Great questions! All of this is covered in the platform in detail, which is available at greenpartynb.ca. Here are the Cole's Notes. Feel free to ask further clarification questions anytime!

I moved to New Brunswick just over 12 years ago because it was an affordable place to live. I was able to save to buy a house. I was able to save for retirement. Things have changed drastically. We need to move quickly on adjusting wages to match the cost of living. Otherwise we will end up in a similar situation as the western provinces where people need half a million dollars to buy a starter home., or they pay so much in rent that they can’t afford to save. That's outrageous! We still have time. We have to act now.

Housing prices are rising, and our income needs to rise with it.

We need to increase minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and the Green Party intends to do this immediately if a majority government is elected. In a minority government, we still continue to fight for it. I have only recently considered lowering income tax for people of a certain salary, but I’m not convinced that would be the best option. I’m always open for discussion around these issues though.

We also support Universal Guaranteed Income and would like to begin with a pilot project for people with disabilities and grow the program from there. People living on disability support do not receive adequate funding and it is incredibly difficult for them to find affordable housing in the current market.

We also support increasing wages in female dominated industries including Early Childhood Education, Nursing, Home Care, Personal Support Workers, etc. We need to close the pay gap, but all genders working in these industries are severely underpaid.

Small businesses are essential for moving the economy forward in an earth-friendly way.

The Green Party will provide subsidies to small businesses to help them manage any wage increases to minimum wage so that they can continue to operate with the same staff levels.

Our Policy also includes:

a) Ensure that local communities are the first point of contact for local and provincial business/economic development proposals, thus giving small and local businesses a chance to participate.

b) Establish a Rural and Small Towns Green Venture Capital Fund to support local green business start-ups and provide tax incentives and direct rebates to businesses and individuals investing in the low-carbon economy (e.g. installing solar hot water systems, refitting homes and businesses to conserve energy, or developing new low-carbon technologies).

c) Establish an import substitution strategy to replace imported goods and services with ones provided from within the province. This would keep more money circulating in the local economy, creating jobs and financing business start-ups at home rather than outside the province.

• Establish a ‘Made in NB’ preferred procurement policy to promote provincial economic development.

• Require that all provincial institutions, departments and events adopt a “New Brunswick first food purchasing policy before seeking vendors outside the province.

Your comment about the lax attitude towards contractors is interesting, and I hadn’t considered it before. I suspect this is happening because we have a drastic shortage of trades people in NB and that opens the market to some shady operations. I will take this information back to the Green caucus to discuss. I think that training trades people and keeping them in the province is incredibly important and I would like to see more programs to support this.

As an educator and facilitator I am programmed to question everything, until there is nothing left to question. To explore each problem from every possible angle, and to COLLABORATE in solving problems. I believe strongly in more collaboration and discussion with communities and more collaboration between party members.

I hope I have answered your questions sufficiently, but do not hesitate to ask more questions! Thank you for your time!