Policy Process Submission Rules and Drafting Standards

Submission Rules

1. A policy proposal is submitted on the online submission form located on the party’s website.

2. Each submission will be reviewed for completeness and for adherence to the drafting standards by the Policy Process Committee.

3. A Policy Process Committee member will work with the submitter to bring the proposal up to drafting standards.

4. The proposal must be written as a high level policy principle without prescribing any strategy or tactics. It must be written so as to allow GPC representatives the flexibility to choose any appropriate strategy and tactic necessary to achieve the desired outcome.

5. The proposal must not include prescriptive details such as specific positions, specific actions, specific initiatives, or the names of specific organizations.

6. A proposal statement which is too specific, prescriptive, complex, poorly explained, or which contains an error will be returned to the submitter for redrafting.

7. Submitters of similar motions will be required to combine their proposals into one.

8. A proposal which does not meet the drafting standards by a date set by the Policy Process Committee will not be accepted.

9. Once a proposal has been accepted by the Policy Process Committee as complete and compliant with the drafting standards, it will be referred to the GPC membership for prioritization.

10. Each individual member may submit a maximum of one (1) proposal for the BGM.

Drafting Standards

Type of Proposal

A proposal may be:

1. A Political policy motion which articulates what the party would work toward if elected.

2. A Constitutional amendment which seeks to change the constitution or bylaws.

3. A Directive motion which directs the party’s Federal Council in some way.

Principles

A policy proposal must directly support one (or more) of our six core Principles: Ecological Wisdom, Sustainability, Participatory Democracy, Social Justice, Respect for Diversity, Non-Violence.

Title

The Policy Process Committee will supply a title which concisely reflects the action of the proposal.

Objective

In 50 words or less, the proposal should describe what goal or objective this policy works to achieve.

Benefit

In 50 words or less, the proposal should describe why this objective is of benefit.

Proposal

Political policy proposal: Policy is a proclamation of the values and principles held collectively by Canadian Greens as applied to specific topics. When drafting your policy, remember that policy is principle based and is not strategy or tactics. Using broad terms, state the principle which the Party will support and the outcome which it hopes to achieve. This statement is the wording which becomes party policy.

Constitutional Amendment proposal: The amendment should clearly reference the current constitutional or bylaw clause and show how the proposal supports and aligns with our principles.

Directive to Council proposal: The proposed directive should clearly state the action it asks Council to undertake, how that action aligns with our principles and how that action will help council to more effectively carry out its role to fairly represent the membership.

Relation to Existing Policy

The statement should indicate whether the policy adds to GPC policy, or rescinds and replaces an existing policy, and if so, which policy is rescinded.

Evidence

Up to five references may be provided to indicate if the proposal has worked elsewhere or can be expected to be effective.  A reference should be described with a short phrase.

Consultation

The submitter should indicate whether this proposal affects any particular group and if any efforts have been made to consult with the group or groups.

Jurisdiction

The motion must fall within federal jurisdiction. An issue which falls within municipal or provincial jurisdiction will not be accepted.

Support

The submitter should indicate whether the motion in its final form has been discussed at any EDA or other party meeting.

Sponsors

The names and emails of the required number of members must be provided as described in the GPC Constitution and Bylaws. If claiming support of a unit, the name, email, and phone number of the Chair of the meeting in which a decision was taken to support this proposal should be provided with the names and emails of the 20 members who attended the meeting.

Examples of well written and poor policy statements:

Well written policy example: Canada should transition from non-renewable to renewable energy systems in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Poorly written policy example: Canada should be completely off fossil fuels by 2030 by switching to solar and wind.

Reasoning: While moving off of fossil fuels is desirable, being overly prescriptive on how will narrow the range of options for our platform and positions. Good policy balances good ideas with practical realities and recognizes that details might change.