Lynn Oliphant - Green Party
Recovering academic
“Where we’re talking about addressing poverty, education, agriculture, energy: they all impact on sustainability.”
If elected, Green candidate Lynn Oliphant says his wife would not be too happy. But Oliphant wants to use his campaign to educate and bring issues to the forefront of the debate.
“We’re not going to elect any Green Party people here in Saskatchewan but I am thoroughly convinced that their policy and platform is the only that will take us forward in the next few decades,” he says.
While the economy is a big issue all over Canada, Oliphant says with all the other parties focusing on economic growth, there needs to be a focus on smarter growth.
“We need to have better energy efficiency, more durable goods so we don’t have to utilize non-renewable resources to the extent that we utilize them now. We just need to do things different,” he says.
The Greens are the only ones who look for a sustainable economy for Canadians, says Oliphant.
“We think as human beings that we are totally independent of the life support systems that support all the life on the planet. We aren’t independent of that,” he says.
One of these areas that aren’t sustainable is agriculture. The current agriculture system is not having a positive effect on the environment, from soil quality to tapping ground water. Sustainable agriculture is a difficult change but a much-needed one.
“That doesn’t mean straight organic but that would be one aspect. I’d like to see fewer acres under tillage and more permanent acres put under cover on a short-term basic to build our soil, organic matter back up to something close to what it was 100 years ago,” he says.
On Issues:
Economy: “We need to redefine an economy that serves the people as opposed to the people serving the economy. We sacrifice people, fire the economy.”
Environment: “The more we destroy, the less life (the planet) can support.”
Education: “Our educational system is all concerned about teaching students the facts and we have an ever-increasing pile of facts that we try to shove into their heads and very little emphasis on creativity, critical thinking skills that are going to be absolutely paramount in the coming decades.”
First Nations: “You can’t legislate prejudice but you can ensure that the native peoples have the same access to education that everyone else does...The Green Party, for all people in poverty are advocating a Guaranteed Livable Income...I’d like to see it coupled with guaranteed jobs. We should be able to guarantee anyone who wants to work something to do.”
Immigration: “We’re a huge country with huge resources, small population that is well educated, if we can’t model a sustainable peaceful way of living on the planet, it can’t be done anywhere. We need a leader that can take us in that direction.”
Healthcare: “The vast majority of healthcare dollars that I will utilize from the system will come in the last few weeks of my life, prolonging my death. That is stupid. We need to be addressing not what kills us at the end of our life; we need to be addressing those diseases and preventable health situations that affect quality of life starting with youngsters.”
Agriculture: “Right now, the cost of inputs are so high and have such a deleterious effect on our ground water, our diversity, and the health of the people eating these products. We need to get back to a low input agriculture, which doesn’t depend so much on fossil fuels (which we need to phase out) and it won’t be easy.”
