42nd general federal election sees no shortage of issues for debate
CANADA — Scheduled for October 21, Canadians are set to vote in the upcoming 42nd general federal election.
According to Elections Canada, one change is voters will be allowed to use the Voter Information Card mailed to them by Elections Canada as their proof of residence at the polling station. Voters will still need another piece of ID to prove their identity.
The majority of parties will be announcing their platforms during the campaign period, the length of which can vary. Under the Elections Act, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days.
In the electoral district for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, there is a total of 222 polling divisions and a population of 103,495 peoples. According to the Elections Canada website, 78,959 of these peoples are registered voters.
With the aid of The Canadian Press and Macleans.ca staff writers, here is what each of the four main parties have promised on each major issue so far:
Taxes
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from home heating and energy bills
- Establish a single tax return for Quebec, administered by the province
NDP platform
- Increase the capital gains tax inclusion rate from the current 50 to 75 per cent
- Close stock option loopholes and crack down on shell companies operating in tax havens
- Close tax loopholes that favour web giants
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Economy
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Appoint a Quebec Minister of Canada Economic Development and a political Minister from Quebec
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Jobs & Skills training
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Deficits & Debt
Liberal platform
- Budget 2019 forecast deficits through 2023-24: $19.8 billion in 2019-20; $19.7 billion in 2021-21; $14.8 billion in 2021-22; $12.1 billion in 2022-23; and $9.8 billion in 2023-24
- Budget 2019 forecast falling debt-to-GDP ratios: 30.7% in 2019-20; 30.5% in 2020-21; 30.0% in 2021-22; 29.3% in 2022-23; and 28.6% in 2023-24
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Health
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform
- Force drug companies to disclose confidential price rebates they offer to public and private drug coverage payers
- Establish a national suicide prevention action plan
- Declare a national public health emergency for the opioid crisis
- Launch an investigation into the role of drug companies in fuelling the opioid epidemic to determine whether criminal charges or civil action is warranted
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Pharmacare
Liberal platform
- Reform the healthcare system by instituting a universal pharmacare program
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform
- Create a national pharmacare program that provides universal, public, comprehensive coverage to everyone in Canada by 2020
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Energy
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Repeal Bill C-69
- End the shipping ban in northern British Columbia
- Clarify roles of proponents and governments in consultations
- End foreign-funded interference in regulatory hearings
- Provide certainty on approval timelines and schedules
NDP platform
- Abandon the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Infrastructure
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Agriculture
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Climate change
Liberal platform
- Ban “harmful” single-use plastics by as early as 2021
Conservative platform
- Set emissions standards for major emitters that produce more than 40 kilo-tonnes per year of greenhouse gases, requiring them to invest in private-sector research and development of green technology.
- Establish a green patent credit that will reduce the tax rate to five per cent on income that is generated from green technology developed and patented in Canada.
- Incorporate traditional knowledge of First Nations into efforts to address the impacts of climate change.
- Expand Export Development Canada programs to issue more green bonds that provide financing for the development of emissions-reducing technologies.
- Create a two-year green homes tax credit for homeowners to help pay for energy-saving renovations.
- Create a two-year green homes tax credit for homeowners to help pay for energy-saving renovations.
- Review and update the invasive alien species strategy for Canada, as well as the invasive species action plans.
- Review and modernize air quality standards and regulations, with a focus on urban air-sheds.
- Re-establish an advisory panel that gave hunting, angling and conservation groups input on policies and programs on conservation.
- Negotiate regulatory changes that would increase the energy efficiency of cross-border trucking while encouraging research and development in eco-friendly modes of transportation.
NDP platform
- Ban single-use plastics by 2022 as part of broader waste reduction strategy
- Set the target to retrofit all housing stock in Canada by 2050, by providing low-interest loans repayable through energy savings to pay for home upgrades like insulation, windows, heat pumps, and other renewable technologies
- Modernize and expand public transit in communities across Canada and ensure that federal transit funding flows with an emphasis on low-carbon transit projects
- Set a target to power Canada with net carbon-free electricity by 2030 and move to 100% non-emitting electricity by 2050
Green platform
- Double Canada’s emissions reduction target to 60 per cent by 2030
- Halt all new fossil fuel development projects
- Implement a nationwide shift toward non-nuclear renewable energy while retrofitting all buildings in Canada over the next 11 years
- Look to create a new “survival cabinet” composed of members from all parties to tackle climate change and declare a climate emergency
Indigenous affairs
Liberal platform
- Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as Canadian law
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform
- Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
- Introduce Indigenous People’s Day as a national holiday
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Immigration & Refugees
Liberal platform
No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States
- Ensure that the system prioritizes people facing genuine persecution
- Put an end to illegal border crossings at unofficial points of entry like Roxham Road by changing the Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S.
