The Role of Government
The Bloc has released no direct official statement concerning its policies on the proper role of government or proper stewardship of office.

The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– its fundamental values include hospitality, sharing and equality, values that make Quebec a land of opportunity for those who live in Quebec, and those who will come to live there.
– it recognizes the importance of using every forum and every opportunity to seek to convince Quebecers of the need to make Quebec an independent country and people.
– it realizes that only Quebec’s accession to the status of sovereign state will make it official that Quebec recognizes neither the legitimacy nor the authority of any other nation, government or monarchical regime when it intervenes in matters of public affairs or law on Quebec territory, or when it speaks on behalf of Quebec in the world.
– its members are bound by their common French language and their common history, which is the foundation upon which they have built their identity.
– its members share an attachment to equality between the sexes and genders, equality for all; they are also attached to Quebec’s institutions; and believe in the separation of religion and state.
– they believe that sport shapes the collective Quebec intelligence and contributes to its social cohesion, that it improves self-esteem and self-confidence while reducing depression and anxiety. They affirm that sport is at once an issue of public health, culture and social cohesion; and that that sport should be the sole responsibility of the Quebec nation.
– it recognizes that the preservation of the Quebec people, Quebec culture, the Quebec state and the French language is a constant and ongoing struggle in Quebec’s history, and supports measures to protect the Québec identity and avoid the folklorization of its people, culture and language.
– it recognizes that the defence of Quebec’s language, culture and identity is intimately linked to the protection of its territory, and therefore that the disappearance of one or the other puts this interdependence at risk. It believes that the preservation of Quebec territory and subsoil is inseparable from the protection of peoples, their social cohesion and their culture.

Stewardship & Reform

Quebec Sovereignty
The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– it believes that voting is the best way to ensure that the will of the people is reflected in its institutions, and uncompromisingly defend the right of Quebecers to make their own social choices.
– it maintains that all laws passed democratically by the National Assembly take precedence over laws passed by the House of Commons that relate exclusively to Quebec’s jurisdictions.  It defends the right of peoples to self-determination and, consequently, Quebec’s right to self-determination.
– it promotes democracy above all other considerations and places it far ahead of the party’s own interests, whatever the people’s choice.
– it wants to broaden participation in Quebec democracy as much as possible, both in its own bodies and in Quebec society in general, by promoting an inclusive and positive approach.
– it supports lowering the voting age to sixteen (16).
– it believes that any electoral redistribution must be based first and foremost on communities’ interest, and not simply on numbers of voters.
– it categorically reject monarchy, as well as all other forms of authoritarianism, and fights for their abolition in all forms in Quebec and Canada.
– it adheres to the most elementary principles of democracy – every vote counts, and a majority is 50% plus one.
– it also supports the representativeness of Quebec’s regions, their municipal governments and aboriginal nations to ensure that every concern, every need and every opportunity specific to each them is part of the important debates in provincial parliaments.
– a sovereign Quebec will need all its human resources. Consequently, federal civil servants should be able to join the Quebec civil service.
– it believes that voting is the means of expressing one’s political will, and denounces all forms of violence or intimidation, physical or verbal, aimed at undermining the primacy of democracy.
– its members “agree to disagree”: their adversaries are not their enemies, and their points contention do not call into question their adherence to the Quebec nation and our democratic values.

 

National Assembly

The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– it believes that Quebec’s National Assembly is the best venue for expressing Quebec democracy and the will of our nation.
– it favours abolishing the Senate and defining, with a view to abolition, the office of Governor General.
– it undertakes not to limit its representation of Quebec positions to those of the government in power, but to represent ideas put forward directly by a majority of Quebecers based on the number of votes cast in the last general election.
– it sees that beyond partisan divides, Quebecers have common interests behind which all political parties rally.
– it defends the consensus of the Quebec National Assembly and, of course, its unanimous resolutions.  They consider themselves the bearers of the will expressed in Quebec before the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.
– it also defends the primacy of Quebec’s obvious expertise in fields such as protection of the environment, the French language, Francophone arts, and culture, and the transition to clean energy and technologies as creators of more sustainable wealth, to name but a few.
– in the House of Commons, it supports what’s good for Quebec; works to improve what can be improved; and opposes with all its might what’s bad for Quebec.
– in Ottawa, it works with all political parties when they respect and are prepared to support Quebec’s interests; and it seizes every opportunity to invite its Quebec partners of all socio-economic backgrounds to Ottawa, so that they can bring their concerns directly to federal institutions.
– as committed independentists, its members make it a point of honor to put what’s good and fair for the people they represent above all ideological considerations in our parliamentary work.
– it also defends the Quebec government’s historic land claims, particularly in Labrador.

Services
The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– it notes that the Canadian government is abandoning its responsibility to provide services to citizens in its own areas of jurisdiction, such as support for seniors and employment insurance, while it prioritizes interference in Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction.
– it believes that Quebecers have a right to fast, efficient and humane service from the Canadian government in the areas of its responsibilities, and that it is the federal government’s duty to pay Quebec and any provinces that so desire full compensation without further conditions for any use of the spending power in a Quebec or provincial jurisdiction, first and foremost health care.

Ethics & Accountability
The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– as a Quebec party, it advocates accountability, transparency, and institutional responsibility.  Opacity, a culture of silence, nepotism, cronyism and favoritism are detrimental to democracy.
– it fights corruption and believes there should be zero tolerance in the awarding of government contracts to any company convicted of corruption.
– it believes in fair and equitable taxation, and therefore demands that banks, web giants, multinationals, large corporations and the wealthy stop using tax havens and contribute to the financing of the world’s poorest countries’ public services within their means.
– supports whistleblowers and believes they should be fully protected and under no circumstances punished for serving the public interest.
– it is in favor of the best possible access to information and considers undemocratic any maneuver aimed at delaying, restricting or preventing the availability of information of public interest.
– it believes in the freedom of the press, the independence of journalists, the protection of sources and freedom of opinion and expression.
– it opposes partisan appointments of judges, based on lists of donors and friends of the regime.
– it favors limiting the influence consulting firms so that they can’t replace the work of civil servants and elected representatives.
– it supports mixed financing of political parties, both public and civic, and believes that the private financing model for federal parties gives too much power to fundraisers and big donors.

Secular State: Government and Civil Society

The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that its members:

– are supporters of secularism.  They we want to live in a secular state where the separation of religion and state is clearly established.
– share the heritage of the Quiet Revolution, which freed them as a nation from the interference and authority of the Church in the affairs of state, without denying its historical contribution.
– are convinced that secularism contributes to social cohesion and better integration for all, as a guarantor of neutrality and equality within state institutions.
– stand by Quebecers in every step towards a truly secular state, and will denounce any attempt by the federal government or anyone else to prevent Quebec from adopting laws to protect and promote its secularism. They oppose the wearing of religious symbols by any person in a position of authority within the State in the performance of their duties.
– believe that religious convictions should in no way interfere with relations between the State and the citizen.
– believe that the State must not recognize, pay or subsidize any religion, that only a secular state promotes the progressive and egalitarian values of Quebecers, and that only secularism protects these values against religious dogma and fundamentalism.
– can’t repeat it often enough: the best way to protect religious freedom is for the state to have none at all.  The responsibility of the State is not to promote religion, but to enable people to live freely according to their beliefs or non-beliefs.
– oppose prayer in the House of Commons, oaths on the Bible, oaths to a monarch who is also a religious leader, and all religious manifestations in the management of state affairs.

Relations with outer Provinces and Territories, and the Federal Government
– it believes that Quebec must leave the Canadian system, but that as long it remains within it, it must have the autonomous revenues to freely assume all its responsibilities.  It believes, as a result, that federal spending power in Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction must be controlled, preferably prohibited, and it does not recognize the federal government’s right to create programs or make investments in Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction.
– it is opposed to Ottawa’s intrusions into fields of taxation that are not its own.   It notes that the federal government collects more taxes than its missions require, and should hand over certain taxing powers and tax bases to Quebec.
– it believes that, until Québec has all the economic levers it needs to reach its full potential, any federal transfer program related to a jurisdiction exclusive to Quebec must be unconditional.  It believes that Quebec must obtain the right to withdraw with full compensation and without conditions from all federal projects affecting Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction.
– it denounces the costly duplication of effort involved in creating federal programs similar to existing Quebec programs, as well as the unnecessary red tape they entail.
– it denounces the fiscal imbalance from which Ottawa, combined with its spending power, finances its meddling and hostage-taking of Quebec and provincial jurisdictions.
– it affirms that an independent Quebec will be able to build a strong, clean economy that creates more wealth to share.
– it recognizes the importance of borders and respect for border laws in preserving the sovereignty of Quebec’s territory. It believes that Quebec should have full powers and the transfer of human and financial resources for border management.
– its members are localists and nationalists, in favor of prioritizing local and national production that meets Quebec’s social and environmental criteria, including prioritizing local products in tendering criteria.

Peace & International Relations

The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– it believes that the Quebec nation benefits from being known diplomatically, economically, culturally and scientifically around the world through dialogue on the international stage.
– its members are pacifists and democrats, committed to human rights.  It believes in the value of honor and keeping one’s word.
– it believes in multilateralism, and doesn’t let its values get in the way of international relations.
– it believes that without putting an end to dialogue, it must never dilute its values of democracy, equality between women and men, respect for human rights and the rule of law, secularism of the State, respect for French as the only official and common language of Quebec, solidarity and pluralism, out of a desire to please or a pretense of respect for the values of others.
– it does not believe, however, beyond the fundamental and universal values promoted and defended by the United Nations, Quebec should intervene in the domestic choices of other nations.  It believes that the pacifist, democratic and welcoming nature of the Quebec nation should make it a universally recognized and trusted player in international forums.
– it believes that Quebec, now and when it becomes independent, is and will continue to be a stable and reliable player in an increasingly unstable world.
– it recognizes the importance of major global organizations, not least the United Nations, and believes that Quebec stands to gain by representing itself adequately.
– it believes that Quebec should be represented in international sporting competitions by its own teams.
– it believes that Canada, its federal government, its institutions and the occasional English-language media do not convey a fair and adequate image of the Quebec nation.
– it is opposed to any hindrance to Quebec’s international policy and to any federal investment that would undermine Quebec’s international action and image abroad.
– it does not accept turning a blind eye when atrocities are committed abroad, even genocide, and is categorically opposed to the use of force to silence democracy.
– it supports the right of all peoples to self-determination.
– it sees itself as an ally of peoples who are exercising or seeking to exercise their right to self-determination peacefully and democratically.
– it believes that Quebec is best placed to assert its own interests at the international level, and wants Quebec to negotiate its own international agreements and free-trade accords, including those on cultural diversity, aboriginal rights, justice and the military, while committing itself  in the meantime to join those in which it participates currently through Canada’s signature.
– it seizes every opportunity to showcase Quebec’s home-grown knowledge, expertise and creativity to its business partners.
– it believes in respecting the rules and laws of international trade, and campaigns for reciprocal standards in trade in terms of quality and the fight against climate change and treatment of people.
– it values the major role that Quebec is called upon to play within the world Francophonie, its durability and the renewal of its governance, and defends cultural and linguistic diversity on a global scale.
– it recognizes that the greatest challenge in international relations remains the common challenge of curbing climate change, and considers commitments to combat climate change to be inviolable promises.
– it recognizes that conflict and climate change are driving major waves of migration, and that Québec will have the same duties as all states.
– it campaigns to reduce inequalities of all kinds on a global scale.
– it believes that Canada must do more to support women’s rights around the world, and stands in solidarity with women’s struggles on the international stage.

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

Rule of Law
The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– it believes that the entire territory of Quebec is itself a national territory. Consequently, any acquisition of a parcel of Quebec by the Government of Canada should only be granted following an agreement between the federal and Quebec governments.
– it is essential to promote the full occupation of Quebec’s territory. Quebec must therefore provide serious incentives for all Quebecers to live in and protect the entire territory of Quebec, and this requires a real effort to decentralize public administration.
– it places justice for all at the heart of its political philosophy.  We believe that opposing freedom and security is a false dilemma, and instead seeks the point of balance where the common interest lies in the spirit of Quebec’s social contract.
– it considers the rule of law to be the best protection against arbitrariness and the most just, rigorous, reliable, peaceful and universal means of ensuring to the healthy development of Quebec society.  It fights to ensure that the law applies to everyone, because no one is above the law.
– everyone should have access to justice, regardless of their circumstances, and that everyone has the right to fair trial, no matter what the circumstances.  It does not  recognize any parallel justice that can replace the rule of law.
– it defends the separation of powers, and believes in neutral and impartial justice.  It does not that belonging to a religion or ideology can be used as a mitigating factor in law enforcement.
– it supports the legitimacy of legislators elected by the population to represent Quebec society and defend its interests.
– it believes that all federally appointed judges should be fluent in French.
– it believes that Quebecers should be the only ones to have a say in the legislation that applies on Quebec territory.  Failing that, it believes that in matters of shared jurisdiction, Quebec laws should take precedence over those of the federal government in Quebec, rather than the other way around in areas considered federal, such as ports, airports, parks and all navigable waterways.
– it will always defend the power of Quebec’s National Assembly to legislate in accordance with the law and the democratically expressed will of Quebecers.
– it believes that Quebec taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund legal challenges to duly adopted Quebec laws.
– it believes that the country’s courts and judges must render justice based on the laws passed by the legislature. It is not their role to act in place of democratically
elected legislators.

Criminal Justice
The Bloc’s most recently-published Programme states that:
– when it comes to criminal justice, it is in favor of crime prevention, education, recidivism prevention, positive supervision of people at risk and restorative justice.
– it believes in cautious rehabilitation, and in striking the right balance between rehabilitation and  punishment.
– it opposes discrimination and profiling.  It recognizes that the need for coercion and the use of reasonable force exists, and that the ability of law enforcement agencies to intervene and the safety of peace officers must be maintained.  It believes that it is the duty of the authorities to ensure that streets, schools and gatherings are peaceful and safe places to live, learn, and express oneself.
– it believes that for the justice system to play its fundamental role in society, it is imperative that all judges appointed to the position by the federal government be filled without delay, at all times, to avoid service disruptions, unreasonable delays for litigants and postponements of trials already scheduled.
– it recognizes that drug dependence is a public health issue, not a criminal one, and that stigmatization contributes to the current situation, particularly with regard to the opioid crisis. Consequently, it demands decriminalization of the use and possession for personal consumption of all drugs.

The Role of Government & Social Institutions; Reform

The party advocates:
– ending tax-supported payments to political parties as campaign funds, or fair distribution among all parties
– ensuring that all political parties are included in debates and tax-funded media publications
– a referendum to allow taxpayers to change to the first-past-the-post system
– allowing only Canadian citizens to vote or hold office.

Judicial Activism
The party states that:
– in the constitutional division of powers, courts and judges were NOT given the authority to write laws, only to apply and enforce the law AS IT IS WRITTEN
– the courts have usurped the authority of Parliament and provincial legislatures; judicial activism has resulted in abortion-on-demand, same-sex marriage and assisted suicide
– the courts have misused their power to limit free speech, a Charter Right which they should be protecting
– it would use Section 33 of the Charter (the Notwithstanding Clause) to protect freedom of speech and Canada’s moral foundations

Senate
The party states that the Senate was originally created to be a chamber of “sober second thought”, not a partisan rubber-stamp for the government in power.

The party advocates:
– election of Senators by the provinces in which they reside
– for better representation of the provinces, allocation of an equal number of Senators to each province, rather than to “regions”

Role of Media
The party states that:
– most major media in Canada—including state-funded CBC—are biased against a Christian worldview and policies
– the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation receives over $1.5 billion directly from the government annually
– the current government has given $595 million in subsidies directed only to those media outlets which support his policies, further influencing public opinion against a Christian worldview
– it CHP would defund or privatize CBC and would confront the issue of unfair media bias

Stewardship & Reform

 

Taxation & Budget

The party states that:

– Canada currently borrows operating and investment capital from other nations and from international bankers and pays interest on the debt incurred—over $67 million every single day.
– it would restore the Bank of Canada to its proper function of creating and providing Canada’s money supply and low-interest or interest-free loans to Provinces, crown corporations and municipalities for urgently needed infrastructure.
– current governments, through incorrect use of the Bank of Canada, have created a blight over the futures of our children as they will be forced to repay the debt plus interest.
– the national debt is over $690 billion, and is funded by borrowing at a cost of approximately $70 million per day in interest.
– although governments must use some form of taxation to generate revenues to cover the cost of basic services, the income Tax, and especially the Progressive Income Tax, is unfair. As private property, earnings should not be taken, and the government should not take what workers earn and it should not take a bigger share when individuals work harder.

The party advocates:
– paying off the national debt and introducing mandatory balancing of the national budget.
– replacing the unfair federal income tax with a Fair Tax on purchases; this would be a at rate applied to all purchases of finished products and would leave all citizens with more money to spend, save and invest.

Accountability
The party advocates:
– opening all government expenditures to public scrutiny
– public listing of all government salaries over $100,000 should be listed for the public
– public recall mechanism for all politicians and high-level bureaucrats, for crimes in office

Peace & International Relations

The party states that Canada is recognized as a world leader, and must act responsibly to maintain that reputation.

The party advocates:
– Canadian leadership in good things: clean water, energy and justice, NOT abortion, gender confusion and debt
– defending freedom around the world, beginning at home
– Canada must stand firmly against terrorism at home and abroad.
– Canadians who participate in terrorism must not be allowed to return to Canada OR they must face criminal terrorist charges. They must not be allowed to become public martyrs for their cause
– the $10 million award to Omar Khadr was an insult to our soldiers, our allies and all Canadian taxpayers.

Middle East
The party states that:
– radical Islam has proven to be a threat to Western democracy
– Sharia Law is incompatible with Canada’s culture and heritage and with Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The party rejects Islamic cultural practices such as “honour-killings”, Female Genital Mutilation, forced marriages, forced conversion and inhumane animal slaughter (Halal slaughter)

Israel
The party states that:
– Israel occupies a unique place in history and in current world affairs
– Israel stands alone in the Middle East as a democratic nation, surrounded by hostile nations
– it stands with Israel and supports her right to exist and to defend herself

Displaced Persons & Humanitarian Aid
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on displaced persons or humanitarian aid.

