Green New Deal

Our Manifesto

As young people in Canada, we have watched the climate crisis grow worse our entire lives. In 2021 alone, we witnessed a devastating season of wildfires, a heat dome that shattered temperature records across the country, and flooding events that damaged homes, roads, and disrupted essential services. We have also grown up amidst multiple economic crises, and are now being forced into a job market of stagnant wages and precarious employment. We have witnessed inequity grow to sickening proportions, leaving marginalized peoples to suffer so the rich can grow richer.

Meanwhile, the BC government under John Horgan’s leadership is selling our future to corporations. Not only is the BC NDP continuing to expand Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) extraction and old growth logging far beyond what our climate can tolerate, but when Indigenous and non-Indigenous land defenders step up to protect our future, Horgan sends in the RCMP to brutalize and arrest them. We have been abandoned by our political leaders. When our planet is burning and our job prospects reinforce an extractive economy, we cannot afford to wait on more false promises.

We are part of the global movement of young people demanding a Green New Deal, and we are calling on the provincial government to implement strong, meaningful, and urgent policies for BC. We reject an exploitative and unequal economy. We are furious from witnessing the death and suffering that accompany ecological breakdown. And right now, we are tired of seeing our politicians refuse to listen to young people and people most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It doesn’t have to be like this.

Transforming our province can only be accomplished by working together in genuine solidarity. That is why our movement must be intersectional to the core. There cannot be climate justice without racial justice, economic justice, and decolonization. Without centering the leadership of our Indigenous, Black, and racially marginalized brothers and sisters, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. While we push for a Green New Deal, justice will be front and center.

Now is the time to make a choice: continue with the status quo of precarious work on a burning planet, or step forward with a bold transition from fossil fuels that creates millions of good jobs, returns land to Indigenous peoples, and centres justice and care for all of our communities. This is why we are calling for a Green New Deal for BC immediately.

What does a Green New Deal for BC look like?

1. A Green Jobs Guarantee.
We demand the right to work without destroying our own future. We demand an economy built on caring for people and the land. Mitigating and adapting to climate change is a big job, and to do so at the scale and speed required to meet the global 1.5°C target will require the creation of millions of jobs. We want to be forest restorationists, childcare workers, renewable energy engineers, educators, regenerative farmers... all we need is the government to get on board by investing in the training and employment of workers that meet the needs of the future"

2. Keep it in the ground: end LNG expansion.
We demand an immediate cessation of all LNG expansion projects and subsidies. We can’t reach our climate targets and build new LNG infrastructure. This must be followed by a rapid and managed wind-down of all fossil fuels - a transition that is centered in justice for all, from Indigenous communities to fossil fuel workers.

We are fighting for good work, a liveable future, and a society that leaves no one behind. With these demands in mind, we call on John Horgan and the BC government to immediately embrace a Green New Deal for BC. All of our futures depend on what we do now.