By: Kayti Baur, MSc Candidate in Community Health and Epidemiology

Canada’s Federal Election Day is right around the corner, on Monday, Oct 21!
Not sure who to vote for?  Check out our guide to the party platforms as they relate to health, education, and more below!

TOPIC:
HEALTHCARE
WEALTH
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
IMMIGRATION AND CULTURE
EDUCATION

HEALTHCARE

• Promises to take ‘critical next steps’ for national pharmacare plan, pledging $6 billion dollars toward universal pharmacare
• 3% annual health transfer increase to provinces and territories; more funding for mental health and addictions and home care programs
• Create a national institute for women’s health to address gender gaps in research and care
• Double child disability benefit
• Ensure all Canadians have access to a family doctor or primary health care team, as well as mental health services
• Add $6 billion over four years to federal portion of health-care funding to add and improve services
• Increase Old Age Security payments for those over 75
• Add $30 million in funding next year for paediatric cancer research
• End the ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men
• Establish the Canada Drug Agency for drug purchases

• Increase health transfer payments by up to 3% annually
• Dismissed pharmacare focusing on those not covered by work or provincial insurance (Scheer has opposed national pharmacare in the past)
• Promised $15 billion to buy more MRI and CT machines
• Pledge to work with provinces and territories to find ways to reduce the cost of “orphan drugs” that treat rare diseases
• Commit $50 million over five years towards a national autism strategy
• Reduce the number of hours spent on therapy needed to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit from 14 to 10 hours per week

• Expand medicare to include mental health, dental, eye and hearing coverage
• Put in place a national dental care plan to help uninsured Canadians with household incomes below $90,000, starting in 2020
• Make dental care free for households making under $70,000, with a sliding copayment for those who earn between $70,000 and $90,000
• Proposing a ‘pharmacare for all’ plan by late 2020, covering Health Canada Approved Drugs, pledging $10 billion dollars a year toward the project
• Force drug companies to disclose confidential price rebates they offer to public and private drug coverage payers
• Establish a national suicide prevention action plan
• Declare a national public health emergency for the opioid crisis

• Boost funding to train doctors and nurses, and expand midwifery programs
• Extend healthcare for universal pharmacare and dental care for low income Canadians, with the federal government paying for everything for the first 2 years. That would cost about $26.76-billion in 2020-2021, rising to nearly $40-billion (including provincial contributions) in 2028-2029
• All Canadians have the right to a ‘living will’ to deny or limit medical interventions
• Expand national healthcare coverage by including basic dental care
• Pass legislation that gives Canadians the right to a healthy environment
• Declare a national health emergency over the opioid crisis
• End the ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men, and put in place policies based in public health evidence
• Ban for-profit blood collection services
• Start to fund program within Health Canada to support community-based organizations offering targeted LGBTQI2+ youth’s mental health and well-being, amount unspecified

WEALTH

• Boost federal minimum wage to $15/hour
• New career insurance benefit that will supplement existing EI payments when someone loses their job
• Cut before- and after-school child-care fees by 10 per cent,
• Increase the Canada Child Benefit by up to $1,000 for children under a year old.
• Extending EI sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks

• Revive two Harper-era refundable tax credits for families enrolling children under age 16 in sport and artistic learning programs. the 15-per-cent tax credit would apply to a maximum of $1,000 for sports programs and $500 for arts programs
• Make employment-insurance benefits tax-free for new parents
• Let home buyers amortize their insured mortgages for 30 years, up from the current limit of 25

• Creating 500,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years
• Spend$10 billion over the next 4 years to create 500,000 new child care spaces
• 300,000 “good jobs” in Canada within four years. That’s 75,000 jobs a year, a modest amount by recent standards
• Change employment-insurance rules to give students and workers more job training
• Pledging $1-billion in federal child-care funding in 2020, with annual increases after that
• 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
• Modernize and expand public transit in communities across Canada
• Establish a comprehensive, plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQI2S+ people

