The co-leader of the Federal Green Party, Jonathan Pedneault, was in Whitehorse on Monday, launching a plan to build a civil defense body of 120,000 people and expand the Canada’s reserve forces.
Pedneault called it an “effort of the whole society to develop resilience, defend our democracy and strengthen our communities.”
Referring to forest fires, a changing climate, “new geopolitical failures” and that mysterious globe that was shot down on Yukon a couple of years ago, Pedneault said it is clear that Canada “is no longer safe in the way it used to be.”
Speaking at a press conference together with the local candidate of the Gabrielle Dupont party, Pedneault described a National Civil Defense Corps of “Well -paid jobs” and priority hiring for former workers in the oil and gas workers displaced by a movement towards a greener economy.
“We want to have a great strength of workers who are distributed throughout the country that can operate in the most independent way possible with well -paid works and salaries of the federal government, and a clear responsibility to take care of the community and be administrators of emergency preparation,” he said.
He also proposed free Civil Defense Training for any Canadian who wants it.
“All Canadians, young or old, will have access if they want basic emergency, first aid preparation skills, cyber security, crisis response, so that no one is left behind in case of a blackout, a forest fire or digital rape,” he said.
He also promised an optional defense skills training for “tens of thousands” of Canadians, such as firearms training, survival techniques and tactical first aid.
“These are tools not only for conflicts, and that is important to attack and emphasize, but are tools for resilience, to help neighbors and lead in times of crisis,” he said.
“Canada is left behind its democratic allies in terms of civil preparation.”
Pedneault also promised to expand Canada’s reserve forces for 20,000 people, to finance the expansion of Canadian Rangers, review the Canadian services body. For youth, and to “place Inuit, Dene, Gwich’in and other indigenous nations in the heart of our Arctic Indigenous Strategy.”
Pedneault argued that the plan of the party “is not a call to militarization”, but of the preparation of the community.
He also acknowledged that the ambitious plan will cost “tens of billions” of dollars, at a time when other parties ask for fiscal restriction. Pedneault argues that now it is not time to reduce federal expenditure, but rather to raise more taxes from large companies.
“It is important to realize the crisis in which we are,” Pedneault said.
“We need Canadians to know that the State is there to help them overcome these difficult times, so that Canadians are willing and ready to serve when Canada needs them. And that moment can come very soon.”
‘In the front lines’
Dupont, Yukon’s candidate of the party, argued that the north is “in the front.”
“We are in the first line of climate change, we are in the first line of energy self -sufficiency, and we are on the first line of Arctic’s geopolitics. We are ready for these challenges,” he said.
The Green Party has fought to win a significant point of support in the Yukón, ending fifth in driving in the 2021 elections with only four percent of the votes. The best performance of the party in the territory was in 2011, when the candidate John Streamker, now a cabinet minister in the liberal government of the territory, ended third with 18 percent of the votes.
Pedneault is the first leader of the Federal Party to visit El Yukón, or any of the territories, during this federal campaign.
Liberal leader Mark Carney visited Iqaluit as prime minister earlier this month, before the electoral call, to announce plans for a new early height radar system for the Arctic, along with other infrastructure investments.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also visited Iqaluit before the electoral call.
Singh announced during his visit at the beginning of this month that his group would cancel the Canada contract to buy F-35 built by the United States and find companies to build combat planes in Canada.
Pailievre, during his visit in February, said his party would double the size of the Canadian Ranger force and build a permanent military base in the capital of Nunavut.
