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Reforming Government

www.BCgreens.com

Greens will restore integrity and accountability to our government through increased public oversight for ministries, crown corporations and public appointments. Greens will redesign the structure of our government to reflect what we want to build, not what we have. We will create new ministries and combine existing ones to build a new structure that can achieve the goals we set and streamline bureaucracy. Green MLAs will call for reforms to government that decentralize decision-making and strengthen the role of local government and the autonomy of First Nations.

Build a Better Democracy

Greens have promoted fair voting and cooperative politics since our beginning over twenty five years ago. We fully support the Citizens’ Assembly recommendation to implement the Single Transferable Voting system for BC (BC-STV) and look forward to a legislature in Victoria free of the partisan rhetoric that is obstructs progress. The Citizens' Assembly determined, after months of study, that the STV system does the best job of delivering:

1. Fair election results
2. Effective local representation
3. Greater voter choice

BC Greens will also introduce legislation to reform campaign financing which will remove the influence of special interest groups over government policy, legislation, regulation and enforcement. Our policy calls for a ban on corporate and union donations. Individual donations would be capped and parties will receive a small per-vote public subsidy.

Decentralize Decision Making

BC Greens are committed to returning and expanding the authority of municipal and regional governments to oversee growth, industrial development, social services and transportation. Decisions must be congruent with regional growth strategies, urban containment boundaries; climate change goals, zero waste principles, agricultural, forested and recreational land protection Official Community Plans and First Nations as partners. Green MLAs will propose new funding formulas for municipal and regional governments to transition revenue to support these new decision-making and programming responsibilities.

Restore Confidence In Our Police

BC Greens will introduce more effective public control and oversight over policing within British Columbia in order to strengthen relations between the police and the communities they serve. We will create a new provincial police force. We would propose legislation to appoint an independent Provincial Police Commission to oversee investigations of police conduct and to propose effective remedial actions and preventive strategies.

Reforms to Government Will:

• Reduce the size of cabinet and the power of the premier’s office
• Decentralize control over community planning, enhancing the strength of local and regional governments.
• Expand recall legislation to municipal officials
• Implement “Triple bottom-line” accounting for government departments
• Free votes in the legislature
• Review government wage increases
• Reform political finance including donation limits and public financing
• Honour fixed dates for sittings in the legislature
• Accelerate the successful negotiation of First Nations agreements
• Strengthen and support the Freedom of Information act to make information accessible in a timely manner
• Strengthen the Societies Act to make societies more accountable and their operations more transparent
• Introduce “Whistle-blower” legislation