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• The AIDS Epidemic, as a direct result of a suppressed response upon its discovery, has now resulted in over 40 million deaths¹;
• Approximately 650,000 people worldwide died of HIV-related causes in 2021 alone¹;
• The coverup and suppression of the AIDS epidemic ended almost immediately upon discovery that it had entered heterosexual communities, and the rhetoric of the time was that it was not a threat that had been discovered, but that it had “been contained to small groups before” and was “now a threat”²;
• World governments openly admitted in an attempt to establish credibility that they had observed the virus go through homosexual communities and taken no action³;
• Such an intentional suppression, that nearly wiped out an entire generation of queer people and spread to over 84 million people can only be fairly described as a genocide¹;
• Education on the history of the AIDS Epidemic as a whole is lacking in our education system, while education on its causes and the suppression campaign are missing completely, despite being by all means one of the most significant historical events of the last 50 years;
• Stigma, discrimination and apathy towards drug users affected by AIDS persist today by communities and world governments; and
• Stigma, discrimination and apathy surrounding the AIDS virus remains prevalent within sex-negative communities and governments, continuing to harm affected individuals and communities of all orientations;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• The addition of content pertaining to the history of the AIDS epidemic, its causes and the suppression campaign to social studies curriculums of all Manitoba school divisions; and
  
• Officially designating the actions of world governments during the beginning of the HIV epidemic as a genocide of queer people, and demands that governments around the world do the same.

References

1. WHO Summary of the global HIV epidemic, 2021
2. AIDS Monolith, 1987
3. HIV/AIDS “Bowling Death” Public Service Announcement, 1987

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Many advocacy groups seeking to remove “explicit” materials from libraries focus solely on books that address or feature queer people and issues, while neglecting similar materials that focus on cishet individuals and issues;
• Individuals often make intolerant claims to advocate for the protection of children by targeting certain educational materials, when in truth their intention is to suppress such information and perpetuate discrimination against the queer community;
• The socially acceptable age at which parents should begin teaching their children about sex and sexual health can vary considerably, and in many cases this education does not begin until well after the onset of puberty, and the point at which their children begin to experience significant biological changes;
• Although it’s often said that the responsibility of teaching children about sex, sexual health and puberty falls on the parents, it’s worth noting that parents may not always possess the requisite knowledge or expertise to provide accurate and comprehensive education on these subjects, especially when deprived of relevant education themselves. Even when well-intentioned, the knowledge and capability of parents to educate their children on these issues often does not align with the needs of their children;
• Withholding essential information to preserve an abstract ideal of childhood innocence, is misguided and may reflect a self-centered mindset on the part of the parents. By prioritizing their own perception of their child and status as a parent, they may fail to recognize the child’s essential humanity, individual experiences and needs; and
  
• Educational literature pertaining to sexuality, sexual health, puberty and queer issues and identities serve as crucial resources for all adolescents in their formative years, and hold even greater significance for queer teens, and Education on some subjects may inherently entail topics that may not be deemed appropriate in all contexts. However, it is imperative that an educational environment fosters openness, provides fully accessible information, and promotes honesty;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

• Asserts that young people have the right to be educated on matters pertaining to their own bodies;
• Supports the freedom of speech and expression, as well as the freedom of information and the right to access that information;
• Strongly condemns the suppression and censorship of educational materials informing youth about puberty, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual health.
• Strongly condemns the suppression of books that feature queer individuals and issues; and
• Supports, where strictly necessary, provincial intervention to protect our libraries from bans and censorship.

Approved: 2019
Revised and Approved: 5 January 2021

Whereas: 

• Manitoba has a significant percentage of children and youth living in poverty; and  
• Research and experience indicate that children and youth living in poverty are more likely to experience academic and other difficulties in school, and are less likely than other students to graduate from high school;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• School divisions putting into place educational programming and services that are designed to specifically address the academic needs of children and youth living in poverty; 
• Putting into place programming and services that are designed to specifically address the in-school social needs of children and youth living in poverty; and
• Ensuring actions are taken by all schools to engage parents/caregivers of students in poverty in the education of their children. 

Reviewed: 17 December 2022
Approved:  12 February 2023

Whereas:

• testing narrows the range of what is taught in school and how it can be taught by making testability a necessary criterion in establishing a curriculum;
• Testing promotes the idea that education is little more than a competition for marks, with winners and losers;
• Test performance is a poor measure of what students are learning; and
• Testing and evaluation tend to discourage students who get low marks from further effort;

Be it resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• the role of testing and formal evaluation in school be minimized, and teachers instead given the means to make meaningful assessments of their students’ progress; and
• discontinuing standardized tests.

Approved: 2019

Whereas:

• Learning starts at birth;
• Initial school readiness gives students the best chance of long-term educational success; and 
• Educational success in the early grades (K to 3) greatly increases the likelihood of graduating from high school;

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Mandating school divisions, in collaboration with Healthy Child Manitoba and parents/caregivers and the early childhood development community, to develop and implement early childhood education and development programming and initiatives; and
• Providing funding to school divisions for early childhood education and development programming and initiatives. 

Approved: 2019
Revised and Approved: 5 January 2021 

Whereas: 

• The well-being of future generations depends on there being a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable low-carbon economy; and 
• It is urgent that today’s student learn as quickly as possible how to transition as quickly as possible to a low-carbon economy;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Requiring that all future curriculum development be done from the perspective of teaching students to be ecologically aware and literate; 
• Encouraging each school to develop and implement an education for sustainability school plan; and 
• Requiring faculties of education to incorporate into teacher education and training what teachers need to know to teach students to be ecologically literate and live sustainably.

Approved: 2019 

Whereas:  

• Indigenous students often feel marginalized and alienated from public schooling; 
• The Indigenous community is the youngest and fastest growing community in Manitoba; and 
• Indigenous students as a group have much lower academic achievement levels than non-Indigenous students;
  

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Preparing and implementing a plan to improve the educational experiences of Indigenous students by ensuring that:
  • Indigenous students feel welcomed and belong in public schools through the implementation of culturally appropriate educational programming and services;
  • Indigenous students are academically successful; and
  • actions are taken by all schools to engage parents/caregivers of Indigenous students in the education of their children.  

Approved: 2019 

Whereas:

It is important for young people to:

• Acquire important life skills;
• Be academically success throughout their school career;
• Be effectively engaged in higher-order learning; and
• Be effective life-long learners;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Placing a greater emphasis on the teaching of foundational skills in numeracy and literacy, especially in the early years (K-4); and
• Reducing wait time for assessing students with learning disabilities so that those who qualify for a special education designation receive early intervention and the necessary supports, regardless of where in the province the student is attending school.

Approved: 2019 

Whereas: 

• Many students struggling academically would often benefit from in-school out-of-class extra help; 
• Many schools are not resourced to provide such help;  
• Research indicates that falling behind academically is especially problematic and difficult to remedy; and 
• Many parents cannot afford to hire private tutors to provide such help;

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Requiring all schools to make available in-school out-of-class tutoring services to all students and, in particular, for struggling students; and 
• Providing funding to school divisions specifically in support of in-school out-of-class tutoring services.

Approved: 2019

Whereas: 

• Educational research indicates that the two biggest in-school factors affecting student academic achievement are: (i) teacher competency and (ii) strong school leadership; and 
• To create the best possible learning environments in schools it is important that teachers, school administrators and school division administrators work well together as a team;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports all school divisions, in collaboration with teachers and school administrators, developing annual professional development plans for teachers and school administrators.

Approved: 2019
Revised and Approved:  5 January 2021

Whereas: 

• Research indicates that the amount of instructional time correlates with higher student achievement; 
• Schools should know best what the needs of their students are in terms of the allocation of available instructional time; and 
• Schools and school divisions in Manitoba currently do not have the authority to alter the hours or days of instruction;
  

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• School divisions being able to establish their own schedule of the hours and days of instructional time within the provincially determined number of school days in a calendar year; and 
• Schools, under the guidance of school divisions, being able to allocate available instructional time during the school day.

