ELECTION 2015

ULTIMATE ISSUE PRIMER

CLIMATE

In Canadian election campaigns, Indigenous peoples

issues have a way of mattering more in theory than
in fact, but Aboriginal votes could make the difference
in a handful of strategic ridings on Oct. 19.

Heres a clue to how party strategists sometimes view

child care issues: In the 2011 election, 60 per cent of
couples with kids under five voted, but only 36 per cent
of single parents with children the same age did so.

Already pencilled into the next prime ministers calendar:

a trip to Paris at the end of November for a major United
Nations climate change conference.

Harper apologized
for the residential
schools in 2008,
formalizing $1.9
billion in compensation for those who
attended. Since then,
his relationship with
Aboriginals has been
uneven, and it didnt
feature much in his
campaign.

The signature Conservative program is the

Universal Child Care Benefit, which pays
$160 per month for each child under the
age of six and $60 per month for children
between the ages of six and 17. (The
payments are taxable.) Harpers big new
oer is parental leave of up to 18 months
in federally regulated sectors.

Harper agreed at a G7 summit last June to

bring Canadas greenhouse gas emissions
down to 70 per cent below 2010 levels by
2050. But how? Weve simply got to find
a way to create lower carbon-emitting
sources of energy, he said. Hes oered
no further detail, beyond pledging to
balance whats best for our climate with
the needs of our economy.

Trudeaus first major promise of the election

campaign was that a Liberal government
would invest a total of $2.6 billion in First
Nations education over four years,
supported by another $500 million over
three years to improve school infrastructure
on reserves. The Liberals also promised to
spend $50 million to inject new life into the
Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training
Strategy, and provide $25 million a year for
training facilities.

Trudeau would scrap the Universal Child

Care Benefit and other related family
supports, replacing them with a new
Canada child benefit which would pay
even more to parents earning less than
$150,000. At the upper range, a low-income
family with one child under six would receive
$6,400 tax-free. Liberals also promise more
flexible parental benefits lasting up to 18
months. They would eliminate income-splitting for couples with children.

Trudeau has emphasized the fact that some

provinces have already taken the lead on
climate change and promised to invite the
premiers to Paris as well as meet with them
within 90 days to begin creating a
Canada-wide framework for combatting
climate change. More specifically, he
pledges to plow $2 billion into a trust fund
that would support projects that cut
greenhouse gas emissions.

Mulcair pledged $1.8 billion over four years

for First Nations education, promised to
create a cabinet committee on Aboriginal
issues, and launch an inquiry into missing
and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Last fall, Mulcair promised to create 370,000

new daycare spaces that would cost parents
no more than $15 a day, by 2018-19. Ottawa
would spend $1.9 billion in that year, but
would need the provinces to share the
burden. Over two NDP mandates, Mulcair
says a million spaces would be created,
although that assumes major buy-in from
the provinces. Like the Liberals, Mulcair
would get rid of the Conservatives
income-splitting for couples with kids.

The NDP would introduce a cap-and-trade

system that puts a market price on carbon,
and Mulcair would end cabinets final say
over key energy-sector environmental
approvals, particularly for pipelines.

May has essentially vowed to revive the 2005

deal worked out by the then-Liberal
government with the provinces to create
various new child care programs. The Green
platform includes oering a $1,500 tax credit
for every child to employers (or groups of
small-business owners) who create daycare
in their workplaces.

Not surprisingly, the Greens have an

extensive climate change platform, right
down to encouraging ecient light bulbs.
The party opposes all current pipeline plans
and advocates an aggressive reduction in
greenhouse gases: 85 per cent below 1990
levels by 2050, on the way to Canada
becoming carbon-neutral by 2100.

NDP

LIBERAL

ISSUES

CHILD CARE

CONSERVATIVES

ABORIGINAL

PER CENT OF POPULATION

WITH A UNIVERSITY DEGREE

26.5%

9.8%

Aboriginals

NonAboriginals

FIRST NATIONS HAVE

PAID A HIGH PRICE FOR
148 YEARS OF LIBERAL AND
CONSERVATIVE GOVERNANCE

GREEN

Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton

26

The Greens are alone in pledging to restore

the $5.1-billion funding commitment for
First Nations under the 2005 Kelowna
Accord, negotiated by the former Liberal
government and scrapped by the Harper
Conservatives. May also promises to create
an independent body to handle land claims
and treaty negotiations, and promises to
implement the recommendations of the
1996 Report of the Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples.

