Platform Tidbits

Sorry I have not been able to keep up on thiis as well as I would like. As you might guess it's difficult to keep up on everything from phonecalls, door-to-door, meetings, forums and interviews with the paper etc. however, suffice it to say I detect a very different attitude out there sine the last election. Most people are pleasnt and many are fearfull of Harper and the Conservatives. They do not trust him or them and I say rightly so. Most of his henchmen are former harrisite from the Ontario government and despite implying to Ontarians everything in the garden was fine left Ontario and the new Liberal Government of McGinty with almost 6 billion in debt. Now Flaherty and gang are ourkey Federal Ministers and look at what Flaherty said - don't invest in Ontario. Is that leadership? And, why would anyone believe the Tories are good manager anyway? Remember Mulroney left us with a 42 billion debt and it took us - Paul Martin to turn the ship around.

We should always remember what Tories stand for as well as their record and as the saying goes "Tory times are hard times", not to mention that Harper and gang have been the biggest spenders, told business and others they are on their own but could come up wit millions for election promises and still have produced no platform. Now we are teetering again and no contingency to tide us over the rough times ahead. harper is the most mean-spirited PM we have had; he is calculating and called this election giving the shortest time ever for a campaign so the oposition owuld have the least time to try putting out their message. Let's read Naomi Klein's book on how the right operate. their so -called tax-breaks amounted to nothing, just helped the rich since the poor can not buy mch and food is exempt. Heis the most divisive PM in history; just look at his record and what he stood for before he became PM. The rich have got richer and the poor continue to struggle to survive.

It gives me pleasure to introdue you to our platform as follows:




For Immediate Release September 22, 2008

The Liberal Party platform for families and businesses

OTTAWA – The Liberal Party’s platform will help strengthen Canadian families and businesses by providing lower taxes and investing in the Canadian economy, said Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

“A Liberal government will get the fundamentals of the economy right,” said Mr. Dion. “We will build a richer Canada by cutting taxes for all Canadian families and businesses, making them more competitive; we will build a fairer Canada by directing significant tax benefits to families with children, increasing benefits to the disabled, seniors and families struggling to achieve success; and we will build a greener Canada by targeting tax cuts to Canadians and businesses to invest in renewable, energy efficient technologies.”

A Liberal government will build a richer Canada by:

• leaving more in the pockets of Canadians by lowering the lowest- and middle-income tax rates. Lowering income taxes as much as 10 per cent for many Canadians;
• increasing the competitiveness of Canadian small businesses by lowering the small business tax rate to 10 per cent from 11 per cent. This represents a nine per cent cut in small business taxes;
• lowering the corporate tax rate to 14 per cent by 2013, making Canada one of the most competitive business jurisdictions in the world, driving the Canadian economy and creating jobs; and
• investing in the future and simplifying the tax system for post-secondary students providing most students approximately $1000 each year, and extending the $400 per month education tax credit to apprentices.

A Liberal government will build a fairer Canada by:

• introducing a new $350 refundable child tax credit that will benefit all families;
• increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors by $600 a year for low-income seniors even if they don’t earn enough to pay taxes, and by $800 a year for low-income senior couples;
• improving the employment credit for low and middle-income Canadians and putting up to $250 more into their pockets;
• making the Disability Tax Credit refundable, significantly improving the incomes of disabled Canadians with low incomes;
• finally indexing the Northern Residents Deduction so the tax benefit addresses the changing costs of Northern Canadians;
• improving the Working Income Tax Credit for low-income Canadians and help them get over the welfare wall; and
• creating a new Guaranteed Family Supplement for the poorest families with children, worth $1,225 a year more per family.

A Liberal government will build a greener Canada by:

• providing up to $10,000 in refundable tax benefits to Canadian families for investments in energy-saving retrofits to their homes. This will improve energy efficiency, contribute to the fight against climate change and save Canadians money;
• implementing an Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance rates, which will provide new tax benefits to Canadian businesses that invest in green technologies. As the price of fossil fuels rises, this tax benefit will accelerate the investment in the technologies that will improve the competitiveness of Canadian companies; and
• improving the Science, Research & Experimental Development tax credit, giving tax benefits to Canadians that innovate and build the solutions of the future.

