Because we need to take a bigger bite out of plastic pollution. There is still far too much plastic pollution entering landfills and the environment that is simply not recycled or reused.

Healthcare collapse is one of the most urgent issues in our province. We need your help. Patients are unable to access care until they are near death. Front-line healthcare workers are experiencing medical-level burnout, PTSD, moral & ethical distress, and mass resignation. This is a huge cost to British Columbians in all the ways of assessing cost. The solutions proposed to increase University funding and hiring doctors is essentially useless and cruel to young professionals/new graduates. For the salary of 1 doctor, the province could hire multiple nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses or allied health professionals such as social workers, rehabilitation specialists and social service & housing workers; these clinicians and workers are best-positioned to address the staggering issues of housing, social service referrals, community & residential rehabilitation, home & community support care, government disability funding & programs etc. Healthcare and social service workers are largely young women who work in risky situations in acute care & dangerous areas of downtown & SROs. We are tossing bodies at a problem that needs to be remedied at the systems level & human-resource-retention & safety. Meanwhile, thousands of workers are ending up on medical leave with psychological & physical health issues which is funded by WorkSafe BC, on long-term disability supports, tax-payer funded public resources and/or individually-funded private services (counselling, psychologists and private psychiatrists etc). This is no way to treat our 'healthcare heroes' who we glorify in the media & then readily ignore. We're deep in a crisis and we can't let this continue; the height of the problems are yet to come. This year in April & May alone, more than 100 doctors, nurses, healthcare workers & social service providers working for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Fraser Health (FHA) signed open letters to the media crying out because of a large lack of resources and poor treatment of the individuals they provide services for. Additionally, more than 700 Canadian academics also signed an open letter decrying the dismantling of the Main & Hastings encampment. It cannot be overstated how significant this is; health authority employees are risking their employment and careers by doing this. The alarm bells are going off yet the fire is being ignored. May 2023: More than two dozen Surrey Memorial Hospital ER doctors signed an open letter: - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-physicians-open-letter-1.6843980 - https://globalnews.ca/news/9700128/surrey-memorial-hospital-crisis-doctors-letter/#:~:text=Dozens%20of%20emergency%20room%20doctors,to%20patients%20and%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D May 2023: 36 Surrey Memorial Hospital Obgyn doctors signed open letter. - "More than two-thirds of women's health providers at the hospital have signed a letter saying critically inadequate resources are compromising patient safety, resulting in an untold number of close calls and the death of a newborn in 2020" attributed to lack of resources, according to the healthcare workers involved. - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-womens-health-doctors-open-letter-1.6858473 April 2023: 44 nurses, community outreach and social workers signed an open letter to Vancouver Coastal Health “Many of us who are on the front line have witnessed and/or been the recipients of police-led violence or escalation, both physical and verbal,” the document reads. - https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vch-workers-decry-east-hastings-decampment-despite-fearing-employer-blowback April, 2023: More than 700 people signed “An Open Letter from Academics Against Vancouver’s encampment evictions” in response to the city’s efforts to remove all tents and structures from East Hastings Street. The letter was addressed to 25 B.C. politicians, including the premier, Housing Minister, Health Minister, Vancouver’s mayor, the entirety of city council, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees. - https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-must-do-better-700-academics-decry-dtes-decampment-in-open-letter-1.6355904

Many of us, if not the majority of residents would want to stay in our own homes into our old age. We want to avoid needing to move into Long Term Care Buildings just because our houses do not adapt to some of our specific living needs as we age. If homes were planned from day one to allow seniors to move about easily in our homes as we age, then the number of Long Term Care Homes could be reduced. All the related costs of care for seniors could be reduced! The happiness of Seniors, as we age would maintained. Families could plan so much easier how to continue caring for their loved Elders into the later years of life!

