Politics

2019 federal election platform guide: Where the parties stand on everything

As you get ready to vote, stay up-to-date on what the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and Greens have promised Canadians

Elizabeth May, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, Justin Trudeau. (Chad Hipolito/CP, James West/CP, Phillip Chin/Getty Images, Adrian Wyld/CP; Photo illustration by Liz Sullivan)

Canadians went to the polls on Oct. 21. We published an exhaustive list of promises made by four major political parties in the lead-up to the election. (For a look at Max Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada, see here.) Did we miss something? Let us know by emailing [email protected].

Click here to watch a full replay of the Maclean’s/CityTV National Leaders Debate.

Originally published: April 30, 2019 Latest update: Oct. 21, 2019

Here’s what each party has promised so far on every major issue.


Taxes

Liberal platform

  • Raise the basic personal amount to $15,000 by 2023, for taxpayers whose annual salary is less than $147,000 (source)
  • Cut in half the corporate tax paid by companies that develop and manufacture zero-emissions technologies (source)
  • Put a 10 per cent tax on luxury cars, boats, and personal aircraft over $100 (source)

Conservative platform

  • Cut the tax rate on income under $47,630 from 15 per cent to 13.75 per cent (source, PBO analysis)
  • Effectively remove federal portion of income tax from EI maternity and EI parental benefits by providing a non-refundable tax credit of 15 per cent for any income earned under these two programs (source)
  • Remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from home heating and energy bills (source)
  • Establish a single tax return for Quebec, administered by the province (source)
  • Bring back the Harper-era public transit tax credit of up to 15 per cent on monthly and weekly transit passes or electronic fare cards (source, PBO analysis)
  • Relaunch a children’s fitness tax credit so parents can claim up to $1,000 for expenses related to fitness and sports activities (source, PBO analysis)
  • Relaunch a children’s arts tax credit to claim up to $500 for expenses related to arts and educational activities (source, PBO analysis)
  • Increase the government’s contribution to an RESP from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for every dollar invested up to $2,500 a year (low-income parents would receive 50 per cent on the first $500 they invest every year) (source, PBO analysis)
  • Reduce personal income tax payable by exempting the spouses or common-law partners of individuals who own a Canadian-controlled private corporation from the tax on split income (source, PBO analysis)
  • Restore full access to the small business tax rate for corporations earning more than $50,000 in passive investment income in a given year (source, PBO analysis)
  • Create a 20 per cent refundable tax credit for green improvements to homes of over $1,000 and up to $20,000 (source, PBO analysis)
  • Reduce the number of hours needed to qualify for the Volunteer Firefighter Tax Credit and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Tax Credit – from 200 to 150 in a calendar year (source)
  • Boost the adoption expense tax credit to $20,000 and make it fully refundable (source)

NDP platform

  • Increase the capital gains tax inclusion rate from the current 50 to 75 per cent (source)
  • Roll back the Conservatives’ corporate income tax cuts by three percentage points to 2010 levels (18 per cent) (source)
  • Create a “super-wealth tax” of one per cent on wealth exceeding $20 million, including “luxury items” like real estate and investments portfolios. (source, PBO analysis)
  • Increase the top marginal tax rate by two points to 35 percent (source)
  • Close stock option loopholes and crack down on shell companies operating in tax havens (source)
  • Require web giants, such as Netflix, to charge QST and GST, and hold them to the same standards as Canadian cable companies (source)
  • Put in place a 15 percent foreign buyers tax on purchases of residential property by foreign corporations or people who are not citizens or permanent residents (source, PBO analysis)
  • Put in place income tax averaging for artists and cultural workers (source)
  • Double the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to $1,500 (source)
  • Waive the federal sales tax on zero-emissions vehicles purchases and provide a $5,000 federal purchase incentive (source)
  • Make the Canada Caregiver Tax Credit refundable (source)
  • Expand the Volunteer Firefighters Tax Credit (source)
  • Put in place a new tax credit for graduates to work in designated rural and Northern communities (source)

Green platform

  • Establish an arm’s length Federal Tax Commission to analyze the tax system for fairness and accessibility (source)
  • Increase the federal corporate tax rate from 15 to 21 per cent (source, PBO analysis)
  • Close several tax loopholes, including stock options as part of an executive’s remuneration package to pay a lower rate and a capital gains loophole (source, PBO analysis, PBO analysis)
  • Tax funds from offshore havens and require companies prove their foreign affiliates are functioning businesses for tax purposes (source, PBO analysis)
  • Apply a corporate tax on transnational e-commerce companies doing business in Canada (e.g. Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Uber) by requiring the foreign vendor register, collect and remit taxes where the product or service is consumed (source, PBO analysis, PBO analysis)
  • Impose a financial transactions tax of 0.2 per cent in the finance sector (source, PBO analysis)
  • Charge a five per cent surtax on commercial bank profits (source, PBO analysis)
  • Exempt new and used electric and zero-emission vehicles from federal sales tax (source)
  • Implement a tax on large corporations that is equivalent to the income tax paid by employees who have been laid off due to artificial intelligence—with small business being exempt—and use that revenue to fund educational and transition programs for those laid-off (source)
  • Increase the tax credit for volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers (source)
  • Introduce an international tax for aviation and shipping fuels earmarked for the Global Climate Fund (source)
  • Prohibit Canadian business from deducting advertising costs on foreign owned websites, like Facebook or Google (source)
  • Eliminate the 50 per cent corporate meals and entertainment expense deduction (source, PBO analysis)
  • Remove the sales tax on medicinal cannabis products (source, PBO analysis)
  • Tax sugary drinks (source, PBO analysis)

