With the Oct. 14 federal election just around the corner, Canada’s federal politicians are going flat out to try to ensure voters have a good idea of where the parties stand on major issues.

Here is a bird’s-eye view of the parties’ positions on key economic and regulatory matters — taxes, debt reduction, economic health and national securities regulation.

TAXES

> Conservative Party Of Canada

The Conservative Party would introduce a tax credit for first-time homebuyers of up to $5,000 of the closing costs on a home purchase. It also proposes to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15% by 2012 as part of a long-term plan to reduce federal corporate tax rates to the lowest in the G-7.

The Conservatives note that they have promised to deliver almost $200 billion in tax relief over this and the next five years. They have also created the tax-free savings account, which will be launched in January 2009. The 2008 budget extends the accelerated capital cost allowance treatment for the manufacturing and processing sector by three years on a declining basis, providing these businesses with an additional $1 billion in tax relief.

> Green Party Of Canada

The most significant policy innovation in the Green Party of Canada’s platform is to transform how taxes are collected through what is called “carbon tax shifting.” The Green Party believes that carbon emissions, along with other pollutants, should be taxed. The windfall would be used to decrease payroll taxes, allow income-splitting, support seniors and help low-income Canadians.

The Green Party is also looking to return the GST to the 6% level and use the increased tax revenue to invest in infrastructure, as well as reverse the Conservative government’s decision to eliminate the GST rebate for foreign visitors.

On the personal tax front, the Green Party wants to expand exemptions on food items and extend them to children’s clothing and books, as well as provide rebates for rural Canadians. The Greens would also eliminate income taxes for those earning $20,000 or less. On the corporate side, the Green Party proposes cutting taxes by $50 for each tonne of carbon emission reductions, to create a $100 per tonne savings (including a corresponding reduction in carbon taxes).

> Liberal Party Of Canada

The Liberal Party has introduced the Green Shift, a plan designed to cut income taxes, put a price on pollution and fight poverty. The plan would cut personal taxes by 10%, and over the next four years the Liberals would put an increasing price on the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with fossil fuels. The Liberals would also introduce the green rural credit, an accelerated capital cost allowance for investment in green farm machinery and equipment.

The Liberals would like to see a more progressive tax system so that all Canadians can become part of the solution to the climate-change crisis while protecting lower- and middle-income Canadians and more vulnerable Canadians from rising energy costs.

The Liberals would enhance the tax system for students by replacing the existing tuition and education credits with an up-front education grant payable to each student every three months at the same time as the GST credit.

> New Democratic Party Of Canada

The NDP would like to embrace fair taxation strategies that will factor in high-income earners and large corporations and allow for a better redistribution of the money needed to invest in voters’ priorities.

The NDP supports a cap-and-trade system, a model that assigns “caps” or permits to companies for the amount of emissions they can produce. The “trade” comes in when more eco-efficient firms, below their “cap”, sell their permits to those companies that are less efficient, ensuring the overall target is met. By pricing carbon through a cap-and-trade system, the NDP plans to target the 700 companies responsible for half of all emissions in Canada and have them pay their share. The system will ensure measurable annual pollution-reduction targets as well as generate much needed revenue for greener solutions.

DEBT REDUCTION

> Conservative Party

Since taking office, the Conserv-ative Party has reduced the federal debt by more than $37 billion, including $10.2 billion this fiscal year. The Conservatives’ debt-reduction program has resulted in ongoing interest savings of $2 billion per year. The party would continue the “tax back guarantee,” a plan to use interest savings from national debt repayments to reduce personal income taxes, which will continue every year.

@page_break@> Green Party

The Green Party would set a schedule to pay down the debt gradually while meeting immediate social and environmental needs. Debt reduction would increase over time but start with a modest target to permit investment in critical programs, such as the Green Plan, to avert climate catastrophe.

> Liberal Party

The Liberal Party wants to ensure the federal budget has a contingency reserve of $3 billion each year to help keep Canada out of deficit in times of economic challenges. If the $3-billion reserve is not used, the Liberals will put all of it toward debt reduction.

The Liberal Party will also invest the entire amount of any future unanticipated surplus that exceeds the $3-billion reserve into Canada’s infrastructure that needs renewal.

> New Democratic Party

The NDP would balance the books in each fiscal year and would not operate in a deficit, except in national emergencies such as a major SARS outbreak, war or a natural disaster. The NDP would institute ongoing reviews of all federal spending programs.

