"Canada's National Elections"

[shavonfan]

"Conservatives Betting Canada Wants Change" By Rebecca Cook Dube, Special for USA TODAY


After 12 years of Liberal Party rule in Canada, Conservatives are making a contest of national elections Jan. 23.

Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin squares off Monday night in a nationally televised debate with Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper.


Pollsters say Harper's underdog Conservatives have seized the momentum in the campaign. Canada last had a Conservative-led government under Brian Mulroney in 1993.


"If Mr. Harper does well in the debate, he could seal this right then and there," says Christian Bourque, vice president of polling firm Leger Marketing in Montreal.


Although all the results are within the margins of error, five recent national polls show Conservatives leading by 2-5 percentage points. The latest poll, released Sunday by SES Research, shows Conservatives would get 34% of the vote and Liberals 32% if elections were held now. The far-left New Democratic Party (NDP), the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party split the remainder. A large number of Canadians - 17% - are undecided and could determine the outcome of the elections, according to the SES poll done for CPAC, a public affairs cable TV channel similar to C-SPAN.


An EKOS Research poll, published Thursday in The Toronto Star and Montreal's La Presse, showed the Conservatives with 36% and Liberals with 31%, the widest margin.


The prime minister has been exonerated in a probe of a Liberal kickback scheme that took place under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in the 1990s. However, Quebec Justice John Gomery's investigation linked some party organizers with ties to Chrétien to the misspending of millions in public money.


Martin also has been hurt by new allegations by the Conservatives and NDP that Liberal officials tipped off investors before the government announced tax changes on some investments.


"No matter what's true or false, it sends that message again of the Liberals being the corrupt party," Bourque says.


No party is likely to win an outright majority in Parliament. The winner will probably have to form a coalition with other parties.


Harper has campaigned as an anti-crime, pro-tax-relief moderate. He has downplayed his opposition to gay marriage, which is legal in Canada. Conservatives this year have avoided being drawn into debate about dismantling Canada's costly and extensive system of government-run social services and health care.


Martin is touting the strong economy. Unemployment is 6.5%, near a 30-year low, and the federal government has had seven years of budget surpluses. He says his support for gay marriage and federally funded child care reflects most Canadians' values.


Martin says he's not panicking.


"Are there setbacks? Yes, there are for all campaigns," Martin told reporters last week. "But I have to tell you that I'm very happy with the way it's operating. We are in the same situation we were in during the last election."


The Liberals overcame a deficit in the polls two weeks before the last elections, in June 2004. But pollsters say voters now know and trust Harper more. "This time around, it's going to be much more difficult for the Liberals to demonize Stephen Harper," says Nik Nanos, president of SES Research, based in Toronto.


After tonight's English-language debate, the candidates will debate again Tuesday in French.


Conservatives have run a more disciplined campaign built on the theme that "change is not threatening," says Tim Woolstencroft of The Strategic Counsel, a polling firm in Toronto.


Patrick Basham, director of the conservative-leaning Democracy Institute think tank in Washington, says a Harper government in Canada would give the Bush administration an ally close to home. Martin has clashed with Bush over trade, security and environmental issues.

Alan Tupper, political scientist at the University of British Columbia, says it's too early to count out the Liberals.

"The Liberal Party has by far the largest pool of committed voters. It has the most savvy, the most connections, the most roots, and it comes at this with the power of incumbency," he says.

[shavonfan]

Okay, Leona, what say you? Educate me about this and explain how you feel about it and why. I'm very interested to know.

[ocelot]

I just finished watching the second english electoral debate. I know that most people I know are fed up with the Liberals (Paul Martin's party). They have broken a lot of promises, there's the sponsorship scandal (in which they sponsored different companies and organizations that helped them out during past elections) and the belief that the Liberals tipped off investors before they announced that there were going to be tax changes on some investments. These things have really made a lot of people feel that they are more for big businesses (though only the ones that help them with their compains) and less for the working family. I definitely won't be voting Liberal because I don't trust them and they don't stand for the issues that I hold important. There's a lot of people I know that are trying to decide between the Conservatives (Stephen Harper) and the NDP (Jack Layton). The Conservatives are more right then the Liberals and tend to have a bigger following in Western Canada. While the NDP have support in bunches all over but no clear area of support. Except for the people who vote for the Liberals because they are the Liberals they don't have much support.