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Economy and affordability

Liberal platform

  • Reduce cell phone bills by 25 per cent annually, in part by expanding entry of network operators; if prices haven’t come down after two years, government would lower investment thresholds for new players and empower the CRTC to help get rates down (source)
  • Increase the Northern Resident Deduction, offering those living in the Northern Zone at least $1,200 in deductible travel costs (or $600 in deductible travel costs for people in the Intermediate Zone) (source)
  • Put in place a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour (source)
  • Implement a guaranteed paid family leave for parents who, for example, don’t qualify for paid leave through Employment Insurance
  • Add provisions to the federal labour code to give employees a “right to disconnect,” giving workers the right to request that they not work extra hours (source)
  • Create a Canada Free Trade Tribunal to resolved domestic trade barriers
  • Create a national flood insurance program
  • Launch an Employment Insurance Disaster Assistance Benefit in 2021
  • Expand the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders to include correctional workers
  • Give families of Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police members a tax-free $2,500 benefit every time they relocate

Conservative platform

  • Review all business subsidy programs to eliminate $1.5 billion in corporate handouts (source, PBO analysis)
  • Boost the adoption expense tax credit to $20,000 and make it fully refundable (source)

NDP platform

  • Create 300,000 jobs through incentives and investments that flow from the party’s “new deal for climate action.” (See Climate Change and Environment) (source)
  • Create a new, one per cent tax on wealth exceeding $20 million, including “luxury items” like real estate and investment portfolios
  • Put in place a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour (source)
  • Put in place rules to require that part-time and contract workers be compensated equally to full-time workers (source)
  • Restore the Automotive Innovation Fund that supports research and development initiatives of companies in the automotive sector (source)
  • Put a price cap on cellphone and internet services (source)
  • Require employers to spend at least 1 percent of payroll on training for their employees annually (source)
  • Lower fares on B.C. Ferries via an annual federal subsidy of $30 million (source)
  • Create a new Workers Development and Opportunities Fund to expand training options beyond people who qualify for EI (source)
  • Convene an auto summit with provincial, municipal, industry and labour leaders to develop a consensus on a National Automotive Strategy to attract and retain jobs and investment (source)
  • Give Export Development Canada a stronger mandate to recruit and retain investment in automotive plants and export-focused manufacturing here in Canada (source)
  • Require the use of Canadian-made steel and aluminum for infrastructure projects across the country (source)

Green platform

  • Establish a Guaranteed Liveable Income program, which will replace various income support programs, such as disability payments, social assistance and income supplements for seniors (source)
  • Set a $15/ hour federal minimum wage (source)
  • Respect unionized employees of the federal public service and the bargaining process by rejecting back-to-work legislation as a bargaining tool (source)

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Jobs & skills training

Liberal platform

  • Provide up to 2,000 entrepreneurs a year with as much as $50,000 to launch a new business (source)
  • Give $250 to every new business looking to expand online services (source)
  • Eliminate all fees from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and Farm Credit Canada, for business advisory services like mentorship and training (source)
  • Cut the cost of federal incorporation by 75 per cent, from $200 down to $50 (source)
  • Eliminate the “swipe fee” on HST and GST for credit transactions (source)
  • Invest $100 million in skills training, to ensure there are enough qualified workers to keep up with energy audits, retrofits, and net-zero home construction (source)
  • Introduce a Career Insurance Benefit that would kick in after Employment Insurance ends, giving an additional 20 per cent of insured earnings in the first year following a layoff, and 10 per cent in the second year (source)
  • Extending EI sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks (source)
  • Create a new federal Family Day holiday (source)
  • Creating a Canadian Apprenticeship Service, providing providing up to $10,000 per apprentice, over four years, for every new position created
  • Implement a $40 million/year national workplace accessibility fund, with a focus on making small and medium-sized businesses more accessible

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

  • Overhaul employment insurance (EI), setting the qualification threshold at 360 hours to cover more workers, while creating a new worker’s development and opportunities fund to expand training options beyond those who qualify for EI (source)
  • Ban unpaid internships outside of educational programs (source)

Green platform

  • Establish a Canadian Sustainable Generations Fund for investments in trades, apprenticeships and education required to transition to a green economy (source)
  • Ban unpaid internships in private sector workplaces, with the exception of work-study or experiential learning placements as part of for-credit courses at post-secondary institutions (source)
  • Create a Community and Environment Service Corps as part of the federal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (source)

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Deficits & Debt

Liberal platform

  • Deficit spending of more than $20 billion for each of the next 4 years, beginning with $27.4 billion next year (source)

Conservative platform

  • Balance the federal budget in five years (source).

NDP platform

  • Ensure that Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio falls over our 10-year fiscal horizon (source)

Green platform

  • Balance the federal budget over five years (source).