Approved: 27 February 2022

Whereas:

• Manitoba’s sexual health education aims to promote safety, personal and social management, and healthy lifestyle practices;
• Abortion has been the most common outcome of teen pregnancy in most years since 1993¹;
• Manitoba’s sexual health curriculum is primarily focused on sexual activities between heterosexual cisgender people and health relating to those relationships including but not limited to pregnancy and STI-transmission;
• In 2014 1.7% and 1.3% of people aged 18-59 respectively identified as homosexual (gay or lesbian) and bisexual;
• LGBTQ+ youth have a limited number of trusted adults with whom they feel they can safely discuss their sexual health and behaviour;
• Student-on-student sexualized violence is common among Canadian students with 26%² of women and girls aged 14-21 reporting having received experienced unwanted sexual contact at school;
• Victims and survivors of sexualized violence are unlikely to report it, fearing social consequences;
• Sexualized violence is largely preventable through education;
• Intersex individuals face social stigma and potential social isolation when revealing their intersex status; and
• Such negative social outcomes are preventable through education;

Be It Resolved:

That the Green Party of Manitoba supports implementing a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum including:

• The addition of content about abortion, including different types of abortions and how to access abortion; lessons on contraception; consequences and implications of sexual behaviour; and healthy pregnancy;
• The addition of content about same-sex relationships including sex between same-sex individuals, STI and disease prevention in same-sex relationships, and sexual orientation;
• The addition of content about sexualized violence and prevention including topics such as consent, reporting sexualized violence, and supporting peers who have disclosed experiencing sexualized violence; and
• The addition of intersex individuals to the curriculum in modules on reproductive anatomy.

References

1. StatsCan: Teenage Pregnancy
2. CBC News: Student-on-student sexual violence highest in Prairies, CBC National Survey Finds
   

Approved: 2019

Whereas: 

• What is taught in school can only really be learned – not just memorized for the test and forgotten – when students are actively engaged in the subject matter and see it as meaningful in their future; and 
• Good teachers can guide and inspire students best by ongoing interaction, rather than presenting a static lesson to a class;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Shifting the focus of education through the following:
  • Promoting habits of critical thinking which would enable students to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of information sources, as well as to formulate rationally supported ideas and communicate them clearly; and
  • Centering the curriculum on participation in projects and problem-solving in order to incorporate diverse subject matter and teach a variety of skills, with ongoing emphasis on writing and arithmetic.

Approved: 2019 

Real learning requires an emphasis on developing young minds, not on marks. Greens want an education system that focuses on equity of educational opportunity, while encouraging a student’s natural desire to learn.  

Whereas: 

• Testing narrows the range of what is taught in school and how it can be taught by making testability a necessary criterion in establishing a curriculum; 
• Testing promotes the idea that education is little more than a competition for marks, with winners and losers; 
• Test performance is a poor measure of what students are learning; and
• Testing and evaluation tend to discourage students who get low marks from further effort;
  

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Minimizing the role of testing and formal evaluation in school, instead giving teachers the means to make meaningful assessments of their students’ progress; and 
• Discontinuing standardized tests. 

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Child hunger can lead to significant detriments to development, immunity, behaviour, concentration, and academic performance ¹;
• Studies have shown that nearly 60% students from lower-income communities have gone to school hungry, 12% of whom reported being too distracted by their hunger to learn properly ²;
• Manitoba, and the Winnipeg School division in particular, is home to a large volume of lower-income students; 
• Providing free, nutritiously balanced meals in schools have been highly successful in other jurisdictions throughout the world in improving student health, happiness, and learning outcomes ^3,4,5; and
• Providing school meals provides an additional opportunity to teach students about nutrition, food sustainability, and traditional diets;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Providing Lunch and up to one other meal (Breakfast or Dinner) to all K-12 Students in Manitoba public schools, free of charge;
• Opening a provincially-staffed commercial kitchen in each school ward for the purpose of preparing school meals; and
  
• Forming a team of nutritionists, farmers, chefs, and indigenous elders/traditional knowledge keepers, to coordinate meal planning for each school division and ensure every meal provided has variety, provides for all of a students nutritional needs in a balanced manner, accommodates various dietary needs, and makes use of locally-produced, ethically-sourced, and sustainable ingredients wherever possible.

 References

1. No Kid Hungry: How Does Hunger Affect Learning?
2. No Kid Hungry: How Does Hunger Affect Learning?
3. Hunter College New York City Food Policy Centre: Japan’s School Lunch Program Serves Nutritious Meals with Food Education
4. Japan World Traveler: Kyushoku: Japanese School Lunch
5. New York State: Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance: School Breakfast and Lunch Programs

Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)¹, the fossil fuel subsidies in Manitoba were $871 million dollars in 2020; these are administered through Manitoba Petroleum Fiscal Regimen (MPFR) which specifies the tax breaks, royalty deferrals, direct incentives, etc that are provided to the oil exploration and extraction industry;
• Fuel is exempted from Provincial Sales Tax (PST)²;
• The use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking is growing; the majority (76 of 83 drilled in 2020) of new oil wells are horizontal wells, aka fracking wells ³; Manitoba does not measure natural gas emissions nor groundwater contaminates (from fracking chemicals) on lands and in ground water above the drill sites; February 4, 2012 the University of Winnipeg aired the documentary film, Burning Water, demonstrating the experiences of people in Rosebud, Alberta as a result of fracking;
• Silica sand is required to support fracking to extract tight oil and natural gas; silica sand mining causes environmental issues, like contamination of surface waters and groundwater, and health issues, like silicosis ⁴; the silica sand in Manitoba is “theoretically possible” but really not suitable for flat glass or solar panels ⁵; and
• The Green Party of Canada committed to “End all production of fossil fuels” by 2035 ⁶;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will:

• Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies in Manitoba; this includes but is not limited to, simplifying the MPFR to apply royalties and taxes every barrel of oil and every cubic metre of natural gas produced in Manitoba, removing incentives for oil and gas exploration within the Province, and eliminating the financial supports for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the Province;
• Remove the exemption for fuel under the Fuel Tax Act, and apply PST to all fuels;
• Ban hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking;
• Ban silica sand mines;
• Cancel all new oil exploration projects; and
• Phase out existing oil and gas operations, so that they continue on a declining basis, to terminate at the end of 2035.

References:

1. International Monetary Funds: Fossil Fuel Subsidies
2. Government of Manitoba Bulletin: Summary of Taxable and Exempt Goods and Services
3. Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development: Manitoba Oil Facts
4. Ernst v. EnCana Corporation: Manitoba Silica Sand Mining: “sharp dealings” by gov’ts serve CanWhite Sands Corp while trumping human rights to safe water
   
5. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: Manitoba’s Silica Sand: Use for Fracking Natural Gas
6. Green Party of Canada 2021 Platform
   

Reviewed: Dec 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• Sewer and distributed wastewater treatment systems are inherently capital and energy intensive;
• These often result in an adverse impact on human health and ecosystem deterioration, and produce no useful product;
• Ecological sanitation systems exist that cause none of the sewer and wastewater systems’ problems; and
• The infrastructures cost far less, and they produce a useful agricultural end product;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Moving toward ecological sanitation by implementing low-cost, on-site, excreta recycling technologies resulting in dry compost;
• Incentivizing the purchase and installation of composting toilets;
• Changing building codes to implement composting toilets; and
• Applying the technology and systems to collect and repurpose household compost.

Approved: 12 February 2023 

Whereas: 

• Hydraulic fracturing has occurred in most of Manitoba’s 5,194  active oil wells; 
• The Province of Manitoba currently has no regulations that would require oil companies to report the type and amount of fracking chemicals used, nor the amount of fresh water used in the process; and 
• Among the possible dangers inherent in fracking is the permanent contamination of groundwater with toxic chemicals;
  

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• a ban on hydraulic fracturing.

