The Green Party, headed by outspoken leader Elizabeth May, is gearing up this week to take part in its first ever federal election debates tonight and Thursday.

In previous posts, I've highlighted the environmental platforms of the Liberals and NDP parties. I guess just the Green Party is left (that's a dig at the Conservatives, who still haven't released their platform).

Obviously the Green Party continues to make environmental issues the backbone of their campaign. In fact, their environmental objectives are so comprehensive that it's hard to find a decent dissection in the mainstream media. So let's break it down here:

*Note: Post was edited Monday morning in light of details released in written platform.

As NDP leader Jack Layton is set to officially unveil his party's program here in Toronto today, what better time to take a look at the environmental platform?

It appears that Dion is worried about growing NDP support in Toronto and will be heading to Toronto as well to compete for support in this important battleground. Last week I took a look at the Liberal Green Shift and this week we'll see how the NDP plan stacks up.

Since Liberal leader Stephane Dion was apparently downplaying his party's Green Shift plan by not mentioning it when speaking recently in Toronto, and then avoiding it again when visiting Western farmers, I figured a highlighting of said plan is in order.

When asked about the centrality of the Green Shift to the Liberal platform, he was quoted as saying "You have said it was, but never me." That's a bit confusing, but perhaps an understandable statement given in the context of announcing big handouts to farmers (who are worried about being hit financially from the plan).

Details of a massive plan for the future of public transit in the GTA have finally been unveiled to the media. A report surfaced today pegging the required budget at $55 billion. Now that is if all the recommendations in the plan were to actually go ahead (unlikely). Expect this to blow up into a huge issue around who should be responsible for funding it. Timely, given the talk about an impending federal election.

Back in July we reported that Metrolinx had again delayed this same plan after it was originally scheduled to come out in the spring. This is the organization otherwise known as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, and this highly anticipated "master plan" is the culmination of a lot of hoopla over the benefits of making transit plans for the whole region rather than each municipality acting independently.

The City-wide roll out of the new garbage bins is now just about complete but that is not the end of changes to our collection system.

A recent article has drawn attention to a call for "welfare for waste" to create better ways to eliminate special waste items. Apparently as of November 1, the city is set to implement a unique recycling program for the bulky items no one is quite sure what do with, save putting them out for local treasure hunters or otherwise going in with the garbage. City solid waste manager Geoff Rathbone is quoted as saying even though for many of these types of items the City has no idea how exactly they will be recycled, they are going to "just jump in" and figure it out as they go along. We're talking about big items such as mattresses, carpets, and furniture.

I was pretty surprised to hear the City talking about a program that doesn't seem to be announced yet. Details are missing from the City Garbage website. It still just simply says "..place bulky items (furniture) out on your regular garbage collection day." Of course if the biggest items could be recycled instead of thrown in a landfill, there would be huge potential to reduce our waste burden (environmental and cost).

November 1st happens to be the same day users will start paying for the new trash bins. Forking over cash directly to deal with waste will be a new concept for Torontonians might have to get used to. Fees are set to be levied on manufacturers of electronics in the province starting next spring, ranging from $5 to $15 depending on the type of item, to pay for proper recycling (about time!).

Tonight's This Is Australia event at Richmond St. nightclub This Is London promises to "transform London into the outback" with DJ Chris La Roque's outback mash-up sounds, a chance to win a trip to Australia and... live kangaroos?

blogTO reader Michelle Palmer brought this event to our attention via a Facebook thread initiated by her animal-loving friends. A number of people contacted the club, organizers and animal rights groups such as PETA, protesting the planned appearance of live kangaroos, which would have been caged around the club premises.