Election 2008

Vanessa Crispini-Adams.

Guernsey, along with the rest of the world, stands at the crossroads of economic, environmental, and social change. If elected I will encourage our government to act with urgency and leadership to embrace the issues of sustainability. It makes long term economic sense to start adapting our lifestyles to those that cause less damage to our environment.

We can no longer pretend the global concerns of climate change and escalating energy and food prices won't affect our island home, or consider these issues as stand alone problems. Instead we must weave them into the economic approach we undertake. The future holds much uncertainty and Guernsey must ensure that the decisions we make today will support the needs of our future generations as well as our own.

Many of Guernsey's problems are a symptom of the way we run our community. We need to tackle the causes of energy inefficiency, anti-social behaviour, traffic congestion, and waste disposal and not just treat the symptoms.

We must prioritise support for education at all levels - from primary to life long learning. The success of our community will rely on our ability to foster highly competitive and flexible citizens that can supply the island’s essential services, adapt to change and allow us to compete internationally.

As our major source of income, we must ensure our finance sector remains competitive. However the continued existence of offshore finance is ultimately outside our control. To reduce our vulnerability we must allocate energy and resources to investigate and nurture new industries that generate alternative sources of revenue for our economy.

Our future government needs to inspire and enable the Guernsey people to invest confidently in our island’s future. I wish to play a useful role in that process and offer my drive, skills and intellect to serve you.