Goodbye F- 35s, hello marijuana

The National Post’s Graeme Hamilton rounds up five things that are likely to be priorities for a new Liberal government

1 Tax cut for the middle class Leader Justin Trudeau said a Liberal government’s first piece of legislation would cut income taxes for Canadians earning between $ 45,000 and $ 89,000 a year. The promised reduction in the middle income tax bracket to 20.5 per cent from 22 per cent would reduce the annual tax burden by up to $ 670 per person, the party platform says. But in order to cover the projected loss of tax revenue the Liberals are asking “the wealthiest one per cent of Canadians to give a little more.” A new federal tax bracket of 33 per cent for people making more than $ 200,000 a year would push the combined federal- provincial income tax rate above 50 per cent in some provinces for the wealthiest.

2 Syrian refugees Trudeau accused Stephen Harper of not doing enough to help migrants fleeing Syria. While the Conservatives set a target of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees by next September, the Liberals promised to up that to 25,000, beginning immediately. The platform promises to spend $ 250 million, including $ 100 million in the current fiscal year, “to increase refugee processing, as well as sponsorship and settlement services capacity in Canada.”

3 Marijuana The Liberals are promising to legalize marijuana, arguing that the current system “does not prevent young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug.” Trudeau has promised to get to work on the changes “right away” if elected, but he could not offer a firm timeline. “We don’t yet know exactly what rate we’re going to be taxing it, how we’re going to control it, or whether it will happen in the first months, within the first year, or whether it’s going to take a year or two to kick in,” he said.

4 Missing and murdered indigenous women The Liberal platform promises to “immediately launch a national public inquiry” into the killings and disappearances of indigenous women and girls. “We need to get justice for the victims. We need healing for the ( families),” Trudeau told a town hall hosted by VICE Canada this month.

5 Fighter jets The Liberals have promised to cancel the Conservative purchase of F- 35 jets, expected to cost $ 44 billion over the jets’ four- decade life cycle. “We will immediately launch an open and transparent competition to replace the CF- 18 fighter aircraft,” the platform says.