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Health

Liberal platform

  • Ensure all Canadians have access to a family doctor or primary health care team, as well as mental health services (source)
  • Add $6 billion over four years to federal portion of health-care funding to add and improve services (source)
  • Introduce legislation for “distinctions-based” health care for Indigenous people, emphasizing mental health, healing and long-term care (source)
  • Add $30 million in funding next year for pediatric cancer research
  • Create a national institute for women’s health to address gender gaps in research and care (source)
  • Integrate sex and gender-based analyses, as well as diversity analyses, in Canadian Institutes of Heath Research
  • End the ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men
  • Create a National Institute for Women’s Health Research

Conservative platform

  • Increase the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer by at least three per cent every year (source)
  • Commit $50 million over five years towards a national autism strategy (source)
  • Invest $1.5 billion during first term to purchase MRI machines and CT machines (source)
  • Reduce the number of hours spent on therapy needed to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit from 14 to 10 hours per week

NDP platform

  • Force drug companies to disclose confidential price rebates they offer to public and private drug coverage payers (source)
  • Establish a national suicide prevention action plan (source)
  • Declare a national public health emergency for the opioid crisis (source)
  • Launch an investigation into the role of drug companies in fuelling the opioid epidemic to determine whether criminal charges or civil action is warranted (source)
  • Put in place a national dental care plan to help uninsured Canadians with household incomes below $90,000, starting in 2020 (source, PBO analysis)
  • Make dental care free for households making under $70,000, with a sliding copayment for those who earn between $70,000 and $90,000 (source, PBO analysis)

Green platform

  • Expand national healthcare coverage by including basic dental care (source, PBO analysis)
  • Pass legislation that gives Canadians the right to a healthy environment (source)
  • Declare a national health emergency over the opioid crisis (source)
  • End the ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men, and put in place policies based in public health evidence (source)
  • Ban for-profit blood collection services (source)
  • Implement Calls to Action 18-24 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (source)
  • Start to fund program within Health Canada to support community-based organizations offering targeted LGBTQI2+ youth’s mental health and well-being, amount unspecified (source)
  • Ban and condemn the practice of medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children (source)

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Pharmacare

Liberal platform

  • Implement a universal pharmacare program (source)
  • Establish the Canada Drug Agency for purchases (source)

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 (source)

Green platform

  • Expand public health care to include pharmacare (source, PBO analysis)
  • Create a bulk drug purchasing agency (source)
  • Reduce drug patent protection periods (source)

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Energy

Liberal platform

No specific proposals yet.

Conservative platform

  • Repeal Bill C-69 (source)
  • End the shipping ban in northern British Columbia (source)
  • End foreign-funded interference in regulatory hearings (source)

NDP platform

  • Abandon the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (source)

Green platform

  • Cancel the Trans Mountain pipeline (source)
  • Eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies, including payments and tax write-offs. These include the accelerated capital cost allowance on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and tax write-offs for oil and gas wells, coal mining exploration and development, flow-through share deductions for coal, oil and gas projects, and oil and gas properties (source, PBO analysis, PBO analysis, PBO analysis)
  • Not approve any new pipelines, or coal, oil or gas drilling or mining, including offshore wells (source)
  • Ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations (source)
  • Phase out bitumen production between 2030 and 2035 (source)

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Climate change & Environment

Liberal platform

  • Commit to net-zero emissions by 2050, with legally-binding five-year milestones (source)
  • Ban “harmful” single-use plastics by as early as 2021 (source)
  • Require federal buildings to be powered completely by clean electricity by 2022 (source)
  • Conserve and protect 25 per cent of Canada’s land and 25 per cent of Canada’s oceans by 2025, working towards 30 per cent in each by 2030 (source)
  • Create a national Experience Canada program, helping 75,000 lower-income families spend up to four days in one of Canada’s National or Provincial Parks every year—including camping accommodations and a travel bursary of up to $2,000 (source)
  • Provide a 10 per cent rebate on the purchase of used zero-emission cars, up to $2,000 (source)
  • Plant two billion trees over 10 years
  • Complete all flood maps in Canada and develop an action plan to assist home owner relocation for those at highest risk or repeat flooding
  • Increase investment to the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund by $1 billion investment over the next decade
  • Invest any profit from the sale of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project into clean energy projects and climate solutions
  • Install up to 5,000 charging stations for vehicles
  • Require federal investments in public transit support zero-emission buses and rail systems, starting in 2023
  • Transition B.C.’s open net pen salmon farming in coastal waters to closed containment systems by 2025

Conservative platform

  • Set emissions standards for major emitters that produce more than 40 kilotonnes per year of greenhouse gases, requiring them to invest in private-sector research and development of green technology (source)
  • 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 (source)
  • Expand Export Development Canada programs to issue more green bonds that provide financing for the development of emissions-reducing technologies (source)
  • Create a two-year green homes tax credit for homeowners to help pay for energy-saving renovations (source)
  • Re-establish an advisory panel that gave hunting, angling and conservation groups input on policies and programs on conservation. (source)
  • Negotiate regulatory changes that would increase the energy efficiency of cross-border trucking while encouraging research and development in eco-friendly modes of transportation. (source)
  • End to the practice of dumping raw sewage in waterways (source)

NDP platform

  • Reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions to 450 megatonnes by 2030, a 37 per cent reduction from 2017 levels (source)
  • Set a 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 (source)
  • Modernize and expand public transit in communities across Canada and ensure that federal transit funding flows with an emphasis on low-carbon transit projects (source)
  • Set a target to power Canada with net carbon-free electricity by 2030 and move to 100 per cent non-emitting electricity by 2050 (source)
  • Ban single-use plastics by 2022 as part of broader waste reduction strategy (source)
  • Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies immediately (source)
  • Create a permanent, direct, allocation-based funding mechanism to modernize and expand public transit in communities across Canada (source)
  • Provide low-cost financing to local governments in support of the electrification of transit and other municipal fleets by 2030 (source)
  • Establish a new Canadian Climate Bank, which will be capitalized with $3 billion by the federal government and mandated to spur investment in the low carbon economy, accelerate the adoption of clean technology, create good jobs, and support local economic development (source)
  • Create an independent Climate Accountability Office to do regular audits of progress towards our climate goals (source)
  • Move the vehicle fleets of the federal government to electric by 2025 (source)
  • Help homeowners cover the cost of installing a plug-in charger (source)
  • Expand charging networks for ZEVs across the country (source)
  • Make 100 per cent of all new automotive sales zero-emission vehicles by 2040 (source)
  • Infrastructure projects which could have an environmental impact in Quebec must be subject to Quebec’s environmental assessment procedures (source)
  • Protect at least 30 per cent of our land, freshwater, and oceans by 2030 (source)