International Finance
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on International finance.

Foreign Trade & Tariffs
The party states that
– tariffs are taxes imposed on imported commodities or products, usually intended to protect domestic producers from unfair foreign competition
– unless bound by contracts, treaties and trade agreements which they have voluntarily signed, all nations have the right to restrict imports or to apply tariffs which may have the effect of restricting imports
– for the purpose of mutual growth and cooperative enterprise, allied nations, particularly nations sharing a border, should seek to avoid unnecessary tariffs and trade restrictions between them
– careless or punitive use of tariffs often result in trade wars which may harm producers and should be avoided if possible.

National Defense & Veterans
The party states that:
– Canada must have armed forces capable of defending its borders and national interests
– our armed forces must be properly trained and equipped
– our veterans deserve our gratitude and our duty of care, especially the injured and the families of those we have lost

Criminal Justice & Public Safety
The party states that:
– the Canadian government MUST protect Canadian citizens
– Canadians deserve a justice system designed to protect their lives and property
– all Canadians deserve equal treatment under the law
– justice delayed is justice denied; it is essential that justice be applied as quickly as possible to save costs and to deter wrongdoing
– its justice platform stands on two pillars: Restitution and Public Safety

Firearms
The party states that:
– when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns
– violent crime is the problem, not firearms

The Role of Government
The party’s policies state that the role of government is to:
– protect the lives and property of its citizens
– ensure equality of opportunity
– foster an environment where individuals and private initiative can prosper
– ensure the security of the nation’s borders and of citizens at home and abroad
– provide services that cannot be provided more efficiently or effectively by the private sector
– maintain and enhance national infrastructure

The party further states that its goals are:
– the common good of all Canadians: a society where everyone can fulfill his or her potential
– to release the human spirit and potential of individuals, families and groups
– to nurture, mobilize, and encourage generosity, individual talent, patriotism, and a sense of community; and
– to provide a framework for more sensitive and powerful means of protecting and supporting the deprived and vulnerable

Stewardship & Reform

Taxation & Budget
The party states that spending to protect Canadians during the pandemic was the right thing to do, however unsustainable debt cannot be passed to future generations. Once recovery starts, spending must be brought under control.

The party advocates:
– winding down emergency support programs in responsible ways as vaccines increase and the economy re-opens
– ensuring that stimulus measures are targeted and time-limited in order to avoid structural deficit
– encouraging economic growth to ensure revenue for services is available

Tax Reform
The party states that:
– working and middle-class Canadians, New Canadians, small businesspersons have been hit doubly hard by the COVID crisis, suffering disproportionately, far more than those with greater means
– helping them rebuild and get back on their feet will require that those who have been largely insulated from the economic damage of the pandemic do more

The party advocates:
– ensuring that the burden of getting the economy back on track and delivering essential public services does not fall upon those who have been hurt the most
– providing more funding to the Canada Revenue Agency, increasing to $750 million per year, to fund stronger enforcement of taxation for multinational firms, taxation of large corporations, international taxation, and other tax evasion. This cost will be more than made up for by the increase in compliance, leading to an increase in how much the government collects of what it is owed

Tax Cheats
The party states that:
– the current government recently admitted that their high-net-worth compliance program had failed to prosecute even one person over the last six years
– the Canada Revenue Agency continues to go after small businesses while ignoring those rich enough to pay for expensive lawyers and accountants
– it undertakes to fix this program and ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share

Foreign Multinationals and Big Tech Companies Pay Their Fair Share
The party advocates:
– ensuring that foreign tech companies pay their fair share of taxes, including sales tax and a digital services tax representing 3% of their gross revenue in Canada if they don’t pay corporate income tax here
– working with the US Administration and other international partners to crack down on multinational tax avoiders to ensure they pay their fair share

The party states that it opposes giving up sovereignty over our tax system, and strongly disagrees with the current government’s signing onto a global minimum tax rate at the G-7

Budget Recovery
The party states that:
– while spending to protect Canadians during the pandemic was the right thing to do, we can’t leave unsustainable debt for future generations
– with recovery started, it’s time to wind down emergency support programs responsibly, with targeted and time-limited stimulus measures to avoid a structural deficit
– restoring national finance and government service levels requires getting back to robust economic growth of 3% or more per year, which is the goal of its jobs plan
– the deficit soared to $354 billion in 2020-21, which seems daunting. However, its easier to develop a road back to balance when we consider the three components of the deficit: (i) $30 billion of pre-existing deficit: the amount by which spending exceeds revenues in a “normal” economy growing at 1.6%, (ii) $70 billion from automatic stabilizers: government revenues dropped due to the recession, as companies and individuals saw their income drop and therefore paid less tax. At the same time, government expenses for Employment Insurance and other social support programs increased, and (iii) $250 billion in COVID-19 emergency spending, including $80 billion for CERB and $82.3 billion for the wage subsidy (CEWS), the GST and Canada Child Benefit top-ups, funding for provinces and healthcare and approximately 70 other spending measures
– implementation of the party’s jobs plan will get Canadians back to work, meaning lower unemployment and higher tax revenues for the government.  It will also wind down the emergency spending in a responsible way
– its plan for Secure Jobs and Economic Growth will reduce the deficit by almost 90% by repairing the economy.  There will be some costs along the way – incentives and other spending to get Canadians back to work, but that spending will be time-limited and designed to kickstart the economy. The highest level of spending will

be in year one, with spending on these stimulus measures winding down over five years. This short-term spending represents most of the cost of our plan and will directly reduce the deficit by reversing the automatic stabilizers
– a crucial part of its plan is a set of new investments in Research & Development, high-speed internet access, and tax measures such as the patent box, which are intended to have long-term benefits to the economy,
– because of the severity of the financial situation faced by Canada, it has limited the significant ongoing spending measures in its plan to a few critical priorities:
* Help for Seniors: Providing ongoing support to seniors to help them stay in their own homes or live with their family members, to deal with the crisis in Long-Term Care
* Help for Working Families: Doubling the Canada Workers Benefit to make work pay and help those most in need

Accountability
The party states that despite passage of the 2006 Federal Accountability Act, scandals have persisted, including abuse of charities law and acceptance of gifts from lobbyists.

To curb corruption, the party advocates:
– toughening the Conflict of Interest Act by expanding monetary penalties to cover all violations of the Act, and increasing the monetary penalties from a maximum of $500 to a maximum of $50,000, with the fine to be proportionate to the severity of the offence and the offender’s history and personal net worth
– amending the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament to prevent Members of Parliament from collecting speaking fees while serving in the House of Commons, since speaking to Canadians is a part of the job
– amending lobbying laws to address loopholes provided originally to avoid undue burdens for organizations that had minimal contacts with government, so that that laws mandate full transparency by requiring all corporations and other organizations that lobby to register and report their meetings, and banning lobbying by individuals or entities on matters which are the subject of a criminal proceedings
– conducting long-overdue reviews of the Lobbying Act and Access to Information Act to ensure that they are up to date and as strong as needed to earn the trust of the people
– to address transparency issues highlighted by the SNC-Lavalin scandal, prohibit application of non-disclosure agreements in circumstances where an individual is disclosing information to a lawful authority or seeking medical assistance or legal advice
– amending the Canada Evidence Act to ensure that Cabinet Confidence can no longer be used to shield government insiders from criminal investigation
– giving the Commissioner of Information the power to make orders to departments to release information promptly, to bring an end the recent practice of endless delays that makes a mockery of the law
– strengthening whistleblower protection through a strong federal legislative framework
– through use of prevailing open standards, mandating that government departments, Crown Corporations, and those receiving public funds publish more data in machine-readable formats
– to prevent foreign interference, requiring individuals and companies acting as agents of designated foreign principals (country, corporation, entity or individual) in a political or quasi-political capacity including lobbying, policy development, advertising, and grassroots mobilization to register, and requiring that registration requires disclosure of amounts of payments, the nature of relationships, and activities performed

The party states advocates:
– putting the country first, by enacting the toughest accountability and transparency laws in Canada’s history
– toughen the Conflict of Interest Act and impose higher penalties
– toughen the Lobbying Act to end abuse by government insiders; and
– increase transparency to end cover-ups

Senate Reform
The party advocates:
If a province chooses to hold Senate elections, appointing the victors as Senators

Provinces, Territories, Municipalities
The party states that it:
– believes that the federal government should work with the provinces as partners instead of dictating to them. As the Alberta Court of Appeal recently opined, “The federal government is not the parent; and the provincial governments are not its children.”
– it is the party of the Constitution, and understands that the division of powers means that the provinces and the federal government are co-equals in their own spheres and that each deserves the latitude to make its own decisions about policy in its own areas of competence, and respect their autonomy in areas of provincial jurisdiction

Quebec
The party states that Quebecers want and deserve a federal government that wants to collaborate with them.  To that end, it advocates a new pact based in particular on respect for the Québec nation and the French language, the economic development of our regions and the security of our communities.

In particular, the party advocates:
– building on its historic recognition of the Québec Nation
– remaining open to the development of new administrative agreements with the government of Québec to promote decentralized federalism
– negotiating with the Québec government to simplify tax preparation and work towards a single income tax return for Québec taxpayers while protecting Canada Revenue Agency jobs in the regions
– giving greater autonomy to Québec over immigration, including: revisiting the Canada-Québec Immigration Accord to give more powers to Québec over immigration to ensure that a higher proportion of immigrants settling in Quebec speak French, including in the family reunification category; providing full compensation for the housing of asylum seekers who crossed into Québec illegally at border passages like Roxham Road and Lacolle and enforcing the Safe Third Country Agreement to put an end to such crossings; and giving Québec more input into the assignment of temporary foreign workers to particular regions and their pathways to permanent residency to address critical labour shortages
– respecting the jurisdiction of the Québec National Assembly by neither intervening in nor providing federal funding to support legal challenges to Law 21
– limiting federal spending powers in Quebec’s fields of jurisdiction and ensuring that provinces can opt out of new federal programs and initiatives in the area of health with full, matching compensation
– making annual federal transfers for social programs unencumbered by restrictive conditions and developing a plan for a return to balanced budgets without cutting transfers to the provinces
– respecting the Constitution Act of 1867 by applying a non-intervention approach to internal affairs within Québec’s fields of jurisdiction
– ensuring that Québec will never be under-represented in the House of Commons when new parliamentary ridings are created
– giving Radio-Canada a separate and distinct legal and administrative structure to reflect its distinct mandate of promoting francophone language and culture, including a power of appointment for the province for members of the Board of Directors in addition to ensuring representation of francophone minority communities outside Québec

To support the regions of Quebec, the party advocates:
– building digital infrastructure to connect all of Québec to high-speed internet by 2025, including coordination of federal investments with the program recently announced by the Government of Québec; speeding up the spectrum auction process to get more spectrum into use and apply “use it or lose it” provisions to ensure that spectrum (particularly in rural areas) is actually developed, with auction revenue dedicated to our digital infrastructure plan; and requiring that Huawei equipment not be used, to protect national security
– working in partnership with the Government of Québec in promoting the Saint-Laurent Project, a maritime strategy for Quebec’s economic development comprising the creation of ten innovation zones
– adopt a government purchasing policy on low carbon footprint materials, including low-carbon aluminum
– deploying new autonomous vehicles for Arctic surveillance operations in the air and at sea as part of a new Canadian sovereignty, deterrence, and detection strategy, with Bagotville as the main site to host the Government of Canada’s remotely piloted aircraft
– renewing Canada’s fleet of icebreakers in partnership with the Davie shipyard, and designating Davie as a full partner within the National Shipbuilding Strategy
– providing financial assistance to ensure that smaller regional airports remain open and that routes to remote and rural areas continue to operate
– investing $100m in a specific regional development funding program to support the economic transition of former mining communities
– implementing a Critical Minerals Strategy to take advantage of Canada’s abundant resources of the minerals needed to power our clean energy future, creating jobs,  and reduce global reliance on critical minerals from China, including adoption of policies to facilitate the responsible mining of lithium

Western Canada
The party states that:
– Alberta has contributed more than $600 billion to the rest of the country since 1967, and an average of more than $20 billion a year over the last decade.  Even as their economy has suffered over the last seven years, Albertans have continued to be net contributors to the national economy
– it is only fair that the rest of Canada be there for Alberta, just as Alberta has always been there for them.  Now that Alberta is hurting, Albertans quite reasonably expect the rest of the country, including the federal government, to be there for them financially and help them get a fair price for their energy products on global markets.

To promote fiscal fairness, the party advocates:
– adopting the Equalization and Transfers Fairness Act as a government bill and passing it as quickly as possible
– implementing a unanimously endorsed proposal by provincial premiers to reform the Fiscal Stabilization Program, including by lifting the cap on payments, reducing the revenue reduction thresholds to qualify, and applying the changes retroactively

To support employment in the Western provinces, the party advocates:
– eliminating unfairness in the Impact Assessment process of Bill C-69, basing our changes on the bipartisan recommendations made by the Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources, seeking an assessment process that upholds best-in-class environmental standards and sets clear expectations and timelines for environmental reviews so that investors have the confidence and certainty they need to commit to major projects in Canada; removing political interference from the review process and setting clear timelines so that investors get a timely yes or no; and not letting critical GHG-reducing projects be held up by red tape and lengthy reviews
– ending the ban on shipment of Canadian Oil on the North Coast of British Columbia by repealing C-48 and improving access to international markets.
– working ith First Nations and other Indigenous groups to ensure they are partners in prosperity and the development of our natural resources by creating a Canadian Indigenous Enterprise Corporation
– implementing a hydrogen energy strategy that rapidly increases the use of hydrogen – especially green hydrogen – in Canada and builds our export capacity
– ensuring adequate pipeline capacity by Getting Trans Mountain built
– making pipelines that bring Canadian oil to export markets a priority
– making increased energy export opportunities a diplomatic priority in dealings with the U.S. Government
– implementing a federal LNG Export Strategy.  With much of the world still reliant on coal-generated electricity, the natoin should be boosting exports to grow our economy and contribute to a cleaner world
– introduction of a tax credit to rapidly accelerate the deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage technology in the energy sector and in important industries that have few alternatives to burning fossil fuels, like fertilizer and chemical production

Peace, International Relations

Trade War
The party advocates:
-retaliating against US tariffs by targeting American goods in the following order:
* goods Canada can make
* goods Canada doesn’t need
* goods available elsewhere
-putting most money from the into relief for workers hardest hit.
-immediate implementation of a massive Bring It Home Tax Cut on work, investment, energy, homebuilding and domestic production to boost the economy and stop inflation while saving and creating thousands of jobs.
-scrap C-69 and greenlight LNG plants, pipelines, mines, factories, and port expansions.
-to promote the biggest home-building project ever, immediately remove all red tape and taxes on housing construction.
-get the provinces to work together to remove trade barriers and create a national free market.
–rebuild the military and retake control of national borders.

The party further states that:
– it will pursue a foreign policy that seeks new and strengthened alliances with democratic allies and economic partners who share our values
– it will face down the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, standing with the Chinese people and promoting greater freedom for them
– it will aggressively champion human rights, dignity, and transparency
– it will advance the national interests of Canada, with every decision on the world stage prioritizing the security and sovereignty of Canadians; the prosperity of our people and our partners; and the democratic values that define us.

To that end, the party advocates:
– establishing a Canadian National Interest Council to implement national long-term security and economic priorities and grow Canadian strategic and economic influence
– making difficult, delayed decisions including updating the 2017 defence policy to the realities of a disrupted international order, investing in Canadian leadership in the Five Eyes alliance, and strengthening ties with new and traditional allies
– in cooperation with our Five Eyes allies, building Canadian capabilities to contribute to foreign intelligence – focused on closing present gaps in understanding international threats of economic  coercion, digital threats, and foreign interference

Arctic
The party states that shifting strategic interests and climate change are transforming issues related to the Arctic
– Russia has expanded its claim over the Canadian North and is building its military presence in the Arctic
– China has developed significant Arctic marine capacity and aims to secure critical mineral interests

The party advocates making capacity building, economic reconciliation, and sovereignty expression core priorities of the political approach to the North, by:
– making significant investments in strengthening our presence, an economic, development plan that will develop our northern resources and the jobs that go with them, and a vision for northern infrastructure that will connect our north to the rest of Canada and the world
– partnering with the US and NATO to prevent Russia and China from dominating our Arctic, and developing our presence in the Arctic, including establishment of a NATO Centre of Excellence for Arctic Operations, conducting Arctic exercises alongside our allies, and securing the Canadian North from the seas to space.

United States
The party states that the indispensable alliance with the United States should be refreshed, and the economic and security partnership updated.  It proposes working with the US on critical issues, including North American energy security and energy transition leadership, shared infrastructure on the border and the environmentally responsible pipelines beneath it, and a North American approach to accomplish health security and economic recovery together.

