Front Burner - Election platform primer (Part 2 of 2)

Episode Date: September 16, 2021

The CBC’s Ryan Maloney returns for Part 2 of our back-to-back platform primers for the major parties. This episode: the NDP, Green Party, and People’s Party of Canada.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, Jamie Poisson here, and we're back with day two of comparing the major national parties' election platforms. Today, we're getting into the NDP and the Green Party's policies, and we'll touch on the People's Party of Canada, too. So you'll have a better sense of who and what you're voting for ahead of Monday's election. A reminder, if you missed our first episode where we covered the liberal and conservative platforms, you can find that in our feed.

And we won't be talking much about climate or housing because we've already put up deep dive conversations on both, which you can also find in our feed. All right, let's get started. All right, here with us again is CBC Parliamentary Bureau's Ryan Maloney. Hi, Ryan. Thanks so much for coming back again, two days in a row. Yeah, two days in a row. Thanks for having me back. I appreciate it. Good, good. All right. So let's start today with the NDP. Leader Jagmeet Singh has taken a lot of credit for supports Ottawa handed out during the pandemic, saying the NDP pushed the Liberals into helping more. And he talks about the Liberals' election call almost like a betrayal of that path. The reality is he is fed up with New Democrats pushing him to deliver more help to more people.

And he certainly doesn't want to put in place any measures to make the ultra rich pay their fair share. Let's get into why Singh is saying if you want the government to keep having your back through the pandemic and beyond, you've got to vote NDP. First, what are the big items they're promising to take care of Canadians health? Yeah, so I should say broadly that the NDP is promising to spend big, I mean really big. And because many of these issues do deal with matters of provincial jurisdiction, there's ongoing debate over how they would pull some of this stuff off. So, you know, with that caveat in place, we'll move on. They are promising $68 billion in new healthcare spending over the next five years, which they say would be used to bring in universal pharmacare and dental care.

They've sort of identified both as the missing pieces in Canada's public health care system. And they're promising to move fast. They say they can have pharmacare in place by the end of 2022 at a cost of $10 billion a year, even though that's an issue that requires negotiations with the provinces and territories. On dental care, they've said an NDP government would immediately provide coverage for uninsured families making less than $60,000, partial coverage for families earning less than $90,000 while working towards that universal system. Their platform also says every Canadian should have access to eye care,

hearing care, fertility treatments, and mental health care for the uninsured Canadians. And they're also promising 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated workers. Okay. And on the issue of affordability, what other kinds of affordability supports is SING throwing out there? I'm thinking for students or people making minimum wage here. What we're going to do for students, we're going to permanently remove all interest from federal loans for students immediately and permanently. We also know that students are dealing with record levels of debt. We want to also forgive student debt to help our young people, to give them that first step, to make sure that they're not being crushed under the weight of that debt. We are going to forgive student debt as well. So he wants to immediately remove the interest

on federal student loans and forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt. He wants to increase the $15 federal minimum wage to $20. He's promising a price cap on cell phones and internet bills, and to extend the wage and rent subsidy programs for smaller businesses until they're back on their feet. Okay. And with the possible exception, I think, of climate change, there's no issue that Singh has been more critical of the liberals over than indigenous reconciliation. And on drinking water advisories remaining in First Nations, he sounds almost incredulous. What is it then that has meant that Mr. Trudeau promised in 2015

to make sure every community had clean drinking water and that it hadn't happened? It's certainly not the capacity, certainly not the lack of technology, it's certainly not the money because we have the resources, we can do this, then what is it? I don't buy for a second that is that is anything other than the political will seriously so tell me what are what

are the ndp promising to do for indigenous communities well they're promising to do quite a lot and i'd note that mr singh has really set himself apart from the other leaders during this campaign by actually visiting some first nations communities, including the Neshka Danga First Nation in northern Ontario just this week, which has had Canada's longest boil water advisory. Singh says an NDP government would lift all water advisories right away, saying it's a matter of political will. Liberals had a goal of doing that by March of 2021, but they didn't hit that. And that work continues. He's also promising about $30 billion in overall money directed to reconciliation with more than half of that to compensate First Nation families and children placed in the child welfare system

and to end those legal battles over that issue that we kind of talked about last week. Something else interesting, he wants to appoint a special prosecutor to go after those who committed crimes in residential schools. He's promising a First Nations justice and policing strategy and a national task force that would address the over-representation of Indigenous peoples as well as Black Canadians in the federal prison population. Okay, and on the issue of boil water advisories, is it probably not worth noting here, according to Indigenous Services, there are over 50 still in effect across Canada. And I believe under the Liberal government,

they have been able to lift like over 100. I swear this is the last time, but let's do one more speed round. Anything else that sticks out to you at the NDP? These speed rounds, man, they stress me out. Okay. I know, I know. Go now. Okay, start the clock.

