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Affordability & Childcare platforms

Here's what the Canada 2021 parties are promising.

Canada Child Benefit

We don't have any Liberal policies on Canada Child Benefit.

Conservative

Allow benefits to begin at the 7th month of pregnancy, rather than at childbirth.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Canada Child Benefit.
We don't have any NDP policies on Canada Child Benefit.
We don't have any Green policies on Canada Child Benefit.

Canada Workers Benefit

Liberal

  • Expand the Canada Workers Benefit to support ~1M additional Canadians in low-wage jobs.
  • Automatically enrol qualified Canadians in the CWB.
  • Ensure secondary earners can exclude up to $14,000 of their working income when income-testing for CWB.

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Continue to expand the Canada Workers Benefit to support about 1 million additional Canadians in low-wage jobs, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for Canada’s most vulnerable, who will be eligible for up to $1,400 a year.

Ensure that Canadians who qualify are automatically enrolled, and that the benefit is delivered on a quarterly basis.

Continue to ensure that secondary earners—mostly women—can exclude up to $14,000 of their working income when income-testing the Canada Workers Benefit, so that families can receive up to $2,400.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Conservative

  • Double the Canada Workers Benefit to a maximum of $2,800 for individuals or $5,000 for families, and pay it as a quarterly direct deposit rather than a tax refund.
  • Double the disability supplement to $1,500.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Canada Workers Benefit.
We don't have any NDP policies on Canada Workers Benefit.
We don't have any Green policies on Canada Workers Benefit.

Cell & Internet Bills

We don't have any Liberal policies on Cell & Internet Bills.

Conservative

  • Allow foreign telecommunications companies to provide services in Canada, provided Canadian companies can do the same in their countries.
  • Connect all of Canada to high-speed Internet by 2025.
  • Promote investment in comms facilities by local & regional communities & businesses.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Cell & Internet Bills.

NDP

  • Place a price cap on cell phone & Internet bills.
  • Require providers to offer a basic plan for wireless & broadband that is comparable w/ affordable plans in other countries.
  • Require companies to offer unlimited wireless data options at affordable rates.
  • Ban data caps for broadband Internet.
  • Introduce a Telecom Consumers' Bill of Rights.

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That’s why, until the industry becomes more competitive, we’ll put in place a price cap to make sure that Canadians aren’t paying more than the global average for their cell phone and internet bills.

Expanding cell coverage and delivering reliable, affordable broadband internet to every community in Canada is vital to the economic future of rural Canada and remote communities. But it has been ignored by successive governments for far too long. That’s why we believe that we need to act urgently to close the digital divide now, not ten years from now as the Liberal government proposed. We are committed to declaring high-speed internet an essential service and making sure that every Canadian has access to affordable, reliable high-speed broadband within four years. This will include taking the first steps to create a Crown corporation to ensure the delivery of quality, affordable telecom services to every community.

In addition, we’ll make sure that providers offer a basic plan for wireless and broadband that is comparable with the affordable plans that are available in other countries. To put an end to surprise bills, we’ll require companies to offer unlimited wireless data options at affordable rates, as exist elsewhere in the world, and abolish data caps for broadband internet.

And finally, to protect Canadians from unfair wireless and internet sales and services practices, we’ll introduce a Telecom Consumers’ Bill of Rights and put an end to gouging for good.

Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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We don't have any Green policies on Cell & Internet Bills.

Childcare

Liberal

  • Reduce fees for childcare by 50% next year.
  • Finalise agreements with more provinces & territories to provide $10-a-day childcare within 5 years or less.
  • Create 250K new childcare spaces.
  • Hire 40K more early childhood educators.
  • Work with Quebec to build on its childcare system.
  • Work with Indigenous partners on childcare for Indigenous children.
  • Enact federal childcare legislation.

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Reduce fees for child care by 50% in the next year.

Deliver $10 a day child care within five years or less.

Build 250,000 new high-quality child care spaces.

Hire 40,000 more early childhood educators.

Finalize agreements with all remaining provinces and territories.

Work with the province of Quebec to build on its world-class, affordable child care system, improve working conditions for educators, and create more spaces for families.

Work with Indigenous partners to ensure Indigenous children have access to culturally appropriate, affordable, high-quality early learning and child care.

Enact federal child care legislation to strengthen and protect a Canada-wide child care system.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Conservative

Convert the Child Care Expense deduction into a refundable tax credit covering up to 75% of childcare for lower income families, and pay it out over the course of the year.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Childcare.

NDP

  • Introduce legislation committing to high-quality, public childcare.
  • Provide relief funding to re-open spaces lost from COVID-19 at not-for-profit childcare centres at risk of closure.
  • Work with the provinces to build a universal, $10 a day childcare system.
  • Ensure childcare workers are paid a living wage.

