NDP platform focuses on jobs, health care and sustainability

The Island New Democrats released the party's entire platform in Charlottetown Wednesday, focused on five main areas — income security, housing, health and well-being, education, and agriculture and fisheries.

Leader Joe Byrne says there has been a lack of vision and ambition from consecutive Liberal governments that has left the province in a poor state.

"The lack of willingness to control the short-term rental market is is appalling," said Byrne. "We need huge public investment in public housing and above all people need to be able to live."

Byrne said his party would improve income security by immediately raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and ensuring social assistance rates match the cost of living.

Health and well-being

When it comes to health care, the NDP plans to recruit more doctors and health professionals to ensure every Islander has a family physician before 2023.

The party also promises to improve personal support services, construct more publicly owned manors, explore new approaches to long-term care, and support a national pharmacare system.

Education

The NDP promises a $7 per hour wage increase for early childhood educators, more support for classroom teachers to meet the different learning needs of students, and free post-secondary tuition for Island students.

Agriculture and Fisheries

The party promises to ban new high-capacity wells, make investments in sustainable agriculture, and remove loopholes in the Lands Protection Act.

It pledges to restrict land ownership for companies and people who don't live in P.E.I., and reform crop insurance to better support farmers negatively affected by extreme weather.

The party also said if elected, it would source local food for public institutions like schools and hospitals.

'Green New Deal'

The NDP's economic and jobs plan for P.E.I. is something the party is calling Green New Deal.

It promises to spend $720 million on energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy and public transit — a plan the party said would add almost 10,000 jobs on P.E.I. over five years.

It would also make all energy generation on P.E.I. renewable within 15 years.

Byrne said public money would be used to gradually replace aging carbon-emitting technology with newer, greener alternatives like wind and tidal power, and this his party would make these retrofits more affordable for homes and businesses.

The plan also promises to make energy-efficient vehicles more affordable, and increase public transportation Island-wide.

"The focus is on jobs," said Byrne. "We have to create decent-paying long-term permanent jobs and a Green New Deal actually does that in a whole new area of the economy that is under-developed right now for P.E.I."

Haven't costed plan

Though the party hopes to gain as many seats as possible in the election, officials said they don't expect to form government and so haven't fully estimated the cost of their plan.

"These are the ideas that we're pitching to Islanders but the platform is never the full story of governance," said Byrne.

"We need that New Democrat voice in the house — we need it because it brings a different voice. It's a voice that the other parties can't bring ...  it makes the debate healthier and more inclusive."

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