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The Green party released its full election platform on Monday afternoon, pledging to establish a basic income guarantee commission, implement carbon pricing and allocate a $10 million to increasing social assistance support.

The platform includes $30 million of new spending over the first year of a Green government. The Green party says this will result in a balanced budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, based on current surpluses.

The most expensive commitments in the platform relate to increasing social assistance rates ($10 million), expanding the supply of affordable housing ($5.5 million), raising wages for early childhood educators ($3.5 million) and extending dental coverage to social assistance recipients ($2.5 million).

Unlike the Liberal platform, also released on Monday, the Green platform only sets out a plan for the first year of its mandate.

Hannah Bell, District 11 Charlottetown-Belvedere candidate, said this was done because accurate budgetary numbers were only available to them for the current fiscal year. She said that projecting a budget beyond 2021 would likely be inaccurate.

"We have made a commitment to be accurate, honest and realistic in everything that we present. We can do that for the first 12-18 months. After that, it's going to be a different world," Bell said.

In an introduction to the document, Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said the document focuses heavily on fiscal and environmental sustainability.

“We cannot live healthy lives if we continue to pollute our air, water and soil. And we cannot provide a bright future for our children or grandchildren if we continue to accumulate more government debt with irresponsible spending,” Bevan-Baker said.

Green plan

Other items promised in the Green Party of P.E.I. election platform released Monday include:

A comprehensive midwifery service

Birth control coverage to move under the P.E.I. formulary

A “social prescribing” pilot, allowing health-care professionals to prescribe physical, mental and cultural activities

A plan to phase out provincial standardized testing in favour of international Programme for International Student Assessment assessments

The minimum wage would increase to $15 by 2023

The voting age would be lowered to 16

An independent ombudsperson office to investigate individual complaints about government programs and services

An independent child advocate office

Election dates would be fixed

On housing, the platform pledges that a Green-led government would become an “active partner” in new affordable housing developments. The platform also pledges a review of the Rental of Residential Property Act, and new provincial regulations on short-term rentals such as Airbnb. Short-term rental property owners would see limits established on the number of properties allowed per owner, would need to register non-owner-occupied properties and would pay an accommodation levy.

On social services, the Green party pledged to establish a basic income guarantee commission, which would “aggressively pursue negotiations” with the federal government to implement a pilot program on P.E.I. The platform also pledges to increase social service housing, food and personal allowances rates to the tune of $10 million in 2019-20.

Bell said this allocation represented the amount needed to allow social assistance recipients to afford housing prices in Charlottetown and to allow recipients to afford 100 per cent of the food allocation of the market basket measurement. The measurement is used by the federal government to determine the minimum amount of adequate food needed for individuals and families. At present, social assistance recipients receive 70 per cent of the food allocation of the market basket measurement.

"We're not quite sure why 70 per cent was thought to be adequate, but, frankly, it's not," Bell said.

Low-income individuals would also be granted free transit passes; social service recipients and low-income Islanders would also see expanded dental care benefits.

The Greens also pledged to implement a provincial agricultural landbank, review the Crop Rotation Act with an eye on increasing soil organic matter and ensure all land purchases comply “with not only the word but also the spirit” of the Lands Protection Act.

The platform included a pledge to implement a carbon pricing similar to that imposed by the federal government in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Tax revenue would be returned to Islanders through a monthly dividend and would fund a small business tax reduction of 0.5 per cent.

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