Leap Manifesto

Leap Manifesto

File:The Leap logo2.png
Motto	"A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another"
Formation	September 2015
Type	Political manifesto
Location	Canada
Website	leapmanifesto.org

The Leap Manifesto is a political manifesto issued by a broad coalition of Canadian authors, artists, national leaders and activists in September 2015, during the Canadian federal election campaign. Initial signatories to the Manifesto include Donald Sutherland, Rachel McAdams, Ellen Page, Sarah Polley, and documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis; musicians Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Alanis Morissette; and writers William Gibson, Naomi Klein and Michael Ondaatje, along with environmental groups and labour union members including former Canadian Union of Public Employees president Paul Moist. The document that calls for a restructuring of the Canadian economy and an end to the use of fossil fuels. A resolution referring the manifesto to local riding associations for discussion was approved by delegates during the 2016 New Democratic Party Convention.

The 15 demands

The declaration lists 15 action items as part of the manifesto's plan.

"This transformation is our sacred duty to those this country harmed in the past, to those suffering needlessly in the present, and to all who have a right to a bright and safe future. Now is the time for boldness. Now is the time to leap."

1. The leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land, starting by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2. The latest research shows we could get 100% of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.
3. No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard.
4. The time for energy democracy has come: wherever possible, communities should collectively control new clean energy systems. Indigenous Peoples and others on the frontlines of polluting industrial activity should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects.
5. We want a universal program to build and retrofit energy efficient housing, ensuring that the lowest income communities will benefit first.
6. We want high-speed rail powered by just renewables and affordable public transit to unite every community in this country – in place of more cars, pipelines and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.
7. We want training and resources for workers in carbon-intensive jobs, ensuring they are fully able to participate in the clean energy economy.
8. We need to invest in our decaying public infrastructure so that it can withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
9. We must develop a more localized and ecologically-based agricultural system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, absorb shocks in the global supply – and produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone.
10. We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.
11. We demand immigration status and full protection for all workers. Canadians can begin to rebalance the scales of climate justice by welcoming refugees and migrants seeking safety and a better life.
12. We must expand those sectors that are already low-carbon: caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts and public-interest media. A national childcare program is long past due.
13. Since so much of the labour of caretaking – whether of people or the planet – is currently unpaid and often performed by women, we call for a vigorous debate about the introduction of a universal basic annual income.
14. We declare that “austerity” is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth. The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available — we just need the right policies to release it. An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties. Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending.
15. We must work swiftly towards a system in which every vote counts and corporate money is removed from political campaigns.

External links

• Official website
• Leap Manifesto: NDP agrees to explore staunch stance on fossil fuels