Archive

Meet the candidates: JoAnne Fleming, Green Party

October 9, 2015   ·   0 Comments

JoAnne Marie Campbell Fleming, federal Green Party candidate for the riding of Simcoe–Grey, resides in Collingwood. She has zero years of political experience, but has been volunteering her time for the past 37 years. Fleming has two adult daughters, and her husband passed away January 2015.
Her personal mantra is, “When it becomes more difficult to suffer that to change, then you will change”, but her party believes that, “Change is inevitable. Positive Change is chosen.”
We asked four of our candidates 18 questions on issues of federal importance.
Here is JoAnne Fleming’s answers, unedited and printed in its entirety:
What is the most immediate and pressing threat to our security and why?
A: C-51 must be repealed. This framework is best expressed in the set of values as stated in the Global Green Charter, the essence of which is respect. Respect for one another is detailed in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the subsequent specific Agreements and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These Agreements recognize the equality and importance of all individuals and the right of free speech, assembly, and the provision of basic needs. It has been said that the greatness of the country is best expressed in how it takes care of its most vulnerable citizens.
Rights also entail taking responsibility as an individual within his or her community and promoting and protecting these rights at the national level, for the abuse of rights anywhere in the world impacts our own security and sense of dignity as human beings.
Will your party commit to delivering for people with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities and others facing multiple forms of discrimination?
A: Yes we will commit, we need to streamline the patchwork of disability-related programs for persons with disabilities to ensure adequate income support. This could involve a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Do you think Canada should be at war in Iraq and Syria?
A: No, the current trend to destroy civil society and spread distrust between one another will make it more and more difficult to live up to our traditional values of peace, the rule of law and the common good, and to be a positive force in the community of nations. “An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind.”
What will your party do to reduce the gap between rich and poor in Canada?
A: The gap between rich and poor in Canada has widened. Women, on average, still earn far less than men. The middle class is struggling. Given the wealth and resources of our country, this is tragic. There are countries where the gap between rich and poor is small and the standard of living is high. These countries don’t trade off the environment for the economy. Their economies and environmental laws are both strong, which is what the Greens hope to bring back to Canada. Job training, education, day care programs, and entrepreneur programs would help reduce the gap. We need to build stronger supportive communities with better urban planning.
What action will your party take on climate change?
A: If we act boldly and decisively to reduce our dependence on finite polluting energy, we can still deliver a planet that sustains humanity and most other life. If we fail to change existing patterns, we will almost surely usher in an era of conflict and irreversible changes. Canada must once again become a leader in global climate negotiations. It must also, for the first time, make substantial progress in reducing greenhouse gases by embracing a truly green economy.
Would you support a bill providing protection against discrimination for trans people?
A: Yes, the Green Party would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to explicitly include gender identity and gender expression as protected grounds of discrimination. We would also amend the Criminal Code to include gender identity and gender expression in the hate sentencing and hate propaganda provisions.
If elected, will you commit to preserving same-sex marriage rights?
A: In 1996, the Green Party of Canada became the first federal party to officially support the inclusion of same sex couples in civil marriage, and I would continue to support preserving same-sex marriage rights. Public education programs to end prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity would be supported.
Should pre-campaign spending rules be changed to include contribution limits from corporations, unions and special interest groups?
A: Too much pre-writ spending is using tax payer dollars that could be better spent on health and social programs. Yes, pre-campaign spending rules must be changed to include strong contribution limits. Without them, corporations, unions and special interest groups can control the political agenda and election results. Attack ads and negative ads turn off voters and can reduce voter turn-out. Spending limits for ALL parties promotes equitable political discourse during a campaign and campaign spending should be limited to 60 days.
Should the long-form census be brought back?
A: Yes the long-form census must be brought back so more accurate data is available to Canadian researchers and policy makers to plan to provide for needs of citizens, for example for education (ages of children to project needs for class sizes, grades and locations), health and housing.
What is your early child care policy?
