Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) have reached a rare agreement that aims to keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government in power until 2025.
The two parties published a list of priorities they had agreed upon on Tuesday:
HEALTHCARE
* Plan to launch a new dental care program for low-income Canadians, starting with under 12-year-olds in 2022, then expanding to under 18-year-olds, seniors and people living with a disability in 2023, before a full implementation by 2025.
* Work towards a universal national prescription drug coverage plan by passing a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023. Task the National Drug Agency to develop a national list of essential medicines and bulk purchasing plan by the end of the agreement.
LOWERING HOUSING COSTS
* Extend the Rapid Housing Initiative, a government scheme to create affordable housing units, for an additional year.
* Re-focus the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, which provides low-cost loans for the construction of rental apartment projects, on affordable housing units.
* Move forward on launching a Housing Accelerator Fund.
* Implement a Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights, which would make home-buying more transparent, and tackle the financialization of the housing market by the end of 2023.
CLIMATE
* Advance measures to achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and accelerate the trajectory to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
* Develop a plan to phase-out public financing of the fossil fuel sector, including ‘early moves’ in 2022.
WORKFORCE
* Ensure 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workers starts as soon as possible in 2022.
* Introduce legislation by the end of 2023 to prohibit the use of replacement workers when a union employer in a federally regulated industry has locked out employees or is in a strike.
RECONCILIATION
* Make ‘significant’ investments in housing for indigenous people in 2022.
TAX SYSTEM
* Change how financial institutions that have made strong profits during the COVID-19 pandemic are taxed.
VOTING
* Work with Elections Canada to explore ways to expand the ability for people to vote, through an expanded “Election Day” or three days of voting, allowing people to vote at any polling place within their Electoral District, and improving the process of mail-in ballots.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell)
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