Approved: 6 December 2021
Whereas:

• Ecological goods and services provided by forests are irreplaceable, such as purify the air and water, soil productivity, carbon storage, flood prevention and erosion prevention, humidifying the atmosphere, climate change adaptation and mitigation;
• Deforestation would be detrimental to the tourism industry and our collective connection to nature;
• Living trees provide many different benefits such as: outdoor recreation, hunting, fishing, timber, spiritual significance, harvesting of food and medicine, wildlife habitat, and beautification of the landscape;
• Forests are critical to protecting Manitoba’s biodiversity;
• Clear-cutting our forest is unsustainable;
• Selective cutting is the practice of removing selected trees in a forest so that growth of other trees or not affected and the majority of the trees are left standing;
• Patch cutting is the removal of tree from a forest stand by cutting between 0.5 hectares and 2 hectares of mature trees down, significantly less than a typical clear cut; 
• Annual allowable cut is the annual amount of timber that can be harvested on a sustainable basis within a defined forest area;
• Forest management license areas are designated land areas given to a forestry company to log by the provincial government. This then allows them to create a forest management plan approved by the government; and
• Healthy, diverse forests can better cope with disturbances and continue to function as viable ecosystems;

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Eliminating the use of clear-cutting as a harvesting method, by supporting the use of selective logging and patch cutting;
• Ensuring tree species diversity in re-planting of logged areas
• Investing in more value-added forestry to reduce our reliance on exporting raw logs;
• Capping the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for all forest management license areas (FMLAs) thus preventing the expansion of clear-cutting and forestry in Manitoba;
• Reviewing how Forest Management Licenses are granted and revise the process to be in accordance with the precautionary principle and approach;
• Ensuring rigorous environmental assessments are conducted prior to issuance of new or renewal logging permits;
• A reduction in the spraying of pesticides due to their negative impacts on biological diversity ultimately leading to an overall ban
• Creating a recycled content standard for paper products sold in Manitoba;
• Promoting alternatives such as hemp and agricultural cellulose to be used in the production of paper products;
• Promote a certification standard which recognizes the full economic, environmental and social benefits of forests, in order to increase the sustainability of forest ecosystems; and
• Opposing terms of USMCA trade agreements, that require Manitoba to clear-cut and export our forests;

Be It Further Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba amend the Forest Act of Manitoba to:

• Include private woodlots. 
• Permanently protect all existing provincial parks from any form of commercial logging. 

Be It Further Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba encourage the use of alternatives to wood pulp to produce paper by:

• Implementing a mandatory government purchasing requirement regarding recycled content paper; and
• Prioritizing the adoption of paperless government operations wherever possible;

Be It Further Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba consult local people in our planning by:

• Holding meaningful consultations and accommodations throughout Manitoba with Indigenous people, local residents, and all other stakeholders to create provincial standards and best practices that will ensure the long-term health of our forests.

Approved: 12 February 2023 

Whereas: 

• Treated potable water is a valuable commodity; 
• In most residences 50% of the treated potable water is used to supply water for toilets – a waste of resources; and 
• Water reclamation systems are available “off-the shelf” and, in addition, rainwater can easily be diverted for toilet flushing purposes;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Mandating that all building permits for residential, commercial, institutional and industrial buildings include a water reclamation system so that only minimal amounts of treated water are used for toilet flushing.

Reviewed: Dec, 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas: 

• Our individual and collective well-being is directly related to the well-being of the natural world; 
• It is imperative that the natural environment be better preserved and protected in the future than it has been in the past; to do so will mean better and more consistently assessing all individual and collective actions in terms of their ecological and environmental impact;  
• Governments have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to preserve and protect the natural environment;  
• Environmental assessments are intended to minimize or avoid harmful environmental impacts before they occur¹; and
• Provinces and thus taxpayers have been required to cover the costs of remediation of mine sites and environmental disasters^{2, 3}: In April 2022, Manitoba pledged $50,000,000 towards the clean-up of orphaned mines that were abandoned by private owners⁴;

Be it Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Mandating rigorous environmental impact assessments, independent from the industry but paid for by the proponents, of all projects that may cause significant environmental impacts or are of particular public interest, including but not limited to all current and future fossil fuel exploration and production activities; 
• Ensuring the social, economic and health impacts on a community as well as the environmental impacts of a proposed project are considered;
• Requiring mitigation procedures for the safe disposal of all solid, liquid and gaseous waste streams for both current and new extractive industry projects;  
• Ensuring new production begins only upon the completion of the impact assessment on all waste streams;
• Requiring greater scrutiny of the assessment process, including meaningful opportunities for public consultation, to ensure that projects causing unacceptable effects on the environment are not allowed to proceed or are subject to strict conditions to mitigate harm;
• Implementing clear and enforceable follow-up mechanisms to ensure sustainability after projects are built;
• Holding project owners responsible for any and all clean-up and remediation costs associated with their project;
• Project owners will additionally be required at the outset of their project to create and show evidence of a trust fund designated exclusively for any clean-up and/or remediation costs associated with the project;
• Funds in this trust will be entirely protected from any creditors associated with the project owner;
• Parent companies of the direct owner of the project will also be held liable for any costs associated with project clean-up or remediation in the event the funds in the trust are insufficient.
• Removing the ability of government ministers and bureaucrats to veto or forego assessments, thus ensuring a fair and consistent playing field for all project proponents; and
• No project should get a green light unless the proponent can show that all serious risks can be safely managed.

References:

1. Ecojustice:  A cautionary tale: the importance of environmental assessments
   
2. The Globe and Mail: B.C. mines minister ‘surprised’ by cleanup fund shortfall
3. Vancouver Sun: Opinion: Mount Polley cleanup heavily taxpayer subsidized
4. Global News: Manitoba invests $50M to clean up orphaned abandoned mines
   

Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas: 

• Irresponsible land use planning, degradation of land through human activity, and changes in land quality and availability due to climate change mean that land must be managed so as to ensure sustainable human development and safeguard biodiversity;
  
• Urban sprawl contributes to a variety of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease¹;
• Urban development that relies on and necessitates automobile use will produce more air pollutants such as ozone and airborne particulates²;
• Cities that are designed around automobile use provide fewer opportunities for citizens to walk, cycle or otherwise engage in active transportation to get to work, school or for leisure:
• Exercise is critical to managing and avoiding many health conditions including among others obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular function and stress. 
• Urban sprawl also leads to a loss of open space and degradation of wildlife habitat, as well as natural ecosystems that provide vital ecosystem services such as air purification and water filtration³;
• The creation of complete communities, where key services and resources are within walking distance for residents, addresses several public goals, including mitigating climate change, increasing affordability, reducing infrastructure costs, promoting better public health and championing equity⁴;
• Canada, along with 115 other countries, signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), to protect and conserve 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030⁵; and
  
• In Manitoba, protected areas constitute only 11% of our land and water⁶;

Be It resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Urban planning for Manitoba’s largest population centres that includes high population density, walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, preserved green spaces, mixed-use development, available mass transit, and limited road construction;
• Working towards the concept of 15-minute cities for Manitoba’s urban population centres – in which all residents can meet  their essential needs, such as grocery stores – within a 15 minute walk or bike  ride from their home; and
  
• Support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) by increasing Manitoba’s protected areas to 30% by 2030.

References:

1. National Center for Biotechnology Information: Urban Sprawl and Public Health
2. National Center for Biotechnology Information: Urban Srpawl, Smart Growth, and Deliberative Democracy
3. OECD: Rethinking Urban Sprawl: Moving Towards Sustainable Cities
4. CBC News: Vancouver close to achieving ’15-minute city’ status, SFU Finds
5. IISD: High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People Moves to Implementation Phase
6. Government of Manitoba, Environment, Climate and Parks: Protected and Conserved Areas

Approved: 27 February 2022

Whereas:

• It is estimated that there are between 25-30,000 black bears in Manitoba^{1, 2};   
• MB doesn’t actively monitor black bear populations³;   
• Bears have their litters in spring, and bear cubs need to remain with their mother for approximately 16-17 months to ensure survival of the cubs⁴; 
• Banning the killing of female bears accompanied by cubs is, for practical purposes, unenforceable;
• Approximately 4000 bears are legally killed in MB each year, about 50% of which is normally conducted by foreign-based hunters⁵; 
• The government of Manitoba does not track the number of female bears killed during the spring bear hunt;
• In Ontario, approximately one third of the bears killed during the Ontario spring bear hunt are female⁶;
• There is no ceiling on the number of black bear hunting licences available to purchase in a given year⁷;
• Bears lose considerable weight during hibernation and are in a weakened state when they emerge from hibernation in the spring;
• Bear hunting typically involves using food bait, often human food containing sugar, to attract bears;
• Bear habituation to human food is a common cause of bear-human conflict;
• There are human, non-lethal methods to minimize bear-human conflict⁸; and
• The spring bear hunt is not an effective strategy for addressing bear-human conflict;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will:

• Work to improve the wildlife existence in this province by increasing protection for critical habitat;
• Ban logging and mining in provincial parks, and increase the percentage of Manitoba’s forests which remain undisturbed;
• Call for a ban on the spring bear hunt which leaves so many orphaned bear cubs each spring;
• Work with those who depend on trapping in order to feed their families; and
• Raise awareness and support the use of humane methods which reduce animal suffering.

