Trump trade war shouldn’t be Canadians ‘burden to carry’ Singh says, unveiling big-spending NDP election platform

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announces his campaign platform during the federal election campaign in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday, April 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Burnaby, B.C. — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s full election platform focuses on a slate of commitments meant to build up core Canadian values in the face of strong American headwinds and would add $48 billion to the deficit over four years, to do so.

The big-spending package – which is offset to some degree by revenue-generating measures such as a wealth tax – is warranted at a time like this, the party says, in order to invest in the Canadian economy over the next four years where one of the only certainties is uncertainty.

“We won’t let Trump’s trade war become your burden to carry,” said Singh, unveiling his plan in his riding in Burnaby, B.C. backed by dozens of candidates and supporters.

“We won’t let him buy our public health care. We won’t let him drive up drug prices. We won’t let him come for our water, our minerals, or our workers… And we won’t back down.”

Divided into eight planks, the 41-page binder of commitments outlines how the New Democrats would – if elected – improve health care, tackle affordability, boost infrastructure, pursue tax fairness, promote reconciliation, strengthen democracy and support a green economy.

In the foreword to the policy document – titled “Made for People, Built for Canada” – Singh says that the next four years will be “rocky and unpredictable” in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump, but Canada won’t win “by remaking” it to fit his vision.

“This document is my promise to you – a promise that by fighting together, we can get results,” Singh says. Though, beyond outlining various ways to counter the Canada-U.S. friction, there is little detail on how the New Democrats would approach expanding trade relationships with other countries.

It took hours after the platform was presented before the party calculated the total amount of new spending in the platform. For four years, the total cost of all new proposed program spending is $227.7 billion. NDP officials were quick to note this is offset by new revenue tools, which they estimate would generate $184.5 billion over the same time period.

​This puts the party’s net new spending at $43.2 billion, though of note, the NDP said they have costed the commitments they have made throughout the campaign specifically, but are considering measures already baked in to the federal budget such as childcare and dental care that they would maintain, as part of their financial baseline.

In the platform, the party has broken down how much each suite of measures would cost under each of the eight thematic pillars, in part based on analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The NDP dropping their policy playbook Saturday comes the same day Liberal Leader Mark Carney released his platform, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has yet to present his, as Canadians continue to cast advance ballots this weekend ahead of election day on April 28.

More family doctors, affordable medications

Compiling the health-care related commitments Singh has made over the course of this campaign, the NDP note this portion of their platform has the largest amount of new spending.

Framed around a desire to shut the door to any more for-profit, American-style health care, New Democrats have promised to ensure every Canadian can access a family doctor by 2030. To do so, Singh would boost Canada Health Transfers by one per cent for any province who commits to action. This is expected to cost $10 billion over four years, if all premiers opt-in.

The NDP are vowing to put in place a universal pharmacare program within four years, and within the first year of the next Parliament, they say they’d secure deals with every outstanding province for diabetes medication and contraceptive coverage.

Singh would also stop American corporations from buying Canadian health facilities and prohibit any future trade deals from allowing public health care to be on the negotiating table.

And, a new commitment being rolled out in the platform is that the New Democrats want to launch a new plan to cover mental health services such as psychotherapy and counselling for Canadians who don’t have coverage under their employer, which they estimate would cost $7 billion over four years.

Grocery affordability, tax fairness

The NDP have promised during this race to introduce emergency price caps on basic food items and implement a mandatory grocery code of conduct that they say would help level the playing field in the industry to help bring costs down.

Singh would also permanently remove the GST from essentials, expanding on the temporary measures the Liberals had in place over the winter. If the NDP were in power, this tax break would apply to grocery store meals, diapers and strollers, and monthly cell, internet and home heating bills, costing $4.5 billion a year.

New Democrats would also raise the basic personal income tax amount to $19,500 to allow workers to earn more before having to pay taxes, double the Canada Disability Benefit, and raise the Guaranteed Income Supplement with the intention of lifting all seniors out of poverty.

In terms of tackling tax fairness, the NDP would maintain the capital gains inclusion rate changes that both the Liberals and Conservatives have said they’d roll back, and put in place a two per cent surtax on corporations earning over $500 million in profits.

The New Democrats are also eyeing the imposition of a wealth tax that they say would rake in more than $94 billion in revenue over four years, by putting in place a graduated wealth tax for anyone with more than $10 million in wealth holdings.

The platform states that the tax would be one per cent for wealth between $10 million and $50 million, two per cent from $50 million to $100 million, and three per cent for households with net worth over $100 million.

Singh is also revealing today his intention to institute a 15 per cent minimum tax on corporate book profits, ending tax agreements with known tax havens and better fund the Canada Revenue Agency so they can step up enforcement.