To that end, the party advocates bringing a renewed and visible ambition to the success of a united Canadian-American partnership in the world, including:
– deepening our strategic partnership with the United States in the sovereignty of our northern  borders and shores, rising to the challenge posed by Russia and China’s Arctic military and economic ambitions by pursuing a shared agenda of prosperity for the people of the north, environmental stewardship, and peace
– modernizing NORAD to contend with shared threats from the seas to space, advance our shared interests across the Transatlantic alliance, and more closely partner in the world’s strategic competition
– working with the United States to provide leadership across the Americas – promoting our interests and shared values in pandemic management, economic recovery, and resistance to global authoritarians

International Communities
The party states that in order to replace virtue-signalling with an international agenda dedicated to advancing freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, it advocates:
– working with allies to address efforts by China, Russia, Iran, and others actively undermining democratic norms, institutions, and the rule of law
– advancing the idea of an International Corruption Court to prosecute the world’s worst offenders who deny progress and democracy on the backs of the world’s most vulnerable
– passing legislation mandating an Office of Religious Freedom and Conscience to elevate Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and provide advice to Canadian ministers on threats to international security, engage in diplomacy to religious communities, and inform Canadian international development programs to promote freedom, pluralism, religious co-existence, and tolerance
– renewing Canadian diplomacy at the Community of Democracies, establishing priorities that enhance democratic cooperation against rising authoritarians
– build new partners across Eurasia through the historic diplomatic relationship achieved in the Canada-Ismaili Imamat Protocol of Understanding

La Francophonie
The party states that:
– by mid-century, more than 700 million people worldwide will have French as their first language
– as a founding member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Canada can play a leading role there

To that end, the party advocates:
– fostering greater economic cooperation among democratic member countries of the OIF to help it contribute to the realignment of global trade patterns following COVID-19
– facilitating trade and investment between Canadian companies and OIF countries to grow economic ties, particularly between Canada and Africa

Commonwealth
With respect to the Commonwealth, which is an association of 54 countries, most with historic links to the United Kingdom and home to over 2.4 billion citizens over five continents, the party advocates continuing support for the Commonwealth of Learning, which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia and focuses on empowering women and children, and reducing poverty and inequality, by strengthening education in Commonwealth countries to provide affordable education to larger numbers of people using open, distance and technology-based learning

United Nations
The party advocates prioritizing Canadian interests and values at the United Nations, not pandering to the priorities of dictators and despots, including:
– opposing the world’s dictators, advocating for the most marginalized, and being a powerful voice for universal values
– mandating an audit of all Canadian positions in multilateral institutions, clearly assessing the national interests of Canada
– working with the US and other international allies to efforts to turn the International Criminal Court into a political body
– pursuing reform of the UN Human Rights Council to prohibit gross human rights abusers from becoming members, engaging regular emergency sessions to address human rights crises worldwide, and stopping the Council from unjustly singling out Israel

International Human Rights
The party states that:
– it has a long history of passion for human rights, dating at least back to Prime Minister John George Diefenbaker
– it’s commitment to fundamental human rights is central to its values.

To advance human rights and democracy, the party advocates:
– dramatic revision of supply chain legislation to meaningfully enforce Canada’s commitment not to import products made with slave labour
– making it a criminal offence for Canadians to go abroad to benefit from serious violations of human rights, such as becoming complicit in organ trafficking through receiving an organ that has been forcibly harvested
– placing limits on the ability of the Government of Canada to grant waivers permitting those complicit in or responsible for serious human rights violations to come to Canada
– requiring the Minister of Foreign Affairs to table an annual report in Parliament outlining the work of the government to protect and promote human rights and democracy
– requiring the Government of Canada to maintain a public list of prisoners of conscience of particular concern, and creating mechanisms by which citizens can petition to add names to that list
– creating an International Human Rights Advisory Committee, with representation from a broad  range of cultural and religious communities in Canada, advising the government on international human rights issues
– amending the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act to prevent Canadian development assistance that undermines international peace and security
– updating the Sergei Magnitsky Law to allow Parliament and groups of citizens to directly petition the Minister to list officials under the law and require the Minister to respond in writing to petitions that have achieved a certain threshold of support
– restoring Canadian leadership in advocating for persecuted sexual minorities in the face of repression, including speaking clearly and confidently for the inalienable human dignity of LGBTQ people and deploy resources to help their activists

China & Pacific
The party states that:
– Canada must stand up to the Communist government of China. Our quarrel is not with the people of China – part of an ancient civilization that has contributed much to humanity
– it is particularly concerned to support Chinese Canadians whose contributions to Canada are immeasurable and who are enduring an appalling rise in anti-Asian hate and discrimination
– it stands also with Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, Hong Kongers, and Chinese Christians
– instead, its issue is with China’s communist government and leadership. The communist leadership represents a clear and rising threat to Canadian interests – and our values. They’ve abducted our citizens, targeted our economy, and intimidated members of the Chinese Canadian community.

The party advocates:
– working with allies to build a “coalition of democracies” with the goal of decoupling critical parts of our supply chains from China
– recognition by the Government of Canada of the Uyghur genocide, and encouraging our allies to do the same; and banning imports that have been produced using forced and enslaved Uyghur labour
– ending policies that grant special treatment to Hong Kong, recognizing that Beijing’s decision to crack down on its autonomy eliminates the rationale for the special treatment
– supporting the people of Hong Kong fighting for freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law by supporting a “Young Talents” program to encourage young people from Hong Kong to study in Canada; waiving records of arrest, charge or conviction related to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong when processing visas; providing documentation for those fleeing Hong Kong and seeking asylum in Canada who cannot obtain documentation from Hong Kong authorities
– withdrawing from the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
– banning Huawei from Canada’s 5G infrastructure and further investigating the company’s role in providing surveillance capabilities that have been used against the Uyghur people and other persecuted minorities in China
– advising universities against partnerships with China’s state-controlled companies and organizations and prohibiting federal grant councils from participating in such partnerships.
– joining the UK proposition for a Digital 10 to protect free societies’ data and cyber sovereignty
– cracking down on China’s foreign influence operations on Canadian soil by making it clear to China’s diplomats that any involvement in intimidation or threats to anyone in Canada provides grounds to be declared persona non grata and expelled from Canada; revoking visas of Chinese nationals identified by national security agencies as conducting espionage or stealing intellectual property; revoking the licenses of China’s state-run and state-controlled broadcasters that spread disinformation
– banning senior public office holders for five years after leaving office (including former Prime Ministers, Ministers, Clerks of the Privy Council, Deputy/Assistant Deputy Ministers and Ambassadors) from employment or contracts with China’s government or an entity controlled by China’s government. The ban would include doing work through a consulting or law firm
– using Canada’s Magnitsky sanctions law to sanction China’s worst human rights offenders, and granting asylum to mainland Chinese proponents of freedom and persecuted minorities, including Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and others

Indo-Pacific
The party states that Indo-Pacific’s importance in the next century is clear, but little action has been taken to build relationships

The party advocates:
– taking steps to join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a growing operational network promoting regional security and protecting the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific

To advance the prosperity and security of Canadians through engagement with the Indo-Pacific region, including the ASEAN nations, the party advocates five pillars of engagement:
– trade and technology, including promoting the development of rules of free and open digital  trade, advancing economic opportunities with trusted partners, and removing barriers for Canadian companies
– diplomacy, including ensuring that senior ministers regularly engage Canada’s Indo-Pacific  partners with clear goals, and establishing Vancouver as a hub for Quad economic cooperation
– strategic cooperation, including adopting trade and investment policies that give democracies priority in the Canadian trade strategy, including greater practical cooperation with Taiwan, elevating Canada’s diplomatic mission in Taipei to the “Canada House” and supporting Taiwan’s participation in multilateral fora, and working with the US-Japan-Australia “Blue Dot Network” to advance Canadian economic and infrastructure partnerships for the region’s development
– Canadian energy and climate solutions, including supporting Canadian energy and energy transition leadership and a climate-conscious, clean alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative
– security, including participating alongside our allies on freedom of navigation patrols, enhancing information sharing, and pursuing joint training with Indo-Pacific partners

India
The party states that Canada and India share strong, historical bilateral relations, and that Canada is home to a large and vibrant multi-ethnic and multi-religious Indo-Canadian community over a million strong

To repair and restore ambition in Canada’s relationship with India, the party advocates:
– resuming free trade talks derailed by the current government, and concurrently pursuing an investment treaty
– proposing regular joint security exercises with India as a critical partner in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue
– pursuing a long-term strategic nuclear energy and energy transition partnership
– launching initiatives in technology, medicine, energy, and infrastructure to strengthen economic security, with clearly articulated objectives.

South Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka
The party advocates:
– promoting economic growth and partnerships
– promoting regional security and economic cooperation
– supporting financial transparency for all infrastructure and technological investments
– strengthening democratic resilience and civil society

Middle East

The party states that significant change has brought several nations in the region discovering common cause in peace and prosperity through the Abraham Accords

The party advocates:
– building and advancing a coherent agenda across the region, advancing Canadians’ security, prosperity, and values
– holding the Iranian regime accountable for its reckless nuclear ambitions, malevolent state support  of international terrorism, and human rights violations
– imposing Magnitsky sanctions on gross human rights violators, including fulfilling the motion adopted by Parliament and designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity
– engaging with Iranians promoting women’s rights, human rights, and democracy
– establishing an international Cyrus Trust supporting good relations between the peoples of the region in the areas of art, culture, academia, and civil society.
– demanding justice and compensation for families of victims of downed Ukrainian Airlines flight PS752, applying Magnitsky sanctions and pursuing legal avenues against those responsible
– building on a record of engaging the world’s Muslim-majority nations that includes appointing Canada’s first Muslim Ambassador and first Ambassador to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
– expanding support for the region’s vulnerable women, children and minorities with economic and democratic empowerment, education, and health as the basis for long term peace and security
– establishing strategic relations with the United Arab Emirates and across the Red Sea region

Israel

The party advocates:
– confirming support for Israel’s existence as a sovereign democratic Jewish state with the right to self-determination and to live in peace and security, including, in order to enhance the bilateral relationship and support Israel in the region, Canada’s Conservatives setting clear objectives to enhance economic, political, and security cooperation to benefit both countries; recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the Canadian embassy to Jerusalem; returning Canada to its longstanding policy of not singling out Israel for criticism at the United Nations and international for a
– combatting the delegitimization of Israel, including opposing the denial of the 5,000 years of  indigenous Jewish history throughout the Middle East
– opposing the International Criminal Court’s politicization and intrusion into bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
– promoting and supporting regional initiatives that foster peace between Israel and its neighbours

Palestine
To support the aspirations of the Palestinian people and a two-state solution leading to a Palestinian state, the party advocate:
– supporting the current religious status quo surrounding Al-Aqsa / Temple Mount and recognize the special role that Jordan plays in the safeguarding of Holy Sites in Jerusalem
– enhancing aid in a targeted manner in the areas of governance and institutional capacity building in support of eventual Palestinian statehood
– establishing a Canada-Palestinian Territories Trust Account at the International Monetary Fund, with the objective of providing training and economic instruments upon the arrival of a two-state solution
– investing in the economic empowerment of Palestinian women and support economic and civil society projects and an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace
– expanding trade initiatives and encourage economic cooperation between Canada and the Palestinian territories and, following the establishment of a Palestinian state, negotiating a separate free-trade agreement
– following the successful negotiation of a final status agreement, upgrading Canada’s representation to an embassy to a future Palestinian state

Transatlantic Alliance
The party states that:
– as a founding member of the transatlantic alliance, Canada needs to show leadership in securing the rules-based international order, defending shared interests, and updating the alliance
– with new threats to Canadians emerging, Canada cannot act alone and must be an engaged partner in an alliance of nations determined to succeed against emboldened authoritarians

To that end, it advocates:
– expanding and deepening economic, political, intelligence, and security relations with the Baltic states and Ukraine
– restoring Canadian eastern flank leadership within NATO on cybersecurity, energy security, and combating disinformation
– supporting Belarusian and Russian civil society in their advocacy for freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law

Ukraine

The party states that bonds between Canadians and Ukrainians can never be broken. Canada was the first Western nation to recognize Ukraine’s independence after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The party advocates:
– allowing visa-free travel for Ukrainians visiting Canada
– expanding Operation UNIFIER in Ukraine, Canada’s military training operation
– extending Operation REASSURANCE in Eastern Europe, Canada’s largest current international military operation
– restoring provision of RADARSAT-2 data to Ukraine, denied by the current government
– providing Ukraine with defensive military aid, including enhanced Canadian assistance to NATO training for Ukrainian armed forces
– provide support for Ukrainian democratic reforms to increase transparency and accountability
– greater use of Canada’s Magnitsky sanctions law to hold Vladimir Putin’s regime accountable

The Americas
The party advocates:
– working across the Americas in cooperation with the United States and the Organization of American States to restore principled leadership for development and stability
– following the global pandemic, working to rebuild economic opportunities and strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law

Specifically, the party advocates:
– working with and for the people of Central America against corruption, developing pathways for more significant economic opportunities, and supporting their democratic and geopolitical resilience
– nurturing partnerships in the Caribbean, supporting disaster risk protection and emergency management, establishing health security relationships, and strengthening cooperation on anti-money laundering and anti-piracy initiatives
– establishing strong ties with key allies across the region, including the Pacific Alliance, to build trade opportunities for Canadian businesses, with stronger Pacific partnerships for economic growth
– confronting encroaching authoritarianism threatening the peace and stability of our hemisphere, including by supporting the peaceful restoration of democracy and human rights in Venezuela and Nicaragua
– continuing Canada’s longstanding commitment to stability and economic development in Haiti
– supporting the people of Cuba in their push for the democracy and freedom they deserve

Africa

The party advocates responding to Africa’s increasing strategic importance and economic potential by implementing a strategy for long-term engagement based on partnership, not condescension, stating that the continent’s demographic vibrancy, economic growth, and strategic relevance demand a clear-eyed plan to advance Canadian interests

Specifically, the party advocates:
– fully engaging the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’s opportunities, particularly in infrastructure, energy transition, technology, minerals, and food security partnerships
– working with partners in supporting East Africa with data and infrastructure development
– pursuing a security partnership with the African Union, focussed on delivering stability and intelligence sharing in the Sahel
– establishing a long-term strategic outlook with key African nations like Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire and Morocco

International Development
The party advocates introducing accountability to the nation’s international development assistance, prioritizing the economic performance and growth of Canada’s development partners. It advocates reforming, not reducing, international development assistance – maintaining current aid levels while increasing the effectiveness of Canadian aid and expanding engagement with the Canadian development sector, the private sector, and diaspora communities.

To promote peace and security, the party advocates:
– while maintaining a clear commitment to delivering untied aid, ensuring that national aid policy advances Canada’s national interests and values and delivers concrete results, prioritizing regimes and states that confront corruption
– aligning international development with Canadian peace and security priorities, by ensuring that Canadian development assistance will not advance the Communist Party of China’s Belt and Road Initiative; amending the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act so that aid dollars do not support the interests of hostile regimes
– supporting young people at risk of radicalization through Canadian leadership that prioritizes justice, democracy, and pro-pluralism education, as a defining feature of promoting development outcomes and improving global security, including proactively advocating for and invest in education programs that emphasize inclusion, pluralism, and human rights, inspired by local narratives and traditions; defunding programs aligned against Canadian values (including those delivered by UNRWA unless it is significantly reformed) and replacing them with new education initiatives that uphold universal human dignity, pluralism, and peaceful coexistence; partnering with and scaling local civil society to deliver leadership, integrity, and teamwork skills to young people and supporting reforms in policing and justice systems that strengthen the rule of law, ensure the provision of justice to the world’s most marginalized, and provide the most vulnerable with the security they require to better their conditions
– as a part of efforts to advance justice, placing a significant focus on combating extremism, human trafficking and the use of child soldiers, and abolishing all forms of modern-day slavery
– launching strategic partnerships in international development with regional allies where combined efforts and complementary strengths multiply impact, including engagement with the Blue Dot and Clean networks in real and digital infrastructure
– legislating a $250 million allocation from Canada’s annual International Assistance Envelope to build resilience in fragile democracies, including endowments for bilateral democracy programs, offering training, resources, and support to those confronting authoritarians and fighting for the success of their democracies

Global Food Security
The party states that:
– addressing the food security needs of people worldwide is a critical part of international development and security, requiring both short and long-term approaches
– Canada’s agricultural producers can be indispensable partners for developing countries in humanitarian assistance, experience, and technologies
– it will prioritize establishing resilient and sustainable food supplies for the most vulnerable

To that end, the party advocates:
– strengthening national support for long-term agricultural development through partnerships, technology and information sharing, and training with producers in emerging economies
– identifying, establishing, and building coalitions in strategic locations worldwide that can cooperate on developing a global network of food security infrastructure which Canadian organizations can contribute to building and stocking

Removing Regulatory Barriers
The party advocates reform of onerous “Direction and Control” regulation, ensuring accountability for spending without requiring projects in developing countries to be directly controlled by Canadian charities, thereby allowing Canadian organizations to develop respectful partnerships with organizations working on the ground in developing countries and reduce aid dependency by transferring administrative and control functions to empower local people and organizations.

Emergency Humanitarian Assistance
To meet short-term needs during disasters, the party advocates support for innovation in humanitarian assistance, delivering the greatest quantity of life-saving goods at the lowest possible cost-per-unit, and intelligently supporting long-term recovery and growth, including deployment of a “Canadian Innovation Relief” program to utilize Made in Canada solutions during international disaster response operations.