References:

1. Province of Manitoba: Black Bear Fact Sheet
2. SaskToday: Bear encounters on the rise in Manitoba
3. CBC News: ‘We’re in bear country’: Be alert, not alarmed, as bears bulk up for winter
4. North American Bear Center: What Is The Black Bear Reproductive Cycle?
5. The Free Press: The bear-naked truth: Sightings are on the rise
6. Toronto Star: The Big Debate: Should there be a spring bear hunt?
7. The Free Press: Bearing witness to commitment’s success
8. Phys.Org: Reducing attractants is best strategy to reduce human-bear conflict

Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• Climate change due to global warming threatens to unleash massive changes in weather that will seriously compromise the health and well-being of all forms of life; 
• Large increases in the price of fuels are required to reduce the demand;
• A carbon tax based on the CO2 equivalent of fossil fuels leads to increases in the price of fossil fuel that are directly related to its global warming potential;  
• Where carbon taxes have been implemented, there are reductions in fossil fuel use; 
• The recycling of revenues from a carbon tax in the form of investments in sustainable infrastructure and rebates to households and the lowering of payroll taxes results in both equitable and efficient results for households and the economy;
• Industrial emitters have a loophole in “a regulatory trading system for industry – the federal Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS)” ¹ the OBPS provides weak incentive for industrial emitters to reduce emissions; and
• The Green Party of Canada will “Introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment” to prevent industrial emitters from relocating to avoid Carbon Taxes; Manitoba needs to protect itself from similar actions that may occur from other countries and other Provinces²;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• A tax on the sale of a broad range of carbon-based fuels, based on their carbon equivalent emissions, that is sufficiently high to reduce consumption of those fuels to targeted levels;
• A Carbon tax will apply to all industrial emitters;  
• These taxes being revenue neutral, disbursed in full on: spending on public and private green infrastructure, cash transfer to lower income households and non-profit organizations to offset the effects of the tax, reduction in payroll and income tax, and the government of Manitoba providing an annual full accounting of the revenues raised and disbursed; and
• Enacting a Carbon Border Adjustment, which will ensure Manitoba companies paying carbon taxes are not placed at a competitive disadvantage with foreign companies located in countries or provinces with no such taxes.

References:

1. Government of Canada: Carbon Pollution Pricing System across Canada: Ouput-Based Pricing System
2. Green Party of Canada 2021 Platform

Approved: 2004
Revised and Approved: 5 January 2021 

Whereas:

• Fixed election dates remove the ability of the party in power to choose an election date advantageous to their party; and
• Fixed election dates allow for better public planning around elections; 

Be It Resolved:  

The Green Party of Manitoba supports fixing the length of the governing party’s term at four years, unless the government falls in a non-confidence vote.

Approved: 2004
Revised: 2017

The Greens recognize that there is an inherent lack of democracy in our current electoral system, allowing candidates and parties with a minority of votes to be elected. We want to strengthen democracy and extend participation in the electoral system through increased fairness and stability. 

Whereas:

• The first-past-the-post system often results in less than 50% of those voting electing a majority government; 
• Such an outcome causes many voters, especially younger voters, to feel like they are not properly being represented in the legislature; 
• Proportional representation is an electoral system that awards a proportion of seats in a representative (legislative) body that is proportional to the number of votes a party wins in an election; 
• A mixed member system can combine the major attributes of both the first-past-the-post and the proportional representation electoral systems; and 
• Changing the fundamental aspects of an electoral system is something best done in a careful and incremental manner; 

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Mixed member proportional representation as the method of achieving democratic representation, as follows:  
  • The existing 57 first-past-the-post seats in the Manitoba Legislature to be allocated 50 seats using the first-past-the-post system and 7 seats using the largest remainder method to create a more proportional legislature; 
  • The largest remainder seats will be filled by candidates who ran in the election for their respective parties who received the highest percentage of votes compared to other candidates in their party; and 
  • The minimum election threshold for gaining a seat to be 4%. 
• Consultation with the public and other political parties regarding implementing these changes; and 
• Implementing this policy without holding a referendum.

Approved: 2005 

Whereas:

• Older adolescents are capable of understanding complex political and social issues; and 
• Young people have at least as great an stake in determining who governs them as older people do;
  

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports lowering the voting age to 16 for provincial elections.

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Manitobans continue to suffer from high rates of preventable chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, especially prevalent in our Indigenous communities;
• Infectious diseases, as seen with COVID-19, have also had dramatic impacts on Manitobans’ health and on the healthcare system¹;
• Healthcare costs in Manitoba, as across Canada, continue to rise, outpacing available resources,  with additional strains from an aging population and increasing rates of opioid and other addiction;
• The effects of the Climate Emergency will increasingly exert pressure on Manitobans’ health and our healthcare system, from emerging pathogens originating in newly invasive species to stressors on our air, water and food supplies to the dramatic impacts of increasingly powerful storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires²;
• The typical approach of focusing on downstream solutions with reliance on hospitals, critical care, and expensive drugs is far more costly than upstream, proactive solutions emphasizing social determinants of health, especially eliminating poverty;
• Knowledge and solutions exist with the very people who provide service in healthcare who are under-consulted and over-worked;
• Wisdom exists across our communities, especially with our Indigenous elders, where Manitobans themselves can provide valuable insight into improving health for all; and
• Much work through commissioned reports including Lalonde³, Epp⁴, and Peachy⁵ have already provided invaluable insight into upstream approaches to health and preserving and enhancing our universal healthcare system;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will

• Emphasize upstream, preventative approaches to health, with a focus on the social determinants of health and the potential impacts of the Climate Emergency; and
  
• Encourage and support the development of Citizen’s Assemblies on Health and Healthcare, comprised of healthcare professionals, administrators, and academics, but also citizens drawn from a wide range of communities, disciplines, and experience, especially from our Indigenous communities.
  

References

1. Average cost for COVID-19 ICU patients estimated at more than $50,000: report
2. Health Canada releases assessment report on effects of climate change on health
3. Lalonde 1974 A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians
4. Epp 1984 Achieving Health for All: A Framework for Health Promotion
5. Peachy 2017 PROVINCIAL CLINICAL AND PREVENTIVE SERVICES PLANNING FOR MANITOBA

Date of Approval: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• An estimated 15-20% of the world’s population exhibit some form of neurodivergence¹ and nearly 2% of the world’s population is Autistic;
• Autism and other forms of Neurodivergence are neuro-developmental differences that cannot be cured² or effectively/permenently “treated,”
• Autistic and Neurodivergent individuals are people who deserve respect, human rights, and accomodations to participate in society as their true selves;
• Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI), two popular and often publicly funded methods of “treating” Autism are based in the same psuedoscientific “research” and methodologies as queer conversion therapy³;
• Although violent punishment for Autistic behaviour is now less frequently advocated under ABA/IBI guidelines, it is still practiced⁴;
• Even “Gentle,” or solely reward-based ABA/IBI methods are based in the false ideas that Autistic and Neurodivergent traits are inherently bad, undesirable, abnormal, in need of “correcting,” and possible to permanently “correct”⁵;
• Although Autistic and Neurodivergent patients may learn to exhibit more Neurotypical behaviours through ABA/IBI, they are simply learning to “Mask” their Neurodivergent traits behind a Neurotypical facade, an act which is often emotionally draining or even physically painful for Neurodivergent individuals⁶;
• Forcing Neurodivergent individuals to painfully go against their natural traits to conform to neurotypical capitalist societal norms is harmful, often traumatic, arguably eugenicist, and overall just wrong;
• Forcing these experiences on children in particular ought to be considered abuse; and
  
• Given that “Respect for Diversity” is a core value of the Global Greens Charter, Greens should universally advocate respect for and celebration of Autistic and Neurodivergent individuals and their traits and actively work to build a world more accessible to them;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Introducing legislation to end the practice of harmful and/or pseudoscientific autism “therapies” in Manitoba, such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) & Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI);
• Calling a public inquiry into the history and impacts of harmful and/or pseudoscientific Autism “therapies” in Manitoba and working with those impacted to provide reconciliation;
• Requiring reasonable, modern, patient-centred informed-consent procedures for any individual to undergo “therapies” for or participate in studies of Autism or other forms of neurodivergence and prohibiting parents or guardians from forcibly enrolling minors in such therapies;
• Restricting the use of the term “cure” by practitioners offering “therapies” for or seeking participants for studies of Autism or other similar forms of Neurodivergence, notwithstanding a significant change in the scientific consensus on the nature of these conditions;
• Eliminating all public funding for practitioners, studies, non-profits, and other such entities which advocate or actively work to cure or eliminate Autism and/or other forms of neurodivergence, and
  
• Working with neurodivergent individuals to implement policies to make healthcare, and Manitoban society in general, less hostile and more accessible to Autism and Neurodivergence.

