Liberal Platform Summary: A New Plan for a Strong Middle Class



Liberal Platform Summary: A New Plan for a Strong Middle ClassTaxes and TransfersPromise 1: Introduce Canada Child Benefit (See p.4 of platform for breakdown of benefits by family income and number of children).This benefit is projected to lift 315,000 children out of poverty.Promise 2: Cancel current Universal Child Care Benefit.Promise 3: Cut income tax for middle bracket ($44,700-$89,401) by 7% (from 22% to 20.5%).This cut is worth up to $670.Promise 4: Introduce new income tax bracket of 33% for those earning over $200,000. Promise 5: Cancel income splitting. Youth EmploymentPromise 6: Invest an additional $300 million in the Youth Employment Strategy over the next 3 years.This is projected to create 40,000 jobs a year including 5,000 “green” jobs.Promise 7: Double the more than 11,000 youth who access Skill Links.Promise 8: set the renewed Youth Employment Strategy’s funding level at $385 million per year – a $50 million increase from 2015/16.Promise 9: invest $40 million each year to help employers create more co-op placements for students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business programs.Promise 10: Waive employment insurance premiums for employers for all those between the ages of 18 and 24 who are hired into a permanent position in 2016, 2017, or 2018.Promise 11: Work with provinces, territories, and post-secondary institutions to develop or expand Pre-Apprenticeship Training Programs (up to $10 million per year).Promise 12: Eliminate the rule requiring 910 hours to qualify for employment insurance. Promise 13: Invest $25 million in restored Youth Services Program.Promise 14: Work with provinces and territories to enhance the Canada Pension Plan.SeniorsPromise 15: Not end income splitting for seniors.Promise 16: Change the qualifying age for Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement Payments back to 65. This will give a projected $13,000 to low income seniors per year.Promise 17: Increase Guaranteed Income Supplement payments to single low-income seniors by 10%.This will give a projected 1 million more seniors almost $1,000 a year.Promise 18: Introduce new Seniors Price Index to ensure benefits for seniors keep up with the costs of living that they face.Promise 19: Make the 6 months Compassionate Care Benefit accessible to those caring for a seriously ill family member (as opposed to only those at risk of death) and usable in smaller chunks of time over a year.This reflects an estimated investment of $190 million per year.Affordable HousingPromise 20: Renew federal leadership in housing through a 10 year investment of $20 billion in social infrastructure. This will:Prioritize affordable housing and seniors’ facilities; Build more new housing units and refurbish old ones; Give support to municipalities to maintain rent-geared-to-income subsidies in co-ops; Give communities the money they need for Housing First initiatives that help homeless Canadians find stable housing.Promise 21: Encourage the construction of rental housing by removing all GST. This is equivalent to $125 million in tax incentive. Promise 22: Modernize the Home Buyer’s Plan to allow Canadians who face a life altering event (e.g. job loss, death in the family) to purchase a home without a tax penalty.Promise 23: Direct Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the new Canada Infrastructure Bank to provide financing to support the construction of new, affordable rental housing.Promise 24: Conduct an inventory of all federally owned lands and buildings to assess which could be repurposed for affordable housing and make some land available for that purpose. Promise 25: Review escalating housing costs in high cost areas like Toronto and Vancouver and investigate all policy tools to make home ownership more accessible to more Canadians. Promise 26: Restore Long-form census.Post-Secondary EducationPromise 27: We will increase the maximum Canada Student Grant for low-income students to $3,000 per year for full-time students, and to $1,800 per year for part-time students.Promise 28: We will increase the income thresholds for eligibility, giving more Canadian students access to even larger grants. This will be funded by cancelling the education and textbook tax credits. The tuition tax credit will be maintained.This will increase the level of non-repayable grant assistance to students by $750 million per year, rising to $850 million per year by 2019/20.Promise 29: Ensure that no graduate with a student loan will be required to pay until they earn an income of at least $25,000 by changing the thresholds in the Repayment Assistance Plan.Work will be done with provinces and territories to ensure this change does not result in any additional administrative costs for pensation will be given to provinces and territories that do not participate in Canada Student Loans.Promise 30: Work with provinces and territories to better promote and simplify registration for RESPs and Canada Learning