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The Greens say they want Canada’s public ground transportation to be carbon-free by 2040.

Party leader Elizabeth May says to get there, the country needs to rapidly shift away from gasoline-powered transportation.

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The Greens’ national transportation strategy puts rail at the centre, with light rail and electric bus connections.

May says that responds to a finding of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: that leaving remote and rural communities under-served by transit puts marginalized people, particularly Indigenous women, at risk.

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The party is also proposing to ban the sale of cars with internal combustion engines by 2030, exempt electric vehicles from federal sales tax, and build more charging stations for them.

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The Greens say their transportation plan would cost $600 million in 2020-21, rising to $720 million by 2023, to develop regional rail networks and strengthen rail connections, and build high-speed rail among Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec City and between Calgary and Edmonton.

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The party also proposes a national cycling and walking infrastructure fund.

“The Green plan involves a transition that is not only possible, it’s essential if we are serious about meeting our climate commitments,” May said in a statement. “Transportation can cease being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.”

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