Green

  • Work with governments, Indigenous communities, & the childcare sector to ensure that universal affordable childcare becomes a reality.
  • Increase federal childcare funding to at least 1% of GDP annually.
  • Eliminate GST on construction costs for childcare spaces.
  • Ensure equitable access high-quality, culturally appropriate early learning & childcare programs for First Nations, Inuit, & Métis children.

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1. Dedicate additional resources to making a universal, affordable, early learning and child-care (ELCC) system a reality

● Collaborate with provinces/territories, local communities, Indigenous communities and the child-care sector to ensure that a comprehensive short-, medium- and long-term policy road map – based on the principles of universality, affordability, quality, inclusivity, accessibility, and equity – finally becomes a reality.

● These principles will ensure a right of access for all children regardless of their parents’ work status or income levels, while at the same time allowing for regional and local adaptation.

2. Improve and strengthen parental leave

● Make parental leave more inclusive so it covers leave to care for elderly family members, leave following miscarriages and more,and more flexible and better paid.

3. Increase federal child care funding

● Immediately begin to ramp up federal child care funding to achieve the international benchmark of at least one per cent of GDP annually.

● Long-term, stable, national funding must be made available and be sufficient to meet the standards of the guiding principles. It must also be secure and predictable enough to permit the long-term planning and sustainability of the programs.

● Ensure the training, recruitment and retention of well-paid and professional staff.

4. Eliminate GST on all construction costs related to child care spaces

5. Ensure equitable access to high-quality, culturally appropriate ELCC programmes for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children

● Build on the Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care and the accompanying bilateral agreements that have been negotiated with every province and territory, as well as with the First Nation, Inuit and Métis Peoples to ensure solutions are meeting their needs.

Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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Employment Insurance

Liberal

  • Introduce a new EI benefit for self-employed Canadians, delivered through the tax system, providing unemployment assistance comparable to EI & lasting for up to 26 weeks.
  • Create an EI Career Insurance Benefit for people who are laid off when a business they've worked for 5 years closes.

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Introduce a new EI benefit for self-employed Canadians, delivered through the tax system, that would provide unemployment assistance comparable to EI and lasting for as much as 26 weeks. This could provide support of nearly $15,500 when it is needed most.

Self-employed Canadians seeking to access this benefit would only be responsible to contribute the portion they would normally pay if they were a salaried employee. Further details regarding this benefit will be developed over the coming year with the launch of this new benefit happening in January 2023.

Strengthen rights for workers employed by digital platforms so that they are entitled to job protections under the Canada Labour Code and establish new provisions in the Income Tax Act to ensure this work counts toward EI and CPP while also making these platforms pay associated contributions as any employer would.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Establish an EI Career Insurance Benefit. This benefit will be available to people who have worked continuously for the same employer for five or more years and are laid off when the business closes. The Career Insurance Benefit will kick in after regular EI ends, providing an additional 20% of insured earnings in the first year following the layoff, and an extra 10% in the second year. This will give workers up to an almost $16,900 over two years, providing significant help at a difficult time.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Conservative

  • Launch a "Super EI" with temporary expanded benefits for provinces in recessions.
  • Extend EI sickness benefits for those suffering from serious illness to 52 weeks.

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We will launch a Super EI that temporarily provides more generous benefits (75% of salary instead of 55%) when a province goes into recession (a 0.5% increase in the unemployment rate, as defined by the “Sahm Rule”). EI will return to normal levels once the recession is over, as evidenced by three months of job gains.

Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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We don't have any Bloc policies on Employment Insurance.

NDP

  • Extend EI Sickness Benefits to 50 weeks.
  • Introduce a low income supplement so no one receiving EI regular or special benefits receives less than $2K/mo.
  • Make EI available to people who have quit their jobs to go back to school, provide childcare, or protect their or their family's health.
  • Prevent government from raiding the EI Operating Account.
  • Double leave for parents of multiples.

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To help make ends meet while on EI, we’ll create a low income supplement so that no one who is relying on EI regular or special benefits to stay afloat receives less than $2,000 a month.

Particularly in the midst of a global health crisis, New Democrats know that there are circumstances where people leave a job voluntarily but still need support. That’s why we would make EI available to people who quit their jobs to go back to school, to provide necessary childcare, or to protect their health or the health of immunocompromised family members.

For many Canadians who need EI when they’re dealing with an illness, the current system falls far short and doesn’t provide the kind of help people actually need. To make sure that Canadians can count on EI when they’re dealing with a serious illness, a New Democrat government will extend sickness benefits from 15 to 50 weeks, and create a pilot project to allow workers with episodic illnesses and disabilities to access EI sickness benefits a day at a time, as they need them. This flexibility will help support those who want to continue to work while providing the seriously ill with the benefits they need.