Green platform

  • Double Canada’s emissions reduction target to 60 per cent by 2030 (source)
  • Halt all new fossil fuel development projects (source)
  • Have 100 per cent of Canada’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 (source)
  • Increase Parks Canada funding, amount unspecified (source)
  • Protect at least 30 per cent of freshwaters, oceans and land by 2030 (source)
  • Expand marine protected areas from 10 to 30 per cent of Canada’s territorial waters by 2030 (source)
  • Phase out Canada’s exporting of solid waste to other countries (source)
  • Plant 10 billion trees over 30 years (source)
  • By January 2022, ban the production, distribution and sale of all unnecessary single-use plastics (eg. produce bags, balloons, straws, plates, cups, lids, cutlery, cotton buds, drink stirrers, cigarette filters, plastic water bottles that hold less than four litres) and non-essential packaging (eg. packing straps, styrofoam packaging) (source)
  • Expand ban on microbeads to household and industrial cleaning products (source)
  • Restore the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (source)
  • Commit $100 million annually over the next four years to create Indigenous-led protected and conserved areas (source)
  • Regulate microfibres as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (source)
  • Expand the National Pesticides Monitoring and Surveillance Network (source)
  • Finance building retrofits and installation of renewable energy technologies via grants, zero-interest loans and repayment programs based on energy/cost savings (source)
  • Ban the sale of internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2030 (source)
  • By 2021, require all new washing machines sold in Canada have a removable, cleanable filter to capture micro-fibres (source)
  • Invoke federal powers for peace, order and good government to develop non-commercial aspects of forest management, such as massive tree planting and creating fire breaks (source)
  • Buy water bombers for forest fire preparedness (source)
  • Ban all forestry and cosmetic uses of glyphosate-based herbicides (source)
  • Implement the 20 recommendations from Parliament’s “West Coast Fisheries: Sharing Risks and Benefits” report (source)
  • Shift all open-net pen finfish aquaculture facilities into closed containment systems on land by 2025 (source)

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Indigenous affairs

Liberal platform

  • Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as Canadian law (source)
  • Eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve by 2021
  • Introduce legislation for “distinctions-based” health care for Indigenous people, emphasizing mental health, healing and long-term care (source)
  • Reduce the number of Indigenous children in foster care by implementing the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families (source)
  • Address all critical infrastructure needs (including housing, internet and schools) in Indigenous communities by 2030 (source)
  • Target that at least five percent of federal contracts awarded to businesses are led by Indigenous Peoples
  • Expand First Nations policing and recognize it through legislation as an essential service (source)
  • Fully implement the Indigenous Languages Act (source)

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

  • Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (source)
  • Introduce Indigenous People’s Day as a national holiday (source)
  • Work with Indigenous peoples to co-develop a National Action Plan for Reconciliation, drawing directly from the Calls to Action and the Declaration to ensure that Canada’s laws, policies, and practices are consistent with Canada’s human rights commitments (source)
  • Establish a National Council for Reconciliation to provide oversight and accountability for reconciliation process, reporting regularly to Parliament and Canadians (source)
  • Co-develop the federal government’s Arctic Policy Framework through shared governance within the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, including through the adoption of an Inuit Nunangat policy in full partnership with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (source)
  • Establish a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (source)
  • Establish Indigenous history education programs for all Canadians, based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 62 and 63 (source)
  • Invest $1.8 billion to lift all drinking water advisories by 2021 (source, source)
  • Spend $19 million to fund a mercury poisoning treatment centre in Grassy Narrows (source)
  • Resume and expand rural and remote bus routes and passenger rail service (source)
  • Ensure that Indigenous-led, culturally-appropriate home care and long-term care is available for Elders (source)
  • Create a Northern Infrastructure Fund to fast-track investment and focus on improving much-needed infrastructure like roads and broadband internet for communities in the north (source)
  • Establish a comprehensive, plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQI2S+ people (source)
  • Ensure full gender equality for First Nations status

Green platform

  • Re-introduce legislation to put UNDRIP in Canadian law (source)
  • Implement all calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry (source)
  • Implement recommendations of the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (source)
  • Dismantle the Indian Act, while allowing self-governing Indigenous communities to “opt out” of the Act while the dismantling process unfolds (source)
  • Formally repudiate the doctrine of terra nullius, the doctrine of discovery (source)
  • Add representatives from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governments to the Council of Canadian Governments (source)
  • Implement the lands claims agreements that are already negotiated (source)
  • Upgrade infrastructure to end drinking water and boil water advisories (source)

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Immigration & Refugees

Liberal platform

  • Introduce a dedicated refugee stream for at-risk human rights advocates, journalists and humanitarian workers, with a target of resettling 250 a year [source]
  • Allow local communities, chambers of commerce, and local labour councils to directly sponsor permanent immigrants

Conservative platform

  • Renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States (source)
  • End border crossings at unofficial points of entry like Roxham Road (source)
  • Improve credential recognition and providing low-skilled workers with a path to residency and improving language training (source)