[ocelot]

Here are the websites for the three main National parties:
www.ndp.ca/
www.liberal.ca/default_e.aspx
www.conservative.ca/

[ocelot]

From what I know the Liberals are losing votes mostly to the Conservatives but also a few to the NDP. The polls aren't a great thing for figuring out who is going to be the voted in party because there are riding and each riding votes in a candidate and there are ridings that each party are leaders in. For instance some ridings the NDP doesn't get very many votes but there are ridings that they get a whole lot of votes and that's true for each of the parties. The Liberals often win because they get the majority of ridings in Ontario and because Ontario is the most populated province they only need a small amount of support in other areas to get voted in. But something has changed this past year because they had a few candidates that weren't afraid to vote against the party that have either retired or quit. For instance in the riding I live in we had a Liberal candidate for about 16 years and she kept getting voted back in because we knew she would vote for our riding and was not afraid to vote against her party on certain issues (she has since retired). The Liberals also have a bunch of candidates that got in by the narrowest of margins last election and seeing what has happened since the last election they probably won't get back in.

[ocelot]

If you have any more specific questions I'll try to answer them. I have a lot of feeling about the election but it would take a long time to write them all down.

[shavonfan]

I just do not know all that much about Canada. You have given me reason to be interested. Here's a silly question that only proves how uneducted I am: Does Liberal and Conservative mean the same thing regarding politics in the USA and Canada? Oh, and by the way, Leona, thank you for the things you have posted about it. Very interesting. And I will visit the websites you have listed when I get a free moment!

[ocelot]

The only problem with your question is I'm not sure what Conservative and Liberal mean in the US. I will say though that the Conservative party has principles more in line with the Democratic and Republician parties in the States, though their principles are clearly Canadian (meaning they aren't willing to have privatization of health care or education ~ which means no tax dollars will go to private uses in those sectors). The Liberals are kind of in the middle of the Left to Right meter. They may be a bit to the left.

[shavonfan]

I know how difficult this is because of the inability to understand the terminology. Well, tell you what. How about if you keep us informed (while educating us along the way) as this stuff nears and headlines the news in Canada? It would be very interesting to me to learn more about Canada.

[ocelot]

Conservatives

Health Care
Reforms: Prevent the drift toward two-tier health care. Establish maximum acceptable wait times for essential medical services. Press for faster processing of drug approvals. Support health research and innovation. Ban embryonic research for at least three years and encourage granting agencies to focus on more promising adult (post-natal) stem cell research.

Principles: Add a sixth principle to the Canada Health Act calling for stable and transparent federal funding.

Funding: Provide stable and transparent federal funding that grows when needed.

Economy
Growth: Reduce subsidies to for-profit businesses. Secure more international free trade agreements. Lower income and corporate taxes. Privatize crown corporations that compete with comparable private services.

Budgets: Strengthen internal audit and controllership functions to ensure programs are delivering what was promised. Enact balanced-budget legislation, with overrides for declared national emergencies. Pay down the national debt by introducing a legislated debt repayment plan that sets a target of debt-to-GDP ratio well under 20 per cent.

Taxes: Cut the GST to five per cent – one percentage point immediately, and another one within five years. Bring in a comprehensive program of economic reforms for individuals as well as large and small employment generators. Remove the capital gains tax on listed stocks donated to charities.

Regional Issues
Municipalities: Give public transit riders a tax credit to cover the cost of their monthly transit passes. Use tax credits to spur investment in low-income housing.

Economic Disparity: Remove non-renewable resources from the equalization formula for all. Fix the fiscal imbalance by increasing transfer payments, reducing taxes or transferring tax points to the provinces.

Regional Alienation: Allow Quebec to play a role in international institutions, such as UNESCO where cultural responsibilities are at stake. Allow provinces to opt out of federal programs with full compensation, in areas of shared or exclusive jurisdiction.

Defense
Deployments: Demand greater parliamentary oversight over national defence. Double size and capacity of Disaster Assistance Response Team. Increase equipment and resources to exercise Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic. Implement a "Canada First" defence policy.