• Promises a guaranteed livable income
• Creation of a Community and Environment Service Corps to employ young people
• Wants to create a dedicated federal housing minister to tailor long-term affordable housing solutions to each province
• Eliminate the first-time home-buyer grant
• Plan to work with provinces and First Nations on “a road map to affordable child care for all children,” and would raise federal funding to eventually reach at least 1 per cent of GDP per year

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Phase out coal power by 2030
• Net zero emissions for 2050
• Create an agency for clean water
• Ban single use plastics
• Plant 2 billion trees over 10 years
• Invest all tax revenues from the Trans Mountain Pipeline into green and clean technology initiatives (continued support of the pipeline)
• $40,000 interest free loans for home renovations to make more energy efficient homes
• 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
• Complete all flood maps in Canada and develop an action plan to assist home owner relocation for those at highest risk or repeat flooding

• Support the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
• Would fast-track legal challenges to oil pipelines straight to the Supreme Court to get final decisions faster.
• Eliminate Bill C-69, a law requiring more regulators to take human health and the environment into account when approving resource projects
• Scrap carbon tax and encourage industries to innovate so they can lower emissions
• Up to $3800 per year over the next two years to Canadians who spend their own money to complete green friendly home renovations
• Green-technology patent tax credit for businesses
• Modelling of the plans impact by Mark Jaccard, a member of the UN’s advisory panel on climate change, found it would increase emissions between 2020 and 2030.
• 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
• Re-establish an advisory panel that gave hunting, angling and conservation groups input on policies and programs on conservation.
• End to the practice of dumping raw sewage in waterways

• Stop the Trans Canada Pipeline Expansion
• Effectively give the provinces veto rights on major natural resource projects in their jurisdictions
• Cut emissions by 450 megatonnes by 2030,  a 37 per cent reduction from 2017 levels
• Modernize and expand public transit in communities across Canada and ensure that federal transit funding flows with an emphasis on low-carbon transit projects
• Spend $15-billion on a massive green overhaul of Canada’s electrical grid, transit systems and housing stock
• Create a ‘’climate bank’ to invest in renewable energy and clean technology
• Create an independent office to monitor emissions cuts
• Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies immediately
• Give Canadians incentives to switch to zero-emission vehicles
• Target of retrofitting all homes in Canada by 2050 through low interest loans
• Ban single use plastics by 2022
• Make 100 per cent of all new automotive sales zero-emission vehicles by 2040
• Protect at least 30 per cent of our land, freshwater, and oceans by 2030

• A 20 step action plan to address the ‘climate emergency’ called ‘Mission: Possible’
• Reduce emissions to 60% below 2005 levels by 2030
• Net zero emissions by 2050
• Ban all gas powered cars by 2030
• Raise the carbon price by $10 annually until 2030; invest even more than the NDP in electrical, transit and housing retrofits; and aim for a zero-emission economy by 2050.
• Cancel the Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion project and reject any new pipelines, oil and gas drilling or coal mining
• Pass legislation that gives Canadians the right to a healthy environment
• Have 100% of Canada’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2030
• Expand marine protected areas from 10 to 30 per cent of Canada’s territorial waters by 2030
• Regulate microfibres as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act

INDIGENOUS RELATIONS

Perspectives on the 2019 Federal election by the Assembly of First Nations

• Vowing to hold Canada’s laws to standards set in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
• Eliminate all long-term drinking-water advisories on reserve, of which there are currently more than 50
• Will appeal a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision urging compensation for Indigenous children unnecessarily brought into the child-welfare system.
• Introduce legislation for “distinctions-based” health care for Indigenous people, emphasizing mental health, healing and long-term care
• Address all critical infrastructure needs (including housing, internet and schools) in Indigenous communities by 2030
• Reduce the number of Indigenous children in foster care by implementing the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families
• 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
• Fully implement the Indigenous Languages Act

• Argues that bureaucracy and outdated Indigenous governance are obstacles to Indigenous economic prosperity
• Create a dedicated cabinet job for consulting with Indigenous people on major natural-resources projects
• Scheer supports Ottawa’s challenge of the human-rights tribunal ruling on Indigenous child welfare