Development Finance, Innovation & Sustainable Growth
The party believes that job creation is the best antidote to poverty and that economic prosperity reduces international conflict.  To that end, the party advocates, while maintaining a strong and clear commitment to international development, partnering with Canadians to create new tools that maximize economic growth, including:
– building markets and diaspora partnerships for poverty alleviation and economic development
– partnering with diaspora communities in Canada in financing and improving development impact, including scaling of the developmental impact of remittances, and the greater use of market-based financing vehicles
– ending the fragmented manner in which national development finance institutions are managed, and instead consolidating efforts in a Canada Development Finance Corporation
– implementing a “Post-Pandemic Compact for Growth Plan.” As the world emerges from the pandemic, now is the time to leverage investment, innovation and infrastructure around vaccine distribution and long-term health security in the poorest, most disadvantaged regions of the world

Arctic Sovereignty
The party states that the Canadian arctic is subject to both territorial threat from Russia and environmental damage from increased commercial traffic

To defend national arctic sovereignty, the party advocates:
– expanding the Canadian Rangers in number and mandate while making investments in their preparedness, equipment, and training
– refurbishing and expanding RCAF Forward Operation Locations and allowing civil airport authorities to co-locate and utilize runways
– completing the Nanisivik Naval Facility on Baffin Island and developing a new Arctic naval base at Churchill, Manitoba
– deploying new autonomous vehicles for Arctic surveillance operations in the air and at sea as part of a new Canadian sovereignty, deterrence, and detection strategy, with Bagotville as the main site to host the Government of Canada’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft
expanding the RadarSat constellation and launch more low earth orbit satellites for telecommunications and defence in the Arctic

Foreign Trade

Free Trade Agreements
Subject to its Trade War announcement above, the party advocates building jobs and promoting the nation’s commitment to human rights, the rule of law, protection of the environment, and respect for Indigenous Peoples through:
– negotiation of new trade agreements with free countries that safeguard workers’ rights and the environment, rebalancing our trade priorities away from countries like China and towards the Indo-Pacific and Africa
– ensuring that new agreements – both bilateral and multilateral – provide Canada with the ability to protect and grow critical industries
– reform national procurement rules to create a vital national interest category that must be sourced in Canada
– develop a strategy to repatriate and diversify supply chains to move them away from China
– protect Canadian intellectual property with a strengthened Investment Canada Act that includes: presumption against allowing the takeover of Canadian companies by China’s designated state-owned entities
– automatic review of transactions involving sensitive sectors such as defence, artificial intelligence, and rare earth minerals
– mandatory national security reviews
– withdrawal from the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank
-pursuing a Canada-Australia-New Zealand-United Kingdom (“CANZUK”) agreement that could include free trade and flow of capital investment between the partners; reciprocal freedom to study, live and work for citizens under expanded areas of labour coordination as agreed upon by all parties; enhanced defence and security partnerships
– building deeper ties with India as part of an Indo-Pacific strategy, including: continuing to pursue free trade with India while concurrently pursuing an investment treaty to expand upon Canadian strengths as one of the world’s largest investors in India
– pursuing a partnership with Africa’s Continental Free Trade in infrastructure, energy, and technology
– to create jobs by expanding export sales, launch a historic trade promotion effort connecting all aspects of Canadian industries with international opportunities; establishing a trade accelerator connecting all sectors of the Canadian economy with EU commercial opportunities, measuring progress in job creation and long-term economic projects
– pursuing sales of Canadian nuclear technology to help other countries reduce their GHG emissions
– engaging countries in the Middle East, including by pursuing opportunities created by a warm Emirati-Israeli peace

Emissions Reduction Technologies
The party states that although leadership begins at home, the truth remains that Canada only accounts for less than 2% of global emissions.  Canada should do its part to help other countries cut their emissions – particularly those not blessed with our wealth or resources. To that end, the party advocates:
– implementing a Liquified Natural Gas export strategy to displace coal in electricity generation, cutting emissions in half
– developing export markets for Canadian nuclear technology and uranium, to help countries generate more electricity with this zero emission energy source
– increasing exports of our cleanest resources and products to replace items made with higher pollution. For example, Canada produces aluminum more efficiently than the rest of the world and it will get even cleaner as Canadian producers continue to innovate
– exporting Canadian emissions reduction technology around the world.

National Defense

Security and Public Safety
To address national threats arising from global pandemics, great power rivalries, transnational criminal organizations, terrorism, disinformation campaigns and cyber-attacks, the party advocates:
– mandating a Minister of National Security & Public Safety with addressing data and cybersecurity, information operations, threats from foreign actors against Canadian residents, extremist financing, space and surveillance, and industry and critical infrastructure
– to prevent foreign dissemination of disinformation and influence in elections, recognizing that information warfare and influence operations do not simply target our election cycles but are a persistent threat to our entire democratic system, including establishing a permanent task force to address foreign interference that will: monitor disinformation and influence operations online and on our streets and bring together National Defence, Global Affairs, CSIS, CSE, provincial and municipal agencies, civil society, social media platforms and media
– assessing addressing threats from foreign actors against Canadian residents, including recently reported operations against diaspora communities in Canada
– working with allies and other democracies to monitor, detect, and expose foreign disinformation attacks and threats from foreign actors
– passing a Foreign Agents Registry Act requiring individuals and companies acting as agents of designated foreign principals (country, corporation, entity or individual) in a political or quasi-political capacity including lobbying, policy development, advertising, and grassroots mobilization to register. Requirements for disclosure would include the amount of payment, the nature of the relationship, and the activities performed
– making it an offence for any entity that has spent more than $100,000 in a calendar year on political activity of any kind (federal, provincial, or municipal) to receive foreign donations of any amount
– amending the Elections Act to: prohibit any entity that receives more than 2.5% of its total donations from foreign sources during the year before the writ period from advertising during the writ period or during the pre-election period; creating a positive obligation to trace all funds expended by an entity during a writ period to Canadian sources

Support for Canadian Forces Members
The party states that:
– national defensive posture must account for increasing threats in the Arctic, along our coasts, in the sea, in the air and in the cyber domain
– we have a moral duty to stand firmly behind them and give them the tools and support they need

To support CAF members, the party advocates:
– ending harassment and discrimination and making the CAF a better workplace by enhancing the participation of women, Indigenous people, and visible minorities through proactive, targeted recruitment at the community level; calling a public inquiry into harassment and discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forces and make immediate changes such as removing commanders’ access to their subordinates’ medical files; ordering a service-wide independent investigation into sexual misconduct in the military
– introducing policies to ensure future complaints are made to an external, independent body outside the chain of command, and making the CF and DND Ombudsperson an independent Officer of Parliament
– to address challenges associated with deployments and postings, being conscious of the heavy operational toll that tears military families apart and depletes Canada’s ability to deploy, only deploy our forces when they have clear and achievable missions along with the appropriate resources needed to achieve them; lengthening postings where possible to enable families to put down root; working with the provinces to help ensure that the process of moving between provinces is as seamless as possible for military families
– prioritizing recruitment and retention, including an emphasis on retraining and skills development to allow those willing to serve to continue to do so
– working with provincial governments to develop comprehensive job protection legislation that shields reservists who leave their day job to deploy
– reviving the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) at civilian universities to provide educational opportunities for youth serving their country
– harmonizing trade training in the Armed Forces with Red Seal Qualifications so that military service becomes an incubator for skilled workers who can transition easily and productively to the civilian economy

Defense Against Cyber Attacks
To ensure that Canada is prepared to defend against cyber warfare threats we face, the party advocates:
– finishing a properly funded, equipped, and staffed Canadian Armed Forces Cyber Command to defend Canada from cyber-attacks, with emphasis on reserve participation
– establishing closer collaboration between the private sector cyber industry and CAF Cyber Command
– developing capabilities for cyber operations

Alliances
To maintain alliances, the party advocates:
– updating and enhancing the North Warning System as part of NORAD and extending it to protect the entire Canadian Arctic, including our Arctic archipelagos
– reinforcing the cornerstone of Canada’s defence policy by renewing national commitment to NATO; increasing spending on national defence to move closer to 2% aspirations; expanding Canada’s contribution to NATO Baltic Sea Air Policing and NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia
– intensifying Operation UNIFIER, Canadian Armed Forces’ military training and capacity-building mission in Ukraine, supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons, and reinstating the provision of RadarSat imagery
– creating a NATO Centre of Excellence for Arctic Defence at the Resolute Bay CAF Training Centre to enhance cooperation and interoperability with allies
– ensuring active Canadian participation in NATO training missions and NATO Centers of Excellence in the areas of Cybersecurity, Strategic Communications, and Energy Security
– expanding current regional defence participation in the Indo-Pacific area by joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), an informal strategic alliance between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, frequently referred to as the ‘Pacific NATO,’ in order to secure a voice in decision making.

Military Equipment & Procurement
The party states that successful military procurement requires focused leadership at the highest levels of government

To streamline defence procurement and expedite the acquisition of military equipment desperately needed by the Canadian Armed Forces, the party advocate:
– appointing a Minister for Defence Procurement with real power to make decisions
– taking politics out of procurement and working across party lines by using the Standing Committee of National Defence for advice and input on future military procurement projects
– prioritizing procurement of a new fighter jet to replace aging CF-18s through the current open competition and getting the new fighter fleet into service as quickly as possible; remaining committed to the National Shipbuilding Strategy by proceeding with the Canadian Surface Combatants, icebreakers, Joint Supply Ships, and Coast Guard vessels; pending completion of the two Joint Supply Ships, ordering the Obelix from Chantier Davie to complement the Asterix and make Davie a full participant in the National Shipbuilding Strategy; beginning the process to replace our aging Victoria-class submarines; and procuring two armed, heavy icebreakers for the Royal Canadian Navy to contribute to our efforts to “own our north” in the face of increased Russian and Chinese Arctic activity

Veterans
To honor the sacred trust sacred trust between Canadian citizens and veterans, the party advocates:
– streamlining and coordinating the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) benefits systems, which currently do not work together well, by replacing them with a single streamlined system of benefits from enlistment through service and retirement
– ensuring financial security & transition support for injured Veterans and their families
– streamlining benefit adjudication & setting performance targets to ensure that the benefits system is focused on helping our veterans
– allowing veterans and their families to direct their care and rehabilitation
– insisting on on care, compassion, and respect in every aspect of veteran services
– ensuring that the benefits system is focused not only on compensation but on helping veterans build meaningful careers through partnerships with universities, colleges, and businesses
– empowering military doctors, who know the demands of service and the impact of injuries, to determine a service-related injury for all CAF and VAC purposes
– making fitness categories job-specific, and ensuring that those who wish to continue to serve after injury will have the opportunity to retrain in an area where they can serve
– ensuring
– ensuring a smooth transition for any CAF members who have to be medically released, including retaining them in the CAF until all the benefits and services from the CAF, VAC, and Service Income Security Insurance Plan have been confirmed and put in place
– implementing the Lifelong Disability Benefit for moderately to severely injured veterans
– making transfer to the reserves a practical and easy option and adjusting service requirements to balance the need for training with the reality of adapting to the civilian workforce
– ensuring that military families, especially spouses, are provided with sufficient support
– implementing a strategy to combat homelessness among veterans and exploring the potential for using surplus military housing to provide housing for homeless veterans
– covering the cost of PTSD service dogs for veterans and creating training standards for them
– empowering frontline VAC employees to adjudicate claims
– completing the Afghanistan War Memorial
– funding educational initiatives that teach Canadians about veterans’ service and Canada’s place in the world

Defence Industries
The party states that in view of lessons learned during the pandemic about the importance of domestic manufacturing capabilities, and noting that Canadian workers are world leaders at developing software, mobile hospitals, and other technologies and equipment for our armed forces and those of our allies, it advocates:
– identifying key defence industry capabilities and investing in them
– re-evaluating risk management measures in defence contracts that shift risk and therefore control to contractors at the expense of selecting Canadian components

Criminal Justice & Public Safety
The party states that:
– the most important job of any government is to keep its citizens safe
– Canadians have a right to be free from crimes of violence and exploitation
– Canadians demand that in addition to serving as a means to separate offenders from society, the correctional system also serve to correct, offering a pathway to a life beyond crime
– it believes both in deterrence that decisively separates those who have committed crimes from their victims and potential victims and in the potential of those who choose to permanently turn from a criminal past and work towards a future respectful of the rights of fellow citizens

Domestic Violence
The party states that
– treating those who commit domestic violence too lightly not only does a massive disservice to their innocent victims, but also puts the broader community at risk. It has been shown that criminals who commit acts of violence frequently start by abusing their spouse or partner
– it believes that the justice system should both impose tough sentences on those who assault their spouse or partner and make it easier for victims to escape their abusers and rebuild their lives

In order to protect victims, the party advocates:
– amending the Criminal Code to make it an aggravating factor at sentencing for assault where the victim is in a domestic or dependent relationship with the perpetrator
– adding a provision to the Criminal Code that specifies the offence is an indictable offence and provides for a mandatory minimum penalty of two years where the Crown can show that an offence of assault, assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm, or aggravated assault is part of a pattern of conduct with the victim, with the Crown required to give notice before trial of its intention to seek this elevated sentence
– prohibiting those under peace bond or the subject of a protective order from possessing a “firearm, crossbow, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or explosive substance, or all such thing”
– enacting Clare’s Law so that when police investigate a complaint of alleged domestic violence, they are required to notify the victim of the suspect’s relevant criminal history

To support victims of domestic violence, the party advocates:
– making it easier for women fleeing domestic violence to hide their new location from their abusers
– expanding the Canada Child Benefit by $500 per month per child for the first year and $250 per month per child for the second year for women with children living in women’s shelters to help them transition to more long-term housing
– creating a fund to incentivize educational institutions and private sector organizations to partner with women’s shelters to provide career training for the women they serve

Gang Violence
To address gang violence, the party advocates
– hiring an additional 200 RCMP officers to combat gangs and the smuggling of guns and drugs, the officers to be based in the GTA and the Lower Mainland
– eliminating the requirement for Crown Attorneys to prove that an organization is a criminal organization and requiring that the Crown to prove only that the accused is a member of such an organization, by establishing an entities list for criminal gangs
– amending the automatic detention provisions of the Criminal Code by adding: “with an offence in the commission of which violence was allegedly used, threatened or attempted and the accused had previously been convicted of for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, a criminal organization”
– amending the Criminal Code so that usage of the same firearm by two separate individuals in the commission of a crime would create a rebuttable presumption that a criminal organization committed the offences
– partnering with the private sector to create a Gang Exit Strategy program that will see the power of the private sector harnessed to give offenders the opportunity to escape a cycle of violence and start fresh in a new location with gainful employment and the support needed to leave behind a life of crime
– working with partner organizations across the country to develop and expand programs to keep youth out of gangs

Gun Violence
To keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, the party advocates pursuing smugglers, by:
– cracking down on “straw purchasing” of firearms, by amending the Firearms Act so that an individual who, on three separate occasions during a calendar year, transfers a firearm for financial consideration must have a firearms business license; amending the Criminal Code to add the following aggravating factors on sentencing: the number of firearms transferred, whether financial consideration was exchanged, and the amount of monetary consideration
– amending the Criminal Code provisions on unauthorized importing so that: it is an aggravating factor on sentencing if more than one firearm is imported otherwise than under the authority of the Firearms Act; a mandatory minimum penalty of three years applies where the unauthorized importing occurs for financial consideration

– supporting specialized enforcement against illegal firearms, including instructing CBSA and RCMP, working closely with American authorities in the United States, to target smuggling operations before illegal firearms reach the border, including by improving and expanding the RCMP contribution to the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams

To combat criminal use of firearms, the party advocates:
– amending the Criminal Code provisions on possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose to make it an aggravating factor on sentencing where an individual commits the offence while the subject of a prohibition order under the Firearms Act and had previously been convicted of an offence under that section or an offence against the person while in possession of a firearm, and to impose a sentence of from two to ten years
– amending the Criminal Code provisions on the unauthorized possession of a firearm by imposing a mandatory minimum sentence of two years if the person was the subject of a prohibition order at the time of the events giving rise to the conviction or had been previously convicted of an offence involving a firearm
– partnering with the Ontario Provincial Police to expand the Firearms Tracing and Enforcement database nationally and taking steps to ensure that all crime guns are submitted for testing and analysis and inclusion in this database, with a focus of keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals
– repealing C-71 and the May 2020 Order in Council and conducting a review of the Firearms Act with participation by law enforcement, firearms owners, manufacturers, and members of the public, and updating legislation by introducing a simplified classification system and codifying it in law so that it is clear what types of firearms fit into each category and classification decisions can be made quickly, and with the public and firearms owners having confidence that they are not arbitrary
– mandating the automatic surrender to law enforcement of firearms where an individual has been charged with an offence against the person while requiring law enforcement to return the firearms if the charge is dismissed
– amending the Firearms Act to authorize a hospital, mental institute, psychiatric clinic, or medical professional to give notice to the Chief Firearms Officer if they provide treatment for a mental illness to a person whom they reasonably believe possesses a firearm and may pose a danger to themself or others
– developing a suicide prevention strategy that encourages people – including legal firearms owners – to seek help when they need it
– amending firearms laws to ensure that no administrative expiry could lead to criminal charges or the seizure of a licence holder’s firearm(s). ° Until an expired licence is renewed, it would remain illegal for licence holders to acquire, by any means, new firearms or ammunition

Serious Crimes
The party advocates continuing against the Quebec Court of Appeal decision reducing the sentence for the Quebec City Mosque murderer and, if the law under which he was sentenced is eventually struck down, introducting new legislation to ensure that multiple murderers face more severe sentences

Human trafficking & slavery
The party advocates:
– strengthening human trafficking laws by making them consistent with the Palermo Protocol and removing the requirement to prove that a trafficker exercised fear or intimidation over a victim
– eliminating Preliminary Inquiries in cases of sexual assault to prevent the revictimization of individual victims, including children, who deserve our protection
– amending the Criminal Code to clarify that an offence takes place in Canada where, at the time of the offence, the victim was present in Canada
– implementing legislation to ensure human traffickers serve consecutive sentences for multiple human trafficking offences
– amending the Criminal Code by adding procuring offences to the list of designated offences that may be subject to the forfeiture of proceeds of crime. This will ensure that those who profit off sexual exploitation can have their profits seized, the same as drug dealers or criminal organizations
– providing $100 million over five years to support training for non-provincial police forces in the areas of:  sexual exploitation; cyber-security and online offences; and investigation of sexual offences

Critical Infrastructure
– In order to protect critical infrastructure from intentional stoppage, the party advocates amending the Criminal Code to create an offence of interference with an infrastructure facility or a public transportation system punishable by either summary conviction or indictment, depending upon the severity of the crime.

Online Incitement
The party recognizes a connection between incitement to violence, especially online, and acts of violence in Canada and other countries. To fight such incitement, the party advocates:
– amending the Criminal Code to clearly criminalizing statements that encourage violence against other people or identifiable groups, while protecting forms of speech, criticism, and argument that do not encourage violence

Natural Disasters
The party states that climate change increases the risks of fires, droughts, flooding, and extreme weather events. Canada is already demonstrably feeling the impact of this given the fact that insurance payouts due to environmental events – particularly flooding – have dramatically increased in the last 12 years. As a result, homes are becoming harder to insure, costs for insurance are going up, and maximum payouts are going down.