Resources: Provide more front-line personnel and less administration. Create a new airborne battalion, and acquire at least three strategic lift aircraft. Increase defence spending to the NATO European average as a percentage of GDP. Increase investment in infrastructure, including military housing. Increase regular force to at least 75,000. Step up recruitment in Quebec, including establishing a regular army presence in the Saguenay region. Establish territorial defence battalions for emergency response. Defence procurement will support Canadian industry where possible.

Families
Family Support: Introduce a deduction for dependent children. Change Divorce Act to guarantee access to children by both parents and grandparents when a marriage breaks down. Increase pension income-tax deduction to $2,500. Appoint a minister responsible for seniors.

Post-Secondary Education: Remove post-secondary education from provincial transfer funds and create a separate Canadian education transfer, which will be targeted to post-secondary education. Scholarships and bursaries should be tax-free. Eliminate parental income as a consideration in student loan applications.

Early Childhood: Support the rights of parents to raise children according to their own conscience and beliefs by giving child-care money directly to families to use as they choose. Create 125,000 new child-care spaces by spending $250 million annually for capital assistance for new child-care spaces. Offer choice in schooling to First Nations families.

Workplace
Disabled: Introduce a National Disability Act that would include provisions for reasonable access to employment.

Seniors: End mandatory retirement. Maintain support for low-income seniors. Ensure those over 65 who are working do not have to pay employment insurance premiums. Appoint a minister responsible for seniors.

Employment Insurance: Establish an independent employment insurance system, with a self-accounting fund administered by employees and employers.

Border Issues
National Security: Improve co-operation among defence and intelligence agencies. Establish a national intelligence agency to co-ordinate info from all sources. Establish a committee of senior government and opposition members to oversee intelligence activities. Increase resources to secure Arctic sovereignty.

The U.S.: Participate in the North American missile defence system. Border officials should be armed, if necessary, and should not work alone.

Immigration: Ensure adequate long-term funding to the provinces to help immigrants settle in Canada. Streamline the process of validating refugee claims. Reverse policy of separating married couples while application of non-status partner is processed. Establish a new system for assessing the credentials of foreign-trained professionals with a view to granting equivalent Canadian professional status. Apologize on behalf of Canada for the Chinese head tax.

Justice
Marijuana: Oppose decriminalization of marijuana possession.

Gun Control: Repeal the gun registry legislation. Work with the provinces on cost effective gun control programs designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Institute mandatory minimum sentences for the criminal use of firearms.

Crime Prevention: Put more law enforcement officers on the street. Invest $50 million over five years in programs to promote crime prevention and help at-risk youth. Adopt a national strategy to fight organized crime. Allocate more money to the RCMP. Reverse the burden of proof so criminal organizations must prove goods seized are not proceeds of crime.

Aboriginal Affairs
Self-government: Ensure aboriginal self-government occurs within the context of the Constitution of Canada, with charter principles applying. Give aboriginal governments the power to raise their own revenues to reduce the cycle of dependency. Work toward a system where "those who receive services contribute to the cost of those services." Offer choice in schooling for First Nations.

Land Claims: Speed the pace of resolving the backlog of land claims negotiations. Transfer reserve land title from the federal Crown to willing First Nations.

Social Issues: Enforce strong regulations for drinking water standards. Give aboriginals protection under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Speed the pace of resolving the backlog of land claims negotiations. Transfer reserve land title from the federal Crown to willing First Nations.

Environment
Energy: Develop a national alternative energy strategy to increase the use of renewable energy and support innovative research and development.

Protection: Introduce a tax credit for transit passes. Provide long-term funding to clean up federal contaminated sites and offer incentives to encourage the private sector to clean up contaminated sites. Make guidelines mandatory for ships on managing ballast water to prevent the introduction of invasive species.

Kyoto Protocol: Review all environment and energy initiatives, including Kyoto. The party has described the accord as fatally flawed.

Foreign Affairs
Human Rights: No stated policy found.

Developing Nations: Aid should be delivered, where possible, through Canadian agencies. Give the Canadian International Development Agency authority to monitor all development assistance money. Introduce legislation that would provide legal framework for development assistance money.