Bonds. Promise 31: Increase funding to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (for indigenous students) by $50 million, and continue to increase funding in line with demand. HealthcarePromise 32: Negotiate a new Health Accord including an agreement on long-term funding. Promise 33: Invest $3 billion over the next four year in in-home care, including: caregivers, financial support for family caregivers, and palliative care.Promise 34: Develop a pan-Canadian collaboration on health innovation. Promise 35: Join provinces in bulk purchasing of drugs. Promise 36: Make mental health services more available to people who need them including veterans and first responders. Promise 37: Introduce a National Disabilities Act to address to systemic barriers faced by Canadians with disabilities. InfrastructurePromise 38: Run deficits of less than $10 billion in the next two fiscal years to finance investment in infrastructure and return to a balanced budget in 2019.Promise 39: Quadruple federal investment in public transit, investing almost $20 billion more in transit infrastructure. For example, by assisting:B.C. Lower Mainland’s SeaBus, rapid transit along Broadway, light rail transit in Surrey.Promise 40: Work with provinces, territories, and First Nations to create a new National Early Learning and Child Care Framework within the first 100 days of a Liberal government.Promise 41: In order to respond to the threat of climate change, ensure that the $20 billion in infrastructure investment is geared towards sustainable infrastructure. For example:Flood mitigation projects in Calgary and Southern Alberta;Wastewater plant in St. John’s; The Maples and Cardinal-Roy reservoirs in Trois-RivièresPromise 42: Make the New Building Canada Fund more focussed on roads, bridges, transportation corridors, ports, and border gateways and making it more transparent through clear project criteria and approval processes. Promise 43: Not allow any infrastructure funding to lapse by automatically transferring unspent money to municipalities through a temporary top up of the Gas Tax Fund. Promise 44: Establish Canadian Infrastructure Bank to provide loan guarantees and small capital contributions to provinces and municipalities.Jobs and Skills TrainingPromise 45: Invest $500 million more each year in Labour Market Development Agreements with provinces and territories to assist those who qualify for employment insurance. Promise 46: Invest an additional $200 million in training programs led by the provinces and territories for those who qualify for employment insurance. Promise 47: Work with employers and workers to determine an appropriate apprenticeship ratio for all federal infrastructure projects.InnovationPromise 48: Invest $200 million each year in a new Innovation Agenda to expand support for incubators and accelerators, as well as the emerging national network for business innovation and cluster support.Promise 49: Invest an additional $100 million each year in the Industrial Research Assistance Program.AgriculturePromise 50: Invest $160 million, over four years, in an Agri-Food Value Added Investment Fund.Promise 51: Invest an additional $100 million, over four years, in agricultural research. This is will include establishing a transparent funding process that involves food producers.Promise 52: Invest an additional $80 million, over four years, in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for more food safety inspections of domestic and imported foods.Promise 53: Defend Canadian interests during trade negotiations, including supply management.Promise 54: Work with provinces, territories, and other willing partners, to better address water and soil conservation and development issues, including investments in appropriate infrastructure.LabourPromise 55: Restore fair and balanced labour laws that acknowledge the important role of unions in Canada by repealing Bills C-377 and C-525.Promise 56: Reinstate a modernized and inclusive fair wages policy for federal procurement.Promise 57: Bargain in good faith with Canada’s public sector unions.Promise 58: Reinstate the tax credit for contributions made to labour-sponsored funds.FamilyPromise 59: Make parental benefits plan more flexible by allowing parents to receive benefits in smaller blocks of time over a period of up to 18 months; and make it possible for parents to take a longer leave – up to 18 months when combined with maternity bene?ts – at a lower bene?t level. This reflects a projected investment of $125 million a year.Promise 60: Amend the Canada Labour Code to give federally regulated workers the right to formally request more flexible work hours without fear of reprisal. This will require a formal response from managers.Employment InsurancePromise 61: Reduce wait times for employment insurance benefits from two weeks to one. Promise 62: Repeal 2012 reforms to employment insurance requiring qualifying individuals to seek employment within a larger travel distance. Promise 63: Ensure that employment