Scrap Bipole altogether: Manitoba Greens

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/09/2011 (5125 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE NDP likes the west side of Lake Winnipeg. The Progressive Conservatives prefer the east side. The Liberals believe it may be wiser to lay cables underwater.

Now the Green Party of Manitoba has added a new wrinkle to the Bipole III debate by promising to scrap the proposed Manitoba Hydro transmission line altogether as part of a broader plan to reduce energy consumption and focus more on conservation.

“We have enough electricity to meet our needs until at least 2020,” Green Party leader James Beddome said Wednesday as he unveiled a wide-ranging if not outright utopian platform that positions the Manitoba Greens in more idealistic territory than their federal counterparts, who elected their first MP earlier this year.

Standing in Memorial Park, across from the Manitoba Legislature, Beddome said if Manitobans reduce their energy consumption, Manitoba Hydro will have enough power to serve both people within the province and meet the needs of the export market.

Pending an energy assessment, a Green government may scrap the $5.6-billion Keeyask Generating Station project and the $5-billion Conawapa project on the Nelson River, Beddome said.

In broader strokes, the Green platform calls for plans to reduce their consumption of energy, the use of transportation in general and the consumption of other natural resources. It also calls for free public transit, a form of guaranteed annual income for all Manitobans and the long-term elimination of university tuition.

More conventionally for an environmentalist party, the Greens would put an end to wetlands drainage and protect more natural areas.

The party platform did not include specific cost assumptions for most of these promises. “The important point is we’re putting forward ideas,” said Beddome, insisting his party would accomplish its aims by working within existing budgets. “Running a deficit is not sustainable.”

His party also pledged a wide range of bans on everything from nuclear-waste storage to quite literally the kitchen sink, as the sale of garburators would be banned under a Green government. So would fluoridated drinking water, deep-fried food in hospital cafeterias, the introduction of genetically modified crops and nanotechnology.

Beddome acknowledged these planks may not prove popular, as many citizens don’t like being told what to do.

“These ideas come democratically from our membership,” he said, acknowledging his party serves as an umbrella for disparate political interests. “Having a healthy internal debate and not having people who see everything the same way, allows you to come up with more innovative ideas.”

The Greens are fielding a party-record 32 candidates in the provincial election. The party currently holds no seats, but came second in Wolseley in 2003 and 2007. Beddome is running in the inner-city Winnipeg riding this year.

Electing at least one member appears to be the party’s goal, said Probe Research associate Curtis Brown, adding the party’s platform does not seem to be aimed at a broad swath of the electorate.

“The question is going to be, for anyone watching this closely, is how are you going to pay for this?” Brown asked.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

It ain’t easy …

Selected planks from the Green Party platform:

Manitoba Hydro: Cancel Bipole III and put off building new dams.

Economy: Provide every Manitoban with a “universal basic income,” similar to a guaranteed minimum income.

Education: Eliminate university tuition fees in the long term.

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Transport: Free public transit, invest in rail and airships, create “fossil fuel independence commission,” tie MPI rates to kilometres driven and reduce the need for transportation in general.

Lake Winnipeg: Halt wetlands drainage, ban the sale of kitchen garburators and phase out liquid sewage treatment in favour of composting toilets.

Health: Eliminate the sale of deep-fried food in school and hospital cafeterias and remove fluoride from drinking water.

Other bans: Greens would prevent the storage of nuclear waste, the introduction of any new genetically modified crops into the province and the release of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology into the environment.

Source: Green Party of Manitoba