NDP platform

  • Immediately suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States (source)
  • End the cap on applications to sponsor parents and grandparents (source)
  • Permanently increase the immigration transfer to the Government of Quebec by $73 million, from $490 million to $563 million per year (source)

Green platform

  • Terminate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States (source)
  • End the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and increase immigration to address labour shortages (source)
  • Establish a program to process those living in Canada without official status (source)
  • Reintroduce legislation to create a Civilian Complaints and Review Commission for the Canada Border Services Agency (source)
  • Regulate the immigration consulting industry and increase penalties for immigration consultants convicted of human smuggling (source)
  • Amend the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Public Safety Act to require that, after a reasonable period, formal charges be brought against all those detained (source)
  • Grant permanent resident status to those who have refused or left military service in a war not sanctioned by the United Nations (source)
  • Help define the term “environmental refugee” for inclusion as a refugee category (source)
  • End the detention of immigrants (source, PBO analysis)

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National defence

Liberal platform

No specific proposals yet.

Conservative platform

  • restart talks to join the U.S. ballistic missile defence program  (source)

NDP platform

  • Expunge the records of LGBTQ Canadians in the arm forces who were given dishonourable discharges (source)
  • Remove self-harm as a disciplinary offence in the Canadian military (source)

Green platform

  • Sign and ratify the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (source)
  • Ban autonomous weapons (source)
  • Review all NATO commitments (source)

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Public safety & National security

Liberal platform

  • Ban all military-style assault rifles, including the AR-15 (source)
  • Initiate a buyback program for all legally purchased assault rifles (source)
  • Work with the provinces/territories to give municipalities the ability to further restrict (or ban) handguns (source)
  • Introduce a system for flagging bulk purchases of guns
  • Temporarily suspend firearms licenses for people suspected of posing a danger to themselves or others, including their partners or children
  • Invest an additional $50 million each year, for five years, to help municipalities with gang-related violence
  • Require those importing ammunition to show proof of a valid firearms license
  • Hire and train 100 additional RCMP officers for offices and embassies abroad
  • Invest an extra $6 million, over three years, towards the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence
  • Create a review body for the Canada Border Services Agency
  • Invest an additional $11 million, over four years, for all officials in Canada’s enforcement and security agencies to have unconscious bias and cultural competency training
  • Double the funding to Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and improve Statistics Canada’s data collection regarding hate crimes
  • 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 (source)
  • Institute Canada’s Digital Charter so people can control their personal data, including the right to erase personal data from platforms like Facebook and Google, and review and challenge the amount of personal data collected by a company or the government (source)

Conservative platform

  • Ensure that plain language-use agreements are instituted so that companies collecting electronic data must receive informed consent from Canadians (source)
  • Create a “Canada Cyber Safe” certification system to ensure products that incorporate artificial intelligence or that can access the Internet meet ethical and safety standards (source)
  • Cost-share new anti-gang law enforcement initiatives with provinces and territories, amount unspecified (source)
  • Create a Police Infrastructure Grant program, amount unspecified (source)
  • Increase the funds available for the Youth Gang Prevention Fund by 25 per cent (source)
  • Create a Canada Border Services Agency Firearms Smuggling Task Force (source)
  • Ensure that any firearms owner detained under provincial mental health legislation will immediately have their firearms seized (source)

NDP platform

  • Ensure all major cities have dedicated hate crime units
  • Convene a national working group to counter online hate
  • Create a $100 million fund to keep youth out of gangs (source)

Green platform

  • Start a confidential buyback program for handguns and assault weapons (source)
  • Increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner to enforce privacy laws (source)
  • Require the Communications Security Establishment and CSIS have a warrant before accessing the communications of Canadians (source)
  • Ban routine surveillance of Canadians who protest against the government (source)
  • Require companies grant access to all information they hold on an individual and, when requested by that person, delete personal information from company databases (source)
  • Create mandatory data breach reporting for all government departments, companies, banks and political parties (source)
  • Ban cyber surveillance and bulk collection of data by intelligence and police agencies (source)
  • Require that internet service providers may only release data when required by a warrant, except in emergencies (source)

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Infrastructure

Liberal platform

  • Invest $100 million over four years in the Tourism Community Infrastructure Fund for local needs of communities that rely on tourism
  • Create a National Infrastructure Fund and support projects like the Newfoundland-Labrador fixed transportation link
  • Ensure that 95 per cent of Canadian homes and businesses have high-speed internet by 2026, and 100 per cent by 2030
  • Increasing investments in small craft harbours by $40 million annually

Conservative platform

  • Eliminate the Infrastructure Bank introduced by the Liberals
  • Prioritize infrastructure projects like the Ontario Line and Yonge subway extension in Ontario; the George Massey tunnel replacement project in British Columbia; and a third link across the Saint Lawrence River in Québec (source)

NDP platform

  • Fund public infrastructure through under “community benefit agreements” that guarantee jobs, training, apprenticeships and support for local business are part of every project (source)
  • Expand funding for communities to adapt infrastructure to withstand climate change impacts like floods and fires; amount not specified. (source)

