04 MARCH 2011

Green Party Supports Student March on the Legislature 

The New Brunswsick Green Party supports post-secondary students in New Brunswick in their efforts to get the attention of the government on the issue of financing their education.  The Alward government has signalled its intention to cut services in its upcoming budget in an attempt to get the deficit under control.  Students want to make sure that what is already an untenable situation does not get even worse.

Green Party post-secondary education advocate Kathleen MacDougall stated, « Students are already labouring under a huge debt load at the end of their time in college or university.  Many are forced to leave the province after graduation in order to find jobs that pay well enough to support those debts.  This trend has to be reversed if New Brunswick is going to advance.  Any budget cuts that make that problem worse might look good on the provincial balance sheets, but it will undermine the educational and life prospects for our young people, and the long term prospects of our province. »

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24 SEPTEMBER 2010

It’s About the Next Generation

Green Party leader Jack MacDougall says it is inexcusable that none of the other parties have addressed the environment in their platforms.  New Brunswickers deserve to have the right to clean air and clean water, so Green MLA s will work to enact an Environmental Bill of Rights to entrench those rights in law, said the Green Party Leader.

Citizens victimized by pollution or a contaminated environment have often complained that the Department of Environment is unresponsive to their concerns and that the justice system is not an option.

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18 SEPTEMBER 2010

It’s About the Next Generation

Green Party leader Jack MacDougall announced today that the Green Party’s poverty reduction plan begins with putting more money into the hands of those who need it most.  The party would immediately increase income assistance rates to the Newfoundland and Labrador level, the highest in the Atlantic region. Over time the rates would increase until they reach the low income cut-off  level for New Brunswick as set by Statistics Canada.  New Brunswick social assistance levels are among the lowest in Canada.

For a government to commit to reducing poverty and then pay social assistance rates far below the poverty line is hypocritical, MacDougall stated.  That is permanently entrenching people in poverty who are not able to participate in the workforce, and keeping those people who need temporary help from getting themselves out of a rut.

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15 SEPTEMBER 2010

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08 SEPTEMBER 2010

It’s About the Next Generation

Green Party leader Jack MacDougall presented his slate of candidates and released his Party’s election platform at a news conference in Fredericton today.

“In our very first campaign we have exceeded all expectations with our slate of 51 candidates, of which 24 are women,” said MacDougall.  “Our candidates are Francophone, Anglophone and First Nation – we have students and seniors, policy experts and farmers, small business owners and municipal councilors, educators and public servants – united by a common commitment to help transform New Brunswick into a truly just and sustainable society

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01 SEPTEMBER 2010

FREDERICTON - Undermining the civil service will be the final blow to the province’s disastrous financial state, according to Jim Wolstenholme, Green Party candidate in Fredericton-Silverwood. The former Assistant Deputy Minister of Health sees a very grim future for the province if either status quo party forms government and pursues an agenda of axing talented civil servants. He hopesNew Brunswickers understand and grasp the difference between easy headlines and hard reality.

“We live in a near bankrupt province that has the highest illiteracy rate in the country, a stagnant record on economic development, out of control health care costs, dramatically rising energy costs. The solution according to Premier Graham and David Alward is to inflict death by a thousand cuts to the civil service,” said Wolstenholme. “Good governance is firmly grounded in the ability, experience, knowledge and understanding of those who serve the public. To undermine and devalue this human resource is the ultimate betrayal of citizens’ expectations, hopes and ultimately their trust in government.”

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29 AUGUST 2010

Green Party leader Jack MacDougall called Conservative leader David Alward’s announcement yesterday that he would roll back tax cuts given to New Brunswick’s richest tax payers by the Liberals last year “a compliment.”  “Mr. Alward was obviously coming up short on his fiscal policy so he borrowed from the Greens.  It shows the major parties are listening.  We welcome that.”

The Green Party has denounced the entire tax reform legislation passed by the Legislature which gives upper income earners and corporations major tax reductions, calling it fiscally irresponsible.  Both the Conservatives and the NDP supported the tax cuts that were signed into law in 2009 to be phased in over the 2010-2012 budgets.  By the time it is fully implemented, it will result in $400 million less revenue each year.

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28 AUGUST 2010

For immediate release

A Green government would put a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until proper regulations and safeguards are put in place, according to Jack MacDougall, leader of the Green Party.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technological process used by the oil and gas industry to extract natural gas found in a rock formation called shale.  This shale is located deep beneath the earth’s surface.  Fracking involves pumping millions of litres of freshwater under intense pressure down a drilled well into the shale rock.  The water is laced with thousands of kilograms of toxic chemicals like benzene and diesel fuel.  This pressurized toxic brew causes the shale to fracture and the gas to be released from millions of tiny cavities dispersed throughout the shale.

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