“The Conservatives have not invested in Canadians, have not lowered income taxes or invested in innovation. That is why Canada has had the lowest growth and productivity since 1990,” said Mr. Dion.

“The Liberal Party is the only party that will lower taxes for Canadians in a progressive and effective way. Only a Liberal government will get the fundamentals right and build the economy for all Canadians.”

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Contact:

Liberal Party of Canada Press Office 613-783-8888 or Michael at 524-3839


Summary of key-points of platform.
Background
A Richer Canada
The Liberal platform stays true to the Liberal legacy of strong economic and fiscal management, including commitments to:

• Balance the budget: We will restore the $3-billion contingency fund abandoned by the Conservatives to give Canada’s government more room to maneuver in tough economic times.

• Tackle the infrastructure deficit: We will work with provinces, territories and municipalities to implement long-term funding for infrastructure that underpins our economic competitiveness and quality of life. We will help to improve our transit, our water treatment, our roads and bridges and our sports and recreational facilities so we can raise our families in healthy, vibrant cities and communities.

• Bolster the manufacturing sector: We will create a $1-billion Advanced Manufacturing Prosperity (AMP) Fund to help Canada’s manufacturing sector retain and create jobs as it transitions to a greener future.

• Provide access to post-secondary education: We will help make post-secondary education accessible to every Canadian by boosting and simplifying existing support for students, and increase investments to support research to help more Canadians succeed in the 21st-century knowledge economy.

• Promote Canadian arts and culture: We will restore the ideological cuts made by the Conservatives, defend artists from censorship, double the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts and provide needed assistance to both artists and institutions in an industry that fosters vibrant, livable cities and communities, supports innovation, helps us understand our past and imagine our future, and stimulates our economy.

A Fairer Canada
The Liberal platform also commits to building a fairer, more inclusive society by:
• Implementing the 30-50 Plan to reduce poverty: We will launch a full-scale attack on poverty in Canada, with the goal of reducing the number of people living below the poverty line by at least 30 per cent, and the number of children living in poverty by at least 50 per cent.

• Creating child care spaces: We will work with the provinces and territories to create new early education and child care spaces that are centered on the quality, universally-inclusive, accessible and developmental (QUAD) principles, giving families a real choice.

• Investing in health care: We will work to clear the bottlenecks that are currently slowing Canada’s access to health professionals, so that more Canadians will get the care they need, with shorter wait times. We will also introduce a national plan for catastrophic drug coverage that would ensure Canadians living with serious illnesses can focus on their health instead of worrying about their finances.

• Investing in new Canadians: We will reverse the irresponsible immigration measures introduced by the Conservatives last spring and invest a total of $800 million in new federal funding to deal with the immigration backlog, welcome more new Canadians, and ensure that they succeed.

• Bringing back the Kelowna Accord: We will bring back the Kelowna Accord and work in consultation with Aboriginal Peoples and provinces and territories to improve Aboriginal health, education and housing outcomes.

A Greener Canada
Building on the Green Shift plan, the Liberal platform contains measures that will:
• Help Canadians go green: We will provide up to $10,000 in direct financial support, and introduce an interest-free Green Mortgage program for up to an additional $10,000 for homeowners making eco-friendly improvements to their homes.

• Protect our health: We will introduce tough new measures to ensure Canadians have cleaner air, fresh water, non-toxic consumer products and safe food.

• Preserve our natural heritage: We will create new National Parks and Marine Protected Areas to help preserve Canada’s cherished wilderness areas and biodiversity.

Canada and the World
• Restore our independent voice of leadership: We will lead, not hinder, multilateral efforts to fight the climate change crisis and we will return to Canada’s traditional position of opposing the death penalty on the global stage.

• Recommitting to development: We will increase Canada’s international assistance contributions and restore Canada’s special relationship with Africa which has been abandoned by the Conservatives.

• Clarity and transparency on Afghanistan: We will unequivocally commit to ending the current military mission in Afghanistan in 2011 and will deliver the same message to our NATO allies who have been too often left to guess what the true position of the Conservative government is. We will carry out the remainder of the mission guided by the principles of accountability and transparency because Canadians deserve to know the whole truth about this mission.

For more details please go to Liberal.ca for platform or to see your benefits through the Green Shift go to thegreenshift.ca

Michael Cormican