References

1. National Cancer Institute: Neurodiversity, 2022
2. Mayo Clinic: Autism Spectrum Disorder
3. Margaret Gibson and Patty Douglas: Disturbing Behaviors: Ole Ivar Lovaas and the Queer History of Autism Science
4. Xtra*: Why the ‘treatment’ of autism is a form of conversion therapy
5. Ibid.
6. Good Rx Health: Autism Masking: How Hiding Your Neurodiversity Can Affect Your Mental Health

Reviewed: 25 November 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• The term “ controlled substances” refers to the drugs and substances whose possession, cultivation, distribution, import, and export are controlled and defined by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act^{1, 2};
• The Green Party of Manitoba neither condemns nor condones the use of controlled substances;
• People choose to use substances for many different reasons, including to cope with pain or to increase pleasure; 
• The Green Party of Manitoba believes that the decision to use substances rests solely with each individual, given age of majority and competence to make an informed decision;
• Substance abuse has high social costs, including mental health issues, family breakdown, child abuse, homelessness, poverty, and marginalization, all of which hinder the ability of persons to seek appropriate care and increase the risk of negative outcomes³;
• Substance abuse has high economic costs including lost productivity, criminal justice costs, and critical healthcare costs, exacerbated because the risk associated with possession prevents persons from seeking early care;
• Incarceration for drug possession is costly and harmful to individuals and families, prevents access to mental health and addiction recovery services, and disproportionately affects Indigenous and other marginalized communities⁴;
• The money spent on incarceration, averaging $125,000 per year per inmate in 2021⁵, could be more effectively spent on community care and support programs;
• Many of the harms associated with substance use stem from the criminality of substance use and the associated stigma.
• Overdose prevention sites have been shown to reduce harm from disease transmission and overdose-related deaths, and provide opportunities for healthcare and social services outreach;
• Unregulated drug supply is causing widespread harm and death;  
• Access to a safe supply and safer drug use equipment has been shown to reduce harm and is supported by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority⁶; and
• The Green Party of Manitoba supports the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

• Advocates the Federal government decriminalize possession of controlled substances for personal use;
• Acknowledges that the unauthorized distribution and sale of controlled substances should remain a violation of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act;
• Supports the establishment of overdose prevention sites and a legally regulated safer drug supply;
• Supports the use of taxes raised from the sale of all controlled substances, in part, to fund education and health services to prevent and treat substance abuse;
• Encourages developing these services, in addition to addressing the social and economic conditions underlying substance abuse; and
• Supports increasing the accessibility of safer drug use supplies, including, but not limited to, naloxone, drug checking equipment, glass pipes, and needles.

References:

1. Government of Canada: Controlled and Illegal Drugs
2. Government of Canada: Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (S.C. 1996, c. 19)
3. BC Medical Journal: The health care and fiscal costs of the illicit drug use epidemic: The impact of conventional drug control strategies, 2003
4. Government of Canada: Report 1: Recommendations on alternatives to criminal penalties for simple possession of controlled substances. 2021
5. Statista.com: Average daily inmate expenditures for adult federal, provincial and territorial correctional services in Canada in fiscal years 2001 to 2021
6.  WRHA: Position Statement on Harm Reduction (2016)

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas: 

• A person has the right to receive an abortion in the health care facility of their choice without financial or other penalty; and
  
• Currently there is limited access to abortion services, forcing many Manitoba residents to travel long distances to access abortion services;
  

Be it Resolved: 

 The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Full public funding for abortion services;
• Every regional health authority should be legally required to offer abortion services within its geographical boundaries;
• Education on family planning programs;
• Conception products and planning services should be entirely publicly funded under Medicare and Pharmacare; and 
• The provincial government should require all Manitoba pharmacies to  provide access to contraception and abortion products, such as the ‘morning after pill’ and the ‘abortion pill’.

Healthcare – Legalizing Homegrown Cannabis

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• When the Canadian government legalized possession for personal use of Cannabis in 2018, the laws provided for individuals to grow up to four plants for personal use and to share with others¹;
• Illicit trade still makes up 30 to 50%² of Canada’s cannabis market losing the ability to control the quality of the cannabis;
• Federal laws make provision for cannabis retailers to sell seeds and seedlings³; and
• Manitoba is one of only two provinces, the other being Québec, which have not followed the federal guideline allowing for growing cannabis for personal use;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will:

• Legalize the growth of cannabis plants for personal use, in harmony with federal laws.

References

1. Cannabis legalization and regulation
2. With pot rules under the microscope, some entrepreneurs say Ottawa is stunting the industry’s growth
3. Growing cannabis at home safely

Approved: 27 February 2022

Whereas:

• Subjecting intersex children (also referred to as persons with DSDs – disorders or differences in sex development) to unnecessary surgical and medical intervention is a common practice affecting between 30-80%¹ of intersex children;
• These procedures often result in irreversible and life-altering damage;
• Many intersex adults who have undergone such medical interventions have expressed significant mental and physical suffering as a result including perpetuated anti-intersex stigma;
• These procedures are often performed on individuals without their consent because the child is too young to be properly informed and/or because parents and medical professionals deem it best not to inform the child;
• Some medical professionals have mislead intersex children and/or their parents into thinking that these so-called ‘sex-normalizing’ interventions are necessary or ‘best’; and
• Complete disclosure and informed consent result are ideal conditions for medical intervention;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports: 

• Prohibiting medically unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on intersex children;
• Mandating appropriate training of medical professionals on malpractice relating to such non-consensual, so-called ‘sex-normalizing’ procedures; and
• Investigating past instances of unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on intersex children to make amends and implement a patient-led response going forward.

References

1. Egale Canada: Egale Canada urges the Federal Government to meet domestic and International Human Rights requirements of Intersex People on International Intersex Awareness Day

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Numerous events have shown that macro power grid systems are not 100% reliable and are prone to catastrophic outages, recently October 11, 2019, April 24, 2022;
• Micro grid technologies are well established and affordable. Under micro power systems each house is an independent power producer, and a power-thrifty home owner will never have to purchase power from a utility provider;
• Micro power systems are available “off-the-shelf”, extremely reliable, and in most cases allow for a reliable supply of power to the building if a catastrophic macro grid power outage should occur;
• Fossil fuel furnaces, typically natural gas supplied by Manitoba Hydro, heat the majority of houses. Estimated consumption is two thirds of the two billion cubic metres supplied by Hydro to Manitoba¹, resulting in 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 (2/3 x 2B m3 x 1.86 kg per m3). Manitoba Hydro indicates that natural gas heating is more affordable² than electric heat;
• Leakage from the natural gas distribution system was about 0.002, in 1997. Centra Gas Manitoba stopped reporting this metric. Manitoba Hydro (which purchased Centra Gas) also does not report this metric so no current data exists. Assuming that leakage is unchanged, 4 million m3 of natural gas leaks into our atmosphere (2B m3 x 0.002), resulting in 7.4 million kg of natural gas leaked, which equals 186,000 tonnes CO2e(equivalent);  and
• 70% savings of the energy and cost is possible using geothermal heating³;

Be it resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

• Encourages requirements that building permits for new residential housing units include the installation of at least 10 KW capacity micro power system based on renewable energy sources, wind, solar and alternative power sources;
• Encourages the installation of micro power systems based on renewable energy sources for building permits on existing residential housing;
• Encourages changing the building code to ban natural gas heating in new construction in favour of use geothermal, heat pumps, solar heating and other sustainable methods; and
• Encourages Manitoba Hydro to promote geothermal and heat pumps as an affordable heating option and discontinue the promotion of natural gas heating.