OCTOBER 26, 2015

IN 2012

25%

OF EMISSIONS
IN CANADA WERE
FROM THE OIL
AND GAS
SECTOR

CHEAT SHEET
COALITIONS

Everything you need to know about

the 18 issues that defined the election
campaign, and where the parties
stand on each one. By John Geddes

CRIME

DEFENCE

They had one recently in Britain. Theres no rule against

them. And yet the lingering memory of the 2008
coalition crisis on Parliament Hill continues to make
them controversial.

Conservatives campaign hard on crime, the other parties

far less aggressively. Its considered a trump card by Tory
strategists, especially among families seeking safe lives
in suburban ridings.

War in Syria and Iraq lent real urgency to the campaign

defence debate, but other issuesincluding major
questions about how Ottawa handles buying big military
hardwarestand apart.

The Conservative platform mentions

coalition only in the context of Canadas
military participation in the one confronting and disrupting ISIS in the Middle East
right now. Harper demonized the 2008 bid
by Liberals and the NDP to form a parliamentary coalition, with Bloc Qubcois
backing, to oust his minority government.
He hasnt made the coalition spectre a big
theme in this campaign, perhaps because the
Bloc isnt a real factor.

The string of court rulings against Harperimposed mandatory minimum sentences

continued during the campaign, with an
Ontario judge striking down a six-month
term for growing marijuana for tracking.
Still, Harper promises more of the same,
such as two years for fraud over $5,000 with
multiple victims. He also pledged $4.5
million more annually for RCMP crackdowns on grow-ops and meth labs, as well
as a drug hotline for worried parents.

Defence cuts a#er the 2008-09 recession,

and setbacks on procurements, dented the
Conservatives pro-military reputation.
Last springs budget, however, promised
an $11.8-billion, 10-year increase in defence
spending. Harper promises to expand
Canadas special operations by nearly
35 per cent by 2022.

Trudeau wouldnt
restore the long-gun
registry scrapped by
the Tories, but vows
to toughen up on
transport of
restricted weapons,
and spend $100
million a year to help
police combat guns
and gangs.

Trudeaus flat rejection of the cutting-edge

F-35 as Canadas next fighter, in favour of
some less expensive aircra#, was his
signature campaign announcement on the
military. On fighting Islamic State, he would
continue to help train Iraqs forces, but end
Canadian involvement in air strikes. On
procurement, the Liberals say they would
make shipbuilding the Canadian priority.
And, like the NDP, they call for a bigger
emphasis on United Nations peacekeeping.

Trudeau has ruled out supporting Harper

or any formal coalition with the NDP.
That leaves something short of a coalition,
perhaps a minority arrangement involving
Liberals and New Democrats.

Every time that weve raised

the possibility of collaborating
with the Liberals, its Justin
Trudeau who slammed
the door shut, personally
Tom Mulcair, Oct. 13, 2015

HANDGUNS
WERE USED IN

68%

OF FIREARM-RELATED
HOMICIDES IN 2013

VS.
RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS
WERE USED IN

24%

Polls put the NDP in third, making Mulcairs

stance in a Conservative or Liberal minority
scenario a crucial question. He has ruled out
propping up Harper, so that leaves letting the
Liberals govern under some arrangement. In
theory that arrangement might include a
coalition, but simply voting in the House on
an issue-by-issue basis to give a Trudeau-led
minority a chance seems more likely. Mulcair
hasnt ruled anything out, stressing his aim is
to get rid of Stephen Harper.

The NDP has been broadly critical of the

Conservatives tough-on-crime agenda,
but Mulcair was careful not to propose a
platform vulnerable to being labelled so#
on crime. He promises funding to put 2,500
new police ocers on the streets, and more
money to the Canada Border Services
Agency. He pleged $30 million for
crime-prevention and anti-gang programs
aimed at youth.