New Democrats also understand that seasonal workers face particular challenges accessing EI. To help Canadians in seasonal industries bridge the gap between the end of EI and the start of seasonal work, we’ll bring back the former Extra Five Weeks pilot project and make it permanent, and we will restore the economic regions in the territories and PEI to their 2014 boundaries.

Parental leave should be available for all Canadian families, in the way that works best for them. Eighteen months of leave is an attractive option for many parents, but not many Canadians can afford to live on just 33 percent of their salary. New Democrats will bring in a new special leave that allows parents to take shorter parental leave at a higher replacement rate. We’ll also allow self-employed workers to opt-into parental benefits at any time before taking the leave, and move to double leave for parents of multiples.

Finally, we will also protect the EI Operating Account in law, so that future governments can’t raid it for general revenue. Premiums, which are currently at a historic low, will be frozen until the economy recovers.

Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

For Canadians facing a serious illness, we’ll make Employment Insurance work better by extending sickness benefits to 50 weeks of coverage, and creating a pilot project to allow workers with episodic disabilities to access benefits as they need them.

Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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We don't have any Green policies on Employment Insurance.

Food & Nutrition

Liberal

  • Work with provincial, territorial, municipal, & Indigenous partners, & stakeholders, to develop a National School Food Policy, working towards a national school nutritious meal programme with a $1B investment over 5 years.
  • Restrict commercial marketing of food & beverages to children.
  • Establish new front-of-package labelling to promote healthy food choices.

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Work with our provincial, territorial, municipal, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders to develop a National School Food Policy and work towards a national school nutritious meal program with a $1 billion dollar investment over five years. Introduce new restrictions on the commercial marketing of food and beverages to children and establish new front-of-package labelling to promote healthy food choices.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Conservative

Increase the maximum fine for fixing food prices from $24 million to $100 million, and introduce criminal penalties for executives.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Food & Nutrition.

NDP

Partner with provinces, territories, municipalities, & Indigenous communities to work towards a national school nutrition programme to give every child access to healthy food and food literacy skills.

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New Democrats will partner with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities to work towards a national school nutrition program that will give every child in Canada access to healthy food, and the food literacy skills to make healthy choices for life. We’ll aim to make culturally- appropriate food available to children in every community in Canada, so that all children can grow and learn.

Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Green

  • Consult with residents of northern communities on Arctic farming.
  • Work with non-profit groups to build greenhouses or hydroponic towers in northern communities.
  • Fund education programmes in nutrition & horticulture in northern communities.

GST

We don't have any Liberal policies on GST.
We don't have any Bloc policies on GST.
We don't have any NDP policies on GST.
We don't have any Green policies on GST.

Gas Prices

We don't have any Liberal policies on Gas Prices.
We don't have any Conservative policies on Gas Prices.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Gas Prices.

NDP

  • Create a Fair Gasoline Prices Watchdog to investigate complaints about price gouging.
  • Allow the Competition Bureau to proactively investigate alleged anti-competitiveness in the gasoline market.
We don't have any Green policies on Gas Prices.

Guaranteed Livable Income

We don't have any Liberal policies on Guaranteed Livable Income.
We don't have any Conservative policies on Guaranteed Livable Income.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Guaranteed Livable Income.

NDP

  • Expand income security programmes for seniors and people living with disabilities.
  • Work towards a Guaranteed Livable Income for every Canadian.

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We’ll start this work immediately by lifting every senior and person living with a disability out of poverty, and build from there until every Canadian can count on a basic livable income when they need it. This will be complimented by bold new investments in housing, health care, post-secondary education and training to set all Canadians up to succeed.

In time, New Democrats will work to expand all income security programs to ensure everyone in Canada has access to a guaranteed livable basic income. Making the creation of a guaranteed livable basic income a priority will strengthen our social safety net and finally ensure dignity, security and peace of mind for everyone in Canada.

Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Green

  • Create a comprehensive & equitable Guaranteed Livable Income for every person in Canada.
  • Payment would be set at a livable level for different regions of the country.
  • Seniors' & children's benefits would remain in place.

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1. Create a comprehensive and equitable Guaranteed Livable Income for every person in Canada.

● Building on the Market Basket Measure, payment would be set at a “livable” level for different regions of the country. The federal government would provide an initial base level subsidy across the country, and an intergovernmental body would determine and administer the necessary supplemental amounts.

● Allowing the provinces to reduce their expenditures on provincial welfare, a national Guaranteed Livable Income would liberate provincial budgets for the health budgets they have asked Ottawa to support.