References

1. Manitoba Hydro: Facilities and Operations
2. Manitoba Hydro: Heating Systems
3. Wondering about your energy options for space heating?

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Canada has ratified many international human rights instruments recognizing the right to housing as one of the most fundamental human rights and the responsibility to use maximum available resources to address this human right;
• Government policy plays a key role in addressing housing inequalities impacting Manitobans’ health, with the inequity gap recently increasing;
• The climate emergency will have a significant impact on housing, especially for those most vulnerable and less able to afford housing;
• Healthy, affordable homes promote good physical and mental health¹. Good health depends on having homes that are safe and free from physical including financial hazards. In contrast, poor quality, inadequate and unaffordable housing contributes to health challenges such as chronic diseases and injuries, and can have harmful effects on childhood development as well as financial pressures on food and other basic expenses²;
• Present available housing is not meeting the needs of many urban and rural Manitobans as well as newcomer Manitobans, perpetuating inequities, and
• Retrofitting Canada’s existing stock of housing for energy conservation is critical for efficient energy use addressing the climate crisis in conjunction with updated building codes for new housing development;
• Intergovernmental collaboration on housing policy and investment makes sound economic sense in the prevention of health care costs as it helps to create inclusive and more resilient communities³, stimulates the local economy and generates jobs and tax revenues⁴; and
• Investing in cooperative and non profit housing will help address the growing gap between rich and poor Manitobans;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba advocates for 

• Collaboration and leadership between all levels of government on housing policy and  investment in non-profit and cooperative housing.
  

References

1. Social Determinants of Health: A Canadian Perspective – Dennis Rafael
2. Housing & Income as Social Determinants of Women’s Health in Canadian Cities – Tabas Bryant
3. Federation of Canadian Municipalities (2015) Built to Last:Strengthening the Foundations of Housing in Canada
4. Housing, Economic Change and the Governance of Metropolitan Areas – Maclennan 2008

Approved: 2019

Whereas:

• Homelessness is on the rise across the industrialized world and is a growing concern in Manitoba; significant community efforts are being made by organizations in Manitoba (and across Canada) such as End Homelessness Winnipeg to end homelessness;
• Unlike most other European countries, Finland has significantly reduced homelessness through its Housing First national policy;
• The economic cost of homelessness its high due to related public spending on health, social and judicial services; and
• Homelessness is the antithesis of what a caring and inclusive community is about;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• The federal government’s commitment to a national policy to prevent, reduce and end homelessness; 
• Working with community members and organizations to mitigate and ultimately end homelessness in Manitoba; and
• Developing a comprehensive strategy to end homelessness in Manitoba by 2025, based on research regarding what has worked elsewhere and on consultation with community members and social service workers in Manitoba.

Date of Approval: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Gender dysphoria has significant negative impacts on the mental and physical health of transgender individuals;
• Recently, many US states have been successful in their push to reduce and ban gender- affirming care for transgender individuals¹;
• There are 64 countries where homosexuality is still illegal², eleven of which still allow the death penalty for consensual same-sex acts³; and
• Availability of gender-affirming care is important, even when individuals aren’t being directly persecuted, the stripping and banning of gender-affirming services is in itself a form of persecution;

Be It Resolved:

• Although not within the direct purview of provincial jurisdiction, the Green Party of Manitoba advocates for the federal government’s provision of refugee status to 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals who are subject to persecution and/or cannot legally and safely obtain gender affirming care gender-affirming care in their home country, and the repealment of the safe third country agreement; and
• The Green Party of Manitoba supports the Manitoba government committing to developing dedicated safe spaces for 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees and housing at least 750 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees before 2028, equivalent to approximately 10% of the annual refugees received by Manitoba each year⁴.

1. The Canadian Press: Here are the restrictions on transgender people that are moving forward in US statehouses
2. BBC: Homosexuality: The countries where it is illegal to be gay
3. World Population Review: LGBT Rights by Country / Best and Worst Countries for LGBTQ+ Rights 2023
4. Immigrate Manitoba: Manitoba Immigration Facts Report 2021

Date of Approval: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• The legal transition and name change processes¹ are currently long, costly, invasive and emotionally taxing;
• Gender-affirming healthcare can be particularly hard to access in remote or rural areas; and
• A lack of dedicated gender-affirming care clinics in Manitoba has resulted in unreasonably long wait times for affordable gender-affirming care²;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• The elimination of the fingerprinting requirement for a legal name change in Manitoba for individuals without a criminal record;
• The elimination of all fees involved in the legal name change process;
• The elimination of all fees involved in changing the gender marker on provincially regulated identification;
• The elimination of all fees involved in the replacement of Identification documents following legal change of name or gender marker;
• The establishment of dedicated gender-affirming care clinics in each regional health authority and urban centre across the province of Manitoba;
• Requiring all general-practice physicians and nurse practitioners to receive training in respecting and caring for transgender individuals, including basic training on the prescription and maintenance of puberty blockers and hormone-replacement therapies
• Using reasonable, patient-centred, informed-consent procedures to determine eligibility for gender affirming care rather than mental assessments or requiring diagnosis of gender dysphoria; and
• Requiring that no individual wait more than 90 days to meet with a specialist following referral to a dedicated gender-affirming care clinic.

References

1. Manitoba Vital Statistics Branch: Change of Sex Designation
2. Shared Health: Klinic: Trans-competent care in Manitoba

Approved: 2002
Revisions Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Income poverty continues to increase in Manitoba and is particularly high among non-elderly single persons and single parent households;
• The Guaranteed Annual Incomes provided to seniors in Canada have helped to substantially reduce their poverty rates to very low levels over the last 40 years;
• Manitoba has a patchwork system of income supports for non-elderly low-income households that provide inadequate level of benefits and are expensive to operate;
• CERB(2020) provided a much needed safety net to many Canadians during the COVID Pandemic, it was hastily implemented and resulted in confusing tax clawbacks and rebates. Such complexity often makes programs less accessible for people in need. 
• Climate change increases the risk of emerging diseases and health issues and requires a well-crafted Basic Income system. 
• The Federal EI program provides inadequate protection to adults who experience job loss or health crises
• Resources to assist people through crises, from critical health issues to escaping abusive relationships, are complex and difficult to access, just at a time when people may not have the personal resources to navigate the complexity. This can increase costs on social programs and critical health care; and
• A secure source of income can reduce the demand for costly health, justice and child welfare services and improve educational and housing outcomes;      

Be it resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• A basic income program for Manitoba, with the aim to replace the patchwork of social assistance programs currently administered by the provincial government.This would be done with the financial help and participation of the federal government, but is not dependent on Federal participation.

Approved: 2013
Revised and Approved: 2019

Whereas:

• High quality early learning and childcare (ELCC) services promote children’s holistic development and supports their parents; 
• ELCC services are essential for women’s equality, help reconcile work and family, encourage social cohesion, social justice and solidarity, and are a recommended call for action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and
• Universal childcare services help to reduce poverty, support the labour market, and promote a green and sustainable economy;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• A long-term vision of universally accessible, high quality, affordable early learning and childcare services for all children and families who wish to use them; and
• Working towards implementing this vision, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Commission, 2016.

Date of Approval: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• The inclusion of gender on government ID lacks utility in identifying, and gender-based profiling undermines ID security and authenticity. It simultaneously creates confusion for those examining the ID and causes harm for the individual being identified;
• The gender marker on many pieces of government identification, such as a birth certificate, holds no practical significance throughout the life of a cisgender individual. Consequently, it primarily serves as an arbitrary obstacle to gender transition; and
• While some important steps have been made to allow gender-neutral documentation, inconsistencies among various bodies and regulations create confusing and potentially hazardous legal loopholes;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports

• The removal of the gender marker on provincially regulated non-medical government ID, including, but not limited to birth certificates, drivers licenses, degrees and diplomas, professional licenses and certifications, student cards, or deeds;
• Mandating the removal of the gender marker, including gendered honorifics, on documents that often serve as auxiliary pieces of identification, including privately distributed documents that are often used as proof of address; and
• The amendment and replacement of gendered language with gender neutral language in all current and future legislation and government policy in Manitoba.