The NDP promises to increase Canadas

contribution to UN peacekeeping until
Canada is the top Western contributor.
While maintaining Tory budget commitments to defence, Mulcair signals a new
directionwithout oering many specifics
by promising a white paper with a new
strategic vision by sometime next year.
On Harpers preference for the F-35 fighter
jet, Mulcair promises an open process to
replace aging CF-18s at the best price.

May has said her goal is to elect enough

MPs to become the balance of power in a
minority government. She hopes for reforms
that would greatly increase the possibility of
coalition governments in the future. She told
a university newspaper that Greens are part
of coalition governments around the world,
which is extremely doable in Canada. But
unless her party stages a startling late surge
in the polls, her clout in a coalition, or other
minority scenario, wont be a big factor.

The Greens call for an independent

law-reform commission that would report
to Parliament on proposed changes to the
Criminal Code, and for a forum for public
discussion of contentious legal issues such
as assisted suicide, prostitution, and more
realistic anti-drug policies, including the
legalization and regulation of marijuana.

Greens bemoan the uneven Tory record on

military procurement. They say Parliament
should have more substantial oversight
of defence spending. As well, Mays party
opposes the military mission against ISIS.

MACLEANS MAGAZINE

27

ELECTION 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE

ISSUES

HEALTH CARE

Remember the Mike Duffy trial? Back in August, it cast

a long shadow. Although the trial is on break (it resumes
next month), Senate reform remains a simmering issue,
heavy with symbolism.

Even though health is primarily the provinces

responsibility, this issue matters too much to too many
voters for federal politicians to ignore the subject.

Multi-billion-dollar figures are the norm in this,

the costliest of platform categories. Many economists
support the basic idea of big spending, but how can
voters choose among the grand plans?

CONSERVATIVES

DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Harper has appointed 57 senators, including

Mike Duy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick
Brazeau, all suspended in the last Senate
session. But now he says hes done with
naming new senators as vacancies open up
(there are now 22 empty seats). A re-elected
Harper government would maintain a
moratorium on appointments until the
Senate is somehow reformed. Harper has
suggested the provinces must lead the way.

The Conservatives unilaterally cut the rate

of growth of health transfers to the
provinces, but point out that massive federal
support still increases every year, and is now
projected to rise from $32.1 billion in
201415 to $40.9 billion in 201920. On top
of that, Harper promised some niche
projects during this campaign, including
$50 million a year starting in 2017-18 for a
not-for-profit organization to fight cancer.

Conservatives says federal infrastructure

spending ballooned to more than $5 billion a
year from $571 million a decade ago. They
focus on priorities like ports and public
transit expansions that ease gridlock in big
cities.
FEDERAL GAS TAX TRANSFER TO PROVINCES, 2014-15
B.C.

$253 MILLION

QUEBEC

$458 MILLION

LIBERAL

ONTARIO

Trudeau kicked all Liberal senators, 32 at the

time, out of his partys caucus in 2014, and
has advocated a non-partisan appointment
process. Hes promised this will be the last
federal campaign to elect MPs with
first-past-the-post voting, vowing to
set up an all-party committee to look
at alternatives like ranked ballots and
proportional representation, and institute
reforms within 18 months.

Trudeau promises
to hammer out a new
health accord with
the provinces and
work toward cheaper
prescription drugs
through bulk buying.
His party also
pledges $3 billion
over the four years to
improve home care.

IN 2014, TOTAL
HEALTH CARE
SPENDING IN THIS
COUNTRY WAS ESTIMATED
AT MORE THAN

$745 MILLION

Trudeau vows to almost double planned

federal infrastructure spending over the next
decade to about $125 billion from $65
billion. But the Liberals define infrastructure
broadly, including social infrastructure like
daycare centres. So, for 2016-17, they would
divide new investment in three equal slices:
$1.68 billion each for public transit, social
and so-called green infrastructure.

