Green Party leader Mike Schreiner may not have a seat in the Legislature, but he believes the Greens have been a better opposition than either of the formal rivals to the government when it comes to bringing important issues to the provincial stage.
"I feel like we've affected public policy more than the Conservatives have," says the Green Party leader. "They have 37 seats, we have zero."
He says the party he leads has been one of the earliest voices to raise issues that have gone on to be adopted by the government and opposition parties in the Legislature, whether it was saving the Experimental Lakes Area (announced with fanfare by the government last week) or banning union and corporate donations in provincial election campaigns (which NDP leader Andrea Horwath said <a href=" http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/09/06/andrea_horwath_wants_to_study_ending_corporate_union_donations_to_parties.html">should be explored</a> last week.)
"Imagine what I could do if I could ask questions in Question Period and scrum with reporters afterwards," says Schreiner.
Of course, Schreiner doesn't have a seat in the House and didn't take part in today's ceremonies welcoming in five new MPPs. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a wish list of things he'd like to see the Legislature tackle going forward.
"As you know, two critical pieces or provincial legislation are under review, the Aggregate Resources Act and the Provincial Policy Statement, and I think both are critical opportunities to put in stronger protections for farmland and source water," Schreiner says.
"In the first five years of this century, we lost about 197,000 acres of farmland. That's accelerated to 640,000 acres of farmland in the last five years. We simply aren't going to be able to feed ourselves if we continue to lose farmland at that rate," says Schreiner.
Schreiner says the answer is a moratorium on converting prime farmland to subdivisions. "The Greenbelt is a positive step forward, but as we predicted we're seeing leapfrog development beyond the Greenbelt."
While developers scream about the increasing costs of land and development, Schreiner says people are already paying for sprawl one way or another and restricting subdivision of farmland--or the aggregate quarries that feed the roads and concrete that go into building foundations--will just mean people pay the real costs.
"Hazel McCallion is saying places like Mississauga can't afford to keep growing out because of the costs of sprawl... the taxpayer is going to pay either way, why not do it in the most efficient and sustainable way?"
On last week's announcement of a subway plan for Scarborough, Schreiner says the people of Scarborough are being misled on the qualities of light rail versus subways.
"During the [Scarborough-Guildwoods] byelection, I rode the SRT and talked to people. When you tell them that the subway would have fewer stops, a lot of them start to change their minds." Last week, Transportation Minister Glen Murray announced a subway plan initially represented by a map showing two stops, a map the government says does not show the final number of stations.
Schreiner contrasted the three incumbent political parties in Scarborough-Guildwoods with his party's candidate, Nick Leeson who was the only vocal advocate for LRTs in that race—and, Schreiner acknowledges, got 532 votes for his trouble. (In 2011 Green Naoshad Pochkhanawala received 413.) Schreiner acknowledges Leeson's candidacy didn't light Scarborough-Guildwood on fire, but says that's in part the riding: the Greens do best in urban and rural ridings, with the exception of university towns.
"I think the people of Scarborough have been so misled," he says. "Political games are being played."

Greens more effective than Tories, Schreiner says

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