Trade: Vigorously pursue the reduction of international trade barriers and tariffs. Find new markets for Canadian through trade ties with emerging markets

Political Reform
Voting Systems: Consider changes to the electoral system, including proportional representation, the single transferable ballot and fixed election dates. Any electoral reform must be confirmed by referendum.

Senate and Court Appointments: Support the election of senators. All judicial appointments should be ratified by a free vote in Parliament.

Parliament: All votes in Parliament should be free votes, with the exception of budget and main estimates. Limit individual donations to political parties to $1,000. Open bidding process for government advertising and public opinion research. Require written reports for those contracts. Strengthen independent watchdogs such as the auditor general and ethics commissioner. Create an arm's-length, independent office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to take federal prosecution decisions out of the hands of politicians.

Primary Industries
Forestry: Appoint a special envoy to focus on resolving the softwood lumber dispute with the United States. Provide financial support to companies hurt by the dispute. Commit $100 million a year for 10 years to combat pine beetle infestation in B.C.

Fisheries: Extend Canada's custodial management on the East Coast over the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap. Invest more in fisheries science and research, especially as it relates to sustainable harvesting. Extend current capital gains deferral available to farmers to commercial fisheries. Work to eliminate international trade bans on Canadian seal products.

Farming: Add $500 million a year to farm support. Replace the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization Program with separate income stabilization and disaster relief programs. Require diesel fuels to contain five per cent renewable content such as ethanol or biodiesel by 2010. Ensure that industries under the protection of supply management remain viable. Use safety net programs to assist producers struggling with conditions outside of their control. Make Canadian Wheat Board participation voluntary.

[ocelot]

Liberals

Health Care
Reforms: Focus on reducing wait times for medical procedures. Continue to follow the 10-year plan agreed to by first ministers in the fall of 2004. The deal includes targets for reducing wait times and plans to study national pharmacare and home care programs. Set aside $75 million to help patients and a family member pay for travel and accommodation if they need to go to another province for health care. Contribute to international efforts to combat infectious diseases. Establish a Canadian Mental Health Commission to better address mental health and illness issues.

Principles: Favour public delivery and financing of health-care services as opposed to private delivery. Funding must be directed only to the public health-care system.

Funding: Attach conditions to funding to ensure any future investment goes only to the public health-care system. Spend $100 million over five years to increase number of family doctors by 1,000. Spend $300 million over five years for cancer research and control.

Economy
Growth: Reduce the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 19 per cent. Encourage companies to boost productivity. Millions recently announced for research and development in the private sector and universities. Funding will educate skilled workers and help small businesses move into emerging markets.

Budgets: Be responsible fiscal managers. Continue to bring in balanced budgets and pay off the country's debt while maintaining and improving social programs. Bring the federal debt to 25 per cent within a decade. Maintain a $3-billion contingency fund in event of emergencies. Have a parliamentary committee conduct an ongoing expenditure review to make sure programs are doing what they were intended to do.

Taxes: Increase lifetime capital gains tax exemption by 50 per cent. Recently announced higher level of income before taxes must be paid. Also announced a one per cent cut to the tax rate for low- and middle-income earners, from 16 per cent to 15 per cent. Corporate tax cuts that were previously dropped were reinstated to reduce the general corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 19 per cent by 2010. Plan to eliminate the 1.12 per cent corporate tax surcharge by 2010.

Regional Issues
Liberals

Municipalities: Instituted a GST rebate, and offered cities 1.5 cents per litre of the gas tax.

Economic Disparity: Sustain regional development strategies, including a new strategy for the North, that recognize strengths and challenges unique to different parts of Canada.

Regional Alienation: Continue working to include all the provinces in national agreements and programs and meet regional needs on a case-by-case basis. Continue, with another $100 million, to support the deployment of broadband services in rural, remote and First Nations communities.

Defense
Deployments: Maintain current commitments and evaluate new requests on an individual basis. Overhaul announced in June 2005 will emphasize its mission within Canada to respond to domestic disasters and terrorist attacks.

Resources: Expand the forces by 5,000 and the reserves by 3,000. The 2005 budget promised a $13-billion increase in spending over five years.

