[projekktor id=’21354′]
All federal parties are expected to unveil their election platforms today. They are offering their visions to Canadian voters with less than two weeks left in the campaign.
NDP on TPP
There’s added pressure building on Conservative leader Stephen Harper to release the full text of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement before voters cast their ballots. NDP candidates in Hamilton gathered out front of the U.S. Steel Canada main gates to discuss the TPP deal. Scott Duvall, Wayne Marston and David Christopherson were in attendance alongside Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath.
The candidates discussed the implications on Hamilton jobs and want Harper to explain how this deal will affect the country’s vital auto sector. Hamilton Centre candidate Christopherson: “just imagine what they are going to do for our auto workers and our auto industry. This is a bad deal.”
“The fact that Hillary Clinton has stepped forward, given that she is (in) the same party as Obama and says this doesn’t meet her high standard, well this agreement doesn’t meet Tom Mulcair’s standard either. It needs to be stopped.”
NDP leader Tom Mulcair says if elected he would scrap the deal. He says he knows it will cost thousands of Canadian families their jobs.
Trudeau’s tax cut
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau announced his plan to introduce a tax cut for the middle class, as his first bill in Parliament.
Speaking in Toronto today, Trudeau said his party is the only party that has made a middle class tax cut part of its platform. The Liberals have promised to lower income taxes for Canadians who earn between $45,000 and $90,000 a year from 22 per cent to 20.5 per cent.
“Our first bill will be to cut taxes by $3 billion to the middle class, and pay for it by raising taxes for the wealthiest 1 per cent of Canadians. We know that Canadians struggling to make ends meet every single day need a little extra money in their pockets in every paycheque, and we’re going to deliver that, because money in the pockets of the middle class is not just about addressing inequality, it’s also about ensuring that we have a growing economy.”
Trudeau says the Liberals will also introduce a monthly child benefit in their first budget.
Harper gets heckled
Conservative leader Stephen Harper was interrupted multiple times by protesters during his speech in Surrey, B.C. yesterday.
His security detail stood nearby for the remainder of his remarks. Harper will deliver a speech in Richmond, B.C. later this afternoon where he is expected to release the Tories’ full platform.
