Green Economic Concepts

Triple Bottom Line Accounting – Prudent use of public finances means attending to three bottom lines: economic, social, and environmental. The Green Party would ensure all provincial ministries, agencies and government contractors use this accounting methodology. Triple-bottom line accounting practices ensure the public is not left paying huge social, health, and environmental clean-up costs in the future.

Genuine Progress – The Green Party supports establishing and monitoring a provincial Genuine Progress Index (GPI) in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The GPI is a tool that will paint a much truer picture of our well-being than the outdated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which only measures the quantity of market activity without accounting for social and ecological costs. The GPI values unpaid labour such as parenting and volunteer work and subtracts the costs of pollution and crime, the depletion of natural and non- renewable resources, and other economic activities that cause harm. The end goal is to establish measurable bottom lines for social and environmental indicators that, together with traditional financial indicators, better measure the well-being of BC citizens.

Getting off Gambling

The Green Party supports a moratorium on gambling licences and a gradual phase-out of the most addictive forms of gambling such as slot machines and on-line gambling. The Green Party would use more of gambling tax revenues to help gambling addicts as well as to develop educational programs aimed at reducing gambling.