Green platform

  • Invest $600 million in 2020-21, increasing to $720 million by 2023, to develop regional rail networks, which will include sections of 10 km tracks to avoid congestion between heavy freight and passenger in the national rail network, while expanding bus services to rural communities (source)
  • Fund the re-routing of tracks for freight and rail yards away from populated areas (source)
  • Direct the Canada Infrastructure Bank, to invest in climate-proofing essential infrastructure, prioritizing upgrades to drinking water and waste water systems (source)
  • Reduce interest rates to municipalities on loans for infrastructure projects via changes to the Canada Infrastructure Bank (source)
  • Allocate one per cent of GST to housing and other municipal infrastructure (source)
  • Expand charging stations for electric vehicles, including all parking lots associated with federal facilities (source)
  • Change the national building code to require new construction to meet net-zero emission standards by 2030 (source)

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Retirement & Seniors

Liberal platform

  • Increase Old Age Security (OAS) by ten per cent once Canadians turn 75 (source)
  • Increase the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) survivor’s benefit by 25 per cent (source)

Conservative platform

NDP platform

  • Develop and fund a national dementia strategy and elder abuse prevention plan; amount of investment not specified (source)
  • Institute a one-year delay on the suspension of Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits for seniors who are unable to complete the required income statement (source)
  • Make Canada Caregiver Tax Credit refundable (see Taxes) (source)
  • Ensure pensioners are at “front of line” of creditors when companies go bankrupt; unfunded pension liabilities and severance would be top priority for repayment (source)
  • Introduce a mandatory, industry-financed pension insurance program to ensure workers are not deprived of retirement benefits (source)
  • Restore door-to-door mail delivery for those who lost it under the Conservatives (source)
  • Create a Pension Advisory Commission to develop a long-term plan to protect and enhance Old Age Security, boost the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and strengthen the Canada Pension Plan (source)

Green platform

  • Restore door-to-door mail delivery for those who lost it under the Conservatives (source)
  • Regulate that the CPP Investment Board must divest from coal, oil and gas shares and ensure that all investments are ethical and promote environmental sustainability (source, PBO analysis)
  • Amend Medical Assistance in Dying legislation so everyone has the option of “dying with dignity” (source)
  • Create and fund a national dementia strategy, amount of investment not specified (source)
  • Increase the target income replacement rate from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of income received during working years (source, PBO analysis)

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Housing

Liberal platform

  • Expand the First-time Home Buyer Incentive for people in Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto. The value of a qualifying home will go from 500,000 to nearly 800,000 (source)
  • Add a one per cent annual tax on residential properties owned by those who are not Canadians and who do not live in Canada (source)
  • Help homeowners and landlords pay for retrofits by giving them an interest-free loan of up to $40,000 (source)
  • Help people buy newly built homes that are certified zero-emissions by giving them a Net Zero Homes Grant of up to $5,000 (source)
  • Create a low-cost national flood insurance program (source)
  • Make Energy Star certification mandatory for all new home appliances, as of 2022 (source)
  • Give interested homeowners and landlords a free energy audit (source)
  • Retrofit 1.5 million homes, over the next five years (source)

Conservative platform

  • Increase amortization periods on insured mortgages to 30 years for first-time homebuyers (source)
  • Launch inquiry into money laundering in real estate (source)
  • Remove stress test for mortgage renewals (source)

NDP platform

  • Create 500,000 units of quality, affordable housing in the next 10 years (source)
  • Double the Home Buyer’s tax credit to $1,500 for first time buyers (source)
  • Remove GST/HST on the construction of new rental units (source)
  • Re-introduce 30-year terms to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) insured mortgages for first time home buyers (source)
  • Add $5 billion to spending on affordable housing in first 18 months in office (source)
  • Set up “fast-start” funds available to communities to kick-start construction of co-ops, social and non-profit housing; amount not specified (source)
  • Invest $40 million over four years in the Shelter Enhancement Program

Green platform

  • Legislate that housing is a legally protected fundamental human right for all Canadians and permanent residents (source)
  • Increase the National Housing Co-investment Fund by $750 million for new builds, and the Canada Housing Benefit by $750 million for rent assistance for 125,000 households (source)
  • Get rid of the first-time home buyer grant (source)
  • Restore tax incentives for building purpose-built rental housing (source)
  • Remove “deemed” GST when a developer with empty condo units puts them on the rental market (source)
  • Change the legislation that stops Indigenous organizations from accessing financing through CMHC (source)

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Education

Liberal platform

  • Increased Canada Student Grant by up to $1,200 per year (source)
  • Offer students two-years window after graduation before they start paying off student loans, interest-free (source)
  • Delay student loan repayments until graduates make at least $35,000 (and if their income ever falls below this level, payments will be put on hold) (source)
  • Pause student loan repayments for new parents, interest-free, until their youngest child turns five years old (source)
  • Help establish the Université de l’Ontario français

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

  • Eliminate interest on federal portion of student loans (source, PBO analysis)
  • Move away from loans by increasing access to Canada Student Grants (source)
  • Invest to bring all schools on First Nations reserves up to provincial standards, fulfilling “Shannen’s Dream” parliamentary motion of 2012 (see Indigenous affairs) (source)

Green platform

  • Eliminate post-secondary education tuition (source, PBO analysis)
  • Forgive existing student debt held by federal government (source)
  • Remove 2 per cent cap on increases to education funding for Indigenous students (source)
  • Eliminate Registered Education Savings Plans (source, PBO analysis)

