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Green party releases platform

Last Updated: Monday, January 2, 2006 | 11:45 AM ET

CBC News
Green party Leader Jim Harris described Canada as the third-worst polluter in the industrialized world on Monday and vowed his government would use the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to guarantee clean air, water and soil.

In releasing his party's platform in Ottawa, Harris called for mandatory fuel-efficiency standards in cars and a ban on the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes.

The party's platform also calls for prohibiting bulk water exports, shifting taxes onto non-renewable energy resources and off personal income, ending federal subsidies to the fossil fuel sector and improving public transportation.

Harris criticized the opposition parties for not being accountable in protecting Canadians' health. He said 4.3 billion kilograms of toxins that affect breathing are released into the air every year.

He cited statistics suggesting one of every five Canadian children has asthma, compared rates 20 years ago of one out of 100.

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