Aboriginal Issues |
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First Nations Schooling [+]Currently, the Government of Canada funds education for First Nations students, on average, $2,000 less per student than it does for other Canadian students. First Nations education systems will require stable, predictable, and adequate funding. Three programs are needed that focus on primary/secondary schools, post-secondary education and new school contruction. |
$800 Million |
$800 Million |
$800 Million |
|
Improve drinking water and housing on reserves [+]Access to safe drinking water is another important issue for First Nations, as some 114 communities are under drinking water advisories. |
$1,600 Million |
$1,250 Million |
$1,250 Million |
|
First Nations Housing [+]Housing and sustainable planning and building practices also require immediate attention, as there is a demand of an estimated 85,000 new units required to alleviate overcrowding and backlogs. |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
Child Care |
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$10 a day Childcare [+]At least three-quarters of Canadians support a national child-care program and consider the lack of affordable child care to be a serious problem. Fortunately, the solution is clear and powerful: a consistent body of evidence shows that building a public system of early childhood education and care is not just the right thing to do for parents and children, but the smart thing to do for Canadas economy. |
$2,349 Million |
$2,965 Million |
$3,681 Million |
Cities |
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ReBuild Canada program [+]Our cities and communities are on the front lines in a transformation that requires Canadians to fundamentally reconsider how their communities will operate in the future. Funding through this initiative will support environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure and programs; will be restricted to projects owned and operated by the municipality; will require a high level of transparency and accountability; and will begin January 1st, 2013. |
$9,000 Million |
$9,000 Million |
$9,000 Million |
Culture, Arts & Communication |
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Modernize Canadian Broadband: [+]Modernizing communications infrastructure creates jobs and builds communities, especially in rural and remote areas. A 2009 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that rural counties that embraced broadband adoption at the start of the millennium enjoyed access to more jobs than counties that did not. Their residents also earned more money than their less connected counterparts. |
$400 Million |
$500 Million |
$600 Million |
Environment |
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Cancel Fossil Fuel Subsidies [+]Every year the federal government spends large amounts to subsidize fossil fuels. The oil sands don't need additional government support. |
-$1,345 Million |
-$1,345 Million |
-$1,345 Million |
|
Expand "ecoEnergy" home efficiency program [+]The "ecoEnergy" program is designed to help homeowners make their homes more energy efficient by insulating, buying better furnaces and stopping drafts. In recent years the program has been cut instead of expanded. |
$350 Million |
$350 Million |
$350 Million |
|
Implement a $30/ton Carbon Tax [+]Climate Change is becoming an increasingly pressing issue as successive federal governments fail to take action. It is time for a carbon tax on non-industrial emissions (like gasoline). This program would start July 2013. |
$0 Million |
-$14,140 Million |
-$17,245 Million |
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Low Income Carbon Tax Refund [+]One of the challenges with a carbon tax is that it falls most heavily on low income Canadians. This tax credit counters that negative impact. |
$1,875 Million |
$7,500 Million |
$7,500 Million |
Health Care |
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Community Health Care [+]Until 1995, approximately 10% of Health Canadas federal health transfers, about $51 per capita, was allocated to what were described as extended health services: nursing homes, residential care, home care, and ambulatory (outpatient) services such as physiotherapy.It is time to bring these non-hospital, community-based services fully within the purview of the Canada Health Act, as was initially contemplated when medicare was introduced. |
$1,734 Million |
$1,769 Million |
$1,804 Million |
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Universal Pharmacare [+]Today provincial governments pay less than 39% of the total drug bill, and consumers pay up to 16% of drug costs out of pocket. We can do better using a single, public system that manages costs through four levers: universal public insurance; a national formulary of essential drugs; independent evidence-based drug evaluation; and bulk purchasing. And one that can save more than $10.7 billion in annual costs for prescription medicines or an estimated 43% of Canadas $25.1-billion drug bill. The largest cost reductions would come from evidence-based drug reviews and price negotiations for bulk purchasing. |