Reviewed: 2017, 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• Single non-elderly adults have the highest poverty rates and greatest depth of poverty of all demographic groups in Manitoba;
• Of all demographic groups, working-age single adults are the most dependent on wage earnings to escape poverty;
• Minimum wage rates should be equivalent to a living wage (i.e. a level that allows workers to escape poverty); and
• The Market Basket Measure (MBM) threshold of poverty is the most accurate measure of the cost of living for low income Manitobans;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Manitoba’s minimum wage rate be set at that level that allows a single working-age adult working full time, full year to achieve an after-tax income equal to the weighted average MBM low income threshold for Manitoba; and
• Annually indexing this wage rate to the most current MBM threshold. For November, 2022 the minimum rate would be $ 16.75¹ an hour.

References

1. Manitoba Living Wage | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Reviewed: Nov 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• Pension benefits and the capital and earnings of the pension trust funds created by workers’ contributions and the contributions of their employers are vulnerable to being lost to employees in cases of employer bankruptcy;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

• Supports revising bankruptcy laws so as to prevent any employer in bankruptcy from gaining possession of the Pension Trust Fund, its capital, and its earnings which that employer administers in trust.

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Manitoba public libraries serve a vital role in enriching the lives of Manitoba residents, especially for those unable to purchase materials and equipment available through those libraries;
• The need has never been greater for a citizenry with critical information assessment and digital literacy skills; and
• Provincial government support to Manitoba Public Libraries has been minimal, for example in 2021 provincial contribution to the Winnipeg Public Library system was 7% of its annual operating budget ($2.1M of $29.4M)¹;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Increasing the provincial contribution to Manitoba public libraries, in consultation with library administrations and advisory boards, to ensure at least a 20% provincial contribution to their annual operating budgets.

References

1. Winnipeg Public Library Annual Report 2021. City of Winnipeg

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• Canada and the United States are among the relative few jurisdictions in the world to observe Daylight Savings time or Summer time;
• The semi-annual transition from Daylight time to Standard time and vice versa each year is associated with significant increases in suicides¹, traffic accidents², workplace injuries³, overall unhappiness, and lost productivity;
• There is an increasing public desire and pan-american movement to move either to permanent Daylight Savings time or permanent Standard Time;
• Both the establishment of Daylight Savings Time in the first place and many modern movements to move to it permanently are mostly justified in economic terms and give little consideration to public health;
• Were Manitoba to shift to permanent Daylight Time, sunrise would fall as late as 09h30 in mid-winter in Winnipeg and even later further north, forcing workers and students to awaken and commute to work or school entirely in the dark;
• Standard time, although only one hour earlier, is better aligned with the sun and our natural circadian rhythms; and
  
• The current scientific consensus⁴ is that Daylight Savings time causes a significant detriment to public health and mental health and that switching to permanent daylight time, rather than permanent Standard Time, would pose an even greater risk;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Abolishing Daylight Savings time in Manitoba and permanently observing Central Standard Time (UTC–06:00); and
  
• Working with neighboring jurisdictions to encourage their governments to implement similar legislation for ease of trade.

References

1. Osborne-Christenson EJ. Saving light, losing lives: How daylight saving time impacts deaths from suicide and substance abuse. Health Econ. 2022 Oct;31 Suppl 2:40-68. doi: 10.1002/hec.4581. Epub 2022 Aug 23. PMID: 36000150
2. Ferguson SA, Preusser DF, Lund AK, Zador PL, Ulmer RG. Daylight saving time and motor vehicle crashes: the reduction in pedestrian and vehicle occupant fatalities. Am J Public Health. 1995 Jan;85(1):92-5. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.1.92. PMID: 7832269; PMCID: PMC1615292.
3. Barnes CM, Wagner DT. Changing to daylight saving time cuts into sleep and increases workplace injuries. J Appl Psychol. 2009 Sep;94(5):1305-17. doi: 10.1037/a0015320. PMID: 19702372
4. TEXT

Approved: 2008
Amended and Approved: 6 December 2021

Whereas: 

• Homeowners and businesses are able to generate power from solar panels, small scale wind turbines, or other alternative energy sources in excess of their needs;
• Manitoba has no incentives for alternative energy generation; and
• Manitoba Hydro pays less than the market value for excess power being returned to the electricity grid

Be It resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Facilitating back metering for individuals and businesses producing small-scale energy production;
• Manitoba Hydro to provide net billing rates equal to or greater than rates being charged to consumers for excess electricity produced by the micro-generating system; and
• Re-implement the Manitoba Hydro Solar Energy program to provide rebates to incentivize the installation of micro generating facilities.

Approved: 2011 

Whereas: 

• Most garbage dumps are located in undesirable locations, suitable for little else than disposal of garbage; 
• Approval for dumps is a lengthy and complex process; and 
• A similar lengthy approval process is required for the installation of wind turbines; 

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports the principle of accelerated approvals for wind turbine installation on already degraded sites such as garbage dumps, when such sites are suitable for wind turbine development.

Approved: 12 February 2023 

Whereas: 

• Airships may provide a cost-effective transportation option to remote northern communities; 
• The high cost of transportation in these remote communities results in exorbitantly high costs for food and poor access to medical services; and
• Access to communities via winter roads have limited duration(seasonal) and have become unpredictable;

Be It Resolved: 

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• the development of airship transportation for goods and services.

Approval: 2011
Revised: 2015

Whereas:

• Public transit use is an effective way of reducing GHG emissions from transportation; 
• Fare free transit has been successful in dramatically increasing ridership in other cities with a corresponding reduction in automobile use; and, 
• Fare free transit will reduce the long term costs of road expansion and maintenance;
• Public transportation improves air quality and stimulates activity in our local economy;
• The largest operating cost for public transportation is salaries and benefits;
• Fare free transit systems will reduce transit labor costs by 5% – 15%;
• The total current operating costs for Winnipeg transit is funded by the Province of Manitoba – 23.5%, City of Winnipeg – 27.0% and collected fares 49.5%; and 
• The economic, environmental and social benefits of fare free transit are significant; 

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

• Supports fare free public transportation service in Manitoba`s urban centres;
• Supports improved public transit, including increased frequency of buses, operating hours, and number of routes;
• Will encourage all cities in Manitoba with public transit systems to provide fare free transit by committing to change the funding formula for operating expenses for any city that adopts a fare free transit system to the Province of Manitoba – 60%, City funding – 40% and fare collection – 0%; and
• Will encourage the federal government to reallocate the existing 15% Public Transit Amount non-refundable tax  credit directly to the urban centers who provide fare free transit systems to reduce the overall funding requirements for both the province of Manitoba and the participating city;

Be It Further Resolved:

• Any additional funding required by the Manitoba government will be funded with proceeds from a new Carbon tax.

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

• The Manitoba Highway Traffic Act (HTA) currently requires cyclists to come to a complete stop at Stop Signs and stop lights as if they were in a motor vehicle;
• The HTA also prohibits bikes with wheels larger than 16” in diameter from riding on sidewalks;
• Both of the above regulations are ignorant of the fact that Bicycles are drastically different modes of transportation from automobiles and as such have significantly differing safety and infrastructure needs;
• Studies in jurisdictions such as Idaho and Delaware which have implemented “Stop-as-Yield” and “Red-as-Stop” legislation have shown as much as a 23% decrease in bicyclist injuries¹ as well as a reduction in the severity of injuries²;
• Many cyclists chose to ride on sidewalks in spite of the law due to a perceived increase in safety which results from an overall lack of safe cycling infrastructure or safely-designed streets³;
• Cyclists, unlike automobiles, do not pose a significant risk to pedestrians⁴ by riding on the sidewalk as they can easily slow down and maneuver around obstacles;
• In many jurisdictions around the world, cyclists are allowed to ride on the sidewalk if they feel more comfortable;
• Sidewalk bike bans are primarily aimed at reducing motorist-caused collisions with cyclists at intersections, which would better be reduced through safer planning, reducing residential speed limits, installing stop signs on back lanes, and banning right-turn-on-red; and
  
• Given the significant health and environmental benefits of cycling over driving, the GPM should support policies which incentivise the former over the latter;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports amending the Highway Traffic Act to:

• Permit cyclists to treat stop signs as yields and red-lights as stop signs, unless otherwise marked;
• Permit cyclists of all ages and with all sizes of tire to ride on sidewalks, provided they do so safely and yield to pedestrians;
• Give Cyclists priority right-of-way over motorists on all highways;
• Require the installation of stop signs and traffic calming measures in back lanes to prevent collisions with cyclists;
• Enact a province-wide urban default residential speed limit of no more than 30km/h; and
  
• Prohibit motorists from turning across a pedestrian or cyclist crosswalk at a red light.