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Child care

Liberal platform

  • Create up to 250,000 more before and after school spaces for kids under the age of 10 (source)
  • Lower parents’ child care fees by 10 per cent across the country (source)
  • Dedicate a target of ten per cent of the new spaces to provide more child care options for parents who work overtime, late shifts, or multiple jobs (source)
  • Double federal support to the provinces and territories through the Early Learning and Child Care Framework, investing at least $535 million more each year (source)
  • Invest at least $25 million per year to help cover the costs for early childhood educators seeking further training, and lower tuition costs for people getting their early childhood educator degree (source)
  • Establish a national secretariat to work with the provinces and territories to lay the groundwork for a pan-Canadian child care system (source)
  • Give up to $1,000 more to families to help when the costs of raising kids are highest, by boosting the Canada Child Benefit by 15 per cent for children under the age of one (source)
  • Make maternity and parental benefits tax-free (source, PBO analysis)
  • Introduce a 15-week leave for adoptive parents (source)
  • Double the Child Disability Benefit

Conservative platform

  • Introduce 15 weeks of EI adoption leave benefits for Canadians who adopt a child under the age of 18 (source)

NDP platform

  • Pass legislation that “enshrines Canada’s commitment to high-quality, public child care” (source)
  • Invest $1 billion in 2020 and increase amount annually, with aim of ensuring affordable, public or not-for-profit child care is available to all families (source)
  • Commit $10 billion over the next four years to create 500,000 new child-care spaces (source)

Green platform

  • Increase federal child care funding to at least one per cent of GDP annually (source, PBO analysis)
  • Eliminate GST on all construction costs related to child-care spaces (source)

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Agriculture

Liberal platform

  • Merge existing financial and advisory service for food producers and processors into Farm Credit Canada, now to be called Farm and Food Development Canada
  • Increasing Farm and Food Development Canada’s capital lending capability by up to $5 billion per year

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

  • “Fully protect” the supply management system in trade talks (source)
  • Introduce a payment protection program to mitigate financial risks to produce growers who export perishable items to the United States (source)
  • Fully compensate farmers for losses incurred in past trade negotiations under Liberals and Conservatives (source)
  • Consult Quebec on any international trade agreement (source)

Green platform

  • Implement national standards for reducing nitrogen fertilizer usage in crop agriculture (source)

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Foreign affairs

Liberal platform

  • Establish a Canadian “centre for peace, order and good government” to advance justice, human rights and democracy globally [source]
  • Provide more money to international institutions like the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization [source]
  • Increase spending by $50 million towards supporting UN peacekeeping, peace-building and conflict prevention (source)
  • Support international protocols to ban the development and use of fully autonomous weapons systems
  • Expand the Magnitsky Act to allow for seizure of assets from perpetrators of grave human rights abuses
  • Increase Canada’s international assistance each year in pursuit of the UN’s 2030 sustainable development goals

Conservative platform

  • Bar the Chinese telecom company Huawei from participating in Canada’s 5G networks (source)
  • Withdraw Canada’s $250 million investment from China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (source)
  • Cut foreign aid spending by 25 per cent, the reduction coming from countries with a Human Development Index over 0.6 and hostile regimes (source)
  • Increase military and non-military support to Ukraine (source)
  • Start process of moving Canada’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv (source)
  • Upgrade the Royal Canadian Navy’s submarine capability to protect the nation’s territorial waters (source)
  • List the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and use Canada’s Magnitsky Act against Iran’s human rights offenders (source)
  • Use Canada’s Magnitsky legislation to target Iran (source)

NDP platform

  • Immediate cessation of all arms sales to Saudi Arabia (source)
  • Ensure Canadian-made weapons do not fuel conflict and human rights abuses abroad (source)
  • Renew emphasis of military on multinational peacekeeping operations
  • Boost Canada’s international development spending to 0.7 per cent of gross national income, per Ottawa’s commitment to UN

Green platform

  • Cancel the contracts to provide Saudi Arabia with armoured vehicles (source)
  • Ban importation of Saudi oil (source)
  • Sign and ratify the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (source)
  • Ban autonomous weapons (source)
  • Review all NATO commitments (source)
  • Re-establish the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) (source)
  • Increase Canada’s overseas development assistance budget to 0.7 per cent of GDP (source)
  • Eliminate requirement that aid be tied to Canadian business interests overseas, or strategic geopolitics (source)
  • Increase Canada’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund and Global Environmental Facility to $4 billion per year by 2030 (source)

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International trade

Liberal platform

No specific proposals yet.

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

  • Scrap the Invest in Canada agency and create iCanada, a one-stop shop inside the federal government to help attract investors to Canada (source)
  • Ensure all trade deals are consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (source)
  • Give trade unions the ability to initiate trade disputes (source)
  • Convene a summit on the auto industry including representatives from industry, labour and all levels of government to devise a strategy to keep Canadian product lines and processes up-to-date (source)
  • Put in place stronger labelling rules for seafood, with a boat-to-plate traceability standard for Canadian seafood products (source)

Green platform

  • Renegotiate Canada’s trade and investment agreements to remove the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions (source)

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Justice

Liberal platform

  • Implement the recommendations put forward by the Hon. Anne McLellan in her recent review of the role and structure of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
  • Provide free legal aid to survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence
  • Appoint only bilingual judges to the Supreme Court of Canada
  • Establish an independent Criminal Case Review Commission to review wrongfully convicted applications
  • ’Require all judges in Canada undertake mandatory training on sexual assault law
  • Implement mandatory training on unconscious bias and cultural competency for all judges in Canada
  • Support provinces/territories to hire as many as 425 new Crown prosecutors, and 225 new judges, to help reduce delays
  • Make drug treatment court the default option for first-time non-violent offenders charged exclusively with simple possession
  • Ban the practice of conversion therapy
  • Require that all social media platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant financial penalties