They are promising to end private for-profit long-term care homes, bringing it under the public umbrella, and to set national standards for that care. They're also pledging to create one million new jobs. We keep hearing that. Everybody's promising to create one million new jobs. One million. They want to invest in transit, community infrastructure, affordable housing, energy-efficient retrofits. Unlike the conservatives, they would largely keep in place the proposed liberal program for $10 a day child care.

So they're not going to scrap that. They want to add more spaces. They support mandatory vaccinations for workers in federally regulated industries. But they want the federal government to create a national vaccine passport instead of the provinces doing that. Right, which is what the liberals are proposing. They're proposing to give money to the provinces for them to create a passport system. The NDP is saying, we're going to do it. We're going to do it nationally. Exactly. They've said that they want the creation of guaranteed livable basic income to be a priority, but they haven't really spelled that out. And they promise

a national action plan to dismantle far-right extremist organizations. Along with these big universal programs, since leader Jagmeet Singh launched his campaign, he's actually been shouting out how he wants to pay for them. He says he's the only guy who's serious about making the ultra-rich pay their fair share. And people have referred to the pandemic and said, well, we've all been in the same boat. And I say really clearly, we've not been in the same, we've not been in the same boat. We've been in the same storm for sure. But some people have ridden out this storm in luxury yachts while others have been in leaky lifeboats. We know that the ultra-rich in this pandemic have been given a free ride by liberals and conservatives, so they have increased

their wealth. The richest billionaires in Canada have increased their wealth by $75 billion in counting, and Justin Trudeau has allowed that to happen. So what is the NDP's plan to make the wealthy share more of the costs? Yeah, that's right. He's promising to go pretty hard after the people at the very top. Sometimes he calls them the ultra rich. Sometimes he calls them the super wealthy. Basically, he argues that those are the people who should be paying more to support Canada's recovery from COVID.

So his centerpiece is a 1% annual tax on households with wealth over $10 million, something that his party says will bring in $60 billion over five years. And I'd note that in the 2019 election, the NDP wanted their wealth tax to apply to households with $20 million. So they've lowered that threshold this time. So they've lowered it. Now it's just $10 million. Oh, okay. I still feel like that's so wild, a $10 million household.

But yeah. So they're also promising to go after crackdown on tax havens I still feel like that's so wild, a $10 million household. So they're also promising to go after crackdown on tax havens and some of the loopholes that the rich enjoy to bring in more revenue. He also wants to raise the capital gains inclusion rate to 75% from 50%, which they say will bring in another $44 billion. So let's say you sell shares in a company and you make a profit of $1,000. Right now, half of the value of that capital gain is added to your federal tax return. And Singh wants to boost that up to 75%. And he wants corporations to do more, which is not surprising. He wants to raise the corporate income tax rate from 15% to 18%, which is actually where it was back in 2010. And he's saying that would bring in another $25 billion. He's also pitching an excess profit tax on large companies that basically made big profits

during the pandemic while we were all kind of hunkered down in our homes, thinking Amazon or large grocery chains. And we saw those kind of measures during the First and Second World War, actually, to help cover some of the emergency spending. And he's saying we should do it again. And he says that'll bring in another $14 billion. Okay. So I know the NDP released the costing of their platform on Saturday. And so how does the new money they'll be raising compare to how much they're promising to spend, which as you mentioned is, is a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. So their platform calls for $214 billion in new spending over the next five years, and they want that offset somewhat with $166 billion in revenue from those tax changes

and those other measures that we're talking about. Again, largely targeting the wealthy and those large corporations. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people, and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo, 50%. That's because money is confusing.

In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Cops. Okay, let us move on to the Greens. We've covered how their climate platform still sets them apart from the other major parties because they've got the highest emissions reduction target, that is 60% below 2005 levels. But leader Annamie Paul is also going big on universal social programs. So what our platform says is that this is the time for us to be daring. That yes, we have been transformed by the pandemic. Yes, we have been transformed by climate change. And we are not prepared to

continue going on as if nothing has happened, as if it is business as usual. We are not going to forget the lives that have been lost. Tell me about the areas where the Greens are matching or going even further than the NDP here. Yeah, so I mentioned that the NDP had referenced basic income. And I would say that probably the signature policy from the Greens is to implement a guaranteed livable income. So during the pandemic, Green Party leader Annamie Paul, she pointed to the CERB as something, you know, that basically gave people a floor underneath their feet. And she said, why can't we do that for everyone? So NDP MPs have talked about this, some Liberal MPs have as well. But for the this has always been something that's that's been front and center. They also want a universal long-term care system with national