Families
Family Support: A family leave program would provide two months of Employment Insurance benefits to someone caring for a sick family member. Create a program that would allow seniors to get money monthly based on the equity in their homes. Create a registered disabilities savings plan, similar to an RRSP, for family members caring for disabled dependents to save for their future care. The 2005 budget increased the amount of money that Canadians earn tax-free. The budget also increased the guaranteed income supplement for seniors.

Post-Secondary Education: Recently announced a $2.2-billion increase in financial aid for post-secondary education. Pay half of the first and last years' tuition for all students to a maximum of $3,000, beginning in 2007.

Early Childhood: Spend $10 billion over 10 years for a National Early Learning and Child Care Program. How the money is spent in each province is determined by negotiations with Ottawa.

Workplace
Disabled: Remove barriers to post-secondary education, training and workforce participation. Increase by $150 million over five years support for employability assistance programs.

Seniors: Encourage companies to give older workers training and opportunities. Consider providing mentorship and knowledge transfer opportunities between older and younger workers.

Employment Insurance: Ensure that employment insurance meets the changing needs of the workforce and the economy.

Border Issues
National Security: Overhaul of Armed Forces announced in June 2005 will emphasize its mission within Canada to respond to domestic disasters and terrorist attacks. Enforce Anti-terrorism Act on grounds that Canada's security is "indivisible" from that of the U.S.

The U.S.: Maintain and strengthen relationship with the U.S. Enforce Anti-terrorism Act on grounds that Canada's security is "indivisible" from that of the U.S.

Immigration: Spend $700 million over the next five years to streamline immigration procedures and reduce backlog. Encourage more active recruitment of immigrants to meet Canada's labour and research needs. Recently pledged $1.3 billion over five years to improvement settlement services for new immigrants. Improve language training and the process of upgrading and recognizing credentials. Spend $260 million over six years to help foreign-trained workers improve language skills and speed the assessment and recognition of their credentials. Eliminate the $975 landing fee within two years.

Justice
Marijuana: Introduced bill that would impose fines instead of jail sentences for simple marijuana possession.

Gun Control: Ban handguns. Continue funding, but cap allocations to gun registry. Raise mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving guns.

Crime Prevention: Recently promised $50 million to combat gang violence. Some of the money is to prevent young people from entering gangs.

Aboriginal Affairs
Self-government: Recognize that self-government is an important goal to ensure self-sufficiency.

Land Claims: Host a conference on historic treaties in the spring of 2006.

Social Issues: Pledged to spend $5 billion over the next five years to improve education, housing, economic development, health and water services. Develop a network of First Nations school systems.

Environment
Energy: Offer financial incentives to encourage renewable energy power producers, individuals and industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Allow renewable energy producers to receive emission reduction credits and sell these to the Climate Fund Agency or other industries.

Protection: Implement a $1 billion, 10-year plan to clean up the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin and other threatened waterways. Develop domestic "offset credits" for farmers who adopt low- or zero-till practices. Created the Green Municipal Fund for municipalities to build environmentally sustainable infrastructure. Develop more stringent guidelines on water quality. Continue public awareness campaign to stop idling.

Kyoto Protocol: Find ways to accelerate progress to Kyoto targets. Invest $10 billion in the next seven years to achieve those targets. Encourage partnership with businesses and citizens to encourage emissions reduction. Give tax incentives for efficient and renewable energy production.

Foreign Affairs
Human Rights: Support the idea for a United Nations Human Rights Council. Establish a Global Centre for Pluralism in Canada, in partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation.

Developing Nations: Grant debt forgiveness to progressive developing nations. Increase international assistance by $3.4 billion with the intention of doubling assistance by 2010-2011 from its 2001-2002 level. Develop the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force to build human security and assist peacekeeping in Africa.

Trade: Support services to business that enhance the abilities of Canadian companies to compete and prosper in the global economy.

Political Reform
Voting Systems: No stated policy found.

Senate and Court Appointments: Reform Senate structure to allow some provinces more senators. After reforming, allow for elected senators.

Parliament: The Liberals have introduced a three line voting system they say will allow more free votes. They plan to refer more bills to House committees to give them more influence.

Primary Industries
Forestry: Recently announced $1 billion plan including $400 million in loan insurance to help softwood producers. The rest of the money is for retraining workers, finding new markets for Canadian lumber products, new technologies and research on new energy sources.