NDP

$215 BILLION

The NDP has long called for abolishing the

Senate, but that would require major constitutional negotiations to bring all the provinces into agreement. Mulcair promises to
get rid of winner-take-all voting in each riding, bringing in a system called mixed-memNUMBER OF
ber proportional
PROVINCES THAT
SUPPORT ABOLITION
representation.
OF THE SENATE:

GREEN

May links overhauling the Senate to other

democratic reforms, such as proportional
representation in voting and even lowering
the voting age. The Greens want to hold
a referendum on Senate reform to determine
how to proceed with changes proposed by
a non-partisan commissionpossibly
electing senators and changing regional
distributionor abolishing the upper
chamber outright.

The NDP health care platform is dominated

by three relatively big-ticket measures, each
costed out by the party over four years:
$2.6 billion to move toward a universal drug
plan; $1.8 billion to add 41,000 home-care
spaces for seniors; and $200 million to hire
7,000 doctors, nurses and other health
professionals. As well, the party would open
200 new community health clinics across
Canada, including mobile clinics for rural
and remote areas.

The NDP would give municipalities another

one cent of the federal gas tax to pay for
infrastructure such as roads and bridges,
a boost that would climb to $1.5 billion in
four years. Mulcair promises to be investing
$1.3 billion a year more within four years.

May is pledging to be smarter about health

care delivery by emphasizing preventive
measures and incentivizing healthier
lifestyles. The Greens want to include
naturopaths as part of their care model,
while tightening regulations to prohibit
cancer-causing chemicals in our food and
consumer products.

Pegging Canadas infrastructure deficit

at $350 billion, Greens would commit
$6.4 billion of GST revenue every year to
shrinking that gap. That would include
$600 million in 2016-17 for expanding
Via Rails passenger service.

NDP PROJECTED
FUNDING FOR
EDMONTONS
LIGHT TRANSIT:
$2 BILLION OVER
20 YEARS

WE HAVE A WEAK
AND SHRINKING ECONOMY,
AND ITS THE WRONG TIME
FOR AUSTERITY MEASURES
Elizabeth May, Macleans
National Leaders Debate, Aug. 7

28

OCTOBER 26, 2015

JOBS

MARIJUANA

NIQAB

Deficits, GDP growth, trade balances, infrastructure

spendingthese are the terms that tend to dominate
the economic policy debate. For many voters, though,
they all boil down to one concern: jobs.

Is it crime or health policy? Either way, pot polarizes

voters. Stances on marijuana tend to signify, for many
voters, something beyond policysuggesting cultural
dividing lines that can still matter deeply.

Zunera Ishaq challenged the governments ban on veils

during citizenship ceremonies and quickly became
an election issue herself. She recently took her oath
of citizenship after an appeal court ruled in her favour.

When measuring Harpers jobs record, your

yardstick matters. He points to 1.3 million
net new jobs since the nadir of the 2008-09
recession. His rivals emphasize last months
rise in unemployment to 7.1 per cent, the
highest rate since February 2014. The
Conservatives set the goal of creating
another 1.3 million well-paying jobs by
2020, through a mix of low taxes, no more
deficits, and trade deals. Can it be done? It
amounts more to an aspiration than a plan.

Harper opposes any attempt to decriminalize or legalize marijuana. Tobacco

is a product that does a lot of damage,
he said on the campaign trail.
Marijuana is infinitely worse and
its something that we do not
want to encourage.

Harper would try to pass a law banning face

coveringsmainly the niqab worn by a small
minority of Muslim womenduring the
citizenship ceremony. Courts have twice
ruled in favour of Ishaq, the niqab-wearing
immigrant who fought then citizenship
minister Jason Kenneys imposition of
the ban by ministerial edict. Harper went
further, telling CBC he would follow
Quebecs lead by looking at banning
the niqab for federal public servants.

The Liberals promise a three-year youth

employment strategy financed at $300
million, and say they would pump $200
million a year into supporting so-called
incubators and accelerators for innovative
firms. Another $100 million a year would
beef up Ottawas long-standing Industrial Research
PART-TIME
Assistance Program, which
EMPLOYMENT
ROSE BY
helps innovative small- and
medium-sized companies,
and is generally thought to
IN SEPTEMBER
have a solid track record.

