Reforming Government
Greens will restore integrity and accountability to our government through increased public oversight for ministries, crown corporations and public appointments. Greens will re-architect the structure of our government to reflect what we want to build, not what we have. We will create new ministries and combine existing ones to build a new structure that can achieve the goals we set. Green MLAs will call for reforms to government that decentralize decision-making and strengthen the role of local government and the autonomy of First Nations.
Build a Better Democracy
Greens have promoted fair voting and cooperative politics since our inception over twenty years ago. We fully support the Citizens’ Assembly recommendation to implement the Single Transferable Voting system for BC and look forward to a legislature free destructive partisan rhetoric. The assembly determined, after months of study, that this system does the best job of delivering:
1) Fair election results
2) Effective local representation
3) Greater voter choice
BC Greens will also introduce legislation to reform campaign financing which will remove the influence of special interest groups over government policy, legislation, regulation and enforcement. Our policy calls for a ban on corporate and union donations. Individual donations would be capped and parties will receive a small per-vote public subsidy.
Decentralize Decision Making
BC Greens are committed to returning and expanding the authority of municipal and regional governments to oversee growth, energy developments, social services and transportation. Decisions must be congruent with regional growth strategies, urban containment boundaries; climate change goals, zero waste principles, agricultural, forested and recreational land protection and First Nations as partners. Green MLAs will propose new funding formulas for municipal and regional governments to transition revenue to support these new decision-making and programming responsibilities.
Reduce the Burden on Our Police
BC Greens will introduce more effective citizen control and oversight over policing within British Columbia in order to strengthen relations between the police and the communities they serve. We will create a new provincial police force. We would propose legislation to appoint an independent Provincial Police Commission to oversee investigations of police conduct and to propose effective remedial actions and preventive strategies.
Reforms to Government Will:
– Reduce the size of cabinet and the power of the premier’s office
– Expand recall legislation to municipal officials
– Implement “Triple bottom-line” accounting for government departments
– Free votes in the legislature
– Review government wage increases
– Reform political finance including donation limits and public financing
– Honour fixed dates for sittings in the legislature
– Accelerate the successful negotiation of First Nations agreements
– Strengthen and support the Freedom of Information act to make information accessible in a timely manner
– Strengthen the Societies Act to make societies more accountable and their operations more transparent
– Introduce “Whistle-blower” legislation
