With the British Columbia (BC) provincial election approaching, BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau announced her election platform on October 1st, ahead of other parties. The party had already unveiled several promises, including establishing a network linking the state’s 93 community health centres, making mental health care covered under the MSP up to six times a year, and continuing the carbon tax and increasing rebates for residents.
The pledges announced this time include making vaccinations completely free, establishing a special investigation unit for missing and murdered indigenous women, supporting the controversial SOGI123 (a resource recommended by the state Department of Education to support LGBTQ students), establishing public drug use facilities in all public hospitals, and raising taxes on homes valued at over $3 million.
On the environmental front, he pledged to increase carbon taxes on companies that pollute the environment, to not approve any new developments in fracking (a method of natural gas extraction) or pipelines or liquefied natural gas development due to concerns about the environmental impact, and to gradually reduce natural gas production.