To build resiliency and better prepare Canada for the impacts of a changing climate, the party advocates:
– appointing a national disaster resilience advisor to the Privy Council Office, analogous to the National Security and Intelligence Advisor established after 9/11, to advise Cabinet and the Prime Minister’s Office, helping ensure that the government is prepared for future risks
– implementing a national action plan on floods, including establishing a residential high risk flood insurance program to ensure all Canadians are financially protected while avoiding future government bailouts
– devising and implementing a national climate adaptation strategy based on measurable targets; addressing provincial concerns on flood readiness while leveraging private sector solutions to reduce government exposure and spending; and addressing wildfire and drought exposure in collaboration with farmers, ranchers, and foresters
– incorporating a mitigation and adaptation lens to the government’s infrastructure investments.
– working with provinces and territories to develop a natural infrastructure plan including development of a national standard to assess the value of natural infrastructure; requiring that public sector accounting practices be updated to include a proper valuation of existing natural infrastructure; requiring incorporation of natural infrastructure into community design; and Incentives for farmers and landowners to protect and restore natural infrastructure
– investing in technology that can improve the early detection of wildfires and better predict their behaviour

The Role of Government

The party’s constitution lists, among the party’s principles, the principle of Participatory Democracy.  Specifically, the party states that:
– it strives for a democracy in which all citizens have the right to express their views, and are able to directly participate in the environmental, economic, social and political decisions which affect their lives; so that power and responsibility are concentrated in local and regional communities, and devolved only where essential to higher tiers of governance.

The party advocates:
– individual empowerment through access to all the relevant information required for any decision, and access to education to enable all to participate.
– breaking down inequalities of wealth and power that inhibit participation.
– building grassroots institutions that enable decisions to be made directly at the appropriate level by those affected, based on systems which encourage civic vitality, voluntary action and community responsibility.
– giving young people a voice through educating, encouraging and assisting youth involvement in every aspect of political life including their participation in all decision making bodies.
– commitment by all elected representatives to the principles of transparency, truthfulness, and accountability in governance.
– that all electoral systems be transparent and democratic, and that this is enforced by law.
– that in all electoral systems, each adult has an equal vote.
– that all electoral systems are based on proportional representation, and all elections are publicly funded with strict limits on, and full transparency of, corporate and private donations.
– that all citizens have the right to be a member of the political party of their choice within a multi-party system.

Stewardship & Reform

Electoral Reform
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– too many Canadians feel their votes don’t matter. They don’t trust the government to listen.
– big corporations have too much power. False information spreads too easily.
– Canada’s voting system is outdated and unfair.  A party can win total power with less than half the votes. Millions of votes don’t count.

To establish a voting system that works fairly, the party advocates:
– changing to a proportional representation voting system where every vote counts.
– letting young people start voting at age 16.
– restoring the per-vote subsidy so small parties can compete fairly with big parties.
– creating a Citizens’ Assembly to help guide these changes

Accountability & Transparency
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– government services don’t work like they should. Big international consulting companies are paid billions to do work that public servants should do. When things go wrong, no one takes responsibility.

To ensure an open and honest government, the party advocates:
– ending contracts with expensive consulting firms and rebuilding a public service that serves people well, ensuring that someone is responsible for every decision.
– strengthening rules about ethics in politics, including stopping politicians from becoming corporate lobbyists right after leaving office and protecting whistleblowers.
– reforming reform access-to-information laws and make it easier for Canadians to see how their government spends money.

Tax Reform
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– the Canadian tax system isn’t fair. Working families struggle to pay their bills. Meanwhile, big corporations hide billions in profits. The ultra-wealthy find ways to avoid paying their share.

The party undertakes to fix this unfairness, making sure everyone helps build the country’s future, including:
– making big business pay its fair share, by closing loopholes.
– addressing wealth inequality.  Too much wealth is in too few hands, threatening both democracy and the economy.  It has a clear plan to fix this: people who have gained the most from Canada must give back more. We’ll change rules that let the ultra-wealthy pay lower taxes than working people.
– improving the tax system.  Canada hasn’t updated its tax system since the 1960s. The world has changed, but Canadian tax rules haven’t. It’s time for a modern, fair tax system that fits today’s economy. When everyone pays their fair share, we can have better public services and stronger communities, and we can protect the environment for our children.

Government Programs and Services
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– too many Canadians struggle to care for their families. Parents can’t find affordable child care. Young people face huge student debts and high living costs. Working people can’t get time off to care for sick family members. Seniors worry about paying their bills.
– it believes that caring for each other makes our whole society stronger, and undertakes to make sure everyone gets the support they need.

To support people at every stage of life and make life better for all generations, the party advocates:
– creating universal early learning and child care that every family can afford.
– expanding paid leave to elder care, miscarriage, and other family needs.
– making college and university free so students can learn without going into debt.
– introducing a Guaranteed Livable Income, so no one lives in poverty.
– ensuring that skilled workers are available and properly funded, including funding more child care centers with trained early childhood educators, and helping more people train as care workers.
– supporting home care services for seniors, including creation of intergenerational cohousing for elders and youth, and ensuring that family members who care for loved ones get both financial support and workplace protection.

International Relations, Peace, & Security 

The party’s constitution lists, among the party’s principles, the principle of Non-violence.  Specifically, the party states that:
– it declares its commitment to nonviolence and strives for a culture of peace and cooperation between states, inside societies and between individuals, as the basis of global security.
– it believes that security should not rest mainly on military strength but on cooperation, sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and respect for human rights.

The party advocates:
– a comprehensive concept of global security, which gives priority to social, economic, ecological, psychological and cultural aspects of conflict, instead of a concept based primarily on military balances of power.
– a global security system capable of the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
– removing the causes of war by understanding and respecting other cultures, eradicating racism, promoting freedom and democracy, and ending global poverty.
– pursuing general and complete disarmament including international agreements to ensure a complete and definitive ban of nuclear, biological and chemical arms, antipersonnel mines and depleted uranium weapons.
– strengthening the United Nations (UN) as the global organisation of conflict management and peacekeeping.
– pursuing a rigorous code of conduct on arms exports to countries where human rights are being violated.

Emergency Preparedness
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:

The party states that:
– Canada faces more disasters every year. Fires and floods destroy communities. Supply chains break down. Disease outbreaks threaten public health.
– historically governments have only reacted after disasters strike.
– it has a better plan, including preparing for emergencies before they happen and ensuring that communities have what they need to face future crises.

To make Canada future-ready, the party advocates:
– creating a new national emergency response agency.
– building stronger infrastructure to protect drinking water and prevent floods.
– reducing wildfire risks through better forest management and fire breaks.
– ensuring that Canada can produce its own emergency supplies like vaccines and safety equipment
– building stronger communities, including helping determine where flood and fire risks are highest, assisting communities to prepare for extreme weather, ensuring that remote and Indigenous communities get the support they need, and ensuring that emergency responders have the right training and equipment.

National Defense
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– the world faces new threats. Canada must defend itself and promote peace.
– Canada needs modern defence strategies for today’s challenges. These include protecting the Arctic, stopping cyber attacks, and building national resilience to disasters.
– it advocates ensuring that Canada can protect itself while standing up for human rights around the world.

To build real security, the party advocates protecting Canadians and support our allies, including:
– strengthen Arctic and coastal security with more patrols and better equipment.
– building stronger cyber defences to protect Canadians.
– providing the Canadian Forces with the specific capabilities they need for today’s threats.
– creating a nationwide civil defence corps focused on responding to climate disasters.
– ending sales of weapons to countries that abuse human rights.

National Self-Reliance
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– to be truly secure, Canada needs to make more of what it uses. Recent events have shown the nation can’t rely too much on other countries.
– it supports Canadian manufacturing to create good jobs making essential products here at home. This includes clean technology, medical supplies, and other vital goods, and ensuring that government contracts go to Canadian manufacturers first.

Working for Global Peace
In an online policy publication presented as current as of March 2025, the party states that:
– a safer world needs countries that stand up for what’s right. Canada can lead by example.
– true security means more than military strength. It means fixing the causes of conflict.
– it advocates strengthening Canada’s role in global peace efforts and sharing national expertise in climate disaster response.
– it supports climate security and nuclear disarmament, standing up to countries that threaten democracy, and ensuring that the country’s trade deals put human rights first.

The Role and Purpose of Government
During its prior term in office the Party developed a Quality of Life Framework to be used as a guide in making policy decisions.  In Annex 4 of its 2021 Budget, the party stated that:
– the framework is inspired by the Better Life Initiative of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization based in France the grew from the rebuilding of Europe following the Second World War
– in December 2019 it directed the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance to better integrate quality of life measurements into decision-making and budgeting
– guided by conversations with experts, nations that are advanced in their thinking about well-being, provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, and feedback from Canadians themselves, officials across the government have teamed up to create a draft “made-in-Canada” approach
– the initial Canadian was publicly announced in the 2021 Federal Budget, and comprises five factors:
* Prosperity
* Health
* Society
* Environment
* Good Governance

The party further states that the Quality of Life Framework consists of a set of 84 indicators, organized into a series of domains: prosperity, health, society, environment and good governance. The Framework also includes two cross-cutting lenses which are applied across all of its domains: the Fairness and inclusion lens and the Sustainability and resilience lens.

Government Services
Among recent actions to improve the delivery of government services, the party identifies:
– accelerating claims processing and reducing backlogs for Employment Insurance (EI) and Old Age Security (OAS) through allocation of $1.02 billion to Service Canada
– reducing call centre wait times through allocation of $574 million to Service Canada and $400 million to the Canada Revenue Agency
– improving services at the border with a $137 million investment in the Canada Border Services Agency
– speeding up immigration application processing by hiring 1,250 new staff and investing in more efficient technology
– providing faster services to veterans through $115 million for Veterans Affairs Canada to reduce backlogs and retain case managers

Passport and Immigration Services
The party states that during its current term in office, in order to reduce wait times for passport and immigration services:
– it has adopted new technologies, streamlined processing, and made significant new investments, including $135 million in 2022-23 to address immigration application backlogs
– these investments have resulted in elimination of passport application backlogs and the return to pre-pandemic processing times of 10 days for in-person applications at specialized passport offices, and 20 days for applications received by mail or dropped off at a Service Canada Centre
– it has processed 5.2 million applications for permanent residence, temporary residence, and citizenship in 2022—double the number of applications processed in 2021
– it has moved more key services online, including the confirmation of permanent residence status and the introduction of online citizenship testing and ceremonies, as well as addressing backlogs of paper-based applications through digitization

Canada.ca and 1 800 O-Canada
The party states that in order to ensure quick and easy access to information on government programs and services, whether requested by telephone or internet, including more-accessible websites, it proposes to allocate $17.7 million over four years to Employment and Social Development Canada to increase capacity at 1 800 O-Canada call centres, improve Canada.ca.

Old Age Security IT Modernization
The party states that the federal government delivers more than $60 billion in Old Age Security benefits to more than seven million seniors each year, and that to ensure timely and reliable delivery of these critical benefits, it proposes  allocate $123.9 million over seven years to Employment and Social Development Canada for completion of Old Age Security IT modernization

COVID 19 Emergency Benefits
The party states that:
– in view of the need to deliver emergency pandemic benefits quickly, it was inevitable that some overpayments occurred
– moreover, in some cases the the emergency support system was abused
– it proposes allocating $53.8 million in 2022-23 to Employment and Social Development Canada to support integrity activities relating to overpayments of COVID19 emergency income supports
– it is committed to working with Canadians to recover overpayments. Those struggling with the repayment process are able to work with Canada Revenue Agency to develop a flexible repayment plan that works with their individual life circumstances

Stewardship of Office

Deficits and Debt
During its prior term in office, the party stated that:
– it anticipated annual budget deficits starting at $398.7 billion in 2020-2021, decreasing to a deficit of $33.4 billion in 2025-26, with a return to balanced budgets thereafter
– it anticipated that federal debt will remain above 50% of GDP until at least 2026, and considers that this is a relatively low national debt, with annual interest not exceeding 1.2 percent before 2026

The party reports that:
– it anticipates budget deficits of $36.4 billion in 2022-23; $30.6 billion in 2023-24; $25.4 billion in 2024-25; $14.5 billion in 2025-26; $3.4 billion in 2026-27: and a surplus of $4.5 billion in 2027-2028
– it forecasts federal debt ratios of 42.4% of GDP in 2022-23; 43.5% of GDP in 2023-24; 43.2% of GDP in 2024-25; 41.2% of GDP in 2025-26; 41.1% of GDP in 2026-27; and 39.9% of GDP in 2027-28
– Canada’s net debt as a share of the economy is currently lower than in any other G7 country prior to the pandemic, and is forecasted to remain so

Procurement
In its Mandate Letter to the Minister of Public Services & Procurement at the beginning of its current mandate, the party instructed the Minister that:
– the Ministry should leverage the government’s purchasing power to increase access to economic opportunity for a greater diversity of Canadians
– in addition, it should ensure that federal procurement practices support Canada’s transition to a green economy, including through ongoing greening of government operations and procurement of Canadian clean technology

Tax Reform
The party states that:
– up to 12 per cent of Canadians currently do not file their tax returns—the majority of whom are low-income, and would pay little to no income tax
– in fact, many of these low-income Canadians are missing out on valuable benefits and support to which they are entitled, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the Guaranteed Income Supplement
– since
– since 2018, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has delivered a free and simple File My Return service, which allows eligible Canadians to auto-file their tax return over the phone after answering a series of short questions. Canadians with simple tax situations and lower or fixed income receive an invitation letter from the CRA to use File My Return, and in the 2022 tax filing season, approximately 53,000 returns were filed using this service

To ensure more low-income Canadians have the ability to quickly and easily auto-file their tax returns, the party plans:
– to increase the number of eligible Canadians for File My Return to two million by 2025—almost triple the current number
– starting in 2024, piloting a new CRA automatic filing service that will help vulnerable Canadians who currently do not file their taxes receive the benefits to which they are entitled

 The party states that in order to promote fairness within the tax system, during its current term in office it previously:
– raised taxes on the wealthiest one per cent to cut taxes for the middle class
– permanently increased the corporate income tax rate of the largest, most profitable banks and insurance companies in Canada
– introduced a one-time, 15 per cent tax on the taxable income above $1 billion of banking and life insurer groups to help pay for the COVID recovery
– introduced a new luxury tax on private jets, yachts, and luxury vehicles
– increased to $15,000 the amount of income that Canadians can earn before paying any federal income tax
– prevented wealthy Canadians from using foreign shell companies to avoid paying Canadian tax
– limited excessive interest deductions to ensure that large companies pay their fair share.

Alternative Minimum Tax
The party states that:
– through the significant use of deductions, credits, and other tax preferences, some of the wealthiest Canadians pay little to no personal income tax in a given year
– the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is intended to ensure that the highest-income Canadians cannot disproportionately lower their tax bill through advantages in the tax system
– the AMT has not been significantly reformed since its implementation in 1986

The party proposes:
– legislative amendments to raise the AMT rate from 15 per cent to 20.5 per cent and further limit the excessive use of tax preferences. These amendments would generate an estimated $3.0 billion in revenues over five years, beginning in the 2024 taxation year
– under these reforms, the basic AMT exemption would increase more than fourfold, from $40,000 to $173,000, significantly increasing the income level necessary to pay the AMT, resulting in a tax cut for tens of thousands of middle-class Canadians, while more precisely target the very wealthy
– under these reforms, more than 99 per cent of the AMT paid by individual Canadians would be paid by those who earn more than $300,000 per year, and about 80 per cent of the AMT paid would be by those who earn more than $1 million per year

Corporate Taxes
The party states that in order to ensure that corporations are fairly taxed, and to put Canadian workers and businesses on a level playing field with global competitors, it continues to strongly support the two-pillar international tax reform plan agreed by 138 members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

Pillar One (Reallocation of Taxing Rights)
The party states that Pillar One will ensure that the largest and most profitable global corporations, including large digital corporations, pay their fair share of tax in the jurisdictions where their users and customers are located. Rules for taxation have been developed through an OECD-led process, and countries are working towards completing multilateral negotiations so that the treaty to implement Pillar One can be signed by mid-2023

To ensure that Canadians’ interests are protected in any circumstance, it proposes to advance legislation for a Digital Services Tax. It is Canada’s hope and expectation that the timely implementation of the new multilateral system will make a Digital Services Tax unnecessary

Pillar Two (Global Minimum Tax)
The party states that:
– Pillar Two, a global minimum tax regime, will ensure that large multinational corporations are subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15 per cent on their profits wherever they do business
– to function effectively, Pillar Two requires coordinated implementation by countries around the world. Recent steps taken by a number of countries to implement Pillar Two in 2024, including the members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, mean the multilateral framework for the global minimum tax regime is now being put in place
– it reaffirms its intention to introduce legislation implementing the Pillar Two global minimum tax. The primary charging rule of Pillar Two and a domestic minimum top-up tax would be effective for fiscal years of multinational corporations that begin on or after December 31, 2023. The secondary charging rule would be effective for fiscal years that begin on or after December 31, 2024. The government will continue to monitor international developments as it moves forward with the implementation of Pillar Two.

Share Buybacks
The party states that during its current term in office:
– it intends to introduce a two per cent tax on share buybacks by public corporations in Canada
– the proposed tax would apply as of January 1, 2024 to the annual net value of repurchases of equity by public corporations and certain publicly traded trusts and partnerships in Canada. A business would not be subject to the tax in a year if its gross repurchases of equity were less than $1 million
– it is estimated that this measure would increase federal revenues by $2.5 billion over five year. Importantly, it would also encourage firms to re-invest in their workers and businesses.

Fair Taxation of Dividends Received by Financial Institutions
The party states that:
– dividends that financial institutions receive on Canadian shares are not treated as business income and are effectively exempt from tax
– financial institutions rely on this treatment to lower their tax burden, which reduces tax revenues that are important to delivering benefits and services to Canadians
– it proposes to amend the Income Tax Act to treat dividends received on Canadian shares held by financial institutions in the ordinary course of their business as business income. This measure would apply to dividends received after 2023, which would increase federal revenues by $3.15 billion over five years, and by $790 million ongoing

General Anti-Avoidance Rule
The party states that:
– the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) was added to the Income Tax Act in 1988 to prevent abusive tax avoidance. If abusive tax avoidance is established, the GAAR applies to deny the tax benefit that was unfairly created. The GAAR has helped to tackle abusive tax avoidance but it requires modernizing to ensure its continued effectiveness
– it proposes to develop draft legislative proposals to strengthen the GAAR, for consultation

Accountability
To promote accountability while improving outcomes in health care, the party states that it has asked provinces to:
– ensure that new federal investments are used in addition to provincial spending, and that provinces and territories do not divert away health care funding of their own
– uphold the Canada Health Act and use new federal spending to strengthen Canada’s public health care system
– streamline foreign credential recognition for internationally educated health professionals and advance multi-jurisdictional credential recognition so that well-trained health care professionals can work wherever there is need
– improve the ways in which health information is collected, shared, used, and reported to Canadians, and adopt common data standards
– develop action plans to measure and report progress to the public, including: improved access to family health services, mental health and substance use services, supporting health care workers, and reducing backlogs and wait lists
– commit to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, including fair and equitable access to quality and culturally safe health care services

Democratic Reform
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on democratic reform.

