Finishing the fight against COVID-19 gets top billing in the Liberal Party’s platform, which includes a $1 billion pledge to help provinces implement proof of vaccination programs, another $1 billion to help them with vaccine rollout, and new legislation that would protect employers who insist employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 from legal challenges.
The Liberals released their full platform Wednesday.
The Liberals say they will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all federal public service workers, and for all travellers on interprovincial trains, commercial flights, and cruise ships.
For health care in general, the Liberals are promising a $4.5 billion “top-up” in federal funding for health care, $6 billion for in-home and community care, $600 million to help battle the opioid crisis and $6 billion to “eliminate health system wait lists.”
Another $3.2 billion is promised to hire 7,500 new family doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners.
The Liberals are also threatening to cut health care transfer payments to provinces that enable extra billing for publicly insured health services – a move aimed at cracking down on creeping privatization in the public health care system.
To address problems revealed by the pandemic in Canadian care homes, the Liberals are promising more front-line workers and better pay. They pledge to raise wages for personal support workers, setting salaries at a minimum of $25 per hour, and train up to 50,000 new personal support workers.
The platform spends considerable ink on recapping what the Liberals have already done in the areas of battling COVID-19 and supporting workers and businesses, and addressing housing issues. On housing, the Liberals had previously announced plans to build 1.4 million homes over four years.
Going forward, the Liberals also promise in their platform to introduce a new rent-to-own program aimed at helping renters eventually save up enough to buy their homes they are renting.
They also pledge a new tax-free First Home Savings Account that would allow Canadians under the age of 40 to save up to $40,000 for a down payment on their first home, and double the first-time Home Buyers Tax Credit, from $5,000 to $10,000. The platform also includes a scheme to help convert empty commercial office space to residential housing.
For students, the Liberals are pledging to permanently waive interest on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans.
The Liberals take a page from the Conservative platform for contract and gig economy workers with a new employment insurance (EI) benefit for self-employed Canadians. Likewise, they are promising a Labour Mobility Tax Credit that would allow building and construction trades workers to deduct up to $4,000 to cover relocation expenses -- something the Conservatives also promise in their platform.
For those who continue to work from home, the Liberals say they will extend the blanket $400 income deduction that had been offered temporarily during the pandemic for another two years, and raise it to $500.
To support Canada's hard-hit tourism industry, the Liberals are promising a temporary wage and rent subsidy that would cover up to 75% of their expenses "to help them get through the winter."
On taxes, the Liberal platform targets "profitable" banks and insurance companies with increased corporate incomes taxes and "a temporary Canada Recovery Dividend that these companies would pay in recognition of the fact they have recovered faster and stronger than many other industries."
The platform also pledges to cancel flow through shares for oil, gas and coal projects.