- Improve credential recognition and providing low-skilled workers with a path to residency and improving language training
NDP platform
- Immediately suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States
Green platform
No specific proposals yet.
National defence
Liberal platform
No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Begin talks with the United States to join the ballistic missile defence program
- Select a new fighter jet that is “interoperable with our American allies”
NDP platform
- Expunge the records of LGBTQ Canadians in the arm forces who were given dishonourable discharges
- Remove self-harm as a disciplinary offence in the Canadian military
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Public safety & National Security
Liberal platform
- Renewing the fleet of the Canadian Coast Guard by ordering 18 new ships at a cost of $15.7 billion. Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards would build 16 multi-purpose vessels while Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax would build two Arctic patrol vessels
Conservative platform
- Will bar the Chinese telecom company Huawei from participating in Canada’s 5G networks
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Retirement & Seniors
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform
- Protect the pensions of workers and retirees by cracking down on pension theft
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Housing
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform
- Create 500,000 units of quality, affordable housing in the next 10 years
- Double the Home Buyer’s tax credit to $1,500 for first time buyers
- Remove GST/HST on the construction of new rental units
- Re-introduce 30-year terms to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) insured mortgages for first time home buyers
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Education
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Child care
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
International development
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Arts & Culture
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Youth
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Veterans
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
International trade
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform – No specific proposals yet.
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Foreign affairs
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- A “total reset,” as Scheer put it, of Canada’s relationship with China, including a reduced reliance on trade with the country and new partnerships with others—especially “like-minded democracies in the Indo-Pacific region”
- Start process of moving Canada’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv if he becomes Prime Minister
- Start talks for Canada to join an American ballistic-missile shield program
- Upgrade the Royal Canadian Navy’s submarine capability to protect the nation’s territorial waters
- Take a stronger stance against Iran by listing the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and using Canada’s Magnitsky Act against Iran’s human rights offenders
NDP platform
- Immediate cessation of all arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
Justice
Liberal platform – No specific proposals yet.
Conservative platform
- Cost-share new anti-gang law enforcement initiatives with provinces and territories
- Create a Police Infrastructure Grant program
- Make sure that information on guns found at crime scenes is given to the right authorities
- Ensure that the Canadian Firearms Program has what it needs to conduct rigorous and effective background checks
- Increase the funds available for the Youth Gang Prevention Fund by 25% to ensure continued support for counselling, skills development, and other important programs
- Conduct an audit of all correctional services programs to make sure inmates are ready to rejoin society upon their release
- Ensure that anyone who is knowingly in possession of a smuggled gun is sent to federal prison
- Ensure that anyone found to divert legally purchased guns into criminals’ hands will face serious consequences, including prison time and a lifetime ban from owning firearms
- Create a Canada Border Services Agendy Firearms Smuggling Task Force, which will oversee an increase of frontline officers, deployment of new technology, and further use of criminal intelligence. They will also be authorized to work with law enforcement counterparts on both sides of the border to identify smuggling routes, and ensure that smugglers and those employing them are put behind bars where they belong
- Ensure that any firearms owner detained under provincial mental health legislation will immediately have their firearms seized. They will be able to apply, after a period of time, to have their property returned if they can demonstrate that their condition has stabilized.
- Make lifetime firearms bans mandatory for all serious personal injury offences and gang crimes
- Ensure that individuals who knowingly provide a firearm to an individual who is subject to a gun ban face serious prison time, and that they themselves will be prohibited from owning a firearm for life
- Encourage firearms manufacturers to improve traceability, require the submission of ballistic data on crime guns, and ensure that the RCMP crime lab is appropriately resourced
- Make sure that arrested repeat gang offenders will be held without bail
- Create and maintain a list of proven criminal organizations which will help law enforcement prosecute gang members faster
- Require those on parole to cut ties with gangs
- Bring in mandatory sentences in federal prison for directing gang crime
- Create new offences for committing and ordering violent gang crime and attach mandatory sentences in federal prison for each
NDP platform – No specific proposals yet.
Green platform – No specific proposals yet.