Following the 2015 election, the party reversed a public party commitment and declined to enact any form of electoral reform.

Wisdom, Humility, and Respect in Politics
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on wisdom, humility, and respect in politics.

Provinces, Territories, & Municipalities

Equalization Payments
The party states that following consultations with provinces and territories, it proposes to renew the Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing programs for a five-year period, beginning April 1, 2024, with technical changes to improve the accuracy and transparency of the programs.

Quebec
In its Mandate Letter to the Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec at the beginning of its present term in office, the party instructed the Minister to continue to prioritize the delivery of support to small and medium-sized businesses and support job creation in communities recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Peace, International Relations
The party states that:
– as a member of the G7, G20, the Commonwealth, and La Francophonie, an important contributor to NATO, and a global supporter of democracy, equality, and human rights, Canada is a steadfast defender of the rules-based international order in an increasingly dangerous and competitive world
– Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine is the most significant threat to the rules-based international order since its creation following the Second World War. Thousands of Ukrainians have been murdered, and many millions more have been displaced. The conflict has accelerated longstanding issues of poverty, income inequality, and food insecurity in the Global South
– in response, Canada has provided critical financial and military assistance to Ukraine, worked to implement unprecedented sanctions on those responsible for the war, and the Russian economy, stepped up to support vulnerable people around the world who are feeling the effects of Putin’s barbaric invasion, and welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to Canada
– with democracy under threat from countries like China and Russia, with global progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals slowing, and with climate change contributing to instability around the world, Canada must continue to take action on pressing humanitarian, development, and security challenges—both here at home and around the world
– over the past year this has meant responding to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, providing critical humanitarian and disaster assistance in Pakistan, Türkiye, and Syria, supporting women in Iran fighting for political and human rights, and providing assistance to restore security for the Haitian people

The party further states that it has announced the following key investments to enhance the nation’s security and leadership around the world:
– $38.6 billion over 20 years to invest in the defence of North America and the modernization of NORAD
– more than $5.4 billion in assistance for Ukraine, including critical financial, military, and humanitarian support
– more than $545 million in emergency food and nutrition assistance in 2022-23 to help address the global food security crisis and respond to urgent hunger and nutrition needs
– $2.3 billion over the next five years to launch Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, including the further global capitalization of FinDev Canada, which will deepen Canada’s engagement with our partners, support economic growth and regional security, and strengthen our ties with people in the Indo-Pacific
– $350 million over three years in international biodiversity financing, in addition to Canada’s commitment to provide $5.3 billion in climate financing over five years, to support developing countries’ efforts to protect nature
– $875 million over five years, and $238 million ongoing, to enhance Canada’s cybersecurity capabilities
– delivering on a commitment to spend $1.4 billion each year on global health, of which $700 million will be dedicated to sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls
– channeling almost 30 per cent of Canada’s newly allocated International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights to support low-income and vulnerable countries, surpassing the G7’s 20 per cent target

International Finance
The party states that:
– outside of Canada, the rapid tightening in monetary policy has revealed pockets of vulnerabilities in the global banking system. In March 2023, three medium-sized regional U.S. banks—Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank—failed. In Europe, one large and systemically important bank, Credit Suisse, was also nearing failure before UBS agreed to acquire it
– while the global banking system remains well capitalized, uncertainty over the extent and magnitude of additional credit-related losses that could accrue as economies slow remains elevated. In response, financial authorities have taken a series of steps to stabilize the financial system, maintain confidence in the banking system, and limit further negative feedback into the global economy
– among its key accomplishments during its current term in office, it includes channeling almost 30 per cent of Canada’s newly allocated International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights to support low-income and vulnerable countries, surpassing the G7’s 20 per cent target.

Economic Security
The party states that:
– dependence on dictatorships for key goods and resources is a major strategic and economic vulnerability, as seen following Russia’s attempts to break European resolve by cutting off natural gas supplies. Our allies are moving quickly to protect themselves from economic extortion, which includes friendshoring their economies by building their critical supply chains through other democracies
– it proposes to do the same, working together with allies and partners to will ensure that national supply chains are not vulnerable to exploitation, and that hostile foreign powers cannot buy up Canadian industries and natural resources
– as this process continues across the world’s democracies, it can make our economies more resilient and national our supply chains with national values while protecting workers from unfair competition created by coercive states and race-to-the-bottom business practices

Foreign Trade
In its Mandate letter to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development at the beginning of its present term in office, the party instructed the Minister that:
– the Ministry’s immediate priority should be to strengthen and secure critical supply chains and advance Canada’s export diversification strategy
– the Ministry should prioritize efforts to ensure that small businesses and communities in every region of the country have the tools and supports they need to recover, to innovate and grow, to create new jobs, and to seize the opportunities afforded by economic diversification
– the Ministry should also work to design and launch the Futures Fund for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, as a key element of our plan to support a Just Transition for workers communities and industry

The party states that:
– Canada must navigate a fundamental shift in the patterns of global trade. For much of the past three decades, the global economy has become increasingly interconnected
– while economic integration lowered costs for many goods, it also built a system of global trade that was vulnerable to the disruption of critical supply chains
– for Canada and our democratic partners, the vulnerability created by dependence on authoritarian regimes for critical goods is no longer tenable. Russia’s weaponization of energy exports has forced the world’s democracies to fundamentally rethink their supply chain vulnerabilities. China currently dominates key portions of supply chains for clean technologies, including batteries
– mitigation of these vulnerabilities by the world’s democracies will require a realignment of global trade, and the shifting of critical supply chains away from dictatorships and towards democracies like our own. This process, which has been referred to as “friendshoring,” represents a significant economic opportunity for Canada and for Canadian workers

Foreign Interference
The party states that:
– Canada’s democracy and diverse population make the nation a target for hostile states seeking to acquire information and technology, intelligence, and influence to advance their own interests
– examples include foreign actors working to steal information from Canadian companies to benefit their domestic industries, hostile proxies intimidating diaspora communities in Canada because of their beliefs and values, or intelligence officers seeking to infiltrate Canada’s public and research institutions
– to protect Canadian residents from threats by foreign actors, and Canadian businesses public institutions from foreign interference, it proposes allocating $48.9 million over three to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, both for protection and for more proactive engagement with communities at greater risk of being targeted; and $13.5 million over five years, to Public Safety Canada to establish a National Counter-Foreign Interference Office

Ukraine
The party states that:
– it has supported Ukraine since the Russian invasion, and intends to stand with them for as long as it takes
– during its current term in office Canada has provided more than $5.4 billion in total aid, including financial assistance to the government and significant military support
– financial aid includes $2.45 billion in loans to the Government of Ukraine to help deliver essential services; leadership in creation of the IMF Administered Account for Ukraine, which has facilitated more than $3.8 billion in financial assistance from Canada and its international partners; €36.5 million (approximately $50 million) loan guarantee through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to facilitate support to Ukraine’s state-owned energy company, Naftogaz; and, $115 million in grant assistance to repair Kyiv’s power grid
– military contributions include more than $1 billion in military aid and equipment donations, including armoured vehicles; a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System; 39 armoured combat support vehicles; four M777 howitzers; anti-tank weapons and small arms; and, continuation of Operation UNIFIER, which has trained more than 35,000 members of Ukraine’s security forces since 2015
– other support has included $320 million in humanitarian assistance; $96 million in development assistance for Ukraine’s government institutions and civil society organizations, and to provide grain storage solutions for farmers; more than $81 million in support for demining operations, securing Ukraine’s nuclear storage facilities, and other peace and stability initiatives; and, temporarily waiving all duties on Ukrainian imports
– it is also playing a leading role in efforts to cut Russia off from the global economy and hold Putin and his hangers-on accountable for their illegal war on Ukraine. Canada’s sanctions efforts include: sanctioning more than 1,800 individuals and entities since February 2022; working with our partners in the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force to block or freeze more than $58 billion worth of assets from sanctioned individuals and entities; playing a key role in the development of price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products to deprive the Kremlin of revenues to fund its illegal war; being the first country to revoke Russia’s and Belarus’s Most-Favoured-Nation status, which reduced imports from these two countries by more than 97 per cent; implementing a new, world-leading regime to enable the federal government to pursue the forfeiture and sale of sanctioned Russian assets in Canada; playing a leading role in international efforts to ban Russian banks from the global SWIFT financial transaction processing system; prohibiting the importation of aluminum and steel products and other key goods from Russia; and, banning the exportation of a broad range of products to Russia and Belarus, including goods that could be used in the manufacture of weapons
– since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, it has offered Canada as a safe haven for nearly 200,000 Ukrainian citizens and returning Canadian permanent residents of Ukrainian origin, including through the temporary Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel, including commitments for allocation of an additional $171.4 million over three years

Foreign Assistance
The party states that:
– with human rights and the rule of law under threat from authoritarian regimes around the world, Canada has an important role to play in fighting for the values we cherish
– as a democracy, Canada has an obligation to take steps to protect the most vulnerable and help to build a safer and more prosperous world for people everywhere
– Canada is committed to improving the lives of women, girls, and vulnerable populations around the world, and to increasing international development assistance every year towards 2030. Through our Feminist International Assistance Policy, Canada has delivered high levels of international assistance

With respect to economic growth in developing countries, the party states that:
– Canada has offered preferential tariff programs to developing countries since the 1970s, to support these countries in growing their economies through the export of goods to Canada
– it proposes to update and renew the General Preferential Tariff and the Least Developed Country Tariff until 2034, and create a new General Preferential Tariff Plus. This new program will build on Canada’s progressive trade agenda and incentivize countries to adhere to international standards on human rights, labour conditions, gender equality, and climate change
– its proposal is estimated to reduce federal tariff revenues by $130 million over six years
– it is gravely concerned by the ongoing human rights violations against Uyghurs and Muslim minorities in China, as well as by the use of forced labour around the world. Given these concerns, it is important that importers address their supply chain vulnerabilities and ensure their production promotes our shared Canadian values around the world. It proposes to introduce legislation by 2024 to eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains to strengthen the import ban on goods produced using forced labour

Veterans & Defense
The party states that:
– to ensure those who serve our country in uniform continue to have the resources they need, Budget 2022 took significant action to reinforce the Canadian Armed Forces
– it also proposes decisive action to defend Canada and our public institutions from foreign threats and interference
– its defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, is committed to ensuring the Department of National Defence (DND) has stable, predictable funding. TAs a result of Strong, Secure, Engaged and subsequent funding increases, DND’s annual budget is expected to more than double over ten years, from $18.6 billion in 2016-17 to $39.7 billion

National Defence
By Mandate Letter addressed to the Minister of National Defence at the beginning of its current term in office, the party instructed the Minster that:
– the Ministry’s immediate priority was to take concrete steps to build an inclusive and diverse Defence Team, characterized by a healthy workplace free from harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct and violence, including bringing forward the necessary reforms on a priority basis to create the foundation for meaningful and lasting change in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), a vital national institution.
– it was also to continue to advance the party’s vision as set out in Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy and enhance the nation’s capabilities to anticipate and respond to threats at home and abroad. As part of Canada’s engagement with allies and partners, the ministry was to maintain Canada’s strong contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ensure continued support for United Nations peace operations, and work with the United States to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

The party states that investments in Canada’s national defence have totaled more than $55 billion over 20 years, including:
– $38.6 billion over 20 years to strengthen the defence of North America, reinforce Canada’s support of our partnership with the United States under NORAD, and protect our sovereignty in the North
– $2.1 billion, and $706.0 million ongoing for Canada’s contribution to increasing NATO’s common budget
– $1.4 billion to acquire new critical weapons systems needed to protect the Canadian Armed Forces in case of high intensity conflict, including air defence, anti-tank, and anti-drone capabilities
– $605.8 million to replenish the Canadian Armed Forces’ stocks of ammunition and explosives, and to replace materiel donated to Ukraine
– $562.2 million to improve the digital systems of the Canadian Armed Forces
– up to $90.4 million to further support initiatives to increase the capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces
– $30.1 million over four years to establish the new North American regional office in Halifax for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic
– $1.4 billion to upgrade the facilities of Joint Task Force 2, Canada’s elite counterterrorism unit

Fighter Aircraft

The party states that:
– it intends to acquire 88 F-35 fighter aircraft, at a cost of $19 billion, to play an essential role in defending Canada’s sovereignty, protecting North America, and supporting the nation’s allies around the world, with the first scheduled for delivery by 2026
– it also intends to invest $7.3 billion to modernize, replace, and build new infrastructure to support the arrival of the new F-35s. This is the first project approved under Canada’s plan to modernize NORAD

NATO Climate Change and Security Centre in Montreal
The party states that:
– at the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid, Montreal was announced as the host city for NATO’s new Climate Change and Security Centre, to bring together NATO allies to mitigate the impact of climate change on military activities and analyze new climate change-driven security challenges, such as the implications for Canada’s Arctic
– it proposes provide $40.4 million over five years, with $7 million ongoing, to Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence to establish the Centre

Veterans’ Services
The party states that in order to serve provide veterans benefits and services in a timely manner, it has, during its current term in office:
– invested more than $11 billion to enhance benefits and services, and that applications for benefits have increased by 47 per cent
– in addition, it proposes to allocate $156.7 million over five years to Veterans Affairs Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board to reduce backlogs and support service delivery across several programs and services

Criminal Justice and Public Safety
By Mandate Letter to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada at the beginning of its current term in office, the party instructed the Minister that:
– the Ministry’s top priority was to ensure that all Canadians have access to fair and just treatment before the law, including reforming and modernizing the criminal justice system, which will include work to advance strategies to address systemic racism and the disproportionate representation of Indigenous Peoples, as well as Black Canadians and members of marginalized communities
– the Ministry should  also prioritize implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and appointment of a Special Interlocutor to further advance justice on unmarked graves and address the legacy of residential schools.

Officer Well-Being
To help public safety officers deal with traumatic events and decrease their risk of post-traumatic stress injuries, the party proposes providing $16.7 million over five years to the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment at the University of Regina.

Wrongful Convictions
The party believes that under the current system, it can be too difficult, and take too long, for people who believe they have been wrongfully convicted to have their cases reviewed.  The party states that it has introduced legislation to establish an independent Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission to replace the current ministerial review process and make the process more efficient and accessible, and proposes to provide $83.9 million over five years Justice Canada for the independent Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission.

Financial Crimes
The party states that:
– serious financial crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and the evasion of financial sanctions, threaten the safety of Canadians and the integrity of our financial system. Canada requires a comprehensive, responsive, and modern system to counter these sophisticated and rapidly evolving threats
– it does not support Canada acting as a financial haven for oligarchs or the kleptocratic apparatchiks of authoritarian, corrupt, or theocratic regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, and Haiti, and will not allow the Canadian financial system to be used to clandestinely and illegally move money to fund foreign interference inside Canada
– during its current term in office the federal government has modernized Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing (AML/ATF) Regime to address risks posed by new technologies and sectors, and made investments to strengthen Canada’s financial intelligence, information sharing, and investigative capacity
– the national AML/ATF Regime must continue to be strengthened in order to combat the complex and evolving threats our democracy faces

The party proposes amendments to the Criminal Code and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) to strengthen the investigative, enforcement, and information sharing tools of Canada’s AML/ATF Regime, including:
– giving law enforcement the ability to freeze and seize virtual assets with suspected links to crime
– improving financial intelligence information sharing between law enforcement and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and law enforcement and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
– introducing a new offence for structuring financial transactions to avoid FINTRAC reporting
– strengthening the registration framework, including through criminal record checks, for currency dealers and other money services businesses to prevent their abuse
– criminalizing operation of unregistered money services businesses
– establishing powers for FINTRAC to disseminate strategic analysis related to the financing of threats to the safety of Canada
– provide whistleblowing protections for employees who report information to FINTRAC and broaden the use of non-compliance reports by FINTRAC in criminal investigations
– setting up obligations for the financial sector to report sanctions-related information to FINTRAC

In keeping with the requirements of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA), the party further proposes:
– a public consultation that will examine ways to improve Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (AML/ATF, including ways in which governments can better use existing tools to seize the proceeds of crime, and the potential need for new measures, such as unexplained wealth orders
– to counteract use of anonymous Canadian shell companies to conceal the true ownership of property, businesses, and other valuable assets, implementation of a public, searchable beneficial ownership registry of federal corporations by the end of 2023
– amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act and other laws, including the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and the Income Tax Act, to implement a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry through Bill C-42

The party also proposes:
– reviewing the mandate of FINTRAC to determine whether it should be expanded to counter sanctions evasion and will provide an update in the 2023 fall economic and fiscal update, and whether FINTRAC’s mandate should evolve to include the financing of threats to Canada’s national and economic security as part of the parliamentary review
– to strengthen Canada’s ability to respond to complex cases of financial crime, establish a new Canada Financial Crimes Agency (CFCA), and provide $2 million to Public Safety Canada to undertake this work.  The CFCA will become Canada’s lead enforcement agency against financial crime. It will bring together expertise necessary to increase money laundering charges, prosecutions and convictions, and asset forfeiture results in Canada. These actions will address the key operational challenges identified in both domestic and international reviews of Canada’s AML/ATF Regime.