$3,390 Million |
$3,830 Million |
$4,590 Million |
Housing |
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Affordable Housing Strategy [+]Too many low, moderate, and middle-income Canadians continue to wait for the promised housing help. Today, a record 1.5 million Canadian households more than four million women, men, and children find themselves in core housing need. Unlike other developed countries, Canada needs a national housing framework for the quick and orderly flow of funding from governments to the affordable housing sector. |
$2,000 Million |
$2,000 Million |
$2,000 Million |
International |
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Military Spending back to pre-2001 Level: [+]Canada is among the 15 top military spending nations in the world, and the sixth largest military spender among the 28 members of NATO. Our military spending is now higher than it has been in more than 60 years higher even than it was during the Cold War. |
-$1,280 Million |
-$2,600 Million |
-$4,000 Million |
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Increase Development Aid to 0.7% of GNI [+]The 2010 federal budget capped Canada's international development assistance about 0.35% of GNI about half of Pearsons original goal for all nations of 0.7%. This program would get us back on track towards that goal. |
$1,129 Million |
$2,364 Million |
$2,740 Million |
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Freeze National Security Establishment Growth [+]While the military makes up the lions share of this National Security Establishment, it is not the portion that has grown the most rapidly. In fact, it is Security and Public Safety departments such as CSIS, Corrections Canada and Canada Border Security that have grown the most rapidly, almost doubling in cost since September 11, 2001. |
-$547 Million |
-$1,094 Million |
-$1,641 Million |
Post Secondary Education |
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Reduce Tuition to 1992 Levels [+]As the value of federal transfers diminished in the 1990s, tuition fees skyrocketed from an average of roughly $1,460 in 1990 to over $5,000 in 2010. Lower levels of funding also impair the ability of institutions to hire an adequate number of instructors and support staff, resulting in a reduction in the quality of Canadas colleges and universities. |
$1,300 Million |
$1,300 Million |
$1,300 Million |
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Create Income Tested Grants [+]Despite their large price tag, federal tax credits for all students are a poor instrument to either improve access to post-secondary education or relieve student debt, since everyone who participates qualifies for tax credits regardless of financial need. The federal government is diverting vast sums of public funding where they are not necessarily required. |
$1,529 Million |
$1,570 Million |
$1,609 Million |
|
Deferred College and University Maintenance [+]Falling federal transfers to post-secondary institutions have meant that those institutions cannot keep up with maintenance and the latest technology. This program would help to address those deferred maintenance needs. |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
Poverty & EI |
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Increase Canada Child Tax Benefit to $5,400/child [+]Regardless of the poverty measure used, in 2008 over three million Canadians more than 600,000 of them children lived in poverty. In First Nations families, one in four children lives in poverty. The Canada Child Tax Benefit directly targets children in poverty. |
$5,562 Million |
$5,562 Million |
$5,562 Million |
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Double the GST credit [+]Temporary bouts of poverty may be overcome, but evidence shows that the depth of poverty is deepening and that its duration lengthening, leaving a scarring legacy on individual lives and communities across the country. Persistent poverty represents a violation of economic and social rights as enshrined in international law, and a squandering of human potential. The GST rebate specifically targets Canadians on low incomes. |
$3,865 Million |
$3,919 Million |
$3,974 Million |
|
EI Universal entrance of 360 hours [+]Even at the peak of the recession, most unemployed women and younger workers fell through the cracks, and one in three workers who were laid-off and qualified for EI exhausted their benefits before finding a new job. Today there are still almost 1.4 million unemployed workers in Canada and the unemployment rate is forecast to rise back to about 8% though 2012, well above the pre-recession level of 6.0%. |