ECONOMIC HEALTH

> Conservative party

The Conservative Party wants to stabilize the economy by opening up sectors to foreign investment and reducing debt. It proposes to open up the regulated airline and uranium mining sectors to allow increased foreign investment but would also increase the threshold for foreign investment reviews to ensure such investments would be of net benefit to Canada.

In February 2008, Parliament passed the Conservative government’s $1-billion Community Development Trust to support communities and workers.

The Conservatives would provide $250 million for an Automotive Innovation Fund to help Canada’s automotive sector.

The party says its reductions in personal taxes, cuts in GST and its a long-term plan to reduce federal corporate tax rates to the lowest in the G-7 would produce $60 billion in permanent tax relief and contribute to Canada’s long-term economic health.

> Green Party

The Green Party proposes to increase funding for post-secondary education and to cut students’ debt burdens. Using GDP as a measure of how much money changes hands, the Green Party will measure whether an economic activity makes Canadians healthier and better educated, as well as the environment cleaner. It would introduce legislation to establish a Canadian index of well-being that would provide the federal government with better information so it could do a better job of taxation and revenue-sharing with the other levels of government.

The Green Party is also strongly opposed to all bank mergers.

> Liberal Party

The Liberal Party would like to see an economy that is environmentally sustainable and that can generate new, green technologies as well as new, well-paying, green jobs. It would create a $1-billion Advanced Manufacturing Prosperity Fund to promote a greener, more competitive manufacturing sector. It would also commit to making Canada’s fishing fleet the most modern and efficient in the world and establish the Green Fisheries and Transport Fund, a $250-million program of rebates and incentives for the latest technologies that will reduce fuel consumption and enhancements in fishing vessels.

As well, the Liberals want to expand federal support to upgrade the energy efficiency of Canadian homes, including an enriched home-retrofit program and a new green mortgages program.

They would also make major investments to support Canadian farming families by providing $1.2 billion to rural Canada and agriculture over the next four years.

> New Democratic Party

The NDP would commit $100 million a year for an expanded Canadian training and apprenticeship tax credit. It would work to halt the export of Canadian jobs overseas through new, manufacturing-friendly trade policies and it would adopt a “made in Canada” procurement policy for the federal government and its agencies. The party proposes a “new energy” economy that will create green-collar job initiatives, including grants and training for green-collar jobs, new training partnerships with governments and First Nations, and new labour market tools to measure needs and gaps in the new energy sector.

NATIONAL SECURITIES
INDUSTRY REGULATION

> Conservative Party

The Conservatives continue to support common securities regulation and will continue discussions with the provinces toward this objective. A common securities regulator need not be a federal regulator, but a truly national regulator through which federal and provincial governments work co-operatively, the party says.

The Conservatives are concerned that Canada is the only G-7 country without a national security test in its foreign investment reviews. They would like to establish a new national security mechanism in the Investment Canada Act to ensure that foreign investments cannot jeopardize Canada’s national security.

> Green Party

The Green Party has called for both a national securities regulator and tougher whistle-blower protection. There are currently 17 securities regulators across the country — one for each province and territory, plus four more specialized bodies. Each has differing rules and varying degrees of co-operation with each other.

Green Party MPs would push the federal government to work with the provinces to take steps that would make it easier for shareholders to hold firms accountable in the event of misrepresentation. Such a law was recently introduced in Ontario, and the Green Party feels that comparable laws in all provinces would promote a fair and stable investment culture in the country. The Ontario law ensures that investors will have the right to recoup losses when firms make misrepresentations in any documents and public comments, not just in proxy circulars.

The Greens say that a uniform set of regulations and enforcement will be good for Canadians, no matter where they live.

> Liberal Party

The Liberals would like to establish a national regulatory authority that is established in partnership with all provincial and territorial regulatory bodies. The provincial regulators have already come together to create a “passport” system that allows a company that registers with one authority to be traded in the others, and the Liberals would like to build further on this.

> New Democratic Party

The NDP does not support a national securities regulator and had voted against a national security regulator earlier this year. The party feels that the idea of centralizing a system in Ottawa would be an inefficient system and the NDP will continue to support the provinces in regulating securities.

The NDP would undertake an immediate top-to-bottom review of how banks, insurance companies and other financial services providers are regulated in Canada. The review would look at a number of things, including that financial institutions are properly capitalized and fully disclose risks. IE

With files from Olivia Glauberzon.