Public Safety
In its mandate letter to the Minister of Public Safety at the beginning of its current term in government, the party instructed the Minister that:
– the Ministry should prioritize efforts to keep cities and communities safe, notably by investing in crime prevention programming and implementing the party’s firearms commitments
– while continuing to support the important work of law enforcement, the Ministry should likewise prioritize policing reform to address systemic racism and ensure the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) meets the needs of the communities it serves, and to ensure the RCMP continues its work to transform its culture and create a culture of accountability, equity, diversity and inclusion
– the Ministry should also take action to modernize and maintain the integrity of Canada’s borders and address complex and evolving threats, including to our economy, and protect our national security interest

Pandemics & Health Emergencies
The party states that during its current term in government:
– it has committed significant funding towards the revitalization of Canada’s biomanufacturing sector through a Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy, including up to 2023 more than $1.8 billion in 32 vaccine, therapeutic, and biomanufacturing projects across Canada, alongside $127 million for upgrades to specialized labs at universities across the country
– the life sciences ecosystem it is building is attracting major investments from leading global companies, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi

To continue its efforts, the party proposes:
– exploring new ways to be more efficient and effective in the development and production of the vaccines, therapies, and diagnostic tools that would be required for future health emergencies, beginning with consultation of Canadian and international experts on how to best organize our readiness efforts for years to come

Coast Guard
The party states that in order to carry out duties such as search and rescue and icebreaking operations, the Canadian Coast Guard operates 117 vessels and 22 helicopters

In order to support expansion of the Coast Guard fleet in coming decades, the party proposes to provide $119.6 million over five years, with $102.1 million in remaining amortization and $17.4 million ongoing, to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to reinforce the integrity of its helicopter fleet and ensure the Canadian Coast Guard has the necessary infrastructure and support to hire and train staff

Natural Disaster Response
The party states that:
– as a result of climate change, extreme weather is on the rise, often leaving behind severe damage to homes and communities
– the unique realities of natural disasters make them difficult to insure, leaving some Canadians financially vulnerable

The party proposes:
– launching, in partnership with provinces and territories, a new approach to address gaps in natural disaster insurance protection, including as a first step providing $31.7 million over three years to Public Safety Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to work with the Department of Finance Canada to stand-up a low-cost flood insurance program, aimed at protecting households at high risk of flooding and without access to adequate insurance. This would include offering reinsurance through a federal Crown corporation and a separate insurance subsidy program
– engaging provinces and territories on the development and implementation of such a program, as well as the requirements for its long-term fiscal sustainability, including cost-sharing and risk mitigation. In parallel, the Department of Finance and Public Safety Canada will engage with industry on solutions to earthquake insurance and other evolving climate-related insurance market challenges
– to raise awareness of flood potentials, providing $15.3 million over three years to Public Safety Canada to create a publicly accessible online portal where Canadians can access information on their exposure to flooding.

Crypto Assets
The party states that:
– ongoing turbulence in crypto-asset markets, and the recent high-profile failures of crypto trading platform FTX, and of Signature Bank, have demonstrated that crypto-assets can threaten the financial well-being of people, national security, and the stability and integrity of the global financial system
– to protect Canadians from the risks that come with crypto-assets, there is a clear need for different orders of government to take an active role in addressing consumer protection gaps and risks to our financial system
– it is working closely with regulators and provincial and territorial partners to protect Canadians from crypto-currency risks, including with respect to their ownership by pension plans

Border Security
The party states that:
– to promote international tourism, it proposes to expand eligibility for the Electronic Travel Authorization Program to low-risk, trusted travellers from additional visa-required countries—a service which is currently available only in Brazil. This will help make Canada a more attractive destination for trusted travellers, while allowing the government to focus resources where it matters most, such as on screening higher-risk travellers. The cost of this measure is $50.8 million over four years in forgone revenue

Asylum Seekers
The party states that:
– access to legal representation, information, and advice ensures that Canada’s asylum process is fair for everyone, and makes the process more efficient. For asylum seekers who are unable to pay for legal support, the federal government helps fund legal aid services in partnership with provinces and territories
– to that end, it proposes to provide $43.5 million in 2023-24 to Justice Canada to maintain federal support for immigration and refugee legal aid services

The Role of Government
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on the role of government in the context of the meaning and purpose of life.

Stewardship & Accountability

Fiscal Plan
The party states that:
– recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be challenging.  Canadians have scarified enough, and ordinary people shouldn’t have to pay for the recovery
– thanks to policies of prior governments, good jobs, a clean environment, quality health care, and a dignified retirement are further away than ever for many Canadians
– it is proud to have a fiscal plan that will jump-start rebuilding, while making life easier for ordinary people.
– Jagmeet and the New Democrat team are ready to make the richest pay their fair share towards the recovery, while delivering the help that people need now

Economic Recovery
The party states that:
– to build back from COVID-19, it’s essential to make investments that pay off where it counts – in communities and families. Its plan will make historic investments to jump-start economic growth, get people back to work, and make life better for everyone
– strengthening public services, creating good jobs in every community, and delivering help to those who need it most are core to its recovery plan
– its progressive revenue and spending measures will reduce in inequality and help make life more affordable for ordinary people
– in all cases, it will manage debt and deficits responsibly, borrowing when required to rebuild and defend the services that Canadians and their families rely on, and moving to balance when it is prudent to do so.  Canada’s long-run finances will be fiscally sustainable according to the PBO’s fiscal sustainability measures
– by assisting the provinces in pharmacare, health care and child care, it will help to relieve the fiscal sustainability squeeze impacting the vast majority of Canadian provinces

Revenues
The party states that:
– its approach to raising revenues will put people first, tackle the inequality crisis facing our country, strengthen the integrity of the tax system, and ensure that large, profitable corporations and the very richest pay a little bit more
– while profitable corporations benefit tax breaks, Canadian families are falling behind. It proposes to roll corporate tax cuts back to their 2010 levels, or 18%, while maintaining the small business tax rate at its current level
– for the highest income individuals in Canada (those making over $210,000), it will increase the top marginal tax rate by two points to 35 percent
– those at the very top – super-rich multi-millionaires with over $10 million in wealth – will be asked to pay more towards our shared services with a 1% wealth tax
– to make the tax system fairer and more progressive, it also propose to increase the amount of investment profits subject to capital gains taxation to 75%, the rate that was in place in 2000: 88 per cent of this billion-dollar benefit currently goes to the richest 1% of Canadians
– it will also strengthen enforcement to stop tax evaders and others who have benefited from offshore tax havens for too long, including forcing corporations to prove the economic substance of their offshore transactions, closing tax loopholes like the CEO stock option deduction, and reviewing and reprofiling tax expenditures that don’t benefit everyday Canadians
– to help address housing speculation, it advocates a 20% foreign buyers tax on purchases of residential property by foreign corporations or people who are not citizens or permanent residents

Tax Reform
The party states that:
– important government services need to be funded sustainably
– the COVID-19 pandemic has driven tax and service inequalities even deeper than before.  While millions of families and small businesses have been pushed to the brink during the pandemic, Canadian billionaires are $78 billion richer since the first lockdown in 2020 – and counting

The party advocates:
– to protect family budgets and force big corporations and big polluters to start paying what they owe, raising revenues through new, fair and progressive taxation sources to make the investments Canadians need to thrive
– to prevent profiteering during the pandemic, a temporary COVID-19 excess profit tax that puts an additional 15% tax on large corporate windfall profits during the pandemic, targeting large corporations that took publicly-funded COVID-19 wage subsidies and turned around and paid out executive bonuses, executed stock buy-backs, or paid shareholder dividends
– to make the tax system fairer and ensure that the wealthiest individuals are paying their fair share, increasing the capital gains inclusion rate to 75 percent
– boosting the top marginal tax rate two points, implementing a luxury goods tax on things like yachts and private jets, and a new wealth tax
– to ensure that large, profitable corporations are contributing to important services and infrastructure, rolling back corporate income tax cuts by three percentage points to 2010 levels
– ensuring that internet giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon pay their fair share of taxes, like other companies
– to boost the integrity of our tax system and combat tax evasion, taking measures to close loopholes that include eliminating bearer shares, compelling companies to prove the economic reason for their offshore transactions, and improving transparency on taxes paid by large corporations
– boosting compliance funding to Canada Revenue Agency’s enforcement section dealing with international and corporate taxation, to ensure that companies can’t evade new measures
– making investments to manage debt and deficits responsibly, borrowing when required to defend important services, and moving towards balance in the future when it’s prudent to do so

Electoral Reform
The party states that:
– generations of Canadians have built strong democratic institutions, but the first-past-the-post voting system is out of date and not working as well as it should.  Too often, majority governments are elected with only a minority of support, leaving many people disillusioned feeing that their voice is not being heard
– the party currently in power promised to deliver reform that would ensure that every vote, and to make 2015 the very last federal election to be held under the first-past-the-post electoral system; but once in power, it broke that promise and turned its back on progressive democratic reforms.
– to make the voting system fairer and ensure that everyone’s vote counts, it is committed to implementing mixed-member proportional representation, including establishment of an independent citizen’s assembly to recommend the best way to implement it for the next election, to ensure both local representation and a federal government that reflects the voters’ choice of parties and a referendum once voters have had an opportunity to experience the new system, to confirm their choice
– young people are increasingly engaged in the world, and many are worried about facing a future with rising inequality and catastrophic climate change: often they can see themselves paying the biggest price for the decisions governments are making today.  They should have a say in their future: if they are old enough to work and pay taxes, they are old enough to vote. It’s time to lower the voting age to 16
– to address the threat of outside interference in elections, it advocates action to combat the publication of disinformation and “fake news” online, the party advocates holding social media platforms to their responsibility to flag and remove fraudulent accounts, and to respond promptly to harassment, threats, and hate speech

Government Accountability
The party states that:
– ethical government is essential for a healthy democracy, and when people lose that trust, everyone suffers. It undermines democracy
– it advocates immediate steps to boost accountability, end insider benefits and take the influence of big money out of government
– the conflict of interest regime needs to be strong, comprehensive and impose real penalties when politicians break the rules.  It advocates tougher penalties, and a ban on cash-for-access events to prohibit government officials from accepting donations from anyone whose private interest could be benefited by their decisions
– in view of recent events, it advocates formally prohibiting corporations facing criminal charges from lobbying elected officials. Prosecutions of corporate crime must be thorough and completely independent of political interference
– it advocates working the provinces towards abolishing the Senate the Senate, which is undemocratic, unaccountable, and does not represent the people, and in the meantime preventing Senators from holding up legislation that has already been adopted by the elected Members of Parliament
– it advocates introduction of an ethical, social and environmental screen on government procurement, so that Canadians can be confident that their tax dollars are not going to pay for bribes in foreign countries, or pollution that will have to be cleaned later
– it also advocates empowering the Auditor General to review taxpayer-funded government advertising to ensure it is non-partisan

Services
The party advocates:
– restoration of door-to-door mail delivery to all communities that lost it under prior governments, and protect it against future cuts as an important service
– implementation of a service guarantee, requiring departments to establish and publish binding service standards for Employment Insurance, veterans support, Indigenous services, passports, CRA call centers, and other services

Peace and International Relations
The party believes that Canadian interests are best served by a strong and principled foreign policy based on human rights, multilateralism, and the best interests of global peace and security.

The party states that:
– it advocates standing up to China with a strong and coherent strategy to defend Canadian interests at home and abroad, including working with the nation’s allies to lead a robust and coordinated international response to China’s disregard of the rule of law, calling out human rights abuses by China, standing with Hong Kong pro-democracy asylum seekers, and providing coordinated support for those facing threats by Chinese entities in Canada
– it believes that Canada has an important role to play in helping the world’s most vulnerable. Under the current government, international assistance spending has fallen to the lowest levels in 50.  It is committed to boosting international development assistance to 0.7 percent of Gross National Income
– Canada must also do its fair share to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, including alleviating poverty, ensuring decent work, protecting the rights of Indigenous communities and supporting global peace and justice
– Canada has an important role to play in ensuring that long-term strategies are in place to strengthen health systems in developing countries, including contributing more to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to end these epidemics and support heath care systems in developing countries
– it is committed to upholding the rights of women and girls as a central purpose of foreign policy, and we will step up efforts to promote gender equality abroad with a strong international agenda to promote rights and security and access to education for women and girls, including ensuring that women have a seat at the peace table
– it advocates holding Canadian companies to a high standard of corporate social responsibility at home and abroad
– it advocates making Canada a force for peace, including support for nuclear disarmament, recommitting to peacekeeping, and make sure that Canadian-made weapons are not fuelling conflict and human rights abuses abroad
– recognizing that both Palestinians and Israelis have the right to live in safety and security, it proposes working towards a just and lasting two-state solution between Israel and Palestine that respects human rights and upholds international law.
– Canada must play an active and constructive role in advancing peace, beginning by suspending arms sales to Israel until the end of the illegal occupation
– Canada must also take a global leadership role in helping low-income countries deal with the impacts of climate change, including financing to help protect the people who are most vulnerable to climate change, as well as living up to new, robust emissions reductions targets here at home

Foreign Trade
The party states that:
– that trade is essential for national economic success
– however, trade deals should be fair, respect human rights, protect the environment, and put the interests of Canadian workers and communities first
– it supports fair trade that broadens opportunity in all areas of the country, while protecting our industries and upholding labour standards, environmental protections and human rights around the world
– it will always defend Canadian workers, protect supply management, stand up against unfair tariffs

The party advocates:
– transparency in trade negotiations, so that Canadians can clearly understand the costs and benefits of any proposed agreement and have their say before it’s signed
– direct public engagement on the expected costs and benefits of potential trade deals, as well as ensuring that all trade agreements are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
– evaluating all potential trade deals for their social, environmental and gendered impact on Canadians
– ensuring that trade agreements should have enforceable labour, human rights and environmental protections, including protection against measures that could increase the cost of pharmaceuticals, weaken cultural protections, or undermine privacy rights
– protecting Canadian businesses working to transition to low-carbon processes, and border carbon adjustments to level the playing field on imports from areas without a carbon price
– modernizing trade remedy systems and, and ensuring that trade unions have full standing in trade cases and the ability to initiate trade disputes, as is the case in other countries

National Defense & Veterans

Veterans
The party states that:
– in honour of the service they provided, Canadian veterans should be offered the best care and support possible when they come home
– previous governments have denied and clawed back benefits, taken veterans to court, and cut access to basic care, failing to improve long wait lists and leaving billions in earmarked money unspent.  Years of court cases and broken promises have deepened disappointment and mistrust among veterans

The party advocates:
– working with veterans to design a system that provides fair benefits to all veterans, including equal access to lifetime pensions
– ending backlogs and implementing high-quality, personalized service delivery by providing one caseworker for every twenty-five veterans, hiring more disability adjudicators, implementing automatic approvals for the most common injuries, and improving services that are delivered by phone and online
– providing care and support at the time of separation, and ensuring that benefits are in place prior to release from service
– to support disabled veterans and their families, expanding the caregiver allowance to include more people
– working with partners in community services and the veterans community to end veteran homelessness
– ensuring that taxes earmarked for veterans care actually gets spent on it, and automatically carrying forward all annual lapsed spending in Veterans Affairs
– making the Veterans Ombudsman fully independent so they can report transparently and directly to the public

Defense
The party states that:
– Canada’s military is responsible for three important roles – defending the nation, protecting Canadians at home, and contributing to a more stable, peaceful world through operations abroad
– during the pandemic, members of the military took on the critical role of providing care to our seniors in long term care, exposing terrible conditions that led to thousands of COVID-19 deaths
– the military currently has outdated equipment, inadequate support and an unclear strategic mandate
– it advocates ensuring that our troops have the equipment, training, and support they need to do the difficult and dangerous work they are asked to do, including ensuring that funding is adequate to support national defence and international commitments, with a renewed priority of advancing multilateral peacekeeping initiatives around the world
– it advocates bringing search and rescue response times up to international standards, and ensuring that capabilities are sufficient to meet the needs of the North
– in contracting for new military equipment, including ships and fighter jets, it will ensure maximum industrial benefits and jobs, to help ensure the survival of healthy shipbuilding and aerospace industries
– it opposes privatization of services on Canadian Forces bases
– it envisions a military where Canadian Armed Forces members can work safely, get the support they need, and count on fair policies to govern their work, including making mental health support for members and their families a priority
– it is also committed to ending sexual harassment and assault in the military.  To support survivors of sexual misconduct and address a culture of silence and impunity that extends right to the top of the chain of command, it will immediately implement the recommendations of the Deschamps Report, including establishing independent oversight and accountability for sexual harassment and assault in the military
– it will will also ensure that recruitment and retention efforts of the Canadian Armed Forces reflect the diversity of Canada
– finally, it will reform the universality of service principle to make sure that ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members are not unfairly pushed out of service

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

Public Safety & Reconciliation
The party states that:
– it believes government must work to end systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples in the justice system
– in accordance with Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action 30, 31 and 32, it proposes to remove most mandatory minimums, increase the discretion of judges during sentencing, ensure bail programs are culturally appropriate, bolster funding for community justice programs that focus on healing and restorative justice rather than incarceration, and upholding the use of Gladue principles in court proceedings
– it will work with Indigenous communities to enhance community safety and develop a First Nations justice and policing strategy including making First Nations Policing an essential service with long term, sufficient and equitable funding, while taking steps to end discriminatory policing practices like carding
– it  believes that Inuit should have control over policing in their own communities, and advocates allowing the Inuit to independently oversee policing in Nunavut, while working with the Inuit to develop a long-term strategy for recruiting and retaining Inuit and Inuktitut speakers to work in community safety roles
– it advocates upholding and strengthening the Directive on Civil Litigation Involving Indigenous Peoples, to end to costly and adversarial legal battles with Indigenous communities

Public Safety
The party states that:
– building a sense of community safety is not just about the absence of crime – It’s about making sure that everyone matters, that we address the root causes of crime, and that the justice system treats everyone fairly
– focusing on increasing social inclusion, promoting public health, ensuring food security, access to education, affordable housing and increasing youth engagement, reduces the risk of crime. But when crime threatens and safety is at risk, there’s much more that the federal government can do to protect Canadians and foster safer communities for the long term
– police accountability is an important way to make our communities safer. It’s past time to put in place robust and independent civilian oversight of the RCMP

The party advocates:
– review of the RCMP’s budget and the RCMP Act in order to ensure public accountability
– release of all use-of-force incidents by the RCMP a full review of these practices
– to end police violence, implementation of a federal use-of-force standard with a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate use-of-force, and overhauling federal police training to ensure that every officer receives robust and ongoing de-escalation, implicit-bias and cross-cultural training throughout their career
– increased investment in non-police interventions, such as mental health and addiction supports
– victims should have access to services and supports such as counselling, referrals, police and court-related services, and a voice in decisions that may impact their safety
– to deal with to national security, including foreign interference and espionage, terrorism and cybercrime, by working with international allies, enhancing real-time oversight of security services, and fully respecting the privacy and Charter rights of all Canadians, and strengthening protection for Canadians who are victims of foreign interference and threats

White Supremacism
The party states that:
– it’s time for the federal government to tackle white supremacism, terrorism and the growing threat of hate crimes targeting communities
– it advocates immediate work to ensure that all major cities have dedicated hate crime units within local police forces, and to convene a national working group to counter online hate
– to reduce the number of lives lost to gun crime, it advocates keeping assault weapons and illegal handguns off our streets, and tackling gun smuggling and organized crime
– to protect communities against gangs, it advocates ensuring community access to funding for anti-gang projects that help deter at-risk youth from joining gangs
– to address radicalization, focusing on preventing youth from falling prey to violent extremism, including through support for community-led initiatives 

Crimes & Courts
The party states that:
– Canada continues to face a justice system that is overburdened, slow and doesn’t treat everyone fairly
– it advocates restoring the independence of the judiciary by reducing reliance on mandatory minimums and allowing trial judges to have greater discretion in sentencing
– to advance reconciliation, it advocates ensuring that Gladue principles are consistently applied in court proceedings, and uphold the importance of community-based and restorative justice approaches
– it will proactively expunge criminal records for Canadians convicted of minor cannabis possession. Too many people are still burdened with criminal records for simple possession – records that affect their employment opportunities and their ability to travel
– to ensure that the most vulnerable have access to legal, it advocates increased federal funding for legal aid programs across the country

Role and Purpose of Government

The party states that its beliefs are succinctly stated in its four founding principles:
– freedom,
– responsibility,
– fairness, and
– respect.

