Greens pitch 'empathetic, compassionate, evidence-based' approach to politics

By Michelle Ghoussoub

Fresh off her much-lauded debate performance, Green Leader Sonia Furstenau kicked off Wednesday by announcing her party’s full platform — the last of the major parties to do so.

The Greens have long been seen as a one-issue party. But Wednesday’s announcement featured major promises on education, housing, and proposed steps for a gradual move towards basic income. The plan would also make the province carbon neutral by 2045, as promised earlier in the campaign.

Here are some of the main promises from the Green platform — which Furstenau called “empathetic, compassionate, and evidence-based.”

• Immediately implement basic income for youth aging out of care.
• Create a $25 million dollar fund for school districts to develop food programs.
• Create a provincewide plan to address racism in schools and in society.
• Create a rental support program for people paying more than 30 per cent of their income in rent.
• Make BC Ferries a Crown corporation.
• Provide universal early childhood education for three- and four-year-olds.
• Create a billion dollar innovation fund in order to shift towards a green economy.
• Phase out public funding that goes to for-profit long-term care facilities.
• End subsidies to the oil and gas industries.
• Introduce equal pay legislation.

Furstenau delivers full Green platform post-debate

The Greens would spend around an extra $3-4 billion dollars a year (as opposed to the $2 billion by the Liberals and $2-3 billion by the NDP), but have not costed out the revenue side of their platform.

Furstenau said ending subsidies to oil and gas companies would save the province around $1 billion and that a transition to net zero emissions would not leave behind people whose jobs have long depended on those industries.

The platform was released with just 10 days until British Columbians go to the polls — but also only four weeks and two days since Furstenau was voted in as Green leader.

Horgan and Wilkinson pressed on remarks about race

Elsewhere, NDP Leader John Horgan struggled to cast off his poorly-worded response to a debate question about how he has grappled with the issue of racism — in which he stated that he “didn’t see colour” as a child growing up.

The statement instantly sparked reaction on social media, with many describing the comments as "tone-deaf" and criticizing Horgan for failing to appropriately acknowledge the challenges faced by people of colour in British Columbia.

Horgan quickly retracted the statement in his post-debate scrum, but reporters continued to press him on it at a campaign event on Wednesday morning.

He said he immediately regretted his comments, saying they were a “personification of white privilege” — and added that if he needs to talk about anti-racism policies in the remaining days of the campaign, that would be “time well spent.”

Wilkinson, who answered the same question on Tuesday night by saying he worked with Indigenous communities as a doctor, and that an Indigenous baby he delivered was named after him, was also asked, while on a campaign stop in Kitimat, whether those comments were appropriate.

He answered that he grew up as a privileged white man, and only became aware of inequities later in life, also adding that the Liberal platform proposes anti-racism training for everyone working for the provincial government. But he didn't go as far as Horgan to say that he regretted the comments he made during the debate.

What's next?

By Justin McElroy

That's it for us today. For the latest headlines, check cbc.ca/bc.