As the federal parties work to fill out a full slate of candidates, they continued a flurry of announcements in their second week on the campaign trail. Here are the highlights.
Liberals. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
promised $6 billion in new healthcare spending on Monday to reduce wait times, and $3 billion to hire 7,500 doctors and nurses. Trudeau also
pledged to train 50,000 new personal support workers for senior care, double the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, and keep working with the provinces to make $10-a-day child care available across Canada.
The Canada Recovery Hiring Program would also be extended to March 2022 so businesses could hire more workers.
In addition, the Liberals would provide wage supports and help with insurance costs for the tourism, arts, and culture sectors. To mitigate climate change effects, Trudeau pledged funding for 1,000 new firefighters, money to retrofit or upgrade homes, and to lower insurance premiums.
Conservatives. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole
announced Monday his party will require large federally regulated employers to include worker representation on their boards of directors. If elected, a Conservative government would
pay 25 percent of the salary of any net new hire, with support increasing up to 50 percent depending on how long they had been out of work.
On Saturday, O’ Toole announced his party aimed to build one million new homes by creating incentives for first-time buyers, simplifying the mortgage stress test, and allow mortgage terms for first-time buyers to be longer. Foreign non-residents and investors would be prohibited from buying homes, and incentives would be provided for rental housing.
NDP. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh committed Monday to eliminating subsidies to oil and gas companies and reallocating them to the renewable energy sector. He also pledged $500 million in funding to support Indigenous-led stewardship programs to advance reconciliation and protect the land, water and forests, including old growth.
To mark the ten-year anniversary of Jack Layton’s death on Aug. 22, Singh
tweeted one of Layton’s quotes: “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
Layton’s widow Olivia Chow tweeted her appreciation for Singh and an article about Layton he wrote for the Toronto Star. “What a beautiful article. Thank you... Jack was so happy to have you on the team in 2011. He would be proud of the way you’re continuing his legacy of fighting with love and hope for the country and world we know is possible.”
People’s Party. In a
press release, PPC Leader Maxime Bernier announced Monday that his party would cut spending to eliminate the deficit within four years, and cut taxes thereafter.
Greens. On Sunday, the Greens said the Liberal government’s commitment to reduce emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 was not enough, and it
should be 60 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Maverick Party. The party
received official status on August 20, only to find out the next day that interim leader Jay Hill will join the PPC’s Maxime Bernier as leaders shut out of the upcoming election debates.
The People’s Party of Canada and Conservatives need less than 25 candidates to contest all 338 ridings. According to the count on party websites, the PPC currently has 316 candidates followed by
the CPC at 315;
Liberals at 291,
NDP at 239,
Bloc at 64,
Greens at 28 and
Maverick Party at 27.
