Federal parties vying for victory on Oct. 21 will be making a range of pledges to Canadians in the weeks to come.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, the Conservatives’ Andrew Scheer, New Democrat Jagmeet Singh, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and the Green party’s Elizabeth May are poised to promise plans on everything from health care to climate change and the economy.
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To help make sense of it all, Global News is tracking what’s been promised by the major federal party leaders.
Here’s a running list of pledges the leaders have made in the months ahead of the election and during the campaign.
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- May 5: Scheer says a Conservative government would balance the books in five years.
- May 7: Scheer delivers a speech on foreign policy pledges, promising an “eyes wide open” approach with China. He says he would move the Canadian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also promises to stand up to Russia.
- May 16: In a speech at the Economic Club of Canada, Scheer unveils a series of pledges on the economy, including “a Canada fuelled exclusively by Canadians by 2030.”
- May 28: As Bill C-71 passes, Scheer promises he would repeal the Liberals’ new firearms legislation.
- May 28: Scheer outlines several commitments on immigration. He says he would close a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States. He also promises improved language training, better recognition of work credentials and refocusing the government-sponsored refugee program on victims of atrocities.
- June 3: Scheer says that as prime minister, he would establish an Interprovincial Free Trade Agreement as part of a plan he dubs “a closer and freer federation.”
- June 18: A Conservative government would establish clear timelines for pipeline approvals and, at times, invoke federal jurisdictions, the Tories say.
- June 19: Scheer reveals a climate plan with $2.5 billion worth of pledges, which he says will focus on “tech, not taxes.”
- June 20: The Conservatives promise to revoke Bill C-69, saying the Liberal bill will “phase out Canada’s oil and gas industry.”
- Aug. 20: Scheer says he will make maternity and parental benefits “tax-free,” providing a non-refundable tax credit of 15 per cent and including a corresponding credit to apply in Quebec.
- Sept. 6: Scheer says if elected, his government would create a certification system to let consumers know if certain digital products meet federal security standards. He dubs it a “Canada Cyber Safe” certification.
- Sept. 12: The Conservatives promise the removal of federal income tax from maternity and parental benefits by introducing a 15 per cent tax credit for income earned under both programs.
- Sept. 13: Scheer promises to bring back the public transit tax credit, which the party says is part of its environmental plan.
- Sept. 14: Scheer says a Conservative government would cancel the carbon tax.
- Sept. 15: Scheer tells reporters he will ratify CUSMA, the new North American free trade deal, if he becomes prime minister.
- Sept. 15: The Conservatives promise a tax cut for the lowest income bracket, slicing the rate from 15 per cent to 13.75 per cent.
- Sept. 16: The Tories promise a children’s fitness tax credit and a children’s art and learning credit, with additional money for parents of children with disabilities.
- Sept. 17: Conservatives promise to boost the federal contribution to the registered education savings plan from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for every dollar families add to the savings program, up to $2,500 per year.
- Sept. 18: Conservatives say they can find $1.5 billion in savings each year by eliminating some of the federal funding received by businesses. Scheer says a Conservative government will review all federal business subsidies and eliminate programs in which the funds benefit shareholders, corporate executives, foreign companies, lobbyists or consultants.
- Sept. 19: Scheer pledges to increase the age tax credit by $1,000 to save individual seniors up to $150 per year and couples as much as $300 per year.
- Sept. 20: Scheer promises to spend $1.5 billion to buy new medical imaging equipment for facilities across the country.
- Sept. 22: Scheer promises to provide support to clear the backlog of Canadian veteran benefit applications within two years if elected.
- Sept. 23: Scheer says he’d return to allowing people to take out 30-year mortgages to help lower monthly payments. Conservatives would also ease what’s known as the stress test on mortgages and remove the test altogether from mortgage renewals.
- Sept. 24: Scheer has promised to reverse the decision by the Liberals that increased the tax rate on small business investments and made it harder for companies to pay dividends to family members.
- Sept. 25: Tories promise to provide eligible households a 20 per cent refundable tax credit for green improvements to their homes of between $1,000 and $20,000 as part of a two-year program.
- Sept. 26: Scheer vows to launch a judicial inquiry into SNC-Lavalin affair, if elected.
- Sept. 27: Scheer is promises to prioritize infrastructure spending on projects intended to cut commuting times.
- Sept. 28: Scheer renews a vow to pursue a partisan Senate and to bring back patronage appointments.
- Sept. 28: The Conservatives would create a national energy corridor to carry oil, gas, hydroelectricity and telecommunications from coast to coast.
- Sept. 30: A Conservative government would make it easier for thousands of people to get a federal disability tax credit.
- Oct. 1: A Conservative government would reduce foreign aid spending by 25 per cent, cutting funding for middle- and upper-income countries and hostile regimes. Scheer promises a Tory government would create new oversight bodies to overlook military procurement.
