Healthy Families flyer, 2011

The greatest wealth is health.
Gaylord Nelson

A Green economy is a healthy economy.

Green practices enrich healthy soils that grow nutritious foods, revitalize lakes and rivers to deliver safe drinking water, and help clear the air so we can breathe easier.

Invoking the notwithstanding clause should never be taken lightly. However, our health-care system must be saved from the threat of two-tier care, HMOs and the gradual dismantling of our public system to meet the appetite of a for-profit system.
Jim Harris, leader of the Green Party of Canada, in 2005

The Green party unequivocally supports our fully public health-care system equally accessible to all.

It’s time to further support our health-care system by investing in health promotion. ensuring access to good nutrition, safe drinking water, fresh air and exercise will boost our quality of life and reduce health costs.

In the long term, a Green economy will pay off even more. If unchecked, climate change would dramatically increase the rates of respiratory disease and heat stress, as well as introduce new infectious diseases.

It would also add new threats to food and water security, and reduce our ability to address new crises. reducing emissions will protect us from these growing health impacts.

We moved to Toronto-Danforth just weeks after we brought our precious infant son home from Korea. Within days I was worried about a slight rasp in his voice. I was concerned by reports of poor air quality in East Toronto, leading to a disproportionately high rate of asthma.

And the culprits for higher-than-normal asthma rates are easy to spot. They’re some of the same issues that exacerbate climate change – industrial burning and smog. prevailing winds from the west blow pollution from the Don Valley parkway across East Toronto.

It was frustrating to realize that I had chosen my home for its excellent transit connections, but my family was suffering from the health impacts of emissions on a highway I never use.

That’s why I was stunned when Jack layton, who I thought might inject some environmental wisdom into his party, ran the 2004 election on a platform of lowering gas prices. That was the first year I voted Green – for the only party with an approach that respects our children and our health.

We cannot let people go cold, and they need transportation to get to work. But we should not support oil companies and our own dangerous addiction by guaranteeing cheap fuels. Instead we need to tackle poverty. We need to make sure everyone can pay the true price for the fuels they need. A true price encourages efficient lifestyles powered by clean energy sources. The Green party would put more money into the hands of most Canadians – so they can invest in retrofits or more efficient cars and appliances.

A Green vote is a vote for health.

Adriana does not shy away from the environmental and social issue challenges facing us today. From poverty to climate change she is powered by a vision for a green and fair society. She works hard for her community, inspiring her children and those around her with her energy, positive action and a sharp mind.
Tanmayo Krupanszky
Conference Coordinator,
Canadian organic Growers – Toronto

The Green party is campaigning for clean air, clean water, whole foods and strong communities.The four essentials for growing healthy families.Vote Adriana for a healthier future.
Dr Georgina Wilcock, MD
Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Canada
Chief, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,
The Scarborough Hospital

We are starting to realize that our individual and collective health depends on the health of the environment in which we live. The Green Party has an innovative, holistic approach to health care which we need to secure the health of Canadians now and in the future.
Dr Hilary de Veber, MD
Community Pediatrician,
Toronto East General Hospital

Adriana is an intelligent hard working person with a firm grasp on a broad range of issues including health. She will be diligent at implementing the Green Party’s policies, which are based on the World Health Organization’s definition of health as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Dr Robert Nevin, BEng, MD
Environmental Health Peer Presenter,
Ontario College of Family Physicians
Lead Physician,
Bay Wellesley Family Health Group,
Toronto East General Hospital

In Parliament I will push to:

• enshrine the right to clean air and water in the Constitution
• protect publicly funded health care
• add pharmacare alongside health care nationwide
• increase the number of family doctors
• reduce health-care costs through prevention:
  • promote active living
  • promote local food grown without pesticides
  • ban dangerous toxins
  • put a stiff price on pollution
• reduce the financial burden on most Canadians, financed by fees on carbon emissions