The candidates in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding for the federal election that will be held on April 28 were asked five key questions that are important to voters in the riding.
Green Party candidate Kathy Code offered these responses:
1. Where do you stand on U.S tariffs and Canada-U.S. relations?
Canada is a proud and sovereign nation and we must stand together against the American tariff and takeover threats.
Ironically, these threats have done a great deal to unite us and prompt us to explore better ways of inter-provincial trade and more suitable trading partners.
I am very proud of the way Canadians have spontaneously and as one stepped up to buy Canadian goods and services.
We are now galvanized like never before and the Green Party has an exceptional Protecting Canada plan to strengthen our economy, our border, our partnerships and make better use of our raw resources for Canadians.
The plan advocates a new economic NATO with like-minded democracies, proposes an alternate location for the UN Headquarters, establishes a Federal Strategic Reserve of raw resources so we can build homes here, provides strong financial support for Canadian small and medium-sized businesses, and calls for the construction of a strong East-West electricity grid.
We will bump up our shipbuilding strategy, suspend the purchase of the F35s and secure more manufacturing jobs here in Canada.
We will create 120,000 new well-paying jobs for a civilian Federal Home Guard and invest billions in innovation and entrepreneurial loans.
2. Major tax cuts are being proposed during this election campaign; do you think that this will have impacts on the ability for the government to fund social programs with the loss of revenue?
Considering that for decades, corporations have been afforded billions of dollars in subsidies, easy access to public resources, and very favourable tax rates while more people fall into poverty every day means, quite frankly, an easy answer to this question: “no.”
The disparity in wealth distribution must end and governments must stop giving to organizations making record-breaking profits.
Governments need to start protecting public resources and fund public programs as needed.
The Green Party has a plan that will implement fair taxation to ensure the ultra rich and big corporations pay their share, develop a green economy that supports innovation and well-paying jobs, ensure that polluters pay and that housing can no longer be used as an investment tool by big corporations at the expense of the people.
3. The affordability of housing in Canada is being hotly debated by candidates. How can you as an MP and the federal government help Canadians buy homes and pay their skyrocketing rents?
The Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding covers a huge territory and is an interesting mix of urban and rural development.
The urban centres such as Langford and Duncan are busy constructing more supply, but most people are still far from being able to afford the down payment.
Meanwhile, rural folks, while acknowledging the need for more housing especially if they still have adult children at home, are very protective of the natural habitat in which they live.
The answer is government-funded housing cooperatives that use covenants to make sure housing built with public money stays affordable forever.
We will close loopholes to stop criminals from using real estate to hide dirty money, eliminate the unfair tax advantages for Real Estate Investment Trusts and stop corporations from buying up single-family homes.
We will also develop a Strategic Reserve, buying up products made from Canadian raw resources such as aluminum, forest products, potash, bitumen, and holding them to build homes, etc., for Canadians.
4. What would you do to help the environment and fight climate change?
Since 2000, I have watched, heartbroken, as governments have steadfastly refused to protect citizens and their communities from climate crisis-related disasters.
Wildfires have burned millions of hectares of forest and entire communities, droughts have wiped out biodiversity and farmers’ crops, floods have destroyed infrastructure and homes, landslides, heat domes; it is gut wrenching to see government obfuscate and bow to lobbyist demands, while using taxpayer dollars in an attempt to clean it up.
My top priority will be to protect all the remaining forests left to us, particularly old growth and boreal.
These are not renewable resources, but the lungs of the planet and the foundation of the Indigenous culture.
We will use renewable energy resources to transition from oil and gas and build an electrical grid across the country, creating thousands of well-paying jobs and lowering energy costs.
We will stop giving out corporate subsidies, and instead, make polluters pay, holding them accountable for the climate damage they cause.
Our children and their children deserve a world that holds clean drinking water, food security and an abundance of nature.
5. What would you, as an MP, want to see done about the opioid crisis?
The starting point for me is that people who fall prey to drug addiction are our brothers, our sisters, our sons, our daughters, our family.
According to front-line workers that I’ve spoken with, compassion and healthcare are the answers, not prison and criminalization that will cause further trauma and harm.
Compassionate care, given when wanted and needed, involves a full spectrum of services including a safer supply, housing, counselling, overdose prevention and safe consumption sites, among others.
This health-care approach leads to fewer emergency room visits, fewer interactions with law enforcement and the courts and less need to build more prisons.
This approach also leads to people buying fewer drugs through the black market, where drugs are becoming more toxic and lethal.
Statistics indicate that approximately 13 per cent of Canadians suffer from drug-related substance abuse, affecting people from all walks of life and social-economic levels, of which the unhoused are a small minority.
Prohibition does more harm than good.
The Green Party will build a drug recovery program that is evidence-based and cost-effective.
