Dear Editor:
I hear it time and time again, “You Greens are going to split the left-of-centre vote”. It’s simply not true. The Green Party of Canada is not a “left-of-centre” party any more than it is a single-issue party (another bit of misinformation).
The Green Party doesn’t hold or harken back to an ideology of the left or the right. Ours is a party of core principles that each of our policies must adhere to. Many of our policies could be either right-wing or left-wing.
Take a national pharmacare plan, for example. On the face of it this would seem to be a left-wing concept. Consider, however, how for every four dollars governments with pharmacare plans spend on those plans it has been measured that they save $10 in their health-care systems. People take the medications that prevent the heart attacks, strokes and other costly events. It is preventative medicine.
Other savings from pharmacare? Consider how in New Zealand the government pays $15 for a medication that individuals in Canada pay $800 for. The last time I checked the exchange rate on the loonie to the Kiwi dollar was not that great.
The Green Party is not out to get the vote of the left of centre any more than it is out to get the vote of the middle class. The Green Party of Canada wants to earn the votes and represent all Canadians. There are two other parties intent on “splitting the left-of-centre vote.”
If you want your Canada back, you want the Greens to hold the balance of power.
David Macdonald, Burnaby