Fisheries: Extend lifetime capital gains tax exemption to all fishers, and allow tax-exempt transfer of a fishing business from one generation to another. Encourage countries and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization to toughen enforcement to protect fish stocks.

Farming: Increase loan amounts available to farmers at harvest time. Raise lifetime capital gains exemption to help with the transfer of family farm operations. Continue to increase domestic slaughter capacity to reduce dependence on live exports to the U.S. Earmark at least $5 million a year to find international markets beyond the U.S. for Canadian agricultural products. Call for a minimum of five per cent renewable content in gasoline and diesel by 2010.

[ocelot]

New Democratic Party

Health Care
Reforms: Hire more doctors and nurses and invest in more training, especially for the latter. Refuse money to doctors also working outside the public health-care system. Expand the coverage of home care for those caring for elderly or disabled relatives and implement the home-care transfer recommended in the Romanow Report and a national pharmacare program to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Shorten the length of patent protection for the makers of expensive new drugs. Ban unhealthy trans fatty acids from prepared and fast foods.

Principles: Stop further privatization. Introduce new rules in legislation and agreements on federal transfers to provinces for health care. Amend the Canada Health Act to eliminate for-profit private delivery of diagnostic services, such as MRIs, and outlaw giving medicare money to private hospitals, such as the ones that have started to take hold in Alberta.

Funding: Spend $200 million a year on training for nurses and health-care providers in health science education programs. Demand greater accountability from provinces and withhold federal health transfers to provinces that don't comply with the Canada Health Act. Increase support for provincial and territorial health initiatives.

Economy
Growth: Grow the economy and employment with a national environmental infrastructure program that would create "green" jobs fixing up municipal water and sewage systems. Gradually replace top-down regional development agencies with bottom-up, local community economic development agencies. Improve small business access to bank loans and redesign federal programs to improve access to venture capital.

Budgets: Guarantee a balanced budget for five straight years. Delay promised changes if finances don't allow them right away. Restore funding to social programs by rescinding corporate tax cuts and spending less on paying down the national debt.

Taxes: Crack down on tax evasion and make efforts to collect unpaid taxes due to Canada. Close tax loopholes for large businesses and make fines levied against businesses non-tax-deductible. Increase the amount of the child tax benefit. Proceed with increased basic personal credit amounts and a decrease in the lowest personal income tax rate announced in November. Ensure cities receive at least five cents a litre from the gas tax Ottawa collects.

Regional Issues
Municipalities: Implement a national housing strategy that would devote at least one per cent of the federal program budget to building non-profit affordable housing. The strategy would also provide low-interest loans to provincial governments, municipal housing authorities and co-op housing organizations.

Economic Disparity: Set provincial transfer payments at a level high enough to ensure all provinces have the capacity to serve the public interest. Let provinces keep resource revenues without having equalization payments clawed back.

Regional Alienation: Implement a social union with the provinces, based on the principle of co-decision, where governments work co-operatively to develop national priorities and standards for social policy. Recognize Quebecers as a people and embrace Quebec as a diverse, multi-ethnic society.

Defense
Deployments: Give Parliament a greater say in deployments. Position Canada as a leader in international peacekeeping. Strengthen the United Nations and make it more democratic.

Resources: Add resources for peacekeeping missions and boost salaries and living conditions for armed services personnel and their families. Send Canadian troops overseas only as part of international peace and security organizations.

Families
Family Support: Increase child tax benefit by $1,000 per child. Push for support for seniors through a seniors charter of Canada. Launch a publicly regulated long-term care expansion plan with 10,000 units in the first year, and a total of 40,000 units by 2009 to help seniors. Expand caregivers program so they receive up to one year of Employment Insurance to care for a sick or elderly family member.

Post-Secondary Education: Create a dedicated transfer to provinces solely for post-secondary education. Reinstate the billions removed from post-secondary education funding as finances permit. Continue to consult with the provinces on post-secondary spending. Add stable, long-term federal grants for education and training and overhaul the Canada student loans program. Included $1.5 billion for tuition reduction and training in amendment to 2005 budget.

