Friday, January 20, 2006

The Issues in Point Form

I gleaned this off the Canoe website.

(CP) - Having trouble keeping track of all of the promises that have been made in this marathon campaign? Here's a handy list:

TAXES

Bloc Quebecois

  • Axe GST on books, children's articles.

    Conservatives

  • Cut GST to five per cent.
  • Eliminate capital-gains tax on money reinvested within six months.
  • Double, to $2,000, non-taxable pension income.
  • $250 million in tax credits for new day-care centres.
  • Scrap capital gains tax on fishing assets.
  • Raise small-business tax threshold to $400,000.
  • Cut small-business tax threshold to 11 per cent.
  • $1,200 annual child-care allowance.
  • Up to $500 tax break to parents for child's sports fees.
  • Tax incentives for builders to create affordable housing.

    Greens

  • No corporate tax cuts.
  • $17.5 billion in tax cuts for lower-income Canadians, small and medium-sized businesses.

    Liberals

  • Cut income taxes.
  • Raise lifetime capital gains tax exemption to $750,000.
  • Eliminate capital gains tax on charitable gifts of ecologically sensitive land and on publicly traded shares to public charities.

    New Democratic Party

  • No tax cuts, no tax increases.
  • $1,000 increase in child tax credit over four years.
  • Raise gas transfer tax to cities to five cents a litre.

    HEALTH

    Liberals

  • Wait-times guarantee.
  • Hire 1,000 more family doctors.
  • Mobility fund to transport patients on long wait lists for treatment elsewhere in Canada.
  • National cancer strategy.
  • New mental-health commission.

    Conservatives

  • Wait-times guarantee.
  • No private, parallel system.
  • National cancer strategy.
  • Speed up accreditation of foreign doctors.

    Greens

  • End private health care.
  • Press for a national cancer strategy.

    New Democratic Party

  • No public money for private care.
  • Billion-dollar-a-year prescription drug plan.

    SOCIAL

    Bloc Quebecois

  • Ban ammunition belts for automatic guns.

    Conservatives

  • Free Commons vote on same-sex marriage.
  • Independent prosecutor, federal crimes.
  • National seniors council to advise government.
  • Halve $975 immigrant landing fee, further reduce it to $100 within mandate.
  • Full judicial inquiry into Air India bombing.
  • Shut down the federal gun registry.
  • Raise the age of sexual consent to 16.
  • Allow 14 year olds to be tried in adult court for serious crimes or repeat offences.
  • End conditional sentences (house arrest) for serious crimes.
  • Hire 1,000 new RCMP officers.

    Greens

  • Let corporations pool pension funds.

    Liberals

  • $11 billion to provinces over 11 years for day care.
  • Ban handguns.
  • $325 millions for RCMP anti-gang squad, community safety.
  • Eliminate $975 immigrant landing fee.
  • Two months of EI benefits for unpaid caregivers who leave work to care for a sick relative.
  • Lower interest costs on reverse mortgages.
  • $100 million over five years for a registered disabilities savings plan.
  • Eliminate Ottawa's power to override Charter of Rights.
  • A $25-million "heroes fund" for the families of public-safety workers killed in the line of duty.
  • $180-million endowment for high-tech innovation research.

    New Democratic Party

  • Federal appointments on merit.
  • $1 billion home-care plan.
  • 40,000 long-term care spaces over four years.
  • $1.8 billion for day care in first year, $250 million a year for next three years.
  • Worker charter of rights.
  • Push settlement aboriginal land claims, residential schools abuse.
  • Try youths as young as 16 charged with firearms offences as adults.
  • $200 million improving witness protection programs.
  • $200 million over four years for victims of violence and $400 million for at-risk youth.

    ENVIRONMENT

    Conservatives

  • Bring in clean air act.
  • Require average five per cent renewable fuel content by 2010.
  • Abandon Kyoto greenhouse-gas targets and set new made-in-Canada standards.

    Greens

  • End federal seal hunt support.
  • Halt oil, gas subsidies.
  • Add environmental rights to Charter of Rights.
  • Ban the use of cosmetic pesticides.

    Liberals

  • $1 billion over 10 years to clean up the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
  • Weather study centre for Newfoundland and Labrador.

    New Democratic Party

  • Cut greenhouse gases by 25 per cent by 2050.
  • Bring in clean air act.

    DEFENCE

    Conservatives

  • $1.8 billion more for defence by 2010.
  • New 650-member airborne battalion.
  • Double the size of the DART.
  • Buy at least three heavy-lift planes.
  • Three new armed naval heavy icebreakers.
  • Deep-water port near Iqaluit.
  • Arctic national sensor system to monitor subs, ships.
  • Recruit 500 more Canadian Rangers.
  • New Arctic army training centre near Cambridge Bay.
  • Set up new separate foreign spy agency.

    Liberals

  • An international deal to permanently ban weapons in space.

    NDP

  • Review 2006 NORAD renewal and Canadian Forces' integration with the United States military.
  • Accelerate location and cleanup of DND chemical dumpsites.
  • Speed up investigation and compensation related to Agent Orange and Agent Purple.

    EDUCATION

    Conservatives

  • Up to $500 tax deduction for trades tools.
  • $1,000 trades apprenticeship incentive grant.
  • Apprenticeship job creation tax credit up to $2,000.
  • Up to $500 tax deduction for text books.
  • Tax exemption on first $10,000 scholarship, bursary income.

    Liberals

  • Pay half of first and last year's tuition for college and university students to a maximum of $3,000 each year.

    New Democratic Party

  • $4 billion for post-secondary education.

    ECONOMY

    Conservatives

  • Voluntary farmer participation, Canadian Wheat Board.
  • New farm income stabilization program.
  • Add $500 million a year to farm support programs.
  • $2 billion in new funding for municipalities while maintaining the "new deal" for cities.
  • A five-year fund for highways and border infrastructure worth $600 million in its final year.

    Liberals

  • Overhaul farm support system.

    New Democratic Party

  • Aid auto industry.
  • $250 million to fix border crossings.

    Greens

  • A Well-Being Measurement Act and Canadian Index of Well-Being.
  • Revenue-neutral tax shift to resource use, pollution and land value levies.
  • Create jobs in low-emission industries in hard-hit natural resource sectors.
  • Stronger, more effective anti-trust laws.
  • Financial support to encourage investment in developing green industries.
  • 1 comment:

    Cibbuano said...

    And that looks like the best overall comparison of what the parties stand for. Of course, some things are left out of the list, but at a glance, we can see each party's position on the key issues.


    thanks, sirdar!