- Oct. 2: Tories say they will work with provinces and municipalities to stop raw sewage from being dumped in waterways.
- Oct. 2: Scheer said that if elected, his government would appeal a Quebec court ruling that struck down parts of the Liberal legislation on medical assistance in dying as unconstitutional.
- Oct. 3: Scheer promises to reduce to 150 from 200 the number of service hours required for volunteer firefighters and search-and-rescue workers to qualify for a non-refundable tax credit to offset costs for supplies.
- Oct. 4: Scheer promises to get Canada’s border agency to do more to try and stop illegal guns from crossing into Canada from the United States.
- Oct. 7: Scheer pledges to get rid of admissions fees at Canada’s national museums.
- Oct. 8: Scheer promises that a Conservative federal government would try to unclog commuter traffic in Canada’s biggest city by funding a pair of projects to extend Toronto’s subway.
- Oct. 9: Along with renegotiating Safe Third Country Agreement, the Conservatives promise to hire 250 new border-security agents and move immigration judges closer to common illegal crossing points for faster hearings.
- Oct. 10: A Conservative government would give parents who adopt children under the age of 18 an extra 15 weeks of EI-funded leave to provide a full year off. They also promise to increase the value of the adoption expense tax credit to $20,000 and make the credit refundable — meaning families may get money back at tax time.
- Oct. 12: Scheer promises that if elected, in his first 100 days of the job, a Conservative government would appoint Kevin Falcon and Yves Desjardins-Siciliano to oversee the Commission on the Reduction of Government Subsidy Programs to Corporations. The program would review and reduce business subsidies, operating under the Department of Finance.
- Oct. 16: Scheer says he will add fines of up to $20,000 for politicians who break Canada’s ethics laws.
- Oct. 17: Scheer has long promised to repeal the carbon tax, but he’s now set a deadline. If the Tories receive a majority mandate, Scheer says they would scrap carbon pricing in the first 100 days of office.
- March 19: Liberals table the federal budget, outlining a series of promises pegged on re-election. Some key promises include the creation of a Canadian Drug Agency, $300 million in incentives for those buying zero-emission vehicles and help with cheaper mortgages for first-time homebuyers.
- May 22: Liberals promise to provide up to 18 new large ships, built in Canadian shipyards, for the Canadian Coast Guard fleet. Trudeau also vows to open up the National Shipbuilding Strategy to a third shipyard, billed by defence analysts and political insiders as a move targeting voters in Quebec.
- June 10: Trudeau announces Liberals will ban “harmful” single-use plastics, such as forks and takeout containers, by 2021.
- Sept. 12: Trudeau promises an expansion of the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive program for Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., housing markets.
- Sept. 13: Trudeau promises to eliminate the “swipe fee” merchants pay to credit-card companies on every transaction, reduce the cost of federal incorporation, make federal business advisory services fee-free, create a voluntary payroll system to automate records for small businesses, launch a pilot project to give up to $50,000 to as many as 2,000 entrepreneurs to help them start businesses and give $250 to new businesses to develop a website or e-commerce platform.
- Sept. 16: A Liberal government would create up to 250,000 more spaces for children in before- and after-school childcare programs, Trudeau says.
- Sept. 17: The Liberals promise that, if re-elected, they will boost the Canada Child Benefit and make maternity and parental leave benefits tax-free.
- Sept. 18: A re-elected Liberal government would increase old-age security by an extra 10 per cent once a senior turns 75 and boost the Canada Pension Plan survivor’s benefit by 25 per cent.
- Sept. 20: Liberals would ban all “military-style assault rifles” — including the AR-15 rifle, which has been used in repeated mass shootings over recent years.
- Sept. 22: Trudeau promises that a re-elected Liberal government would make sure middle-class income earners won’t pay taxes on the first $15,000 of earnings.
- Sept. 22: Trudeau promises to cut cellphone bills by 25 per cent.
- Sept. 23: Trudeau pledges a national pharmacare program but doesn’t say how much it would cost to be fully implemented or when that would happen. He says the Liberals would invest $6 billion over the next four years to kick-start negotiations with the provinces aimed at improving a range of health-care services for Canadians.
- Sept. 24: The Liberals promise that, if re-elected, they will implement “legally-binding” targets to make Canada’s carbon emissions net-zero by 2050. They do not include details of how they plan to do that or if penalties would be put in place.
- Sept. 25: Trudeau promises to “make high quality health care a reality for all Indigenous people” by co-developing “distinctions-based” health legislation. He adds community infrastructure plans will be developed to meet “critical infrastructure needs in First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities” over the next decade. A dollar figure was not attached to either announcement.