Early Childhood: Introduce a national child-care act. Invest $1.8 billion the first year, then increase the amount by $250 million over the next three years to create 200,000 spaces to start and 25,000 in each of the following three years. Direct national child-care money to non-profit day cares. Cap the number of children or centres any child-care company can manage. Establish and independent children's commissioner to act for the rights and welfare of children.

Workplace
Disabled: Create a Canadians with Disabilities Act that will guarantee access to employment and services.

Seniors: Protect pensions and initiate and annual review of seniors' income needs. Put employees first on the list of creditors when a company goes bankrupt. Recently amended the budget to include a $100 million pension protection fund for workers. Enact the seniors charter.

Employment Insurance: Revitalize EI as a resource for training programs and strategies and broaden eligibility for EI training benefits. Support those in health sector who want to upgrade their skills. Improve access for seasonal workers by basing benefits on the best 12 weeks of income in the previous year, or the best 12 weeks since the beginning of the last claim. Workers on leave for training purposes should receive some compensation.

Border Issues
National Security: Work toward social justice around the world as a way of preventing future threats to national security. Safeguard civil liberties so the Anti-terrorism Act does not target Canadians from ethnic communities unfairly and all Canadians can feel free to express legitimate dissent.

The U.S.: Get tough on American violations of NAFTA by taking reciprocal action until the money is returned. Transform NAFTA to achieve a fair trade policy through public review of the impact of the treaty on the economy and public policy.

Immigration: Increase federal funding for immigration settlement by 20 per cent. Assist immigrants in gaining recognition for their qualifications. Bring real annual immigration levels up to one per cent of the population. Enact a once-in-a lifetime provision to enable Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor one relative to reunite families. Allow people without status already in Canada to apply for legal status on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. Abolish the head tax on immigrants. Restructure the appeals process.

Justice
Marijuana: Fully decriminalize marijuana while introducing a non-punitive education program to reduce adult marijuana use. Restrict personal use and production of the drug through regulations, not the Criminal Code.

Gun Control: Implement a ban on sale and import of all assault and automatic rifles. Increase mandatory minimum sentences for possession, sale and importing of illegal weapons as well as other weapons offences. Try offenders over age 16 as adults when a gun is involved in the crime. Restore the national ports police.

Crime Prevention: Increase penalties for hardened criminals and funding for law enforcement agencies and community policing plans. Attack the underlying causes of crime by fighting poverty; funding affordable, not-for-profit housing; and concentrating on children at risk.

Aboriginal Affairs
Self-government: Recognize the inherent right of aboriginal people to self-government.

Land Claims: Respect treaty rights and resolve land claims as soon as possible. Establish an independent claims commission to make specific decisions and create a comprehensive claims policy.

Social Issues: Provide further investment in aboriginal housing, water and infrastructure, including legislated financial reforms. Give residential school abuse victims lump-sum compensation, a truth and reconciliation process and an apology. Support aboriginal initiatives to improve health.

Environment
Energy: Set a target of 10,000 megawatts of wind power by 2010, with base financial support of 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Install 100,000 solar rooftops, with a federal grant of 30 per cent of the cost and loans for the remainder. Provide financial incentives for other renewable energy sources and to local co-operative and renewable power production. Phase out subsidies for non-renewable energy production and consumption and provide no new federal funding for nuclear power.

Protection: Create "green" jobs through a program that would fix municipal water and sewage systems and prevent them from polluting their environments. Establish national standards for air and drinking water and ban bulk water exports. Make polluters pay for the cost of cleaning up toxic sites. Overhaul the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to replace focus on voluntary pollution prevention with mandatory anti-pollution standards. Encourage farming and fishing practices that are environmentally friendly. Require mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms. Complete the system of national parks, protect ancient forests, improve endangered species protection, set up a national conservation fund and deal with Great Lakes protection issues.

Kyoto Protocol: Meet Kyoto Protocol targets by 2010 by designing laws and regulations that lead to lower industry and community emissions, and creating a Climate Change Exchange to auction off emission credits and make it good business for corporations to pollute less. Use proceeds from the auction to replace coal power plants with hydro plants. Create new environmental jobs for workers displaced as Kyoto Protocol targets are met, and bring in a Clean Air Fund to create environmental industry jobs in local communities. Retrofit more buildings to consume less energy, with projects funded by a revolving loan fund with funds coming from and profits going to the Canada Pension Plan. Put every federal policy through a "greenscreen" to judge its environmental soundness or risk. Push for more environmentally friendly ways of transporting people and goods.

