General

Liberals unveil electoral platform

$8-billion plan focuses on family care

The Liberal Party has unveiled their $8-billion electoral platform, entitled “Your Family. Your Future. Your Canada,” that focuses on strengthening families and post-secondary education. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff presented the platform at an “online town hall” in Ottawa on Sunday. Chief among the Liberals’ platform proposal is the Liberal Family Care plan, which will provide $1-billion dollars for families to care for sick and dying relatives by allowing six months of compassionate care leave and a $1,350 tax benefit, and the Canadian Learning Passport, which will also cost $1-billion and would provide $4,000 to the RESPs of high school students applying for university. Ignatieff said the Liberal Party would pay for their platform spending without raising taxes but by restoring corporate tax rates back to 2010 levels while eliminating tax breaks for oil sands development, canceling the Harper government’s F-35 fighter jet deal and the Public Private Partnership Infrastructure Fund. Ignatieff took a dig at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s proposed Family Tax Cut, which would allow couples to split their incomes but would not be implemented until the deficit has been eliminated in 2015-2016, saying “we can do it now.” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty called the Liberal platform a “high-spending, high-tax agenda,” and will be giving a press conference in Toronto on Sunday afternoon to comment on it.

CBC News

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