References

1. Delaware Yield Crash Data
2. The Idaho Stop Law and the Severity of Bicycle Crashes: A Comparative Study
3. Metropolis: Sidewalk Circus – The bustling walkways of Tokyo are no place for cyclists—or are they?
4. ibid.

Approved: 5 January 2021

Transportation is expensive and is a major source of atmospheric pollution. Greens want to bring back rural bus service and encourage zero emission vehicles.
Whereas:

• Pollution is causing significant health problems in the people of Manitoba with the associated health care costs and productivity losses;
• Greenhouse gas emissions are causing changes to our environment and ecosystems with the associated disasters and crop failures;
• 43% of Manitoba’s GHG emissions come from the use of fossil fuels, the majority in transportation;
• Manitoba imports all the fossil fuels used in the province, we spend those fuel dollars outside our Province and we export the associated jobs to other jurisdictions;
• Manitoba Hydro infrastructure is underutilized at night;
• Charging EVs at night improves Manitoba Hydro utilization without incurring any infrastructure costs;
• Hauling fossil fuels to remote communities is expensive and dangerous;
• Many people in Manitoba do not understand the benefits and costs of EVs;
• Many automotive dealers in Manitoba do not understand the benefits and costs of EVs;
• EVs are cost neutral today with fossil fuel vehicles, when one considers monthly payments and month fuel costs;
• The trucking industry in Manitoba has no infrastructure for electric trucks;
• Most hydrogen is generated from natural gas and, when used in a vehicle, is inefficient; and
• Hydrogen generation from electrolysis studied by Manitoba Hydro determined that electrolysis is not economically viable;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

• Promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in Manitoba;
• Coordinating and supplementing charging infrastructure so all cities are served and the majority of towns are served;
• Improving public transit, by working toward a target where all busses, new and replacement, are zero emissions, battery electric or electric trolley busses;
• Implementing inter-city EV busses;
• Encouraging the use of EVs in remote communities;
• Educating Manitobans on the benefits and the costs of EVs;
• Educating automotive dealers in Manitoba of the benefits and the costs of EVs;
• Encouraging Manitoba Hydro to implement  reduced electricity rates for charging EVs at night, which would provide additional revenue to Hydro and benefit large customers such as fleet operators and farmers;
• Working with the trucking industry in Manitoba to establish a network of truck stops and card-locks to support electric trucking; and
• Monitoring research into clean efficient hydrogen generation.

Reviewed: November 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

• Poorly managed solid waste accumulates in local bodies of water, forests and other environments, degrading our ecosystems and negatively impacting human health¹;
• Whereas the Brady landfill is Manitoba’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses²;
• In Manitoba, between 40-60% of solid waste is organic waste^{3, 4};
• It is better for soil quality, and reduces both the cost to the city as well as the quantity of solid waste, to mow leaves into the soil rather than collect them as waste^{5, 6, 7, 8, 9};
• Reducing consumption is an important element of substantially reducing waste;
• The difficulty in getting electronics, large appliances and machinery repaired often results in consumers simply discarding the product and purchasing new;
• Right to Repair legislation is increasingly adopted across the United States and Europe^{10, 11, 12};
• The north end sewage plant is the biggest single source of pollution into lake Winnipeg¹³;
• The cost of dumping waste in Manitoba landfills is so low that is not adequate incentive to encourage large companies to sort waste¹⁴; 
• Winnipeg is the largest city in Canada without municipal compost collection¹⁵;
• Approximately two thirds of a city’s waste is generated by the commercial sector¹⁶; and 
• Most waste diversion in Manitoba applies to the residential sector, with little regulation of industry, commercial and institutional sectors¹⁷;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports the following waste reduction and management measures:

• Implementing province-wide compost collection;
• Creating incentives to encourage recycling and waste diversion, including;
  • Incentives for enterprises that repair, reuse, and repurpose items that would otherwise be garbage; and
  • Deposit return system for specified items, such as single-use containers.
• Accelerating regulations to ban non-essential, single-use plastics, and expand the list of items to be banned; 
• Increasing fines for illegal dumping;
• Requiring communities to stop raking and bagging leaves, and instead to mulch leaves into lawns;
• Implementing mandatory sorting of waste, compostable material and recyclables for all government departments and agencies, industry and corporations, across the province, with meaningful fines in place to address non-compliance;
• Requiring that all plastic packaging contain at least 50% recycled content  by 2030 and support the shift to reusable products and packaging by (A) adjusting provincial procurement practices and supporting municipalities that adopt equivalent or better reuse standards; and (B) introducing targets for refillable beverage containers;
• Prioritizing and accelerating the upgrade of the Winnipeg North End Sewage Treatment Plant;
• Supporting consumers in maintaining their electronics, large appliances and machinery, and being able to access cost-effective repairs to those items, by introducing Right to Repair legislation, including:
  • The availability of parts at reasonable prices; 
  • Provision of free and publicly available  service manuals;  
  • Publicly available repair information such as software tools and schematics; 
  • Repairability labeling to inform consumers of the likely lifetime and fixability of the product; and 
  • Enforcing repairable designs (e.g., replaceable batteries, long-term software support, etc).

References

1. Fraser Institute: Generation and Management of Municipal Solid Waste: How’s Canada Doing?
2. Winnipeg Free Press: From rotting ‘trash’ to rich treasures
3. Government of Manitoba: Where to Recycle in Manitoba: Compost
4. Winnipeg Free Press: From rotting ‘trash’ to rich treasures
5. National Wildlife Federation: This Fall, Remember to Leave the Leaves on the Ground
6. The Guardian: Let fallen leaves lie, gardeners in Netherlands town urged.
7. Global News: Leave the leaves on the ground: Nature Conservancy says to stop raking your lawn
8. David Suzuki Foundation: Why you should leave the leaves
9. US Department of Agriculture: This Fall, Leave the Leaves!
10. Farms.com: Manitoba NDP introduces ‘right to repair’ bill
11. IFIXIT: What Right to Repair Compliance Looks Like for Manufacturers
12. New York Times: What You Should Know About Right to Repair
13. CBC news: 3 levels of government put up total of $550M for Phase 2 of North End sewage plant upgrades
14. Government of Manitoba: Where to Recycle in Manitoba: Recycle
15. Winnipeg Free Press: From rotting ‘trash’ to rich treasures
16. Winnipeg Free Press: From rotting ‘trash’ to rich treasures
17. Dillon Consulting / Government of Manitoba: Manitoba Waste Diversion and Recycling Framework Review

Approved: 2017
Revised: 2019

Whereas:

• Waste reduction measures in Manitoba are inadequate, given the low overall waste diversion rates (26% of residential and 13% ICI in 2016), the inadequate incentives to households and businesses for  diverting waste from landfills and, for many items diverted from the landfill, the lack of local opportunities for recycling them into reusable products; 
• Manitoba has a multitude of product-specific  programs for diverting waste , but lacks an overarching vision and firm goals;

• Manitoba has no comprehensive system of household and commercial organic waste pickup and composting for organics which results in methane gas emissions at landfills that contribute to climate change; and
• Waste reduction programs contribute to reducing climate change , protecting health, creating green jobs and. result in cost savings in the long term;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports the development of a maximum waste diversion program for the province, with the goal of zero waste, that includes the following initiatives:

• Implementing a system of high environmental handling fees and adequate rebates to consumers on products and packaging for returning recyclable items;
• Implementing a province-wide municipal organics diversion programs from both the residential and the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) sectors;
• Requiring the PROs to include the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors in their recycling programs;
• Requiring, through regulation and other means, the implementation of incentives and disincentives for both the residential and commercial sectors to minimize waste disposal;
• Setting the tipping fees and WRARS levy for landfill sites higher than the fees charged by material recovery facilities for accepting recyclable materials, so as to incent the ICI sector and municipalities to recycle; and
• Identifying those materials that cannot be recycled and work towards banning them from use by consumers.