Foreign Affairs
Human Rights: Push for binding rules in trade agreements to protect human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity and the environment.

Developing Nations: Canada must honour its commitment to devote 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid. Forgive debts owed by developing nations.

Trade: Push for binding rules in trade agreements to protect human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity and the environment. Trade agreements should be approved by parliament.

Political Reform
Voting Systems: Election dates should be fixed and should occur every four years. Eliminate the first-past-the-post voting system. Replace with a system that combines individual constituency-based MPs with proportional representation.

Senate and Court Appointments: Develop and publicly release criteria based on competence for all appointments.

Parliament: MPs should not be allowed to change parties without resigning their seats and running in a byelection. Tighten rules that regulate lobbyists and their fees and expenditures. Make appointments on merit, not political connections. Extend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to Crown corporations and agencies not included, as well as cabinet ministers and their staff. Pass a new protection of whistleblowers act for both the public and private sector.

Primary Industries
Forestry: Get tough with American violations of NAFTA by taking reciprocal action until the money is returned. Provide financial relief for the pine beetle infestation in B.C. Kick-starting affordable housing construction would mean a strong market for Canadian softwood. Secure markets outside of U.S. for the industry. Improve access for seasonal workers by basing benefits on the best 12 weeks of income in the previous year, or the best 12 weeks since the beginning of the last claim.

Fisheries: Maintain fish resources and promote a sustainable fishing industry through a community-based, co-management approach. Work with provincial governments for a responsible aquaculture industry. Support a moratorium on dragging until sensitive ecological areas are identified.

Farming: Review Canada's safety net programs. Stabilize income for family farms. Offer federal support to farmers hurt by trade decisions without making the support conditional on provincial government involvement.

[ocelot]

If anyone wants more information you can go to: www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/leadersparties/issues.html

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Fontaine worried by Tory aboriginal agenda
Last Updated Tue, 17 Jan 2006 14:32:00 EST
CBC News
The Assembly of First Nations is concerned that a Conservative government will change two agreements aboriginals reached with Ottawa, national chief Phil Fontaine says.

Although negotiated with the Liberal government, the deals are not partisan arrangements. "This is about Canada honouring its commitments," he said.

"I'm not here to speak against the Conservative party. I'm here to speak for these unprecedented agreements."

The agreements are a $5 billion deal to provide support for education, housing, health and infrastructure, dubbed the Kelowna accord after the B.C. city where it was announced, and compensation for the 15,000 aboriginals who attended residential schools.

Conservatives have suggested changing the deals, but that will create real problems, Fontaine said.

The residential school settlement is a legal deal, and "even the slightest of changes will undo the agreement," forcing survivors to resume class-action lawsuits and leaving them without justice, he said.

The Kelowna deal took 18 months to negotiate and was endorsed by the provincial premiers, the federal government and native leaders. It will be difficult to get all the parties to agree to changes.

The Conservative website says the party supports all of the objectives, targets, and principles as laid out in the $5 billion deal, and a Conservative government will work "to develop a responsible fiscal plan to meet these objectives."

However, Fontaine said the Tories have made conflicting statements about the Kelowna deal.

Moreover, the Conservatives "say they have a better deal for us. If that is true, we have no involvement in it," and imposed solutions will fail, he said.

Some Métic reject endorsing Liberals

While Fontaine said he was not taking a partisan position, the Métis National Council and the Manitoba Métis Association have – come out in favour of the Liberals.

That has angered some Manitoba Métis, who resent being told how to vote.

"I feel they're asking me to do something that I don't want to do, because I had no intention of voting Liberal in the first place," said Cliff Lamirande, a Manitoba Métis, who cast a ballot in the advance polls that ended Monday.

Richard De La Ronde, a member on the federation's board, also disagrees with the association's position.

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Okay, Leona, tomorrow is the big day in Canada! National elections. Are you excited? Are you confident about who you are voting for and their chances of winning? Who are you voting for and why? Share with us whatever you are willing.