Conservative platform

  • Introduce a mandatory sentence of five years in prison in the criminal code for possession of a smuggled firearm (source)
  • Ensure that anyone found to divert legally purchased guns into criminals’ hands will face up to 14 years in prison and a lifetime ban from owning firearms (source)
  • Require those on parole to cut ties with gangs (source)
  • Identify known organized crime and gang organizations in the Criminal Code (source)
  • Implement a minimum five year sentence for ordering or participating in violent criminal activity (source)
  • Bring in mandatory sentences in federal prison for directing gang crime (source)
  • Launch a judicial inquiry into the SNC-Lavalin (source)
  • Allow the RCMP to access information protected by cabinet confidence by making an application to the Supreme Court of Canada (source)

NDP platform

  • Give trial judges greater discretion in criminal sentencing by reducing reliance on minimum sentences (source)
  • Expunge convictions for minor cannabis possession from Canadians’ criminal records, instead of requiring them to obtain pardons (source)
  • Increase federal funding for legal aid (source)
  • Ban the use of anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy on minors (source)
  • Add sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the Employment Equity Act to counter disadvantages experienced by LGBTQ and transgender workers (source)
  • Ban carding, a.k.a. “street checks,” by federal law enforcement officers (source)
  • Formalize the process for appointing Supreme Court judges who represent Quebec, and ensure the selection is made from a list of candidates pre-selected by the Government of Quebec (source)
  • Ensure that Supreme Court judges are bilingual (source)

Green platform

  • Decriminalize all drug possession (source)
  • Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences (source, PBO analysis)
  • Pass legislation to end solitary confinement (source)
  • Develop a framework for the use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) (source)
  • Require the Director of Public Prosecutions report any negotiated DPAs in her annual reports (source)
  • Repeal Section 159 of the Criminal Code (source)
  • Ban and condemn the practice of conversion therapy, in all its forms (source)
  • End the blood ban (source)
  • Reform sex work laws to make the industry legal and public (source)
  • Ensure that trans, non-binary, and Two Spirit people can alter their sex designation on federally-issued official documents, consistent with their gender identity (source)

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Democracy & Governance

Liberal platform

  • Allocate more time for Private Members’ Business for debate in Parliament
  • Eliminate the use of whip and party lists to give the Speaker more freedom in calling on Members who wish to speak
  • Increase resources to parliamentary committees

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

No specific proposals yet.

Green platform

  • Lower the voting age to 16 (source)
  • End “first past the post” voting via electoral reform (source)
  • Require every party’s campaign platform cost estimates are reviewed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (source)
  • End all Access to Information (ATI) fees, except the filing fee (source)
  • Authorize the Information Commissioner to order the release of information (source)
  • Put parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office and minister’s offices within the scope of the ATI (source)
  • Remove requirement for party leaders to sign candidate nominations (source)
  • Enhance whistle-blower protections for public service workers (source)

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Youth

Liberal platform

No specific proposals yet.

Conservative platform

No specific proposals yet.

NDP platform

No specific proposals yet.

Green platform

  • Lower the voting age to 16 (source)
  • Start to fund program within Health Canada to support community-based organizations offering targeted LGBTQI2+ youth’s mental health and well-being, amount unspecified (source)
  • Create a Community and Environment Service Corps as part of the federal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (source)

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Veterans

Liberal platform

  • Offer veterans up to $3,000 in free counselling services before a disability claim is required
  • Automatically approve the most common disability applications, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and arthritis

Conservative platform

  • Clear backlog of Veterans’ benefit applications within 24 months (source, PBO analysis)
  • Launch an independent inquiry into Canadian Armed Forces members who were administered mefloquine (source)

NDP platform

  • Provide one caseworker for every 25 veterans to eliminate service backlogs, from current ratio of one to 32.5 (source)
  • Expand the veterans education benefit to more veterans, number unspecified (source)
  • Carry forward all “lapsed spending” in Veterans Affairs to subsequent fiscal years (source)

Green platform

  • Restore periodic payments to veterans at pre-2006 levels (source)
  • Repeal the section of the Superannuation Act the denies pensions to surviving spouses who married after 60 (source)

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Arts & Culture

Liberal platform

  • Introduce the Culture Pass, a $200 credit that every Canadian child will receive when they turn 12, to be at theatres, museums, galleries, workshops, and other cultural venues
  • Require that CBC/RadioCanada open up its digital platform
  • Increase Telefilm Canada’a annual funding by nearly 50 per cent
  • Legislate that ensure that all content providers offer meaningful levels of Canadian content in their catalogues, contribute to the creation of Canadian content in both official languages, and promote this content

Conservative platform

  • Eliminate admission fees to all national museums (source)

NDP platform

  • Require Netflix, Facebook and Google and other digital media companies to pay taxes and adhere to the same content laws and requirements as conventional Canadian broadcasters (source)
  • Increase funding for CBC and Radio-Canada, amount unspecified (source)
  • Provide financial support for Indigenous theatre at the National Arts Centre (source)
  • Allow income tax averaging for artists and cultural workers (source)

Green platform

  • Increase funding to CBC and Radio Canada by $315 million per year until the per-capita level of funding is equal to that of the BBC (source)
  • Increase funding to the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada, amount unspecified (source)

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Thanks for reading. Now get ready to vote!

How we did it: We’ll update this post whenever a major party makes a promise in the context of the next election (as opposed to re-announcing funding or criticizing a government measure). When parties release their full platforms, we’ll incorporate those promises into this compendium. Until the Liberals release their platform, we’ll draw on future promises made in this year’s federal budget.

(All images via Shutterstock)

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