- Sept. 25: Liberals pledge to provide homeowners and landlords with an interest-free loan of up to $40,000 to pay for environmental retrofits, create a Net Zero Homes Grant of up to $5,000 for people who buy newly built homes certified as zero-emissions, spend $100 million on skills training for workers to conduct energy audits, retrofits and net-zero home construction, create a low-cost national flood insurance program and a national plan to help relocate homeowners in high-risk flood zones, spend $150 million to complete flood mapping in every province and territory, and design a disaster assistance benefit through the employment insurance system.
- Sept. 26: Trudeau pledges that one-fourth of Canada’s land and one-fourth of its oceans will be given protected status by 2025, and 30 per cent by 2030, under a re-elected Liberal government.
- Sept. 26: Trudeau promises to expand the Learn to Camp program, and give travel bursaries to lower-income families to spend up to four nights in one of Canada’s national or provincial parks.
- Sept. 27: Trudeau promises that a re-elected Liberal government would pay to plant two billion trees over the next decade as part of a wider $3-billion effort to use nature to combat climate change.
- Sept. 29: Liberals unveil their campaign platform, which outlines plans for a range of promises, many of which were revealed earlier.
- Sept. 29: The creation of a defence procurement agency to look over military spending was also outlined as part of the Liberal platform.
- Sept. 30: As part of their platform, the Liberals are promising to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 and employment insurance sickness benefits to 26 weeks from 15 weeks.
- Oct. 1: Trudeau says he will give municipalities the authority to ban handguns in their communities.
- Oct. 8: Trudeau promises to help northern, remote and Indigenous communities transition from diesel power to renewable energy sources by 2030.
- Oct. 15: Trudeau promises that a re-elected Liberal government would come to the rescue of an abortion clinic in Fredericton that could be forced to close its doors without the support of the province.
- Oct. 18: Liberals say they will evaluate all existing and future government policies for their impact on disabled residents if voted back into power next week.
- Feb 20: Singh says he would reintroduce 30-year terms to CMHC-insured mortgages for people who qualify for mortgages but need extra room in their budget. He says the NDP plans to build 500,000 affordable homes in the next decade, including investments in co-operative and non-market affordable housing units.
- May 13: Singh outlines a plan for climate change, saying he would help cut Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions almost in half over the next decade.
- June 16: Singh introduces his campaign platform, promising a range of policies, including a national pharmacare plan, higher taxes for the wealthy, caps on cellphone and internet bills, more affordable housing and improved education and living conditions for First Nations communities.
- June 21: Singh says an NDP government would make National Indigenous Peoples Day a statutory holiday and ensure the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is enshrined into Canadian law.
- Sept. 2: New Democrats say the party would “immediately” establish a $15 federal minimum wage.
- Sept. 4: At a town hall, Singh outlines his plans to beef up police resources to investigate hate crimes and impose a federal ban on carding.
- Sept. 12: Singh promised that his government would provide federal funding for a new hospital in Brampton, Ont.
- Sept. 13: The NDP promises the introduction of a price cap on cellphone and internet services, backed by a Telecom Consumers’ Bill of Rights, to make plans affordable and to end caps on internet usage.
- Sept. 14: The NDP vows to establish a Canadian Food Strategy aimed at building and linking local producers to consumers.
- Sept. 14: Singh says an NDP government would establish cash incentives to encourage new car buyers to buy zero-emission cars built in Canada.
- Sept. 14: Singh promised a $300-million automotive innovation strategy, however he says the money is contingent on keeping auto jobs in Canada.
- Sept. 15: Singh unveils policy promises targeted at voters in Quebec, including the expansion of language laws and money for immigration.
- Sept. 18: An NDP government would extend full public dental coverage to households making less than $70,000 a year.
- Sept. 20: Singh says an NDP government would end “pension theft” and ensure that if a company goes bankrupt, workers do not lose a portion of their pension.
- Sept. 22: Singh says the NDP would expand federal funding by $2.5 billion to help communities respond to disasters and adapt infrastructure to withstand floods and other extreme weather events.
- Sept. 24: Singh says an NDP government would build a cross-Canada corridor to carry clean energy. The NDP leader also pledges to convert all public transit systems in Canada to electric vehicles by 2030.
- Sept. 25: NDP promise to spend $20 million for a dedicated RCMP unit to investigate money laundering, launch a national registry to show who profits from real estate and institute a 15-per-cent tax on foreign buyers to address housing speculation.
- Sept. 26: Singh promises to make $5,000 rent subsidies available to nearly 500,000 families as part of the party’s housing strategy. It would cost $1.35 billion per year and another $450 million from the provinces starting next year, the party said.
- Sept. 27: Singh pledges to create a $40-million plan to help safeguard Canada’s coastlines, creating a fund to protect salmon, reinforce the coast guard and clean up abandoned vessels.