$1,100 Million |
$1,100 Million |
$1,100 Million |
Sectoral Development |
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Green Skills Initiative [+]There are many potential upsides and opportunities associated with the greening of Canadas economy. In all sector development, pollution reduction, clean technology development, and the amelioration of existing environmental damage will top the list of criteria for ranking selected initiatives. To maximize the environmental upside of sector development strategies,and ease the associated transitions, a good sector development strategy pays special attention to the creation of good green jobs across a range of specific activities. |
$100 Million |
$100 Million |
$100 Million |
|
Canadian Development Bank [+]Like other commercial and publicly owned banks, the CDB will leverage its capital into an expanded portfolio in new sector-development initiatives that promote the diversification of Canadas exports and stimulate and nurture desirable innovative industries. One division of the new CDB will focus on allocating capital toward social enterprise, including micro-credit, community economic development, and co-operative initiatives. |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
$1,000 Million |
Seniors |
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Increase GIS benefits by 15% [+]The federal government needs to act unilaterally to eliminate poverty among elderly Canadian residents by making changes to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Old Age Security (OAS) that are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. |
$1,009 Million |
$1,047 Million |
$1,084 Million |
Tax |
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A 35% income tax rate on those making over $250,000/year [+]Introducing a new federal tax rate of 35% for incomes above $250,000 would increase federal tax revenues by $3.5 billion in 2012. This new rate would apply only to incomes over $250,000 for the less than 1% of Canadians who have individual incomes above that amount. |
-$3,500 Million |
-$3,756 Million |
-$4,030 Million |
|
Eliminate Stock Options Deductions [+]The executive stock option deduction allows Canadas wealthiest executives to pay half the tax rate on their income that ordinary Canadians pay on their employment income. |
-$725 Million |
-$798 Million |
-$877 Million |
|
Fully tax Corporate and Personal Capital Gains [+]Income from investment and speculation is currently taxed at half the rate of employment income: e.g. at a top federal rate of 14.5% versus 29%. The value of this loophole was doubled in 2000 when the inclusion rate was reduced from 75% to 50%, ostensibly to boost investment and productivity. But it has had the opposite effect. |
-$6,000 Million |
-$6,600 Million |
-$7,260 Million |
|
Financial Activities Tax [+]A levy of just 0.5% on equity transactions through the TSXat the same rate as the U.K.s Stamp Duty Reserve Taxwould generate close to $4 billion a year, assuming a 50% reduction in volume. |
-$4,000 Million |
-$4,200 Million |
-$4,410 Million |
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Increase the Corporate Tax rate to its 2006 level of 21% [+]Federal corporate income tax rates have fallen precipitously since 2006. They contribute to a large deficit and do little to create jobs. This program phases the 21% rate back in over 3 years. |
-$5,250 Million |
-$10,500 Million |
-$13,566 Million |
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Reinstate the 28% tax on Oil & Gas and Financial Industries [+]The oil and gas industry is one of the most highly profitable industries in Canada, yet it pays low royalty rates and its corporate income tax rates have been declining. With much of the industry now foreign-owned, much of its increased profits simply flow overseas. The financial industry is even more profitable and has benefited from significant government intervention during the financial crisis. |
-$2,000 Million |
-$3,000 Million |
-$3,000 Million |
|
Inheritance Tax over $5mil Estates [+]The AFB proposes a minimum inheritance tax of 45% on large estates that are passed on to the heirs of wealthy families on amounts in excess of $5 million. It would apply in a similar way as the Estate Tax in the United States, prior to and integrated with capital gains taxes, and at similar rates that have applied there. |
-$750 Million |
-$1,500 Million |
-$1,575 Million |
Women |
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Stopping Violence Against Women [+]One in two women in Canada over the age of sixteen will experience violence during her lifetime. Girls are also at high risk of sexual assault both within and outside of the home. According to police-reported data, over half (59%) of sexual assault victims were under the age of eighteen, and 82% of those child sexual assault victims are girls. |
$70 Million |
$70 Million |
$70 Million |