insurance provides security for everyone including those engaged in precarious work. HealthPromise 64: Introduce new restrictions on the commercial marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children, similar to those now in place in Quebec.Promise 65: Introduce tougher regulations to eliminate trans fats, and to reduce salt in processed foods.Promise 66: Improve food labels to give more information on added sugars and artificial dyes in processed foods.Promise 67: Increase funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada by $15 million each year for the next two years to increase vaccine rates and public awareness of concussions. Promise 68: Introduce plain packaging requirements for tobacco products, similar to those in Australia and the United Kingdom.NorthPromise 69: Increase the residential component of the Northern Residents Deduction by 33% to $22 a day and index to inflation. In total this amounts to a $50 million tax savings for Northern Canadians. Promise 70: Increase investments in the Nutrition North program by $40 million, over four years.This would also include working with stakeholders to make the program more transparent effective and accountable to Northerners. Access to InformationPromise 71: Update the Access to Information Act to meet the following standard: Government data and information should be open by default in formats that are modern and easy to use. Promise 72: Eliminate all fees except the initial $5 filing fee.Promise 73: Expand the role of the Information Commissioner, including the power to issue binding orders for disclosure.Promise 74: Ensure that Access to Information applies to the Prime Minister’s and Ministers’ Offices, as well as administrative institutions that support Parliament and the courts. Promise 75: Undertake a full legislative review of the Access to Information Act every five years.Promise 76: Create a simple, central, no-fee website for personal information requests.If a request takes longer than 30 days, the government will be obligated to provide a written recommendation to the applicant and privacy commissioner.Promise 77: Accelerate and expand open data initiatives.Promise 78: Require all Parliamentarians to disclose their expenses in a common and detailed manner, each quarter.Promise 79: Make the Board of Internal Economy open to the public except in rare circumstances.ElectionsPromise 80: Ban partisan government ads and appoint and Advertising Commissioner to assist the Auditor General in reviewing government spending in this area.Promise 81: Give Elections Canada the resources it needs to investigate voter fraud and vote suppression, illegal financing, and other threats to free and fair elections.Promise 82: Help encourage more Canadians to vote, by removing restrictions on the ways in which the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Canada can communicate with voters.Promise 83: Restore the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, so that they are accountable to Parliament and not the government of the day.Promise 84: Review the limits on how much money political parties can spend during elections, and ensure that spending between elections is subject to limits as well.Promise 85: Establish an independent commission to organize leaders’ debates and bring an end to partisan gamesmanship.Promise 86: Convene an all-party committee to review the electoral system (e.g. proportional representation, transferable vote) and, within 18 months of its final report, enact electoral reform.Promise 87: Work with provinces and territories to register young people to vote as part of their high school or CEGEP curriculum.This would also involve providing Elections Canada with the mandate to follow up with them if they change addresses after graduating.Promise 88: Support Elections Canada in actively registering voters from groups with historically low turn-out rates (e.g. students).Promise 89: Repeal the elements in the Fair Elections Act, which make it harder for Canadians to vote and easier for election lawbreakers to evade punishment.Restore the voter identification card as an acceptable form of identification.Increase penalties so that there are real deterrents for deliberately breaking election laws.ParliamentPromise 90: Create a new, non-partisan, merit-based process to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments to the Senate.Promise 91: Introduce a Prime Minister’s Question Period to improve that level of direct accountability.Promise 92: Empower the Speaker to challenge and sanction members during Question Period, and allow more time for questions and answers.Promise 93: Review other ways to make Question Period more relevant, including the use of online technologies, and will work with all parties to recommend and bring about these changes.Promise 94: Make free votes the default for Liberal caucus members with the following exceptions: votes that implement the Liberal electoral platform; traditional confidence matters, like the budget; and those