- Sept. 28: Singh promises $30 million in funding to reduce BC Ferries fares, says he wants to make it cheaper for families relying on the service.
- Sept. 29: NDP promises a $100-million fund aimed at keeping youth out of gangs.
- Sept. 30: An NDP government would spend $10 billion over the next four years to create 500,000 new child-care spaces in Canada.
- Oct. 1: An NDP government would allow new parents to condense their employment-insurance benefits to enable them to take shorter parental leaves while still receiving the full benefit. Increase the wage-replacement rate to 60 per cent from 55 per cent.
- Oct. 5: Singh promises access to clean drinking water across all Indigenous communities, regardless of cost. He made an initial $1.8 billion pledge to ensure the commitment would be fulfilled if elected.
- Oct. 8: Immediately remove all interest on current and future post-secondary federal student loans, and replace student loans with non-repayable grants.
- Oct. 11: The NDP says it will run a deficit of $32.7 billion next year if it wins the federal election, with no plan to return to balance.
- Oct. 15: Singh reaffirms that he would follow through on the NDP’s long-standing pledge to abolish the Senate.
- Oct. 17: A day after saying the NDP is committed to getting a Winnipeg emergency room re-opened, Singh said the party would “encourage” provinces to make better decisions on health care by increasing transfers.
- May 16: The Green Party unveils an extensive climate action plan dubbed “Mission: Possible,” which includes ending all imports of foreign oil and prioritizing “adaptation measures” for Canada’s agriculture, fishing and forestry industries.
- Aug. 8: May reveals a plan to help transition Canadian fossil fuel workers to jobs in the renewable energy sector.
- Sept. 16: The Green Party unveils its full election platform with a wide range of policy promises pegged on addressing the climate emergency.
- Sept. 20: The Green Party’s transportation strategy includes carbon-free public transit by 2040.
- Sept. 21: The Green Party promises to address opioid deaths by declaring a national health emergency, decriminalizing drug possession, increasing supports for mental health and addiction and boosting funding to community-based organizations to test drugs and support drug users. The party also vows to ensure naloxone kits are widely available to treat overdoses.
- Sept. 24: May says the Greens would broaden Canada Post’s mandate to help rural and remote communities and update the postal service’s fleet to electric vehicles.
- Sept. 25: Greens promise to raise new revenue by taxing financial transactions at 0.5 per cent, close a capital gains loophole and impose a one-per cent tax on wealth above $20 million. The party would also allocate one per cent of the GST to housing and other municipal infrastructure, balance the budget in fiscal year 2024-25, if economic circumstances allow, and implement a tax on “sugary drinks.”
- Sept. 26: Under the Greens’ climate change plan, May says the party would cancel proposed pipeline projects and move Canada to a carbon-free electricity grid system.
- Sept. 26: Should Canadians elect a minority government, May says her party would not prop up any government that supports pipelines.
- Sept. 29: Green Party promises a ‘robot tax’ on companies that replace workers with machines.
- Oct. 4: May promises to plant 10 billion trees over 30 years to fight climate change.
- Oct. 5:The Greens promise to give more rights to Indigenous people if elected, committing to set up a process that would allow communities to opt out of the Indian Act. May also promises to bring the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into law, as well as implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
- Oct. 8: May promises to support Quebec’s right to refuse any pipeline crossing its territory, as requested by the National Assembly, and stop construction of any fossil fuel pipeline anywhere in Quebec, including the new CP3 pipeline that would cross the St. Lawrence River and hundreds of waterways.
- Oct. 9: A Green government would “level the playing field” by implementing taxes on companies like Facebook and Netflix, May promises.
- Oct. 11: Greens make a series of foreign policy promises. May says a Green government would sign the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and ban autonomous weapons. The Greens would also ban Canadian arms exports to Saudi Arabia and ban the importation of Saudi oil.
- Oct. 12: May says if elected the Greens would launch a national re-examination of veterans issues. She says the Green party would go back to the way disability pensions were paid to veterans more than a decade ago, and would extend payments to spouses of veterans both in the military and RCMP.
- Oct. 20: May vows to change the current first-past-the-post system to an electoral system based on proportional representation. She also promises to lower the voting age to 16.
- Jan. 17: Blanchet is named Bloc Québécois leader on promises he will tirelessly promote Quebec independence and to “win Quebec and win for Quebec.”
- April 11: Blanchet says he will ensure the secularism of the Quebec state.
- Sept. 15: Bloc Québécois releases its election platform, with a focus on protecting the province’s sovereignty, language and culture.
- Sept. 18: When the House of Commons returns, Blanchet says the Bloc will collaborate with agricultural producers on a plan to phase out neonicotinoids to “ensure” the transition away from the nicotine-based pesticides announced by Health Canada in 2018.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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