Access to housing should be a basic human right. In order for housing to be accessible it must be affordable. By placing a cap on the number of houses one can own, supply would be increased as houses owned above the cap would be required to be put on the market. If you could imagine tap water was unsafe and all drinking water was bottled, the housing issue that is the subject of this petition is analogous to someone buying as much bottled water as possible from the grocery store and then selling sips to people at greatly inflated prices.

This system allows companies and individuals to stake mining claims on First Nations lands from the comfort of their offices, without gaining the consent of the Indigenous people who live there. You have stated that we need to “listen to Indigenous voices and ensure they are heard loudly and clearly.” Your government’s refusal to respect Grassy Narrows’ Indigenous Protected Area completely contradicts your own words. This is not in the spirit of reconciliation that your government espouses to care about. Grassy Narrows has been fighting for justice for over 50 years, it is time to make things right. Grassy Narrows is demanding that Ontario respect their Indigenous Protected Area and end all logging and mining activity on the area. Will you commit to that now? We must respect Grassy Narrows' decisions for their territory. Never again should harmful decisions be imposed on Grassy Narrows people and the territory that they depend on. This is an issue of high concern to me and I will be watching closely to see that justice comes at long last to Grassy Narrows.

We need to recapture our politicians from the undue influence of fossil fuel companies who are even helping to write our government’s climate policies. Recently, for example, the government of Alberta granted 4.3 billion to fossil fuel companies at a time when people are unable to find a family doctor in this province, and at a time when at least two large companies stream-lined their operations by laying off workers. Meanwhile forest fires raged out of control all across the country, affecting peoples lives in several negative ways.

The Ford government is sitting on $22.6 billion of so-called “excess funds” – money stashed away from the public purse that they have no plan to spend any time soon. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy claims the FAO’s report doesn’t reflect new government spending. [1] But if the province’s growing budget surpluses haven’t been allocated to any public programs, where is this money going? There are so many ways that $22.6 billion could make a difference. Ford and Bethlenfalvy could use it to: fund our public health care system, build more housing, increase disability support funding, support public transit infrastructure, or invest in our education system. And that's just to name a few. A massive petition from thousands of us across the province – demanding that Finance Minister Bethlenfalvy and Premier Ford stop stashing away billions of dollars and instead invest in public services for Ontarians – can ensure these “excess funds” are put to good use. Will you add your name today? [1] https://globalnews.ca/news/9762549/ontario-government-22-billion-excess-funds-fao/

If people are motivated to keep that drink container in order to get their dollar back, perhaps they will refrain from tossing their other garbage, mostly fast food wrappers and cardboard coffee cups, out the window at will. Large fines for littering, rigorously enforced, with community service cleaning up communities and ditches might also help.

It’s a step backwards in our society to build housing that does not promote environmental living practices. Just because it may be more convenient certainly doesn’t make it acceptable. We must act locally to make the changes necessary in every realm of living to address the real threats of pollution and climate change.

We all need to work together to help reduce wildfires and pollution and banning wood campfires permanently is one way to do this. It doesn't mean we have to give up having campfires, as propane fire pits are readily available, and can provide the same warmth and ambiance of a wood fire without the associated environmental and health problems.

Individuals across Canada are dying from toxic substances. This toxicity is a direct result of current drug prohibition policy that is based on Colonial-era legislation now understood to be racist and not based on evidence for how to manage the potential harms associated with people's use of different substances. My own son died of Fentanyl poisoning at age 21 after losing access to a safer supply and lack of effective treatment options. Safe Supply, separating people from lethally toxic illicit supply, is one part of stemming the horrific tide of death and harms from toxic drugs in Canada. On May 29 (not 31) the House of Commons will vote on an opposition motion to end all safe supply programs. We need to rally all MPs, across all parties, to not support this motion.

Many aspects of GLBI are not known, such as no example has been given about the Disability portion, and how the non-income tested portion will work. We're asking you Leah, to be detailed and precise for the PBO, all 3 scenarios include much higher earners with higher benefits for those with lower incomes as well, and because Canada deserves correct answers before it becomes a campaign promise again.