that address shared values and Charter of Rights and Freedoms protections.Promise 95: Change the House of Commons Standing Orders so as to prohibit using omnibus bills to avoid legislative scrutiny.Promise 96: Not use prorogation to avoid difficult questions.Promise 97: Ensure that all of the officers are properly funded and accountable only to Parliament, not the government of the day.Promise 98: Work with all parties in the House of Commons to ensure that the process of appointing Supreme Court Justices is transparent, inclusive, and accountable to Canadians.Consult with all relevant member of the legal profession;Ensure that all appointees are functionally bilingual.Promise 99: Ensure Parliamentary Budget Officer is independent, has adequate funding, and is accountable directly to Parliament. Add the costing of party platforms to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s mandate.Promise 100: Make parliamentary accounting practices more consistent and clear, by:Ensuring accounting consistency between the Estimates and the Public Accounts;Providing costing analysis for all proposed legislation; andRequiring the government to receive Parliament’s approval on borrowing plans.Promise 101: Create an all-party committee to monitor and oversee the operations of every government department and agency with national security responsibilities. Promise 102: Strengthen parliamentary committees by:Ensuring they are adequately funded and properly staffed;Bolstering the role of committee chairs (ensuring they are voted in by secret ballot);Ensure ministers and parliamentary secretaries no longer have a vote at committee.Public ServicePromise 103: Make Canada Revenue Agency client-focussed, by:Contact Canadians who could be receiving benefits but who are not;Offer to complete returns for some clients particularly low-income clients;Support more Canadians who wish to file no paper taxes;Communicate in an easy to understand way.Promise 104: Modernize the rules governing the charitable and not-for-profit sector, particularly in the area of “political activity”.Promise 105: Invest an additional $80 million, over four years, to help the Canada Revenue Agency crack down on tax evaders.Promise 106: Restore Canada Post’s door-to-door delivery and review the overall services Canada Post provides.Promise 107: Include an equal number of women and men in our Cabinet. Promise 108: Adopt a new government-wide appointment process that is open and based on merit.Promise 109: Create a Prime Minister’s Youth Advisory Council, consisting of young Canadians aged 16 to 24, to provide non-partisan advice.Promise 110: Ensure that Cabinet considers the gendered impact of its decisions.Promise 111: Ensure that federal departments are conducting the gender-based impact analyses.Promise 112: Make accessing online services easier through individualized accounts.Promise 113: Create a single online point-of-contact for all government services and work with provinces and territories to combine online access.Promise 114: Expand in-person services including re-opening the 9 recently closed veterans service centres.Promise 115: Work with the Privacy Commissioner to ensure Canadians’ data is kept safe and secure.Promise 116: Establish new performance standards across government services, including streamlining applications, reducing wait times, and offering money-back guarantees.Results will be independently assessed and publically reported.Promise 117: Ensure that all federal services are delivered in full compliance with the Official Languages Act.Promise 118: Explore new ways to use technology to crowdsource policy ideas from citizens.Evidence-Based PolicyPromise 119: Appoint Chief Science Officer to ensure public availability of government science and scientists, as well as ensuring that scientific information is considered in decision-making.Promise 120: Immediately restore long-form census.Promise 121: Make Statistics Canada fully independent and work with Statistics Canada to deliver a wider range of information including detailed labour market information and child development data.Promise 122: Release to the public key information that informs the decisions we make.Promise 123: Devote a fixed percentage of program funds to experimenting with new approaches to existing problems, measure results, and encourage further innovation.Promise 124: Stop funding initiatives that are no longer effective and invest program dollars in those that are of good value.EnvironmentPromise 125: Work with provinces and territories to develop climate change solutions consistent with Canada’s international obligations. Develop a comprehensive climate change plan within 90 days of the Paris climate conference.Promise 126: Set emissions reduction targets and ensure that provinces and territories have targeted federal funding to achieve their goals (including through carbon pricing).Promise 127: Create a $2 billion Low Carbon Economy Trust to support projects that materially reduce Canada’s carbon emissions. Promise 