Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Glenn Sollitt, B.C. Green Party Parksville-Qualicum candidate, were at a rally at Diana Krall Plaza Friday. (KARL YU/News Bulletin)

Despite a reputation for environmental support, B.C. Green Party’s 2017 election platform will focus on education and health care.

Kathleen Harris (Nanaimo riding candidate), Glenn Sollitt (Parksville-Qualicum) and Lia Versaevel (Nanaimo-North Cowichan), along with federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, held a rally at Diana Krall Plaza Friday, detailing election priorities.

Environmental care “underpins a lot of the planks,” but education will be a major plank, said Sollitt.

“Part of it is for free child care, so we start off making sure that there’s a safe place where children can be nourished [from age] 2-4,” said Sollitt. “Then there’s early childhood education, up to 25 hours a week provided free of charge for families, if both parents choose to work. If one wants to stay at home, then they can receive up to $500-a-month subsidy.”

Sollitt said the party wants to add healthy eating and fitness programs to ensure young minds are prepared to learn.

The party would invest $10 million to aid in tuition for adult students hoping to graduate. It also wants to provide $2,000 a year for five consecutive years of tax relief for university students, so long as they are employed, Sollitt said.

In terms of health care, a major item for Harris, a registered nurse and teacher, is mental health. Issues in this area can rob people of the life they’re entitled to, she said.

“Having a full task force that looks into mental health, that approaches health care in a holistic way, recognizing childhood development and our early childhood education, is a huge part of health,” said Harris. “There’s something called social determinants of health.

“If you look into that, we start to learn how interconnected everything is and it’s really vital to appreciate how things like the education that we’re entitled to, the income that we have, those are our biggest determinants of health.”

Harris said in order to keep people healthy, it takes a solid platform on supporting families, children, youth and elderly.

Versaevel said the party won’t abandon its environmental roots. Anchorages and tanker traffic are a local concern even if it is in federal jurisdiction.

“There are certainly issues that have to deal with shoreline management and waste control and also the seabed is everyone’s concern,” she said.

As federal party leader and an MP, May said she was in attendance only as a party member, but she was delighted with her provincial counterparts. She expressed pride at seeing B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver’s performance at Thursday’s leader debate.

The full party platform is expected by Wednesday (April 26), said Sollitt.

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com