18 SEPTEMBER 2014

(PENOBSQUIS, NB) -- Green Party Leader David Coon met with local landowners here today to reiterate his party's plan to ban shale gas exploitation as well as cancel all exploration and production licenses.

Standing with Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins Green Party Candidate Stephanie Coburn, Coon said New Brunswick is missing out on opportunities to create real, long-term jobs that provide families and communities with vital economies and a healthy environment.

"Why would we want short-term, dirty, dangerous jobs in the shale gas field when more jobs can be created in building our local forest and farming economy, clean energy, and building efficiency," Coon said. "These are long-term, clean, and safe jobs for our families and communities."

He praised the work of Aboriginal Peoples Acadians, and Anglophones of the province who continue to put their time and energy into raising awareness around the issue making sure New Brunswickers are aware of the dangers of hydraulic fracturing. Coon said the alternatives are, not only safer, but can be just as profitable.

He said New Brunswickers can profit from technical, manufacturing, and service jobs by transitioning just a portion of the province's energy needs to wind, water and the sun. He cited the Massachusetts experience where 15,000 jobs have been created in the last two years in the sector.

Coon said the Green Party shares the concerns of a number of groups including the New Brunswick College of Family Physicians, medical doctors at both the Moncton and Georges Dumont hospitals, New Brunswick Nurses Union, UNIFOR, CUPE, National Farmers Union, Association francophone des municipalites du Nouveau-Brunswick, Kent County Regional Service Commission--in short, a total of 80 municipal and governing bodies in NB that have called for a moratorium.

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