New Democratic Party
Tom Mulcair is the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in this year’s federal election. Mulcair’s slogan has been that Canada is “ready for change”. The NDP’s general platform has been based on creating more affordable childcare, improving the public health care system, reducing fossil fuels, and creating jobs.
Mulcair promises to invest millions in creating 125 000 childcare centres and services, and making these centres and services more affordable for parents. He proposes that his experience as a Quebec cabinet minister taught him the benefits of providing affordable childcare, and points to the fact that more affordable childcare allows more women to obtain careers.
Mulcair’s stance on improving public health care is strongly centred around the care of seniors. He plans to invest in an Alzheimer’s and dementia screening plan, invest in bettering the healthcare services offered to war veterans, put more money towards improving senior and palliative care services, increase the number of health care clinics in Canada and, by doing so, open more jobs for health care providers. He also plans to make prescription drugs more affordable.
If elected, Mulcair promises to decrease Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by cutting government funding to the fossil-fuel industry. He plans to invest in clean energy, and use the clean energy industry to create more jobs for Canadians. By investing in clean energy, he plans to make homes more energy efficient. The NDP opposes the Northern Gateway project and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Along with creating more jobs for Canadians, Mulcair plans to invoke a $40 million dollar tax credit innovation and raise minimum wage.
Mulcair promises to start an immediate investigation into the growing number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.
The NDP opposes Bill C-51 and the Anti-terrorism Act.
Mulcair wants to pull Canadian military out of Iraq and Syria, as well as open Canada’s doors to Syrian refugees.
The NDP is for immigration.
Mulcair vouches to create 40,000 jobs for youth, including co-op placements and internships. He promises to change the Canada Labour Code to ensure youth are treated fairly in the workplace, and to prevent youth from being taken advantage of in internship programs. Mulcair also vows to protect young farmers by investing about $80 million to support young farmers and Canada’s long-term sustainability. In terms of tuition, Mulcair plans to invest millions of dollars into providing new grants for students, as well as slowly decrease interest on student loans.