This is no time to take the Green Party seriously

With a possible federal election looming, more and more people are looking to the Green Party and asking, "Can they be taken seriously?"

Absolutely not. The Green Party platform is full of policy blunders. For one, they support the Kyoto Accord, which would do absolutely nothing but cost a lot of money. They also want to lower the voting age to 17. Is a 17-year-old fully informed to vote? For that matter, how many 20-year-olds are fully informed and equipped with good judgment? I’m in favour of raising the voting age to 25 to give young people the time to allow the real world to affect their perspective. But a vote at 17? Do the greens really think this is good for the country? No. But it is a great self-serving campaign. They’ve looked at the demographics and see that the young go for the green. Meanwhile, the focus on green is a political safe-zone. I’m all for being a good steward of the land but the green machine is focussing on one politically correct issue to steer clear of the icky moral matters of greater importance: Defence of western civilization in time of Islamic terrorism, the education curriculum, child pornography, euthanasia, fair taxation, the cost of health care…

These matters are so much more important because the fact of the matter is that the environment is getting better. Take almost any environmental indicator, follow the trend, and the conclusion is, invariably, good news. This is documented by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute.

On agriculture, the greens do have a few good ideas. They support supply management and would like to see easier access for specialty products. They would allow unregulated production by smaller and mixed family farms that sell to local markets but the greens don’t go into details. They have other ideas that are too general to judge and one idea that will never fly — eliminating international dumping and subsidies – unless they plan on eliminating the United States. The greens also have a few ideologically bent ideas that would curtail choice and upset a lot of people. They would "shift government-supported research away from biotechnology and energy-intensive farming and toward organic food production." They would support local and provincial genetically-engineered free zones and pass a law requiring labelling of genetically engineered foods. This would stigmatize GM foods, even though the greens, nor anyone else, have any evidence that GM is bad for you. They would also phase out factory farming, whatever that is. To one man it’s 100 cows; to another it’s 1,000.

The green platform is great news for the organic farmers and good for them. The organic farmer could use a break. But to bring the hammer down on a large swath of farm country that produces our food does not equate to support for farming.

The Green Party of Canada will be the party of the future for many years to come. They came from nowhere to capture 4.5 per cent of the popular vote in last year’s election and that’s commendable. When its policies mature and ideas grow up, maybe serious-minded people will be ready to take another look.