standards of care. Ms. Paul has noted that her father actually passed away in a long-term care facility during the pandemic so you know she says this is a personal for her. My father died at the end of May. He died from the neglect that has caused thousands of people to die in our long-term care facilities. He died of an avoidable infection. They're also calling for universal access to post-secondary education, cancellation of student debt, and for housing affordability and homelessness to be recognized as a national emergency. Okay. The Greens have also put a huge emphasis on racial and social justice in their platform. And one of their three pillars is creating a quote unquote, just society. And can you tell me more about how they say they'd

root out systemic discrimination? And as we talk about climate justice, and we will continue to talk about climate justice, we fully understand that there can be no climate justice and we will continue to talk about climate justice, we fully understand that there can be no climate justice without social justice. Yeah, so they're promising to review, take a good hard look at the RCMP with the goal of basically reducing the National Police Force's reach and its spending and to reinvest those funds into community and social supports. They also want to create a new police oversight system and a national database of police use of force incidents. They want to expand an ongoing review that's happening into the Employment Equity Act

so that the Act's reach applies to private businesses that are doing work with the federal government as well. And they want to fund data collection on the spread of online hate and real world violence. Okay. And I definitely lied before because we need to have one more small speed round. Anything else from the Greens that really sticks out to you? They want to create a national mental health and suicide prevention strategy. They want to fund indigenous healing centers to address the trauma of residential schools and provide more funding for the work of missing children and unmarked burials.

And something else, they want to replace one third of Canada's food imports with our own domestic production. Yeah, that's an interesting one. I find that really interesting. Okay, just to note, the Greens plan has not been costed out by the parliamentary budget officer. So we do not know at this time how much it would cost, correct? Correct. And I should note it was also kind of quietly just posted online just before the debate. So it's a little different than what we've seen from the others that had kind of bigger, you know, bigger reveals. All right, finally, let's briefly talk about the People's Party of Canada. They currently don't have any seats in the House of Commons, but since they've risen in the polls, they're

worth touching on here. So Leader Maxime Bernier has been saying that his party is the only truly different choice in the election. So why should Canadians consider voting for the People's Party of Canada? It's simple. All the other options suck. It's time to choose something different. Tell me what he says about the PPC's approach to coming out of the pandemic. So, yeah, the People's Party has aggressively courted the anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine segments of Canada, and they've tried to consolidate that vote during this campaign. Their leader, Maxime Bernier, has said he's not vaccinated, and he's thrown around words like tyranny and revolution, and he's faced questions about whether that's inciting violence and some of the ugliness that we've seen on the campaign trail. So with that having been said, they want

to repeal vaccine mandates for civil servants and travelers. They oppose basically all vaccine passports of any kind, and they promise actually to support those who would challenge those measures in court. They have said that the government should stop bailing out the provinces that impose what they call economically destructive lockdowns. So they really go hard on that side of things. down. So they really go hard on that side of things. On other matters, they would repeal the liberal restrictions that banned 1500 makes and models of assault style weapons. They promised to end corporate welfare and claim that they can eliminate the deficit in one mandate with fiscal prudence and spending cuts. Right. And just a reminder here, Bernier questions whether climate change is human caused and wants to scrap our Paris commitments. The PPC wants to drop annual immigration from a target of around 400,000 people to as low as 100,000. And they'd end funding to support multiculturalism and make potential migrants answer questions about, quote, Canadian values and societal norms.

Okay, with that, Ryan, thank you so much for taking us through these party platforms, but also the Liberals and the Conservatives yesterday. We are very, very appreciative. Hey, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. All right, so before we go today, the Liberal, Conservative and NDP leaders are all calling for an apology over a question in the English language debate. Moderator Shachi Curl asked Bloc Quebecois leader

Yves-François Blanchet about Quebec's Bill 21, which bans some public servants from wearing religious symbols at work. For those outside the province, please help them understand why your party public servants from wearing religious symbols at work. For those outside the province, please help them understand why your party also supports these discriminatory laws. The question seems to imply the answer you want. Those laws are not about discrimination. They are about the values of Quebec. Now, Justin Trudeau, Erin O'Toole, and Jagmeet Singh have all called for

the consortium of media broadcasters, which produces the debate, to apologize, each suggesting that the question unfairly singled out Quebec on racism. The question has caused an uproar in Quebec where the National Assembly unanimously called for an apology, and where the federal leaders are no doubt hoping to pick up seats that could be critical to an election win. That's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.