128: Phase out subsidies to fossil fuels over the medium term.Promise 129: Work in partnership with the United States and Mexico to develop a North American clean energy and environmental agreement.Promise 130: Invest $100 million more each year in clean technology producers.Promise 131: Invest $200 million more each year to support innovation and the use of clean technologies in the forestry, fisheries, mining, energy, and agricultural sectors.Promise 132: The Canada Infrastructure Bank will issue Green Bonds to support medium and large scale community renewable energy projects.Promise 133: Make Canada the most competitive tax jurisdiction for research, development, and manufacturing of clean technology. Promise 134: Work with the provinces to set stronger air quality standards, monitor emissions, and provide incentives for investments that lead to cleaner air and healthier communities.Promise 135: Increase government use of clean technologies and look for ways to be an “early adopter”.Promise 136: Improve energy efficiency standards for consumer and commercial products, and use new financing instruments to encourage investments in energy saving retrofits to Canada’s industrial, commercial, and residential buildings.Promise 137: Support clean technology companies in exporting by training trade officials in clean technology specific trade missions and providing companies with coordinated data and technical assistance.Promise 138: Increase government fleet of electric vehicles and add electric charging stations in government parking lots.Promise 139: Establish Canada Research Chairs in sustainable technology.Promise 140: Work closely with the provinces and territories to develop a Canadian Energy Strategy to protect Canada’s energy security; encourage energy conservation; and bring cleaner, renewable energy onto the electricity grid.Promise 141: Immediately review Canada’s environmental assessment processes and introduce new, fair processes that are: science-based, consultative, require reduced environmental impact.This includes projects that have a potential impact on Canadian waters.Promise 142: Modernize the National Energy Board, ensuring that its composition reflects regional views and has sufficient expertise in fields like environmental science, community development, and Indigenous traditional knowledge.Promise 143: End the practice of having federal Ministers interfere in the environmental assessment process.Promise 144: Undertake, in full partnership and consultation with First Nations, Inuit, and the Métis Nation, a full review of laws, policies, and operational practices.Promise 145: Respect Indigenous legal traditions and perspectives on environmental stewardship.Promise 146: Review changes to the Fisheries Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act to restore lost environmental protections and add modern safeguards.Promise 147: Respond more quickly to the requests and advice of scientists and complete robust species-at-risk protection plans.Promise 148: Work with other orders of government to protect Canada’s freshwater using education, geo-mapping, watershed protection, and investments in the best wastewater treatment technologies.Promise 149: Renew our commitment to protect the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River Basin, and the Lake Winnipeg Basin.Promise 150: Act on the recommendations of the Cohen Commission on restoring sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River.Promise 151: Restore $1.5 million in annual federal funding for freshwater research and make new investments in the Experimental Lakes area.Promise 152: Increase the amount of Canada’s protected marine and coastal areas to 5% by 2017, and 10% by 2020. In conjunction with this, $8 million will be invested per year in community consultation and science.Promise 153: Restore $40 million in Oceans research.Promise 154: Use scientific evidence and the precautionary principle, and take into account climate change, when making decisions affecting fish stocks and ecosystem management.Promise 155: Make it more affordable for more Canadians to visit and appreciate our National Parks, by:Making it free in 2017;Beginning in 2018, making it free for children under 18 and new Canadians (for the first year of their citizenship);Expand the Learn to Camp program.Promise 156: Invest $25 million each year to develop Canada’s National Parks system, as well as manage and expand National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries.Promise 157: Limit development within national parks and work with local communities to develop eco-tourist opportunities where possible.Indigenous PeoplesPromise 158: Immediately re-engage in a renewed nation-to-nation process with Indigenous Peoples to make progress on the issues most important to First Nations, the Métis Nation, and Inuit communities.Promise 159: The Prime Minister will meet with indigenous leaders annually. Promise 160: Ensure that the Kelowna Accord – and the spirit of reconciliation