Green Party candidate John Moore on the issues
1. You've just been elected MP. What is at the top of your to-do list?
Table a private members bill with a view to re-establishing the Kelowna Accord and moving Canada's indigenous population towards a position of sustainability, self-sufficiency and self-government.
2. What is the most important infrastructure investment you believe the federal government could make in the NWT and why?
Investment in localizing food production through the establishment of year-round greenhouses and indoor agricultural technology. As we saw with the Yukon's mudslides in 2012, Northern communities are extremely fragile and highly dependent on food shipments from the south.
This is something we have the technology to move away from, but not not without proper federal regulations, support and assistance.
3. What can Ottawa do to help lower the cost of food in communities?
As above, so below. There is proven technology available with high capital yet low recurring costs which will serve to allow Northern communities to move ever closer to caloric self-sufficiency. In 2012, UN Special rapporteur for food Olivier De Schutter noted that food insecurity in the North is a blight on Canada's human rights record. The lack of adequate response from the Harper Government at the time and the current neglect of other parties in not addressing this issue is a blight on the state of modern Canadian politics.
4. With lower water levels killing NWT's hydro production and the cost of diesel breaking the bank, how will NWT solve its power crisis?
Representing the only party whose leader had the respect to offer an on-time response to Premier McLeod's open letter to party leaders, I'd like to quote Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party:
"The Green Party enthusiastically supports efforts to promote energy affordability and sustainability in the NWT. To reduce energy costs, Greens will work with the provinces and territories to develop a plan to transition to a trans-Canada nationally integrated power grid with capacity for efficient transport of high electrical loads from diverse sources of renewable energy.
For any province or territory adopting advanced renewable tariffs, net metering, peak power pricing and plans for renewable grid extensions, Greens will provide:
A two cent/kWh subsidy for renewable energy
Substantial R&D funding for electricity storage technologies
Support for power grid extensions to bring wind and ocean power from remote areas
5. Between melting permafrost and forest fires, NWT is bearing the brunt of climate change. What can Ottawa do to assist this territory in weathering its effects?
I live in the Mackenzie Delta region and we've warmed over 3 C in less than a century. Elizabeth offers another great response to this in her letter to our premier but I would like to expound slightly upon what she offers. The Greens are unique insofar as that we offer a high degree of freedom to our MP's. In this regard, I plan to publish a policy document that will be available at MooreGreen.ca in the coming days outlining my position of some specifically Northern issues, including this.
While the ideal is to move Northern communities away from reliance upon southern goods for the simple act of surviving, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight or even within a single session of parliament. While the Green's fee-and-dividend system as outlined in Ms. May's letter to our premier is an excellent system, considering the nature and current importance of our shipping system in the North, a flat fee without any nuance would crush all outlying Northern communities. In my capacity as MP I would ensure that our fee-and-dividend program includes a subsidy that allows for the necessity of shipping goods north without putting them out of reach for my constituents.
6. What are your ideas for creating an incentive for companies to tap our offshore oil and gas reserves in the Beaufort Delta?
I do not think today's economy calls for incentivizing multi-national corporations to come and take Canada's natural wealth and remove it from our economy.
Instead, I think that through the promised Council of Canadian Governments all parties at the table, most especially indigenous voices, must come to a joint solution that focuses upon value added refining inside of Canada. As global commodity markets stand today, drilling off these reserves is not economical and it is not the duty of the federal government to affect world oil prices.
It is, in fact, rather impossible to do that.
What the federal government can do is provide all other levels of government the tools they will need to be successful when commodity prices bounce back.