• Commit to implementing Shannen’s Dream, Jordan’s Principle and the Spirit Bear Principle
• Fully implement United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
• Would spend $1.8 billion to bring clean water to every Indigenous community by 2021
• Introduce Indigenous People’s Day as a national holiday
• 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
• Establish a National Council for Reconciliation to provide oversight and accountability for reconciliation process
• 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
• Establish a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• Establish Indigenous history education programs for all Canadians, based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 62 and 63
• Spend $19 million to fund a mercury poisoning treatment centre in Grassy Narrows
• Ensure that Indigenous-led, culturally-appropriate home care and long-term care is available for Elders
• 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
• Establish a comprehensive, plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQI2S+ people
• Ensure full gender equality for First Nations status

• Give Indigenous nations a process to opt out of the Indian Act, the law governing most federal-Indigenous relations
• Set up an independent land-claims arbitrator
• Implement UNDRIP and the recommendations of a 1996 royal commission on Indigenous issues
• Implement all calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry
• Implement recommendations of the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
• Commit $100 million annually over the next four years to create Indigenous-led protected and conserved area
• Formally repudiate the doctrine of terra nullius, the doctrine of discovery
• Add representatives from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governments to the Council of Canadian Governments
• Upgrade infrastructure to end drinking water and boil water advisories

IMMIGRATION AND CULTURE

• Increase number of immigrants who have come into Canada to 350,000 by 2021 (currently 321,000 have come in under the Liberal government)
• Introduce a dedicated refugee stream for at-risk human rights advocates, journalists and humanitarian workers, with a target of resettling 250 a year
• Allow local communities, chambers of commerce, and local labour councils to directly sponsor permanent immigrants
• Regulate immigration consultants

• Stress importance of ‘economic immigration’ and prioritizing those facing ‘true prosecution’
• Promote private sponsorship of refugees
• Increase refugee screening
• Renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States (which prevents migrants who made claims in the US from making claims in Canada)
• End border crossings at unofficial points of entry like Roxham Road
• Improve credential recognition and providing low-skilled workers with a path to residency and improving language training

• Stress need to tackle backlog of applications and prioritize family reunification
• End the cap on applications to sponsor parents and grandparents
• No specific number targets for people accepted into the country
• Regulate immigration consultation industry
• ­Arguing that the U.S. under President Donald Trump is not a safe country for refugees, would suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement (which prevents migrants who made claims in the US from making claims in Canada) and let asylum seekers claim refugee status at official crossings
• Permanently increase the immigration transfer to the Government of Quebec by $73 million, from $490 million to $563 million per year

• Increase immigration to places which can’t fulfill job vacancies, but don’t have a specific target # of people to accept
• Give foreign professionals easier access to the credentials they need to work here and cancel the Temporary Foreign Workers Program
• Include climate refugees as official refugees
• Get rid of Safe Third Country agreement (which prevents migrants who made claims in the US from making claims in Canada)
• Establish a program to process those living in Canada without official status
• Reintroduce legislation to create a Civilian Complaints and Review Commission for the Canada Border Services Agency
• 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
• Grant permanent resident status to those who have refused or left military service in a war not sanctioned by the United Nations (
• End the detention of immigrants

EDUCATION

• Boost post-secondary education grants so they’re worth up to $1200 more per year
• Make student loans interest free for 2 years after graduation
• Graduates wont have to pay until they are making over $35,000 annually
• Parents may pause interest payments until youngest is 5 years old
• Create a Canadian Apprenticeship Service, providing providing up to $10,000 per apprentice, over four years, for every new position created

• Raise Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) contributions from 20% to 30% for every dollar invested up to $2500/year for a maximum contribution of $750/year

• Work toward free university and college tuition
• Put a cap on and reduce tuition by working with provinces and territories
• Eliminate federal interest rate of student loans
• Implement a nation school nutrition plan
• Change employment-insurance rules to give students and workers more job training
• Ban unpaid internships outside of educational programs

• Eliminate college and university tuition by offering $10 billion post secondary education support
• Forgive all existing federal student loans
• Ensure all indigenous students have access to post secondary education
• Boost funding for training new immigrants in English and French
• Supports a national school lunch program
• Investment in job training for a green economy
• 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