Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has unveiled his party’s plan try to win Canadians’ votes in the upcoming federal election.
His new platform details the Conservatives’ plan to phase out the Liberals‘ COVID-19 support programs, beef up tourism with rebates, and shore up support for small businesses, among many other commitments.
“Securing the future of this great country begins today with Canada’s recovery plan,” O’Toole told reporters on Monday.
However, the promises in the platform have yet to be costed by the parliamentary budget officer (PBO) — a process that verifies the math underpinning the price tag attached to the campaign commitments.
And as Canadians stare down the 160-page document with voting day mere weeks away, some might find themselves wondering: what do these promises mean for my wallet?
Global News took a look at the platform. Here’s what we learned.
A price on carbon
Even if Canadians vote Conservative, they can still expect to see a price on carbon.
That’s because the Conservatives have promised to scrap Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s carbon price, and replace it with their own $20 per-tonne-carbon levy.
But instead of this money going into federal coffers, it would land in each Canadian’s personal low carbon savings account through a points-card-style system.
O’Toole said the Conservatives would work with the provinces to create the account, and will have a list of products the money can be spent on — all of which will have to help Canadians live a “greener life,” like a bike or a bus pass.
The Conservatives have not yet specified what will be on the list.
“This will put a price on carbon for consumers without one penny going to the government,” O’Toole said back in April when he first announced the plan.
“It will be completely transparent and engage consumers in the process of building a lower carbon future.”
Under the current Liberal carbon pricing plan, provinces without their own pricing scheme are subject to a $40 price on carbon — which is slated to increase to $50 next year, and will only stop when it hits $170 in 2030.
While the government collects that money, it doesn’t get to keep it all. Instead, 90 per cent of the revenue is sent back to Canadians in the form of a rebate.
The other 10 per cent is given the small and medium-sized businesses, schools, hospitals and organizations that can’t pass on their costs from the carbon tax directly to consumers.
GST holiday
Under the Conservative plan, Canadians would also get to take a vacation from paying GST this fall.
A Tory government would select a month-long period this fall when Canadians wouldn’t have to pay any federal sales tax on retail goods.
“There are thousands of small and medium sized businesses in hospitality, tourism, restaurants hanging on by by a thread,” O’Toole said.
He said the Conservative plan will help these businesses “thrive,” which in turn would “help us get a growing economy.”
Cellphone and Internet
If the Conservatives win the federal election, O’Toole has promised that his government would also take “real action” to make cell phones and internet services more affordable.
“Canadians continue to pay some of the highest prices in the world for accessing the internet – both at home and on their mobile phones,” the platform says.
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“A few giant companies have too much power, and Canadians are suffering for it.”
The party vows to “hold the big telecom service providers accountable for anti-competitive behaviour and practices that hurt consumers.” The Conservatives also say they’ll allow foreign telecommunications companies to provide services to Canadian customers.
But there’s one catch: these foreign providers would have to let Canadian companies into their country, too.
To help with internet access, the Conservatives pledged to connect the entire country to high-speed internet by 2025. The policy echoes one from the Liberal’s 2019 platform, which set a national target to get high-speed internet to 95 per cent of Canadian homes by 2026.
Food prices
In late 2020, an annual food price report warned that the average Canadian family can expect to pay an extra $695 for food this year. That’s due to a number of factors, including the pandemic, wildfires and changing consumer habits, according to the report.
O’Toole’s platform touched on this issue with a pledge to increase the maximum fine for price-fixing from $24 million to $100 million — and a promise to introduce criminal penalties for executives found to have fixed food prices.
The Conservatives also promised to bring in a “tough code of conduct” to protect suppliers and increase competition in grocery stories.
According to O’Toole, these steps will “ensure” that Canadians “pay lower prices for food.” However, they don’t touch on some of the key reasons that food prices are going up, as detailed by the food price report, which include the wildfires and pandemic, nor how they would investigate price-fixing.
Funding fun?
Canadians can also expect some financial incentives to eat at restaurants and travel within the country, should the Conservatives take power.
That’s because the party vowed to set up a “Dine and Discover Program,” which they say will give Canadians a 50-per cent rebate on food and non-alcoholic drinks — provided you’re dining in at a restaurant, and doing so between Monday and Wednesday.
This is part of a push to help industries that have been hard hit by the pandemic, including the restaurant and tourism industries.
As part of this effort, the Tories also promised to put in place an “Explore and Support Canada initiative,” which boasts a 15-per cent tax credit for vacation expenses up to $1,000 per person in 2022.
However, until the PBO finishes costing these promises, there’s no telling how effective these funds would be at boosting the industries they’re meant to help — or whether that help is worth the price tag.
Banking costs
The Conservatives said they have a plan to “ensure that Canadians get the banking services they need at a price they can afford.”
As part of this, O’Toole and his party promise to bring in legislation on open banking, a regulatory framework that lets consumers decide how to share banking data with their financial service providers. It can also help to facilitate the movement of this information from one institution to another.
By bringing in this framework, the Conservatives said Canadians will have an easier time accessing third-party services that can help them to find better offers for mortgages, lines of credit or credit cards.
The Liberal government opened the door to open banking too, when a recent government report provided a blueprint for the implementation of open banking.
In addition to open banking, the Conservatives said they’d order the competition bureau to investigate bank fees, and require more transparency for investment management fees “so that seniors and savers don’t get ripped off.”
One dollar raise — for some
Another headline-grabbing pledge is the Conservatives’ promise for pay increases. An O’Toole-led government would give someone making $20,000 per year a 1$/hour raise, according to the platform.
However, the promise is scant on details, stating only that it would “help those most in need.”
The Conservatives also said they’ll double the Canada Workers Benefit to a maximum of $2,800 for individuals or $5,000 for families, paying it quarterly rather than in a single tax refund at the end of the year.
“This will put an average of an extra thousand dollars into the pockets of the most vulnerable workers, helping three and a half million families put food on the table,” the platform said.
While the Conservatives have said they’re confident this math will check out, the PBO’s costing of the platform will have the final say on whether this estimate is accurate.
Childcare
If O’Toole becomes prime minister, he plans to scrap the Liberals’ $30-billion child-care program, and instead would turn it into a “refundable tax credit,” which he said would cover up to 75 per cent of the child-care cost for lower-income families.
“We’re going to help all parents. All parents, immediately. Not some, six years from now. Parents know what’s best, particularly with the flexibility needed for families coming out of the pandemic,” O’Toole told reporters on Monday.
The Liberals have maintained that their child-care plan would chip child-care from an average fee of $50 per day to $10 a day by the end of 2024 — which they say would save Canadians $10,000 annually, per child, on average.
Housing prices
The Tory platform highlights housing as a key issue for Canadians.
“It’s time to face the fact: We have a housing crisis in Canada,” the document says.
“Affording a home – to rent, let alone to buy – is slipping out of reach of Canadians across our country.”
In a bid to tackle this issue, the Conservatives say they’ll ban all foreign investors from purchasing a Canadian home for at least two years, as housing prices skyrocket for prospective Canadian homeowners.
On top of that, they promise to build a million homes in the next three years alone in order to ensure there’s sufficient housing supply.
To date, only the Conservatives have released their full platform. The NDP released a set of campaign commitments before the election was called on Sunday — and that document can be read here.
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