that drove it – is embraced, and its objectives implemented in a manner that meets today’s challenges.Promise 161: Immediately lift the two percent cap on funding for First Nations programs and work to establish a new fiscal relationship that gives First Nations communities sufficient, predictable, and sustained funding.Increasing First Nations’ own sources of revenue will be a priority.Promise 162: Ensure all First Nations receive equitable funding for child and family services provided on reserves.Promise 163: Invest an additional $300 million per year in incremental funding in First Nations’ education.Promise 164: Provide new funding to help Indigenous communities promote and preserve Indigenous languages and cultures.Promise 165: Invest an additional $500 million over the next three years for building and refurbishing First Nations schools.Promise 166: All investments mentioned above will be made within the context of respect for treaty rights. Promise 167: Work, on a nation-to-nation basis, with the Métis Nation to advance reconciliation and renew the relationship, based on cooperation, respect for rights, our international obligations, and a commitment to end the status quo.Promise 168: Work with Métis people, as well as the provinces and territories, to establish a federal claims process that recognizes Métis self-government and resolves outstanding claims.Promise 169: Make permanent the funding available to provincial Métis communities for Métis identification and registration, instead of it being available year-to-year.Promise 170: Review, in partnership with Métis communities, existing federal programs and services to identify gaps and areas where strategic investments can be made to improve Métis quality of life.Promise 171: Develop a Métis Economic Development Strategy in partnership with Métis communities and existing Métis financial institutions, and will invest $25 million over five years to implement this new strategy.Promise 172: Immediately launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.Promise 173: Enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.VeteransPromise 174: Re-establish lifelong pensions as an option for our injured veterans, and increase the value of the disability award and ensure that every veteran has access to financial advice.Promise 175: Invest $25 million each year to expand access to the Permanent Impairment Allowance.Promise 176: invest a further $40 million each year to provide injured veterans with 90 percent of their pre-release salary, and will index this benefit so that it keeps pace with inflation. Promise 177: Invest $80 million every year to create a new Veterans Education Benefit (to support post-secondary education).Promise 178: Ensuring employment is available to veterans through the Community Benefits Agreement on federal infrastructure projects.Promise 179: Uphold the “one veteran one standard” approach to service delivery.Promise 180: Fully implement all of the Auditor General’s recommendations on enhancing mental health service delivery to veterans.Promise 181: Hire 400 new service delivery staff, doubling the current planned increase, including case managers at Veterans Affairs.Promise 182: Budget $20 million to create two new centres of excellence in veterans’ care, including one with a specialization in mental health, PTSD, and related issues for veterans/first responders.Promise 183: Support families and caregivers of veterans by: providing greater education, counselling, and training; increase the circle of support; end the time limit for surviving spouses to apply for vocational rehabilitation and assistance services.Promise 184: Increase the veteran survivor’s pension amount from 50 percent to 70 percent. Promise 185: Eliminate the “marriage after 60” clawback clause.Promise 186: Double funding to the Last Post Fund to ensure that all veterans receive a dignified burial.Domestic Violence and Sexual AssaultPromise 187: Working together with experts and advocates, we will develop and implement a comprehensive federal gender violence strategy and action plan, aligned with existing provincial strategies.Promise 188: Increase investments in growing and maintaining Canada’s network of shelters and transition houses.Promise 189: Amend the Criminal Code to reverse onus on bail for those with previous convictions of intimate partner violence.Promise 190: Specify that intimate partner violence be considered an aggravating factor at sentencing, and increase the maximum sentence for repeat offenders.Promise 191: Bolster public awareness campaigns in partnership with provinces and territories.Promise 192: Take action to ensure that Parliament and federal institutions, including the public service, RCMP, and Armed Forces are free from harassment and sexual violence.Promise 193: Review current gender- and culturally-sensitive training policies for federal front-line law enforcement officers to ensure that they are strong and effective. Promise 194: Change the rules so that spouses immigrating to