platform

Friday April 29, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 29, 2022

How Doug Ford’s budget sets the tone for his Ontario PC election campaign

For a guy who came to power in 2018 on a promise to rein in the size and cost of government, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is heading into his 2022 election campaign with a completely different pitch. 

May 23, 2019

That pitch can be seen in the Ontario budget tabled Thursday by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, a budget that he described as “Premier Ford’s vision.” 

That “vision” is in reality less a provincial budget than it is a Progressive Conservative election platform. In case there’s any doubt, Bethlenfalvy recited the PC campaign slogan “Get it done” no less than 10 times during his budget speech. 

Also, minutes after the speech wrapped, the legislature was adjourned until well after the June 2 election, so the budget won’t pass unless the PCs win a majority. 

Beyond the sloganeering, the budget’s tone and messaging appear crafted to assure Ontario voters that Ford and the PCs are not just willing to spend the money that’s needed on crucial government services, but actually eager to spend it, to the extent of actually forecasting a deficit higher than in each of the past two pandemic years. 

It also appears to be an attempt to persuade voters that Ford has been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic and that cutting government spending is no longer a big concern for the PCs.

Wednesday April 27, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 27, 2022

So… when was the last time you really thought about the NDP?

May 24, 2018

You might have noticed something interesting about the election campaign that’s underway, although not yet official, in Ontario.

The official opposition, the New Democrats? No one is talking about them.

So it’s not that the NDP isn’t getting any attention. It’s more that it wasn’t getting any attention for a long time before this. Let me ask a question of you, dear readers: before the platform release, when was the last time you thought about the NDP or Andrea Horwath at all? There was that recent weird nomination story, where a sitting NDP MPP didn’t win the right to run under the party’s banner in his current riding. There was all the speculation about the ejection of former NDP MPP Paul Miller from caucus last month. And that’s … about all that comes to mind? Which isn’t great. These aren’t shining moments for the party.

Thursday September 16, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 16, 2021

Jagmeet Singh takes aim at billionaires, promises to close corporate tax loopholes

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is recommitting to a crackdown on artful tax dodgers with high net worth.

February 10, 2021

The pledge is part of a basket of measures that aim to raise revenue while lowering inequality, but that fall short of covering the marquee expenditures atop the New Democrats’ election platform, economists say.

At a campaign stop across the Rideau Canal from Parliament, Singh said he would zero in on tax evasion and close loopholes that benefit billionaires.

“We believe that the ultrarich should pay their fair share so we can invest in people,” Singh said.

November 7, 2017

“(Liberal Leader) Justin Trudeau and Conservatives before him have let the super rich have a free ride. We want to put an end to that.”

The New Democrats’ plan to halt that luxury flight ranges from tougher enforcement at the Canada Revenue Agency to enhancing corporate tax transparency and capping stock option gains that are taxed at a lower rate.

Singh said the moves could raise revenue to help pay for programs such as universal pharmacare and more affordable housing. He suggested that investing an additional $100 million in the CRA would lead to a return of up to $25 billion in taxes and revenue in one year.

October 27, 2017

He also spoke about cracking down on large companies that make profits in Canada but pay little to no taxes here.

“These are tens and tens of billions of dollars of revenue that we could increase that would help us pay for the programs that we need,” he said.

In 2019, two reports from the CRA and the parliamentary budget officer found that Ottawa could be losing out on up to $51 billion in uncollected taxes each year due to illegal tax evasion and legal tax avoidance, both of which rely heavily on offshore tax havens.

CRA data from earlier this summer showed its recent efforts to combat tax evasion by the super rich resulted in zero prosecutions or convictions.

Big-ticket items in the NDP platform include: a guaranteed livable income; universal pharmacare and dental care as well as free mental health care for uninsured patients; $10-a-day childcare “for all parents”; an end to for-profit long-term care; and slashed student debt.

Some of the promises start with smaller targets — the guaranteed minimum income would begin with low-income seniors and Canadians with disabilities — but look to scale up to comprehensive social programs.

They don’t come cheap.

A guaranteed livable income would cost taxpayers between $84.2 billion and $197.2 billion annually by 2024-25, depending on the parameters, according to a November report from the parliamentary budget officer.

The NDP’s universal pharmacare scheme would see Singh spend $38.5 billion over five years, reaching more than $11 billion annually by 2024-25, according to an estimate by budget officer Yves Giroux published Friday.

A national child-care program that sets its sights on $10 a day will cost about $30 billion over five years, based on the amount earmarked for it in the Liberal budget from April.

