Where do the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens stand on major issues? Here is an updated breakdown of their positions on the issues of taxes, the economy, energy, climate change, infrastructure, child care and skills training.
Taxes
Liberal Party of Canada
•Increase income tax rate to 18% from 15% for financial institutions earning more than $1 billion
•Expand Canada workers benefits
•Minimum tax rule of 15% for those in top tax bracket
•Non-resident vacancy tax
Conservative Party of Canada
•Eliminate the tax impediment of intergenerational transfers of farming, fishing and small business corporations
•Month-long GST holiday
•Double Canada workers benefit
•5% tax credit for capital investment
•Reduce CRA penalties
•Increase disability supplement to $1,500
New Democratic Party
•1% tax on wealth over $20 million
•Excess profit tax on pandemic profits of large corporations
•Increase capital gains inclusion rate to 75%
•18% corporate tax rate
•Minimum tax of 15% for people in top tax bracket
•Increase top marginal tax rate by two percentage points to 35%
•$100 million for CRA enforcement of tax evasion
•Tax home sales to non-residents
Green Party of Canada
•1% tax on wealth over $20 million
•Close loopholes for tax shelters and stock options
Economy
Liberals
•Expand EI sick benefits to 26 weeks
•$250 million, three-year aerospace pandemic recovery bailout
•Allow firms to immediately expense up to $1.5 million in eligible investments in each of next three years
•$15 federal minimum wage
•Allow Canadian-controlled private corporations to expense up to $1.5 million of eligible investments, including new technology in each of the next three years
Conservatives
•Equalization rebate that gives $4 billion to Alberta and $1 billion to other provinces
•Balance budget over the next decade
•Require worker representation on boards for large federally regulated companies
NDP
•Create one million jobs by investing in infrastructure, public transit, homes, retrofitting and transitioning to a carbon neutral economy
•Increase federal minimum wage
•Provide 10 paid sick days for workers in federally regulated industries
•Expand income security programs
•Automotive innovation fund with tax-free contributions
•Require the use of Canadian-made steel and aluminum in infrastructure projects
•Price cap on telecom service and introduce “telecom consumers’ bill of rights”
Greens
•Create a means-tested Guaranteed Livable Income
•$600 million over four years for Universal Broadband Fund
•Create parity between student and minimum wage
•Establish $15 an hour federal minimum wage
Energy
Liberals
•$1 billion over five years for large-scale clean-energy technology projects
•$35 million to create the Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy in B.C.
Conservatives
•Introduce renewable natural gas mandate
•Implement LNG export strategy
•Tax credit for carbon capture, use and storage technology
NDP
•Create 300,000 jobs in the green economy
Greens
•End Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and ban construction of new oil and gas pipelines
Climate change
Liberals
•$5 billion over seven years for the Net Zero Accelerator to help companies reduce emissions
•Reduce corporate income tax rate by 50% for companies that manufacture zero-emission technologies
•$200 million over three years for a Natural Infrastructure Fund for natural spaces and animal crossings
•$5 billion in green bonds to fund conservation and green infrastructure
•Reduce emissions by up to 45% by 2030
•Require energy firms to reduce methane emissions by 75%
•$5,000 subsidy for purchase of zero-emission car
•Require 100% of cars being sold to be zero emission by 2035
•Build net-zero electricity grid by 2035
Conservatives
•Implement Personal Low Carbon Savings Account, a carbon pricing scheme where money from carbon tax goes into a savings account earmarked for green purchases
•Price carbon starting at $20/tonne and increasing to a cap of $50/tonne
•Tie carbon price to U.S. and EU
•$1 billion for electric vehicle manufacturing
•$1 billion in deploying hydrogen technology
•$3 billion investment by 2030 in natural climate solutions focused on land management
•Introduce zero-emission vehicle mandate based on British Columbia requiring 30% of light duty vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2030
NDP
•Reduce carbon emissions 50% by 2030 by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and enacting sectoral and national carbon budgets
•Retrofit all buildings in Canada by 2050
•Target of net carbon-free electricity by 2030
•Strengthen Canadian Environmental Protection Act
•Ban single -use plastics
•Force oil companies to clean up inactive wells
Greens
•60% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030
•100% electricity produced with renewable sources by 2030
•Stop sale of internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2030
•Increase carbon tax by $25 per tonne each year between 2022 and 2030
•Ban non-essential single-use plastics by the end of 2021
•Require labelling of chemicals and GMOs in consumer products
•Create green jobs training program
Infrastructure
Liberals
•Build dedicated passenger rail tracks in the Toronto-to-Quebec City corridor for high-frequency trains
•$1 billion universal broadband fund
•Four-year, $1.9 billion to aid upgrades to transportation routes
Conservatives
•Eliminate and replace the Canada Infrastructure Bank
•Provide the funding needed to complete the extension of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain
NDP
•Infrastructure products to use Canadian inputs including steel and aluminum
•Restore door-to-door mail service
•Establish Crown corporation to deliver high-quality, affordable telecom services
•Develop an inter-city bus system to replace lost greyhound routes
•Develop “postal banking” in rural areas
Greens
•End fossil fuel extraction, ban fracking, ban export of U.S. coal through Canadian ports
Child care
Liberals
•Build a $10-per-day daycare system by committing up to $30 billion over five years
Conservatives
•Change Child Care Expense Deduction into a refundable tax credit for up to 75% of costs for lower income families
•Allow parents to earn up to $1,000 a month while on parental leave
NDP
•Universal $10-per-day child care
Greens
•Increase federal funding of child care to at least 1% annually
Skills training
Liberals
•10 paid sick days for federally regulated workers
•Expand employment insurance benefits
•$470 million for new apprenticeship program
•$240 million to increase the wage subsidy to $7,500 per person in the Student Work Placement Program
Conservatives
•Pay up to 50% of new worker salaries for six months after the end of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
•Require gig economy companies to pay the equivalent of EI and CPP into savings account
•Create EU-style airline passenger rights legislation
•Extend EI sickness benefits
NDP
•Create a hiring bonus where the government covers the employer’s share of employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan premiums for new hires or rehired laid-off employees
•$2,000 low income supplement for EI recipients
•Expand who qualifies for EI
•Extend EI sickness benefits
•10-day paid sick leave for federally regulated industries
•Establish legislation to ban the use of replacement workers
Greens
•Replace fossil fuel sector jobs with a green sector jobs through retraining programs along with wage insurance and early retirement plans
