Taxation:
The LPNB holds that “Taxation is theft” is an understatement since theft can be a peaceful surreptitious act, whereas taxation is inherently backed by the threat of state violence against the individual if the demanded monies are not surrendered making it more akin to armed robbery. We believe consent matters, and that taxation is inherently non-consensual. For the sake of transparency and accountability, we believe that hypothecated taxes are often preferable. Just as private industry thrives by reducing their operating costs every year, we believe the government needs to hold itself to similar standards and make reductions in their operating costs and staffing needs every year.

Abortion:
While there are Libertarians on both sides of the issue based on their belief about whether infants are alive in the womb, all Libertarians agree – and it is the policy of the LPNB – that like most issues, the subject of abortion
is one that should not be mandated at the federal level We believe that New Brunswick should use its own community values and consensus to move forward with a referendum on the subject, rather than be controlled by the opinions of Ottawa, Vancouver or Montreal.

Military:
Libertarians oppose involvement in foreign wars, full stop. It does not matter which countries it involves, it is a matter best left to the regional players to handle themselves. Individuals are free to donate to causes, or fly flags, or give any speech they want, but the government should be strictly non-interventionist and not arming, bombing or financing any side. However we also recognise one of the few important roles of a central government is to be able to defend its own borders and airspace, which is improved by focusing on the actual territory of Canada and removing the focus on participating in foreign military engagements.

Self-Defence:
Every person has the right to defend themselves, their families and their property against nature, against criminals, and against government tyranny. We do not accept any regime that falsely suggests private individuals have a duty to retreat in the face of an active threat, and as those not caught in the moment are not able to understand the moment, we support more open interpretations of the proportional or reasonable application of violence by private individuals.

Minority Rights:
We believe every individual has equal common rights in relation to their position under any secular government law; there are not some rights tied to some races or identities that are not present for others. However, we also recognise that nobody has a right to demand others private individuals’ acceptance or to be free from feeling offended. We strongly oppose the use of “taxes” to focus on specific races and identities.

Schools:
Whether families wish to raise their children to have certain views of Maoism, LGBT, Fascism or Mid-Tribulation Pentecostalism is an issue for individual families to govern and teach themselves. Government agents, even teachers, are not the best to judge when each individual child is old enough to learn about where siblings come from, proper use of spermicides, masturbation or homosexuality – those are subjects that parents know best how to explain.

New Brunswick currently spends more than $10,000/year to educate each student in a government school. Incidentally, this is similar to the cost of tuition to private schools that many families would prefer but “cannot afford” as New Brunswick does not allow the money to follow the student. Insofar as the province sets itself over childhood education, the LPNB believes that parents should have the right to have the same annual monies allocated for their child if attending a government school, to instead be spent as the tuition for their child at a more focused private school if they feel it is more able to benefit their child. As competition can foster excellence, this will lead to an improvement in both private schools and government schools in the province, as they must earn the respect of families rather than benefit from immoral monopolies.

Environment: We believe that as good stewards of the Earth, individuals should privately seek to reduce wasteful consumption and collaborate with neighbours on projects to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on government infrastructure or supply chains. This means loosening the regulations and taxes that make small-scale individual efforts prohibitive. We do not believe a government unable to balance a chequebook is capable of complex hypothetical calculations ostensibly measuring cow flatulence per burger and its effect on solar radiation’s interaction with the earth’s atmosphere.

Division of Powers: We believe that the most accountable and legitimate authority is the most local and organic authority; therefore it is counter-intuitive for the federal government to mandate issues that could be settled individually by each province, or for the province to mandate issues that would be better settled individually.