June 18, 2020

As a counterweight to that hefty expenditure scale, Singh has proposed higher taxes on wealthy Canadians and corporations.

The measures include a wealth tax of one per cent on households with fortunes topping $10 million, an income tax hike of two points to 35 per cent for the highest bracket and a three-point hike to put the corporate tax rate at 18 per cent.

Singh would also impose a 20 per cent foreign buyers’ tax on residential property purchases and a temporary COVID-19 “excess profit tax” of 15 per cent, applicable to extra earnings by big companies. (Global News) 

 

Friday September 3, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 3, 2021

Pharmacare AWOL in 2021

June 13, 2019

Nearly a quarter century ago, the federal government hosted a conference on national pharmacare in Saskatoon – the birthplace of Canadian medicare. The meeting was extraordinarily frustrating to delegates who anticipated action, not talk, at the time.

We know because we were there.

You see, that Saskatoon meeting was held on the heels of Prime Minister Chrétien’s 1997 National Forum on Health. Echoing previous national commissions, the forum recommended the implementation of a universal, comprehensive, public pharmacare program to work alongside Canadian medicare.

April 22, 2021

Yet, there we were, an audience of approximately 300 health professionals, experts, public representatives and stakeholders gathered to “engage in dialogue” on an issue that already had a very clear answer.

The national pharmacare system recommended would have reduced Canadian drug costs dramatically, meaning savings for governments, businesses and households. More Canadians would have access to medicines because they would be fully covered, but manufacturers would no longer be able to charge more in Canada than they did in comparable countries.

October 21, 2016

Drug companies preferred that Canada adopt a system of mandatory private insurance based on the model they had just convinced the Quebec government to implement in 1997 — at great cost to Quebec households and businesses. Insurers favoured the Quebec model too – what industry wouldn’t want people to be legally required to purchase their products without regulations on profit margins?

In 2019, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to act on pharmacare plan. Such a national pharmacare system was mentioned in the 2020 Throne Speech, Budget 2021 and 2021 mandate letters. But there has been little concrete action toward implementation.

Instead, the federal government has reverted yet again to “stakeholder engagement,” rather than policy action. (Red Deer Advocate) 

 

Thursday September 2, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 2, 2021

Liberal Party releases multibillion-dollar election platform for post-pandemic recovery

The Liberal Party released its election platform today — an ambitious document that offers billions in new spending to address both long-standing policy problems and new ones that have emerged during the past 19 months of the pandemic crisis.

February 12, 2016

The sprawling, 53-page platform proposes $78 billion in new spending. It differs substantially from the Conservative plan released earlier in this campaign in that it proposes to invest more in Liberal priorities — such as efforts to fight climate change, Indigenous reconciliation and the arts and cultural sector — while promising tighter restrictions on firearms and new money for provinces that ban handguns.

The party is also promising to restore employment to pre-pandemic levels and go “beyond” its previous pledge to create one million jobs by extending the Canada Recovery Hiring Program — which subsidizes businesses that hire new workers — until March 2022. It also accuses the Conservatives of being “opposed to support for workers and businesses.”

The Liberal platform says a re-elected Liberal government would pump billions of dollars into the health system to help clear pandemic-related surgical backlogs and hire 7,500 new doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners.

September 19, 2020

The Liberals would also earmark $1 billion in new funding for provinces that implement a ban on handguns — something gun control advocates have long demanded.

The centrepiece of the Liberals’ housing program is a “first home savings account” — a program that would “combine the features of both an RRSP and a TFSA” in that money added to the account would go in tax-free and could be withdrawn without any taxes owing on investment gains.

The program, which would cost the federal treasury some $3.6 billion over the next four years, is meant to make it easier for some first-time homebuyers under 40 years of age to scrape together enough money for a down payment.

The Liberals would also introduce a new dedicated funding stream for mental health services that would send the provinces and territories at least $2 billion more per year for mental health care by 2025-26.

October 1, 2019

O’Toole said the Liberal platform amounts to “recycled promises with some tweaks” and lacks “a complete plan for an economic recovery as a country.”

“I think Canadians deserve better than that. Mr. Trudeau called the election and just recycled some promises he’s already failed to deliver on from the previous election,” O’Toole said. “Canadians are tired of that. We deserve better, we deserve change, we deserve a government with a plan and one that will deliver.”

He said Trudeau was “running massive deficits before COVID-19” and is now piling on more costly promises. O’Toole has promised to balance the budget in ten years’ time by reining in the growth of public spending “without cuts.” (CBC)