Protecting low-income Manitobans, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and expanding Manitoba Hydro’s mandate are among the policy proposals provincial NDP leadership candidate and former Thompson MLA Steve Ashton presented in his climate change platform in Winnipeg July 28.
The platform includes a variety of proposals under three themes: protecting Manitobans, saving money and developing a new role for Crown corporation Manitoba Hydro.
“Brian Pallister doesn’t seem to realize he is the premier of a green energy province,” Ashton said in a press release. “At a time when leading climate scientists are saying the next three years are critically important, he should be aggressively creating new green jobs and helping Manitoba citizens and businesses save money as they reduce emissions. Instead he’s making Hydro more expensive and has refused to even sign the federal climate accord, while also slashing the very front line jobs and services he said during the election would be protected. Manitobans have every right to feel betrayed by this Pallister government.”
Ashton’s plan to move the province toward a carbon-free economy includes aggressively reducing fossil fuel imports, ending all fossil fuel subsidies and directing that money towards energy efficiency program, signing the federal climate accord to give Manitoba access to more than $60 million in climate funding, and expanding the use of pay-as-you-save financing so people and businesses can save money while switching to green energy for heating and transportation.
At the same time, he plans to ensure carbon pricing tools include offsets for low-income Manitobans, particularly those in rural and northern regions, so that becoming greener does not put an undue burden on them. Ashton also wants to assist workers to transition to greener jobs and support Indigenous communities opposed to unwanted fossil fuel projects like pipelines in their traditional territories.
In the case of Manitoba Hydro, Ashton proposes amending the Manitoba Hydro Act to add transitioning to a low-carbon economy as one of the corporation’s core objectives, expanding its grid to include more small- and large-scale wind, geothermal and solar power generation. He also wants to use surplus power to replace fossil fuel use and reduce the need for proposed rates increases of more than eight per cent over the next five years, and put Manitoba Hydro back in charge of Power Smart programs with a mandate to aggressively increase efficiency efforts because saving energy is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to save money and reduce emissions.
“Climate change is real, and leaving Manitobans vulnerable to what’s coming is totally unacceptable,” stated Ashton. “Manitobans deserve a premier with the political experience to know how to turn this kind of challenge into positive opportunities for our communities.”
Ashton said the proposals will only become reality if the NDP forms a government and that it needs the support of all regions of the province to do so.
“The recent polls in Winnipeg are very encouraging, but Manitoba New Democrats know we also have to win back seats in rural and Northern Manitoba to defeat Pallister and form government,” said Ashton. “The ideas I’ve presented today set us on a path to do just that.”