A Liberal video features Trudeau and

Toronto MP Adam Vaughan explaining the
partys position: Legalization and regulation
would make it harder for kids to access pot,
they say, while the status quo enriches
organized crime. As well, the current laws
lock up too many petty criminals. It was
one of the first issues Trudeau on which took
a bold, distinctive stance as Liberal leader,
but he hasnt made it high-profile in this
campaign. Tories would like it to be bigger.

Trudeau accuses Harper of being needlessly

divisive. He rejects arguments that banning
the niqab is a matter of protecting womens
rights. At the last leaders debate, Trudeau
said to Harper, You have more men in your
caucus who are anti-abortion than there are
women wearing the
niqab in Quebec.

Mulcair stresses the loss of 400,0000

manufacturing jobs in Canada in the Harper
years. (Statistics Canada has said that
international trend began before the Tories
took power.) Beyond broader economic
measures like infrastructure spending, the
NDP pledges to create 40,000 jobs, co-op
spots and internships for youth trying to
break into the employment market. And the
NDP promises a new $15 minimum wage for
federally regulated workers.

Aiming to occupy the safe middle ground

between his two main rivals, Mulcair calls
for decriminalization of small amounts, but
not full legalization. The NDP says its goal
is to remove production and distribution
from the control of organized crime.
How, exactly, is not so clear.

24.4%

13.5%

7.1%

YOUTHS, AGES
15-24

Greens would create

a tourism department to stimulate job
growth in that sector,
and establish a Youth
Community and
Environment Service
Corps, which would
support jobs for
160,000 youth over
four years.

May proposes studying the social and legal

issues surrounding marijuana, and other
thorny issues, through an independent
commission that would produce balanced
public reports. May has publicly supported
the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

Mulcair says face

coverings make
him uncomfortable,
but government
cant dictate what
someone wears. He
also accuses Harper
of exploiting the
issue, saying: You
are using it as a
weapon of mass
distraction.

TORY

YOUTH (15-24)

NDP

PREVALENCE OF SELF-REPORTED CANNABIS

USE AMONG CANADIANS BY AGE CATEGORY

ADULTS (25+) 8%

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

IN THE 2011
ELECTION,
MORE MUSLIM
IMMIGRANTS
VOTED
LIBERAL

LIBERAL

74,000

May calls the discussion about face

coverings at citizenship ceremonies
a false debate, and says Canadians need
to understand the facts of the case more
clearly. She is also concerned about the
amount of money spent fighting the court
challenge, and, like Trudeau and Mulcair,
says the Greens would end the governments
court challenge of Ishaqs case.

OVERALL

MACLEANS MAGAZINE

29

CONSERVATIVES

ISSUES

ELECTION 2015

PENSIONS

REFUGEES

TAXES

Statistics Canada revealed during this campaign that

the number of Canadian seniors had outstripped the
number of children under the age of 15 for the first time,
highlighting the importance of the pension issue.

The heartbreaking photograph of a toddler dead on

a Turkish beach disrupted the campaign like no other
news event. But will enough voters remember on Oct. 19
for the refugee issue to matter?

The Conservatives claim to have cut taxes about 180

times since 2006. But if low taxes define the Tory brand,
duelling tax policies have become a defining contrast
between Liberals and New Democrats, too.

Harper increased the Guaranteed Income

Supplement and introduced pension
income-splitting. This time, his platform
promises a new tax credit for single and
widowed seniors and new funds to combat
fraud aimed at seniors.

A#er little Alan Kurdis tragic death, Harper

said careful security vetting of migrants
remained essential. Still, he proposed taking
an additional 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi
refugees over the next four years, on top
of the 10,000 Syrians they had promised
earlier. He denied a newspaper report that
his oce intervened to vet and approve
refugee applications, although he said
security concerns prompted an audit of
Syrian refugees earlier this year.