In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– a nation must be based on a sense of belonging, of participating in a common national project, and sharing the same values. It’s only when these sentiments are widely shared that we can develop the trust and common understanding necessary for our society and institutions to function.

Fiscal Stewardship

In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– Canada’s public finances are in a disastrous state. Under the current government, spending, deficits, and the national debt have exploded. The government exploited the covid crisis to create a whole series of expensive new programs in areas of provincial jurisdictions such as daycare, pharmacare, and dental care.
– the Conservatives, NDP, Bloc and Greens all supported the Liberals’ massive covid spending and none of them is committed to reducing the size of government.
– this is utterly irresponsible. Because of this fiscal profligacy, inflation reached its highest level since the 1970s and Canadian households have seen their purchasing power dropping fast.
– when another recession hits, the federal government will be in a precarious fiscal situation and could lose control of its finances.
– moreover, no broad-based reduction in the tax burden will ever be possible when our government keeps spending more and more on everything, paying for new programs with borrowed money, and when our national debt keeps growing at an unsustainable rate.
– the government incurred massive deficits in the hundreds of billions of dollars during the pandemic years, and our national debt has more than doubled to reach a record high of $1.324 trillion (or $1324 billion) in 2025-26. These deficits were funded by money printed by the Bank of Canada, which predictably fueled inflation and forced the Bank to hike interest rates.
– instead of paying for these deficits directly with taxes, Canadians are paying them indirectly with higher prices on all goods and services, and higher interest payments on mortgages.
– even though the exceptional spending of the pandemic years is over, spending has not gone down to pre-covid levels.
– the 2024 Fall update is forecasting more deficits for the next five years. It’s very likely that these deficits will be even higher because of the uncertainty caused by the threat of a trade war with the U.S. and a recession on the horizon.
– even though Canada’s aging population will continue to weigh on public finances, the Liberals are not putting a single dollar aside for rainy days, but instead continue to spend recklessly as if there is no tomorrow.
– the current government has permanently increased the size of the federal government. The number of civil servants has exploded. According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, there were 367,772 employees in the federal public service in 2024, up from 257,034 in 2015, an increase of 43%.
– deficits and debts are nothing more than deferred taxes on our children and grandchildren. Instead of buying votes with borrowed money, a responsible government should aggressively cut spending, balance the budget as quickly as possible, and then lower taxes in a prudent manner to put money back into Canadians’ pockets.

The party advocates:
– creating a new Department of Government Downsizing that will systematically review all programs with the goal of abolishing ideologically motivated programs that promote wokism, programs whose main purpose is to buy votes, outdated and ineffective programs that don’t serve a clear purpose anymore, etc., and eliminating public sector jobs correspondingly.
– getting rid of the deficit and balancing the budget within a year after taking power.  Tens of billions of dollars in savings can be found rapidly by eliminating or drastically cutting the budgets of large programs and agencies such as corporate welfare, foreign aid, aid to Ukraine, climate change programs, the CBC/Radio-Canada and financial support to media, equalization payments, regional development agencies, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Strategic Innovation Fund, etc.
– abolishing the new federal programs created by the current government that intrude on provincial jurisdictions, including the daycare, pharmacare, and dental care programs, and eliminating all other programs that duplicate provincial programs or intrude on provincial jurisdictions, so as to focus spending on core federal responsibilities.
– cutting personal income taxes, corporate taxes, and the personal capital gains tax after the deficit has been eliminated, over the course of several budgets, as the fiscal room is found to allow it. Ending use of the our tax system for political ends and making it simpler and fairer. In particular, eliminating targeted tax measures that are inefficient and serve no compelling public policy purpose.

Provinces, Territories & Municipalities

In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– the original purpose of the system of equalization payments was to ensure that all Canadians have access to a similar level of services from their provincial government, regardless of whether they live in richer or poorer provinces, and as a way to unite the country.
– unfortunately, the program has become unfair and inefficient.  Richer provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, which do not receive payments, and whose economies are hurting due to a downturn in the oil sector, have contributed to other provinces, including Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI for decades, keeping them in a state of dependency and underdevelopment.
– equalization payments encourage recipient provinces to maintain large public sectors, keep taxes high, and intervene more in their economies, which drives out investment and lowers employment and productivity, depriving them of incentives to make their economies more competitive and develop their natural resources, because private sector growth would lead to smaller equalization payments.
– equalization payments were first introduced in 1957. The 1982 Constitution Act includes a vaguely worded commitment to “the principle” of equalization, the goal being to ensure that provinces “have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation.”
– in 2023-24, the equalization program will transfer nearly $24 billion, with Quebec receiving $14 billion, Manitoba $3.5 billion, Nova Scotia $2.8 billion, New Brunswick $2.6 billion, Prince Edward Island $561 million, and Ontario $421 million. The governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador will not receive any payments. Under the current formula, the total amount of equalization payments increases steadily, in accordance with nominal GDP, even when there is a reduction in wealth disparities among the provinces.
– equalization payments are a poverty trap.  Provinces should not be receiving equalization payments for decades, just as individuals should not be receiving welfare cheques all their lives.
– the Constitution does not commit the federal government to spend tens of billions of dollars every year on equalization; does not prescribe any specific formula; and does not define what “reasonably comparable” means.

The party advocates:
– reducing the total amount of equalization payments to provinces, and making sure that only the provinces with the greatest needs benefit from it.
– establishment of a parliamentary committee to review and make recommendations on a new formula that will avoid the welfare trap and provide poorer provinces with the right incentives to adopt pro-growth, economic policies and reduce their dependence on federal money.
– ensuring that the new formula respects the Constitution, makes provincial governments more responsible for their policy decisions, and is fair for citizens of all provinces.

Interprovincial Trade
In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– more than a century and a half after Canada’s founding, Canadians still cannot buy, sell, or work freely within their own country. In order to protect local special interests, provincial governments have adopted all kinds of measures that erect barriers to trade and labour mobility. Goods such as alcohol and agricultural products cannot be sold freely across provincial borders because of government monopolies or regulations. Nurses, accountants, or engineers have problems finding work in another province because their skills are not automatically recognized. Safety rules vary from one province to another.
– in some cases, it is easier for a Canadian company to sell its product in another country than in another province or territory.  This hinders competition and impedes growth, while forcing Canadian consumers to pay more for good sand services.
– Section 121 of the Constitution states that goods must be “admitted free into each of the other provinces.” However, in the 2018 Comeau case, the Supreme Court ruled that measures which have the effect of limiting trade are unconstitutional only if it can be demonstrated that this is their “primary purpose.” This level of proof would be extremely difficult to establish in most cases.
– according to a recent Statistics Canada study, the level of trade within Canada corresponds to what would be expected if each province imposed a 7% tariff on “imports” of goods and services from other provinces.
– a 2016 study published in the Canadian Journal of Economics concluded that interprovincial trade barriers cost Canadians roughly $100 billion in lost economic opportunities annually, equivalent to $7,500 per household every year.

The party advocates:
– reasserting the authority and leadership of the federal government on internal trade.
– use of section 91(2) of the Constitution, which gives Ottawa exclusive power to regulate matters of international and interprovincial trade, to force provinces to apply the principle of mutual recognition where applicable.
– appointment of a Minister of Internal Trade whose sole responsibility will be to conduct studies, raise public awareness, counteract the influence of special interests that benefit from interprovincial barriers, and put pressure on provincial governments to get rid of them.

International Relations
In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– the exclusive priority of the government of Canada on the international scene should be to manage our relations with other countries in order to protect and further the interests of Canadians
– however, there is a trend to dilute national sovereignty, and to favour increased international policy coordination as well as the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor countries under the supervision of the United Nations
– over the past several years Canada has signed many UN treaties, accords and compacts on issues ranging from global warming to migration and sustainable development, that tie us to this corrosive globalist agenda
– the United Nations is a dysfunctional organisation where non-democratic countries, because of their large numbers, have the most influence
– existing aid programs discourage enterprise and innovation in poorer countries, creating a cycle of dependency and helping authoritarian governments stay in power

The party advocates:
– promoting a common-sense foreign policy focused on the security and prosperity of Canadians, not an ideological approach that compromises our interests
– continuing to work closely with our allies to maintain a peaceful international order, while avoiding  foreign conflicts unless we have a compelling strategic interest in being involved
– prioritizing relations with our main trading and defence partner, and work with the Biden administration, or whoever occupies the White House, to reinforce our friendship and cooperation
– withdraw from all UN commitments, including the Global Compact on Migrations and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, that threaten our sovereignty, and reduce our presence in UN institutions to a minimum
– liberalize trade with as many countries as possible, while ensuring our security and protecting our economy from the threat of potentially hostile foreign investors
– saving billions of dollars by phasing out development aid, and focusing Canadian international assistance exclusively on emergency humanitarian action in cases such as health crises, major conflicts and natural disasters

 

Defense & Veterans’ Affairs

In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– The Canadian Armed Forces have a proud history and are one of the most capable and respected military forces in the world.
– successive governments have starved our military forces of funds, equipment and support, and broken their trust with those who made an exceptional personal commitment to put life and limb at risk in the interests of the nation.
– the backbone of any military is the character of the men and women who serve. The fastest way to demoralize and undermine a country’s military is to fail to look after injured soldiers when they return home or to provide for the families of those who did not make it back.
– until 2006, veterans injured or disabled during military service received a tax-free lifetime disability pension under the Pension Act, as determined by a veteran’s disability assessment, including support and survivor benefits for spouses and dependent children.
– the New Veterans Charter replaced those pensions with a one-time lump sum disability payout that is wholly inadequate, leaving many injured and disabled veterans in dire financial straits.
– the Parliamentary Budget Officer has calculated that the Pension for Life provides the average veteran lifetime payments less than one third of what would have been provided under the Pension Act.

The party advocates:
–recognizing and respecting the unique sacrifices of those who serve and have served in Canada’s Armed Forces, enshrining in legislation the country’s obligations to our veterans in a Military Covenant between the government and those who serve in the Armed Forces.
– reinstating the fair disability pension as previously provided for by the Pension Act. The pension will apply retroactively to 2006 and lump sum payments received since then will be treated as advance payments.
– a line-by-line review of the New Veterans Charter (including the Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act of 2011), to determine which policies and programs should be retained, simplify the system and make it easier to navigate.
– reemphasizing the legislative guarantee of the “Benefit of doubt” standard under the Pension Act.

Public Safety

Self Defense
In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– a decade of the current government’s policies has made Canada a dramatically more dangerous place. After declining for decades, crime is again on the rise and Canadians don’t feel safe anymore walking down the street at night in many cities, or even in their own homes.
– one obvious way to deter crime is to make it clear to criminals that there are laws and enforcement means in place that make it likely that they will be caught and severely punished. Another is the fear that their victims are going to defend themselves.  Any justice system grounded in morality and reason allows self-defence. In Canada, this right is, however, inconsistently applied due to the law’s complexity and imprecision.
– there have been many cases over the past years when honest citizens who defended themselves against violent assailants were themselves charged and went on trial because they used force that was not deemed “reasonable in the circumstances” and “proportionate to the perceived threat.”
– moreover, the Criminal Code specifically makes it illegal to carry and use even non-lethal devices such as pepper spray as modes of defence against potential attackers. This makes women in particular even more defenceless and prone to fall victim to aggression and sexual violence.
– Section 34 of the Criminal Code states in what circumstances individuals can use force to defend themselves or others if force is being used or threatened against them. Section 35 recognizes certain circumstances where an individual is justified in using physical force against another person to protect his or her property from being entered, taken, damaged or destroyed.
– although the Criminal Code was amended in 2013 to clarify these self-defence sections, the law remains “imprecise.” “It has been dealt with on a very uneven basis. It has been primarily driven by the individual opinions and emotions of police and prosecutors.”  A good example of this is the case of a Manitoba man who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019 after being convicted of manslaughter in the death of a person who entered his house in the middle of the night and attacked him with a knife. He took the assailant’s weapon and stabbed him 13 times. The judge said he had a right to protect himself but went beyond what was necessary for self-defence.
– condemning a person to years in prison for having made the wrong assessment of a “perceived threat,” or having used too much force to defend themselves while in a state of panic after being violently attacked, is clearly a breach of the universal human right to self-defence. Such legal proceedings can destroy a person’s mental health, family life, and livelihood, even when they are not found guilty of an offence.
– victims of robbery are typically advised to call the police and avoid any confrontation with assailants while waiting for the police to arrive. In rural areas however, police stations are often far away and it can take a long time for the police to arrive on the scene of a crime. The threat that a victim may retaliate with force is a crucial way to deter crime.
– Criminal Code regulations list pepper spray as a prohibited weapon. Section 92 of the Criminal Code makes it illegal to possess and carry pepper spray for self-defence and punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years.
– Canadians should be able to defend themselves in circumstances where they are violently attacked or are victims of robbery in their own homes, without fear of criminal charges. Everybody, and women in particular, should be allowed to carry effective means of self-defence against aggressors and rapists.

The party advocates:
– amending 34 of the Criminal Code to clarify and fortify the right to self-defence, and increasing the burden of proof necessary to charge and convict victims who used force to defend themselves against a violent attacker.
– amending section 35 of the Criminal Code to include the concept of the inviolability of one’s home, known as “Castle Doctrine,” that allows victims to use force (up to and including deadly force) to defend themselves against a violent intruder, free from legal prosecution.
– amending the Criminal Code to remove pepper spray from the list of prohibited weapons and making it legal to possess and carry it for self-defence.

Firearms
In a policy publication presented as current in March 2025, the party states that:
– the use of firearms has always been part of Canadian tradition and culture. Today, there are over 2 million hunters, ranchers, trappers, farmers, target shooters, recreational shooters and collectors who possess firearms in our country.
– however, despite this group being exceptionally law abiding and the most highly vetted segment in the Canadian population, the existing firearms legislation unfairly targets them, does not respect their property rights, and is highly arbitrary. Since 2019, the federal government has pursued a course of highly aggressive restrictions that criminalize most responsible and peaceful firearm owners. Firearm owners are currently subject to the most hostile assault on their rights in over a generation.
– in 1995, Bill C-68 created the Firearms Act, the strictest gun-control legislation in Canadian history. Its most controversial feature, the creation of a long-gun registry, was repealed in 2012. The Act continues to classify firearms into different categories for reasons which frequently have nothing to do with their function. Firearms can also be assigned new classifications at the whim of a bureaucrat. What is legal one day can become illegal the next.
– under the licensing system of the Act, the ownership of firearms has become a privilege that can be revoked or altered at any moment. Legitimate gun owners can lose their property and even have their life ruined by being criminally charged through their inaction (by not keeping their paperwork up to date for example) or due to the moving goalposts of Canadian firearms law.

The party advocates:
– protecting society from the criminal misuse of firearms and prioritizing the deterrence and punishment of criminals while providing a legal framework that protects the property rights of firearm owners and treats them with fairness and respect.
– replacing the costly and burdensome licensing system with an efficient lifetime certification system for firearms owners following mandatory vetting, safety training and testing.   To avoid criminalizing peaceful and responsible gun owners and guarantee their property rights, this system will legalize simple possession of firearms for certified Canadians as long as they use their firearms lawfully and don’t commit some other crime that would disqualify them from firearms ownership.
– requiring that all firearms categories be based on function, not on looks or arbitrary political whims, and remove restrictions which unfairly target sport shooters, but have no deterrent effect on criminals.
– repealing federal government’s 2020 and 2024 cabinet decisions to ban more than 1800 types of firearms.
– repealing Bill C-71, which imposes a set of new restrictions on licensed gun owners and businesses that sell firearms, and Bill C-21, which freezes the sale and transfer of handguns and arbitrarily adds certain types of rifles and shotguns to the list of banned firearms.
– mandating that all future changes to firearms regulation be completed through Parliament only, so that neither the RCMP nor bureaucrats are enabled to reclassify arms without the approval of Parliament.