Green Party candidate says local food production should be ramped up

Green Party candidate Angel Godsoe says it’s time for big changes to support local agriculture and food production, with a real emphasis on local.

Godsoe, a farmer just north of Cambray, says the Green Party wants “to safeguard agricultural lands.”

“We want to promote farming year-round,” with as much emphasis as possible on eating locally.

“Everybody says ‘shop locally, eat locally.’ Well, we need the food available. The Green Party will ensure farmers have the support they need to expand their production, do greenhouse production, and produce food year-round.”

Godsoe says this includes supporting small businesses who will manufacture the food into goods that are locally available. “We want to see more food production companies…and will also protect agricultural lands” from development.

Although she’s a farmer, local food isn’t the only thing on her mind. Inequality is also a big concern for the federal candidate.

To address inequality, Godsoe said he party believes in implementing a guaranteed livable income (also called a basic income.) With a guaranteed income to be there in times of needs, “people aren’t going to be struggling just to pay the rent or figure out where their next meal is coming from.”

“It’s going to really be a game changer,” she says, and will level the playing field, including helping to reduce stress and improve mental health. “Children who grow up in poverty are about 50 per cent less likely to pursue postsecondary education. That’s going to change,” with a basic income.

When it comes to mandatory vaccinations, the Green candidate says she doesn’t “believe anything should be mandatory in Canada.”

“I believe that we have come very far as a country…and I believe we enjoy freedoms and rights in this country that other countries envy us for, and I believe that making something compulsory or mandatory, especially when it has to do with one’s self, with one’s body…that’s a step back on our freedoms and our rights.”

Godsoe told This Week she was not vaccinated, saying she has a “right to choose what medical treatments or procedures” she receives. She added there were “medical as well as personal reasons to choose not to be vaccinated.”

When it comes to climate change, the Green’s signature theme, Godsoe says she is a part of the “only party that is going to exceed our Paris accord carbon emissions goals.”

“The Conservatives are saying they want a 30 per cent reduction by 2030, the Liberals are saying between 40-45, the NDP 50. We have said we would reduce carbon emissions, and we have a plan for it, by 60 per cent, by 2030. We are now saying, no, it has to be 70 (per cent), because that’s what science is telling us we have to do.”

Discussing rising housing prices, Godsoe linked it with various aspects of the Green platform. This includes better universal health care for all, and “complete coverage from the top of our head to the bottoms of our feet.” The Greens also want to ensure postsecondary education is paid for by the government.

“When people’s basic needs are met, we’ll find we do have more money for the things we need such as rent or paying the mortgage. Affordable housing is high on the Green Party platform. Real estate prices have just been skyrocketing like crazy.”

Talking about Canada’s long-term care system issues, from high COVID deaths to prior reductions in funding resulting in burnouts of front-line health care workers, Godsoe said the Green Party does not want any private nursing homes.

Across Canada, our plan is to not have them “be government run. We would expand the hiring for the help. We would make it so that nurses and personal support workers are not overworked, and that they have the resources they need to do the job.”

Godsoe says if she is elected for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock she would “vote for my constituents regardless of any pre-set policies (from her party.) “I can vote what you want. I can vote for your values, and I can’t wait to represent” the area to do that.