A: The Greens are committed to a high-quality federally funded child care program in Canada, accessible to any family that wants to place children in early childhood education. Workplace childcare has been shown to improve productivity, decrease employee absenteeism, ensure quality care for children because parents can drop in at lunch time/or breaks. Having parent and child travelling to the same destination means it is much easier to use public transit together (much less stressful than drop-off of the child at another location, not necessarily on the transit route). The Greens would accelerate the creation of workplace child care spaces through a direct tax credit to employers (or groups of employers in small businesses) of $1,500 tax credit per child. Greens would value the decisions of parents who choose to stay home with children.
Where do you stand on income splitting?
A: The Green Party supports income splitting
What is your stance on reducing green house emissions without your party carrying a big economic penalty?
A: Canada needs a national energy policy and climate policy developed in a constructive respectful fashion with provincial/territorial, municipal, and First Nations to set an overarching set of policy targets.
The Green Party proposes a carbon fee and dividend system. A carbon tax is levied on fossil fusels at source. Consumers are ultimately paying the tax with higher priced carbon laden goods which gives them an incentive to change their behaviour. The other half of our Green policy is the dividend. Millions of new carbon-tax dollars would be recycled and returned to Canadians as lower taxes or rebates.
What is your opinion concerning coalition governments?
A: Coalition governments encourage MP’s to work harder to get things done through debate and compromise. A Coalition represents a larger portion of the voter population. The NDP and Green Party are open to the possibility of forming a coalition to unseat a minority Conservative government though the Liberal party has shown little interest in participating in a Coalition at this time.
However the best way for Canadians to effect positive public policy change is to elect more Green MPs. May would not bring down a government if it pursued key policies, from democratic reform and refugee policy, to repealing anti-terror legislation.
How does your party plan to keep crime rates dropping and what specifically will my party do to prevent increases?
A: According to Stats Canada our crime rate has been dropping for the last 20 years. Yet the Harper government has increased police numbers and jails significantly. Education opportunities, trades training, entrepreneur training and mentorship are far better investments for the future than more jails. Decriminalizing possession of small quantities of marijuana would also reduce costs.
What is your parties ‘marijuana policy”?
A: The Green Party’s position is that the criminalization of marijuana “has utterly failed and has not led to reduced drug use in Canada.”
Our platform cites the $61.3 million Canada spent in 2008 targeting illicit drugs, as well as the other ways in which marijuana is “prohibitively costly,” including “criminalizing youth and fostering organized crime”.
The Green Party would choose to legalize and tax marijuana, and believes that drug addictions should be treated as a health problem, not as criminal offences.
Decriminalization of marijuana would reduce legal costs and generate revenue.
We are pleased that medical marijuana is controlled and available to those who need it.
What is your stance on refugees and internationally displaced people?
A: Canadians in the past have welcomed refugees and in fact many of our ancestors arrived as refugees to Canada. The Green party would welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees and streamline the processing while carefully vetting security issues. An office to coordinate programs for sponsorships and partnerships to support these people in our communities would be established immediately.
Are we as Canadians being “soft on terror” by not implementing further anti-terrorism laws?
A: C-51 needlessly expands the powers of Canada’s spy agencies without creating the necessary oversights or obligations to share information with RCMP. CSIS is allowed to secretly intervene in suspicious activity without coordinating with other security forces which is a recipe for disaster. The Communications Security Establishment already collects millions of Internet communications every day from average Canadians. Canada Border Services also has no review or oversight mechanism. None have to share information with each other. Without communication channels or oversight, these branches cannot be effective in curbing and stopping terrorist activities. Yet they are violating the rights of Canadians for privacy, free speech and to protest peacefully.
What should be done to ensure further transparency in governance with our federal leaders?
We must protect the fundamental principle that the prime minister reports to parliament; not the other way around.
The current PMO is too powerful, too centralized, and too unaccountable. Its budget must be slashed by 50%, as well as the government advertising budget. Spending millions of dollars on government advertising that is not publicly tendered is not acceptable.
The Green Party will work to end the illegitimate use of omnibus budget bills which cover dozens of unrelated changes to law and policy that must be discussed in a very short time period, preventing appropriate democratic debate. (In 2012, one omnibus bill changed 70 laws)
There must be transparency in all trade negotiations. All policy decisions must be based on analysis of the triple bottom line , balancing economic, environmental and social impacts. Federal leaders financials, fundraising sources, and all previous business associations must be documented for public review to ensure transparency.

By Wendy Gabrek

Readers Comments (0)