The party promises to fund an apprenticeship program to connect aspiring farmers with established producers
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
With just over one week until Canadians head to the polls on Sept. 20, the Green Party of Canada has released its 2021 election platform.
Throughout the campaign, Farms.com has covered the party platforms of each of the five major parties with elected Members of Parliament (MP) to find out what the parties have planned for the ag sector and rural Canada.
The Green Party released its platform, Be Daring, online on Sept. 7.
“I believe that the people of Canada are ready for change,” Green Party Leader Annamie Paul wrote in the platform. “The pandemic has provoked a desire to strike out in a new direction towards a better destination.”
To support the ag sector, a Green government would restructure how the next policy framework (the current Canadian Agricultural Partnership) would look.
The Greens would “shift program dollars from supporting corporate-controlled industrial agriculture to supporting agriculture that is based on ecological and animal welfare principles, including organic and regenerative practices, permaculture, localized food systems, higher welfare farming and short value chains,” the party’s document says.
In addition, the party would take advantage of carbon sequestration in soil by implementing policies and programs designed to provide incentives for “sustainably increasing organic matter.”
Business risk management programs would undergo modifications to help farmers navigate climate risks and reallocate research and development priorities to strengthen support for local and regional food value chains.
A Green government also promises to invest in areas which support farming practices designed to mitigate climate risks, establish climate change emission targets for all components of agriculture and re-establish Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration support to help farmers adapt to drought conditions.
To help restore agriculture’s “social, economic and environmental roles,” the Green Party commits to helping farmers move away from large commercial operations to locally and regionally based food systems and to work with the provinces to establish land trusts to help control the price of farmland.
Paul’s party also promises to protect supply management systems, addressing interprovincial trade barriers and phase out the use of prophylactic antibiotics in agriculture.
Additionally, the Greens promise to adopt “comprehensive animal welfare legislation” to ensure the proper treatment of farm animals, protect the rights of farmers to save their own seed, and support mandatory labeling of GMO foods.
To help young farmers enter the industry, the Greens would fund an apprenticeship program to connect new farmers with established producers. The Party also promises to reinstate the Canada Land Inventory program to provide detailed records of existing and potential agricultural land.
The Greens would provide incentives for different levels of government to preserve farmland under their jurisdictions.
Interested readers can find about other party platforms by clicking the appropriate links:
Ag’s place in the NDP platform
Conservative Party of Canada releases election platform
Ag’s place in the Bloc Québécois election platform
Liberals release 2021 election platform
Also, ag representatives from the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Bloc Québécois, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, will participate in an ag leaders’ debate on Sept. 9.