Proposed by Andy Lehrer, TorontoDate: 25/05/11A Resolution Regarding the EnvironmentWhereas climate change is a growing threat to survival on the planet.Whereas capitalism provides no viable or sustainable solutions to the environmental crisis;Be it therefore resolved that a Socialist government shall:Fight global warming through massive public investment in the research, development and implementation of publicly owned clean renewable energy and efficiency technologies to rapidly replace fossil fuels; Put Ontario’s natural gas utilities under democratic public ownership. End private leasing of nuclear power facilities and phase out nuclear power within 20 years; Invest in a massive program to retrofit large buildings with green roofs, require all future construction of large buildings to include green roofs, and invest in retrofitting homes, office and apartment buildings with energy efficient green technologies, insulation and modifications; Invest in a massive expansion of mass transit and intercity rail to provide alternatives to the car. Public transit will be well-funded and democratically controlled; Create a publicly owned network of battery change/recharging stations for electric and hybrid cars and create a publicly owned, province wide, car sharing program to provide a cheap, environmentally friendly and accessible alternative to private car ownership;and be it further resolved that all workers in polluting industries should be guaranteed re-training and new living-wage jobs in socially-useful green production. A Resolution on the Party as a Campaigning PartyBe it resolved that the (Socialist) Party of Ontario is not strictly a parliamentary or electoral party but a campaigning party which builds and works in movements in in solidarity with socialists and people in struggle locally and across Ontario, Canada and the world. The Socialist Party supporting workers in struggle and works to bring movements together.Be It Further Resolved that the Socialist Party shall include education and popularization of socialist ideas. A Resolution on HousingWhereas Housing is a right;Be it therefore resolved that a Socialist government will create at least 20,000 units of new affordable, publicly owned housing in its first term; Upload public housing to the province and restore full funding in order to rehabilitate and expand housing stock. Public housing shall be under democratic control;Aggressively combat bed bugs and other infestations in public housing and require landlords to do the same in private housing;Reimplement real rent controls to prevent landlords from raising a unit’s rent through eviction;Licence landlords in order to ensure that landlords adhere to certain standards and are penalized and lose the right to be landlords if they do not;Double annual spending on services and shelters for the homeless. Ensure that homeless shelters are operated in a humane and compassionate manner;A Resolution Regarding Reproductive rightsBe it Resolved that a Socialist government shall include free contraception as well as free fertility treatments for all who require them;Be it Further Resolved that a Socialist government guarantees women’s rights to reproductive choice and guarantees access to free abortion on demand for all women. All hospitals will be required to provide abortion services and free transportation will be available for women living in rural and remote areas who need to travel to obtain abortion services and for women in small cities and municipalities who wish to travel to obtain their abortion services out of town for privacy reasons.