Canada receive immediate permanent residency as opposed to a two year waiting period.TerrorismPromise 195: Introduce new legislation that will:Guarantee that all CSIS warrants respect constitutional rights;Ensure that Canadians are not limited from lawful protests and advocacy;Require the government to review all appeals to the no-fly list;Narrow overly broad definitions like “terrorist propaganda”;Limit CSEC’s power by requiring a warrant before surveillance is allowed on any Canadian;Require statutory review of the ANTI-Terror Act every three years;Create Office of the Community Outreach and Counter-radicalization Co-ordinator.GunsPromise 196: Repeal changes made by Bill C-42 that allow restricted and prohibited weapons to be freely transported without a permit, and put decision-making about weapons restrictions back in the hands of police.Promise 197: Provide $100 million each year to the provinces and territories to support guns and gangs police task forces.Promise 198: Modify the membership of the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to include knowledgeable law enforcement officers, public health advocates, representatives from women’s groups, and members of the legal community.Promise 199: Require enhanced background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a handgun or other restricted firearm.Promise 200: Require purchasers of firearms to show a license when they buy a gun, and require all sellers of firearms to confirm that the license is valid before completing the sale.Promise 201: Require firearms vendors to keep records of all firearms inventory and sales.Promise 202: Immediately implement the imported gun marking regulations.Promise 203: Invest in technologies to enhance our border guards’ ability to detect and halt illegal guns from the United States.Promise 204: Not create a new national long-gun registry.Promise 205: Ensure that Canada becomes a party to the international Arms Trade Treaty.MarijuanaPromise 206: Legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana.This legislation will be crafted with the assistance of a federal/provincial/territorial task force, and with input from experts in public health, substance abuse, and law enforcementCulturePromise 207: reverse previous cuts and invest $150 million in new annual funding for CBC/Radio-Canada.Promise 208: Review the process by which members are appointed to the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors.Promise 209: Double investment in the Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million each year.Promise 210: Increase funding for Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, with a new investment totalling $25 million each year.Promise 211: Restore the Promart and Trade Routes international cultural promotion programs and increasing funding in these programs to $25 milllion each year.Promise 212: Increase funding for the Young Canada Works program to help prepare the next generation of Canadians working in the heritage sector.Official LanguagesPromise 213: Develop a new official languages plan to support English and French linguistic minorities.Promise 214: Establishing a free, online service for learning and retaining English and French as second languages.Promise 215: Reinstate the Court Challenges Program.Emergency ResponsePromise 216: introduce a public safety officer compensation benefit ($300,000) to be paid to the families of fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.Promise 217: Work with the provinces and territories to develop a coordinated national action plan on post-traumatic stress disorder, which disproportionately affects public safety officers.Promise 218: Restore funding for Canada’s four heavy urban search and rescue teams.Promise 219: Re-open the Maritime Rescue Sub-centre in St. John’s, and the Kitsilano Coast Guard Base in Vancouver.ImmigrationPromise 220: Make family reunification a priority in immigration. Promise 221: Immediately double the number of applications allowed for parents and grandparents, to 10,000 each year.Promise 222: Double the budget for processing family class sponsorship.Promise 223: Provide more opportunities for applicants who have Canadian siblings by giving additional points under the Express Entry system, and restore the maximum age for dependents to 22 from 19. Promise 224: Give international students and temporary residents credit for time already spent in Canada.Promise 225: Make changes to the Canadian Experience Class, to reduce the barriers to immigration imposed on international students.Promise 226: Work with provinces and territories to overseen remittances industry. This may also include working with the banks to ensure access to transfer services, and exploring the possibility of Canada Post offering such services.Promise 227: Eliminate the $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee for families hiring a caregiver. Promise 228: Work with the provinces and territories to develop a system of regulated companies to hire caregivers on