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Stefan Klietsch

Independent candidate for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke
My policies attempt to represent Canadians whose interests are under-represented by our existing political and economic institutions. The incumbents in economic and political power must face increased accountability and competitiveness.

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Climate Change & the Environment

Carbon Pricing

I am fully supportive of a steep Carbon Fee and Dividend that puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions and which redistributes the revenue back to citizens in an equitable manner.

I support imposing an increasingly steep carbon price/tax or "Carbon Fee and Dividend" to achieve the greenhouse-gas emission reductions necessary for Canada's share of global emissions to fall within a proportionate share of the global carbon budget. Since Canadians represent less than 1% of the total world population, fair effort would target reducing our emissions below 1% of annual global emissions output.

I do not however support government picking and choosing fossil fuel developments to terminate, or shutting down fossil fuels indiscriminately as policy. Yet if all fossil fuel developments cannot survive a steep Carbon Fee and Dividend, so be it. If foreign countries threaten the climate by importing Canadian fossil fuels, then Canada should pressure those countries on the world stage to match Canada's own carbon pricing policy.

Ideally the provincial carbon pricing schemes would be replaced with a single national carbon price, for the sake of business-friendly regulatory consistency across jurisdictions.

Health & Healthcare

Pharmacare

I support establishment of a national Pharmacare Program to enable bulk-buying of drugs and thereby reduce medecinal drug costs.

Human Rights & Equality

Conversion Therapy

Supportive of banning conversion therapy, but the devil is in the details.

I support banning conversion therapy targeting homosexuals. That being said, I would also support minor amendments to the conversion therapy ban bill that the Liberals had previously introduced. A homosexual friend of mine has warned that the bill's provisions regarding criminalization of counselling to "reduce" non-heterosexual "sexual behaviour" could be indiscriminately applied to circumstances of non-stigmatizing sexual counselling, and that the bill would have an ambiguous impact on counselling of transgendered people. Criminalizing stigmatization of core non-heterosexual identity under the guise of authority is reasonable.

Indigenous Relations & Reconciliation

Policing & the Justice System

Non-violent crimes should generally not be punished by prison-time; the stigma of a criminal record should suffice as punishment in almost all cases of non-violent crime. Our justice system should abandon the stupidity of enforcing recreational drug criminalization, which cannot be consistently enforced and so will be inconsistently enforced with discrimination towards non-Caucasians.

Unfortunately our law enforcement system discriminates against non-Caucasian and poor people because those are the people most likely to lack resources to put up a proper fight against criminal charges and convictions. We cannot as a society pardon violent crimes if the perpetrator happens to be non-Caucasian, but we can ensure that our punishments remain proportional to the crime and that that the justice system serves the purposes of rehabilitation more so than revenge.

No-knock warrants seem to be a pernicious form of law enforcement that can easily escalate to violence, as we have seen with the deaths of Breona Taylor in Kentucky and Anthony Aust in Ottawa. No-knock warrants may become rarer once public policy abandons the foolishness of attempting to ban substances that can be hidden almost anywhere in almost any room.

Finally, I believe that our justice system ought to impose maximum limits on the discretion of judges to impose lifetime sentences. In Norway judges are not allowed to sentence convicts to prison terms of more than 21 years - but prison review boards may indefinitely confine convicts who prove no progress on rehabilitation. Our justice system ought to apply similar principles.

Self-Determination

I support passing legislation that would allow Indigenous bands to vote whether or not to adopt conventional Canadian private property rights on their reserves.

No Indigenous band should have European-originated property regimes forced upon them, but at the same time bands where the majority of Indigenous peoples desire private and formal land ownership ought no longer be prohibited by the Indian Act from such.

International Relations

China

China is not a friend to Canada, but merely an uneasy trading partner.

Iran

Iranian capacity for break-out development of a nuclear weapon ought to be restrained through diplomatic and multilateral means.

Israel & Palestine

I support pressuring Israel to cease illegal settlements in Palestinian territory, and as a last resort imposing economic sanctions as that pressure if necessary. Violence against civilians by all sides in the conflict is to be condemned.

Jobs & the Economy

Charities and Non-Profits

The tax-exempt status of charities should be decided by an institution at arms-length from government.

News Media & Journalism

Government subsidies to all news media aside from the CBC should end.

Supply Management

I oppose the dairy monopoly and support phasing it out with compensation to existing quota-owners.

Misc. topics

CBC & Radio-Canada

I support a fully public-funded CBC and Radio-Canada.

Canada Post

I support ending the Canada Post monopoly over letter services.

Elections

The electoral system should be reformed a riding-centered form of proportional representation or a ranked ballot. Electronic signatures should be permitted for candidate registration. More English leaders' debates should be held; inclusion criteria should be loosened.

Government Ethics & Lobbying

Offices of Members of Parliament and Federal Cabinet should be included under the Access to Information Act.

The Senate

I support keeping in place a Senate with merit-based appointments, but with powers limited to suspending rather than vetoing bills outright.

Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team
Contrarian, public policy champion, prolific writer. Sustainability Intern with Ottawa Peace and Environment Resource Center. Third campaign for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke.

Stefan Klietsch of Renfrew is running for member of Parliament of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke for the third time. He has again been acclaimed as the Libertarian Party of Canada candidate after having ran for the same party in 2019.

Klietsch also ran as the Green Party of Canada candidate in 2015, and unsuccessfully sought the Green Party of Ontario candidate nomination in 2018.

Klietsch was raised in his family home outside of Renfrew. After completing elementary and high school education in Renfrew, he acquired an honours bachelor of political science from the University of Ottawa. He also has a certificate in security, technology, and economics policy from the same university's Professional Development Institute. The 30-year-old currently works as a sustainability intern for the Ottawa Peace and Environment Resource Centre, living in the city but actively cultivating his hometown roots.

Reason for running

submitted by the candidate or their team
I am building a movement in favour of a new Renfrew County and new Canada that are both egalitarian and competitive. Our democracy and economy are neither fully accountable nor fully competitive; they protect established interests that drain upon Canadian well-being.

I believe that Canadian well-being fundamentally depends on the nurturing of a more intellectually-minded culture in our political class.  The role of a Member of Parliament is to be a watchdog upon government legislation and budgeting, and an objective and vigilant MP will be more likely to pass legislation that saves human lives rather than pass legislation that kills or otherwise harms people.  I believe that I am objective and principled enough to serve in this role.

I also have a very special fondness for Renfrew County, even if I currently live outside of it.  Many Renfrew County residents are special to me and have contributed to my privileged quality of life.

Despite my youth, I actually have more political experience than most of the candidates, and more diverse political experience than all of the other candidates.  My political experience includes the following:

2020 Liberal Party of Ontario Leadership Election Delegate for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke

2019 Libertarian Party of Canada Candidate for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke

2018 Deputy Leader Contestant for Green Party of Ontario

2018 Weekend volunteering on Mike Schreiner's successful election campaign

2018 Green Party of Ontario Nomination Contestant for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke

2016 Young Greens of Canada Co-Chair Contestant

2015 Green Party of Canada Candidate for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke

Volunteering on 8 Green Party candidates' campaigns from 2012 to 2018, including two star election candidates

2014: Co-Chair of the University of Ottawa Young Greens

2013 to 2017: Passing of many policy motions by the Green party of Canada and more especially Green party of Ontario

2012-2014: Part-time volunteer for MP Elizabeth May's Office

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