Harper is promising a home renovation

credit worth up to $600 per year, plus raising
the limit for tax-free withdrawals from RRSPs
for buying a first home to $35,000 from the
current $25,000. He also pledges to
introduce a tax lock law that would
purportedly prohibit sales, income or payroll
tax hikes for four years. But his biggest tax
message is that he would keep what hes
done already, especially income-splitting
for parents, which his rivals would scrap.

Trudeau says a Liberal government would

sponsor 25,000 Syrian refugees to come
to Canada, as well as work with private
sponsors to bring in an undetermined
additional number. He pledges to spend
$250 million to hit that target, including the
rapid investment of $100 million by spring
2016. That funding would help speed up
processing, and improve services in Canada
to settle refugees when they arrive here.

Trudeau would cut the middle tax bracket,

on income $44,700$89,401, to 20.5 per cent
from 22 per cent, and pay for it by hiking
taxes on earnings of more than $200,000
a $3-billion shi# in the tax burden.

We have brought in the largest

increase to the Guaranteed
Income Supplement for poor
income seniors in 25 years

LIBERAL

Stephen Harper, Macleans National

Leaders Debate, Aug. 7

Trudeau pledges to maintain the old-age

benefits eligibility year at 65 and not raise
it to 67. (The Tory age change would start
in 2023 and be phased in over six years.)
The big question is what the Liberals might
do with the Canada Pension Plan. Trudeau
says he would meet with the premiers to talk
about enhancing the CPP. Tories warn that
his preference for CPP reform amounts to
a big, mandatory paycheque deduction.

TAXES MAKE UP

81%

NDP

OF TOTAL FEDERAL
REVENUES,
2013-14

The NDP would boost the Guaranteed

Income Supplement to li# 200,000 seniors
out of poverty, and keep the eligibility for
Old Age Security and the GIS at 65. They
would expand home care to 41,000 more
seniors and provide funding for 5,000 more
nursing-home beds. Within 100 days,
Mulcair says he would meet with the
provinces to discuss expanding the CPP
and the Quebec Pension Plan.

The NDP proposes settling 10,000 Syrian

refugees in Canada by the end of this year,
and 9,000 per year for each of the next four
years. He would appoint a Syrian refugee
coordinator to make that happen.

NUMBER OF
REGISTERED
SYRIAN REFUGEES
WORLDWIDE
SINCE 2012:

GREEN

4.1 MILLION

TURNOUT
BY VOTERS, AGES
65-74:

82%

30

May joins the other

opposition leaders in
calling for 65 to remain
the age threshold for
federal old-age benefits.
But her Greens would
replace various existing
benefits with a
guaranteed liveable
income, which would
not change the CPP,
Employment Insurance
or child care subsidies.

May wants Canadian military transports

to bring Syrians fleeing their country to
Canada by air or water, and calls for special
measures like temporary resident permits
to speed up the process. May also supported
Trudeaus call for an all-party leaders
meeting on the crisis.

OCTOBER 26, 2015

The NDP would raise the corporate income

tax rate by two percentage points, or $3.7
billion a year, and end the tax break for stock
options, reaping another $500 million.
Mulcair would cut the small-business tax rate
two percentage points. Like Trudeau,
Mulcair would repeal income-splitting for
parents with kids. He would not double, as
the Tories would, the allowed contribution to
Tax-Free Savings Accounts. Mulcairs
combined savings: more than $2 billion
every year.

The Greens urge a fundamental overhaul

of the tax system, including the elimination
of boutique tax credits introduced in recent
budgets. May would reduce the small- to
medium-sized business tax rate to nine per
cent, raise the corporate tax rate, and consider an increase to the GSTa measure the
mainstream parties view as politically toxic.

TERRORISM

TPP

VANISHING CANADA

Oct. 22, just three days after the election, will mark
one year since Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was murdered
at the National War Memorial in an attack that shocked
Canadians into a new debate about terrorism.

Echoes of the epic 1988 election battle over Canada-U.S.

free trade reverberated in this campaign, with the inking
of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership as the race
entered its final stage.

How much, or little, Canadians know about their own

country could be one of this elections sleeper issues.
We call the related issues vanishing Canadalost
federal data and an absence of new information.