Building more homes, infrastructure

The NDP would replace the expiring Housing Accelerator Fund with a permanent $16 billion national housing strategy “made up of the new Canadian Homes Transfer and the Communities First Fund,” which the party says would reward cities that build quickly and support provinces in building infrastructure.

To make good on this plan, Singh says the NDP would train over 100,000 skilled workers, “including newcomers and those affected by Donald Trump’s reckless trade war,” to help double the pace of home building and build three million homes by 2030.

New Democrats have also promised to require the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to offer low-interest, public-backed mortgages, and make strong tenant protections a condition for accessing federal housing funding.

Singh has also spent time on the trail touting his plans to set aside 100 per cent of suitable federal crown land to build over 100,000 rent-controlled homes by 2035, and protect Canada’s existing 650,000 social housing units from “predatory financial landlords.”

Scrapping carbon tax, capping oil and gas emissions

When it comes to climate and the environment, the NDP are promising a national retrofit program that would deliver free energy efficiency upgrades to 2.3 million low-income households and offer grants and loans to an additional one million households. This would include heat pump installations and other energy efficiency upgrades.

New Democrats would start work on an East-West clean energy grid, set a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035, and would eliminate fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2026.

As already pledged, the platform affirms that Singh would eliminate the consumer carbon tax while maintaining the industrial carbon-pricing system, and would immediately implement a cap on oil and gas emissions.

Singh would also extend federal rebates for new electric vehicles up to $5,000, establish a national wildfire fighting force, and ban the sale of all products containing “unnecessary plastic microparticles” by 2030.

An NDP government would also pass a biodiversity accountability law targeting protecting at least 30 per cent of high-carbon, high-biodiversity lands, freshwater and oceans by 2030.

Supporting Canadian sovereignty, reconciliation

As for the NDP’s plans to strengthen Canadian sovereignty, the platform restates Singh’s promises to improve Employment Insurance and ensure every dollar from counter tariffs go to support workers.

He would also implement a “Build Canadian Buy Canadian plan,” which includes his pledges to bring back “Canada Victory Bonds,” and spend $1 billion a year to remove the GST off Canadian-made vehicles

The NDP say they would hire thousands of new border officers, cancel Canada’s F-35 contract, meet the NATO defence spending target by 2032, recognize Palestine as a state, impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and continue to support Ukraine.

There is little in the document about Singh’s plans on trade or international diplomacy beyond countering the U.S., though the platform says the NDP would “deepen trade relations” with other countries, and “pursue a strong and principled foreign policy based on solidarity, human rights, and multilateralism.”

Asked to elaborate on what else his party would do to expand trade relationships internationally, and to identify countries he’d want to try to trade more with, or existing trade pacts he’d be looking to improve, Singh said he sees South and Central America as regions with opportunity, as well as the European Union and the Indo-Pacific. He also named Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.

“Countries that share values with us,” he said.

The platform also includes several commitments around Indigenous rights and advancing reconciliation. Among them is a promise to ensure Indigenous leadership are at the table and part of any decision-making when it comes to Canada’s trade negotiations with the Trump administration.

New Democrats would launch a national inquiry into systemic violence and racism against Indigenous people within Canadian institution, and fully implement all outstanding calls to action from past inquiries.

A Singh-led government would also provide long-term funding to search for grave sites at former residential schools, introduce legislation to combat residential school denialism and end all long-term boil water advisories on First Nations.

Changing voting age and electoral system

Under the banner of “strengthening Canada’s democracy,” the NDP are promising to “fight for a more transparent, secure, and truly representative democracy—because Canadians deserve a system that works for them, not for the political status quo.”

This would mean a Singh government would ensure the 2025 election was the last under the first-past-the-post system, a decade after former prime minister Justin Trudeau promised to do exactly that.

The NDP say they would “establish an independent citizens assembly to advise on how best to put in place a Mixed-Member proportional system in time for the next federal election.”

Singh also wants to lower the voting age to allow Canadians ages 16 and 17 to join the eligible voters pool, and implement a three-day voting period rather than just a single election day on top of the existing advance polls, to “expand voting opportunities.”

And, the NDP are committing to restore dedicated ministries for women, gender equality, people with disabilities and diversity after Carney’s latest cabinet shuffle removed those ministerial titles.

As for foreign interference, Singh says he would implement the recommendations from the Hogue Commission on foreign interference, take action to tackle misinformation and disinformation, “whether it comes from foreign actors, bad-faith influencers, or unregulated ‘media’ platforms,” and ensure the foreign agent registry is fully put into place.

With files from CTV News’ Colton Praill