Promises, promises: What the parties say on social issues

The Conservatives

promise to:

Beginning in 2017— 2018, increase annual health funding to the provinces to grow in line with nominal GDP, guaranteed to increase three per cent each year. (Current increases are six per cent annually).

Retool $2 billion per year Labour Market Development Agreements with provinces to reorient training towards needs of employers and job seekers.

Provide $65 million over four years, starting in 2016-17, to business and industry associations to allow them to work with post-secondary institutions to better align curricula with the needs of employers.

Increase the apprenticeship job creation tax credit, first introduced in 2006 to create incentives to foster skilled trades, to a maximum of $2,500, up from $2,000, and extend it to include the third and fourth years of eligible training.

Introduce a permanent home-renovation tax credit — an update to the temporary credit introduced in 2009 — costing $1.5 billion a year, but contingent on a stronger economy. Applies to $5,000 worth of renovation costs, down from $10,000 in 2009.

Have already increased the Universal Child Care Benefit to $160 a month for children under age six, up from $100; have added a new monthly benefit of $60 for children age six to 17.

The NDP promises

to:

Restore the six-percent annual increase to health-care transfers to the provinces.

Restore door-to-door home mail delivery by Canada Post for households that lost it under Conservative government.

Reinstate the mandatory long-form census, which the government replaced with the voluntary National Household Survey.

Honour the expanded Universal Child Care Benefit.

Create $15-a-day national child care program, and create or maintain one million affordable child care spaces across Canada.

The Liberals promise

to:

Strengthen the federal government’s role in safeguarding the national health-care system; meet with the premiers on how to improve the system in areas such as wait times, affordability of prescription drugs, and availability of homecare.

Restore door-to-door home mail delivery by Canada Post.

Reinstate the long-form census and make Statistics Canada independent.

Introduce a new incometested, tax-free monthly Canada Child Benefit that would boost payments to all families with children and annual income below $150,000.

The Greens promise

to:

Ban unpaid internships. Boost access to apprentice programs in key trades such as electrical, plumbing, carpentry, pipefitting, welding and others.

Develop a Youth Community and Environment Service Corps that will provide federal minimum wage employment for 40,000 youth aged 1825 every year for four years, at a cost of $1.25 billion a year; a $4,000 tuition credit awarded to each participant, at the successful completion of each yearlong program, that can be applied to further education and training.