Harper touts Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism

Act passed earlier this year, as bolstering
Ottawas ability to combat terrorism. Critics
say it threatens civil liberties. In the campaign, his Conservatives propose banning
most travel from Canada to certain conflict
NUMBER OF
zones where terrorist
PARTIES THAT
VOTED FOR C-51:
groups are active.

Harper calls the 12-nation TPP a tremendous

deal for Canada and pledges $4.3 billion
to minimize the eects on the dairy, poultry
and egg industry, plus $1 billion over 10
years to help auto parts makers.

Five years ago, the Harper government

eliminated the mandatory long-form census
questionnaire, moving to a shorter,
voluntary one. The response rate dropped
from 94 per cent in 2006 to 69 per cent,
which makes the data far less reliable. The
Conservatives deleted reams of federal
reports from government websites and
gutted departmental libraries. The Tories
havent run on any new ideas on the census
or information gathering.

AUTO SECTOR
EMPLOYMENT:

105,673

Trudeau promises to repeal only parts of

C-51. He approves of some elements, like
sharing information among federal agencies
and tightening up the no-fly list. Among a
ra# of changes he proposes is the creation
of an all-party committee of MPs to provide
oversight of national security agencies.
He would also require a statutory review
of the Anti-Terrorism Act a#er three years,
meaning it could be overhauled or even
ended then.

When asked about the TPP, Trudeau stresses

that the Liberal party is a pro-trade party,
but stops just short of full support, saying he
needs to see the final text. Liberals will take
a responsible approach to thoroughly
examining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he
said. The Harper Conservatives have failed
to be transparent through the entirety of the
negotiations, especially in regards to what
Canada is conceding in order to be accepted
into this partnership.

By staunchly opposing Bill C-51, Mulcair set

himself apart from Trudeau, likely helping fuel
the NDPs climb in the polls back in the spring
and summer. If he wins on Oct. 19, Mulcair
promises to repeal C-51 within 100 days.

Mulcair slammed the TPP as jeopardizing

20,000 auto parts sector jobs and threatening family farms. In a late campaign charge,
he said an NDP government wouldnt be
bound by the agreement. He compared
Trudeaus tentative approval of the deal
during the campaign with the Liberal partys
vote for Harpers Anti-Terrorism Act last
spring. The NDP hopes for a breakthrough
in southwestern Ontario, where the TPP
worries some farmers and auto workers.

The NDP promises to reinstate the

mandatory long-form census starting in
2016, while making more government data
freely available by default. Mulcair would set
up a parliamentary science ocer. He would
update the Access to Information Act by
giving the information commissioner new
power to order the release of information.

May opposes the TPP because she said it

threatens supply management in the dairy
sector and Crown corporations, including
the CBC. She also expresses concern that the
pact would include provisions favourable
to global pharmaceutical industries.

The Green platform on science and

information includes a pledge to bring back
the mandatory long-form census, and
promises to overhaul Access to Information
and privacy laws.

THE TOP LEGAL EXPERTS IN THE

COUNTRY ALL CONCUR THAT BILL
C-51 REPRESENTS A REAL THREAT
TO OUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
WITH NOTHING IN RETURN

WE WILL RESTORE
THE LONG-FORM
CENSUS!
Justin Trudeau at a
rally in an Ottawa

Liberals would bring

back the long-form
census, make Access
to Information
virtually free, give
Statistics Canada
independence,
consolidate federal
science in a central
portal, and create a
chief science ocer.

Tom Mulcair, Macleans National

Leaders Debate, Aug. 7

May opposed C-51, but her campaign pitch

to voters on security is mostly concerned
with natural disasters. She pledges a
national strategy for disaster preparedness
that would include an emergency response
system designed to support, for example,
West Coast residents in the event of a major
earthquake.

CANADIAN
AGRICULTURAL
EXPORTS TO TPP
NATIONS, 2014:

$34.1
BILLION

MACLEANS MAGAZINE

FOR MORE ISSUE

PRIMERS, CHECK
OUT MACLEANS.CA
OR OUR TABLET
EDITION

31