The Five E's Platform

My Dear Fellow Canadians,

My name is Adil Zaidi, I am 24 years old, born in Windsor Ontario and currently live in Mississauga, Ontario. I completed my Bachelors of Science from McMaster University in 2006 and am currently in my second year of medical school abroad, training to be a doctor so I can come back and serve the country I love.

I firmly believe that Canada is a country we can be proud of. Our national commitment to human rights, healthcare, justice, freedom, multiculturalism and peace are but a few of things that have earned international respect and admiration. But we can do more to make Canada even better, to improve the lives of all Canadians and to prepare us for an ever changing world. To that end, I have outlined five areas that the federal government needs to address immediately in order to strengthen Canada.
I'll call this platform the Five E's: Education, Economy, Environment, Energy, Equality.


Education:
As a medical student, I recognize the need for quality education. Yet for many finances remains a daunting barrier for post secondary schooling. Just last month, Statistics Canada revealed that undergraduate tuition cost has increased 4.4% annually since 2000. This compares to annual inflation of 2.3% for the same time period. Apparently students are being made to pay more for less. I would first address this problem by working with these institutions to help lower tuition through tax rebates and increased funding, and will establish 2008 tuition rates as a baseline, and mandate that year to year increases cannot exceed inflation.


Economy:
Having worked on a Chrysler Automobile assembly line as a summer student, I would arrive to work everyday with thousands of people to build great cars. Many of those people I worked with no longer have jobs, because due to a shaky economy and outsourcing of jobs, all multi national corporations are laying off qualified workers in unprecedented numbers. Our unemployment rate is 6.4%, a 0.4% from the previous year. The solution is the creation of an Economic Integrity Committee, with three specific mandates -
1. Redirect government investment and financing into Canadian owned small businesses and corporations
2. Allocating more government subsidized loans for young Canadian entrepreneurs who will employ Canadians and create wealth here at home.
3. Annual revision of current import/export laws and tariffs, and which will our businesses accordingly and help them maximize profits.

Environment:
For the environment, the evidence cannot be more convincing. Arctic Canada has already begun to feel the effects of global warming, and the rest of the world will soon follow. At current trends, environmental resources will be exhausted and economies will subsequently collapse. A solution would be to implement a global Canada Protocol, where delegations of handpicked scientists, economists and politicians are sent to various countries to help them identify and attain environmental goals unique to each country, while also minimizing adverse economic effects. This differs from the Kyoto protocol as it does not impose uniform goals for all members. Assisting other nations in meeting environmental targets will help maintain the environmental integrity of Canada and the world.

Energy:
A massive blackout in the summer of 2003 showed us just how dependent we are on energy. We are heavily addicted to energy. Yet it comes at a great cost - financial, as well as environmental. The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicator publication reported in 2007 that although industrial energy use has become more efficient, the growth of those industries resulted in net increase in consumption. To match the growth in energy demand while minimizing adverse environmental and economic effects, I propose a target "20 by 2020" - 20% of energy from coal and nuclear by the year 2020, with 80% of the energy from renewable sources. This will require immediate investment in wind, solar and hydroelectric development and research, technology we can use at home and export internationally.


Equality:
Be it the tens of thousands of American slaves who escaped to Canada in search of freedom via the underground railroad, or Nellie McClung achieving women's right to vote and run for office, our commitment to equality has become a pillar of our nation. Yet despite our history, we find many disparities in our current times. Aboriginals, immigrants, minorities, people of lower socioeconomic status, education still feel disenfranchised. We must bridge the equality gap with these groups, and to that end I suggest the creation of a Ministry of Equality - a unique branch of government that will receive and evaluate cases of inequality across our nation, and will present a quarterly report to both the legislative and executive branches of government, offering realistic solutions to these real problems problems.