● GLI would serve as a supplement for and complement to existing public services, and unlike provincial welfare regulations, would not discourage work.

● The Guaranteed Livable Income program would cover everyone, with a benefit amount gradually decreasing as other income increases. Seniors’ and children’s benefits would remain in place.

Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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Living in the North

Liberal

Reform the Nutrition North Canada program to make the program more transparent & responsive to Inuit needs.

Conservative

  • Double the residency deduction, increase the basic amount in the intermediate zone to match the northern zone, and add the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, new parts of northern Saskatchewan, and new parts of north-western BC to this zone.
  • Implement a Northern Housing Strategy.
  • Improve Nutrition North.

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• Double the residency deduction, which has not increased since 2016, to recognize the rising cost of living in the north, boost the basic amount in the intermediate zone to match the northern zone, and add the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, new parts of northern Saskatchewan, and new parts of north-western B.C. to this zone.

• Implement a Northern Housing Strategy built on:

° Providing the territories with their fair shares of federal housing funding;

° Ensuring that funding is stable and predictable; and

° Working with Indigenous groups including the Inuit, and with resource companies investing in the north to ensure that housing gets built.

• Support innovative approaches to address the crises of mental health and addiction, such as land-based treatment programs developed and managed by Indigenous communities as part of a plan to enhance the delivery of culturally appropriate addictions treatment and prevention services in First Nations communities with high needs.

• Improve Nutrition North so that it achieves the goal of ensuring that northerners have access to affordable healthy food.

Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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We don't have any Bloc policies on Living in the North.

NDP

Reform the Nutrition North programme in partnership with northern communities, to improve food security.
We don't have any Green policies on Living in the North.

Minimum Wage

We don't have any Liberal policies on Minimum Wage.
We don't have any Conservative policies on Minimum Wage.
We don't have any Bloc policies on Minimum Wage.

NDP

Put in place a federal minimum wage starting at $15/hour and rising to $20/hour, indexed to the cost of living.
We don't have any Green policies on Minimum Wage.

People with Disabilities

Liberal

  • Reintroduce a Disability Benefit Act to create a direct monthly payment for low income Canadians with disabilities ages 18-64.
  • Develop an employment strategy for Canadians with disabilities, including an investment in the Ready, Willing and Able inclusive hiring programme.
  • Create a new stream of the Youth Employment & Skills Strategy Program to support 5K opportunities/year.

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Re-introduce a Disability Benefit Act which will create a direct monthly payment, the Canada Disability Benefit, for low-income Canadians with disabilities ages 18-64.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Develop and implement an employment strategy for Canadians with disabilities. This strategy will be focused on supports for workers and employers and creating inclusive and welcoming workplaces. It will also include an investment in the Ready, Willing and Able inclusive hiring program to support individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Create a new stream of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESS) to support 5000 opportunities a year for young people. This would help young Canadians with disabilities gain the skills, experience, and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market and build successful careers.

Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Conservative

Reduce the number of hours required to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit and the Registered Disability Savings Plan from 14 to 10 hours per week.
We don't have any Bloc policies on People with Disabilities.

NDP

Work with Autistic Canadians to develop and implement a national Autism strategy to coordinate support for research, ensure access to needs-based services, promote employment, & help expand housing options.

Green

  • Work to create a Canada Disabilities Act.
  • Support a national equipment fund for equipment such as wheelchairs & accessibility tools.
  • Invest in social housing adapted as necessary to meet particular needs.
  • Provide federal health transfer payments for provinces to direct to rehabilitation.
  • Institute a Guaranteed Livable Income for people with disabilities.
  • Make the Disability Tax Credit refundable.

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● Work to create a Canada Disabilities Act (CDA) to express Canadians’ vision of a more equitable society rather than the current confusion resulting from the multiplicity of acts, standards, policies, and programs that prevail.

● Support a national equipment fund to provide equipment such as wheelchairs and accessibility tools to assist persons with disabilities with the tools needed to fully participate in work and community life (This can be a joint program with provinces – the concern is equal access and common standards).

● Invest in social housing adapted as necessary to meet particular needs, with both rental and purchase options.

● Provide federal health transfer payments to provinces and territories directed to rehabilitation for those who have become disabled, e.g. loss of limbs etc.

● Enforce the Employment Equity Act to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunity to long-term employment and advancement. People with disabilities are generally the last to find employment and the first to be laid off.

● Institute a Guaranteed Liveable Income for people living with disabilities so that none live in poverty.

● Convert the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) to a refundable credit.

● Redesign the Canada Pension Plan/Disability Benefit (CPP/D) test to incorporate the DTC definition of disability and permit employment.

Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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