behalf of families.RefugeesPromise 229: Expand Canada’s intake of refugees from Syria by 25,000 through immediate government sponsorship.Promise 230: Invest $250 million, including $100 million this fiscal year, to increase refugee processing, as well as sponsorship and settlement services capacity in Canada.Promise 231: Provide a new contribution of $100 million this fiscal year to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.Promise 232: Restore the Interim Federal Health Program that provides limited and temporary health benefits to refugees and refugee claimants.Promise 233: Establish an expert human rights panel to determine designated countries of origin, and provide a right to appeal refugee decisions for citizens from these countries.Promise 234: Appoint individuals with appropriate subject-matter expertise to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.Foreign AidPromise 235: Consult with Canadian and international aid organizations to review current policies and funding frameworks that will refocus aid priorities on poverty reduction.Promise 236: Not allow international development funds to lapse.Promise 237: Ensure that Canada’s valuable aid initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) covers the full range of reproductive services. International TradePromise 238: immediately lift the Mexican visa requirement that unfairly restricts travel to Canada.Promise 239: Reschedule and host a new trilateral leaders’ summit with the United States and Mexico.Promise 240: Work to reduce the barriers that limit trade by modernizing border infrastructure and streamlining cargo inspections.Promise 241: Create a Cabinet committee to oversee and manage the Canada-U.S. relationship.Promise 242: We will develop a new export promotion strategy that will help businesses take advantage of new trade agreements.Promise 243: Consider all trade opportunities currently open to Canada, and explore deeper trade relationships with emerging and established markets, including China and India.DefencePromise 244: Recommit to supporting international peace operations with the United Nations, and will make our specialized capabilities available on a case by case basis.Promise 245: Provide well-trained personnel to the UN that can be quickly deployed, including mission commanders, staff officers, and headquarters units.Promise 246: Prioritize training for civilian, particularly Francophone, police.Promise 247: Lead an international effort to improve and expand the training of military and civilian personnel deployed on peace operations.Promise 248: Insist that any peacekeepers involved in misconduct be held accountable by their own country and the United Nations.Promise 249: Contribute more to the United Nations’ mediation, conflict-prevention, and post-conflict reconstruction efforts.Promise 250: Maintain current funding for Armed Forces including planned increases and not allow funding to lapse from year to year.Promise 251: Reinvest in building a leaner, more agile, better-equipped military.Promise 252: Immediately launch an open and transparent competition to replace the CF-18 fighter aircraft.The priority in acquiring new jets will be the defence of North America not stealth first strike capabilities.Promise 253: Not purchase F-35s and lower procurement budget to acquire some of the lower cost options. Promise 254: Invest in strengthening the Navy, while also meeting the commitments that were made as part of the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy.Promise 255: Immediately begin an open and transparent review process of existing defence capabilities.Promise 256: Continue to work with the United States to defend North America under NORAD, and contribute to regional security within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.Promise 257: Put a renewed focus on surveillance and control of Canadian territory and approaches, particularly our Arctic regions, and will increase the size of the Canadian Rangers.Promise 258: Assist in domestic security and natural disaster responses, both at home and abroad.Promise 259: Vastly increase the scope of training assistance missions.Promise 260: Implement the recommendations made in the Canadian Forces’ Report on Transformation.Promise 261: End Canada’s combat mission in Iraq and refocus Canada’s military contribution in the region on the training of local forces, while providing more humanitarian support.Promise 262: Remain fully committed to Canada’s existing military contributions in Central and Eastern Europe. MiscellaneousPromise 263: Introduce a new Teacher and Early Childhood Educator School Supply Tax Benefit. This new benefit will apply to the purchase of up to $1,000 worth of school supplies each year, providing up to $150 each year for licensed and certified teachers and educators, starting in 2015.NOTE: Where a promise is repeated in multiple areas, it has only been included in the place it first appears. ................
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