OTTAWA - Promises so far in the federal election campaign, with projected costs where applicable and available:
Conservatives
- A two-cent-per-litre tax cut on diesel and aviation fuel over four years; projected to cost $600 million a year, fully implemented.
- Reinstate benefits for Second World War veterans who have lived in Canada for more than 10 years; $9 million a year.
- Put the recognition of foreign skills credentials for immigrants on the agenda of the next first ministers' conference.
- A near-complete withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan in 2011.
- Ease foreign ownership restrictions on Canadian firms by: more than tripling the threshold for foreign investment reviews to $1 billion; increasing the allowed level of foreign investment in airlines to 49 per cent from the current 25; allowing foreign companies to own Canadian uranium mines.
Greens
- Tackle poverty with a Guaranteed Livable Income supplement; make locally grown organic produce more readily available to food banks. No costs provided.
- A national student loan program that would forgive half the loan for those who get a degree or certificate. No costs provided.
- More money for post-secondary institutions and research grants for institutions that focus on renewable energy and conservation. No costs provided.
- Gradually shift consumption taxes on to products and services such as fossil fuels and toxic chemicals that harm people and the environment; reduce taxes on income, products and economic activities that do no harm. No cost provided.
- Cut the corporate tax by $50 for each tonne of carbon-emission reductions, to create a $100-a-tonne saving when combined with avoided carbon tax. No cost provided.
- Work to keep small communities viable by ensuring innovation and green business-development opportunities.
- Reduce the paperwork burden on small business by eliminating duplicate tax filings and red tape. It would offer incentives to make industrial buildings more energy efficient.
- Require manufactured goods, including vehicles, to be designed for easy re-use and-or recycling and to contain 90-per-cent recycled materials by 2025.
- Require all appliance and equipment retailers to accept and recycle or repair goods they have sold, and help industry establish a national deposit and recycling system.
Liberals
- A ban on semi-automatic assault rifles outside of the military.
- A "Green Shift" carbon tax on fossil fuels to cut emissions, offset by income and business tax cuts, green-energy and conservation investments.
- Add $350 to the $1,200-a-year child-care allowance. Low-income families would also receive another payment of up to $1,225 a year. Costs paid for with carbon tax.
- Restore the Court Challenges Program to help defray the cost of Charter challenges, doubling budget to $6 million a year.
- $50 million to upgrade Canada's food safety system.
- $600 million in energy retrofit tax breaks: up to $10,000 in tax breaks for home retrofits and another $10,000 in interest-free "green mortgages" to help homeowners fund the projects.
- Beef up Canadian building code standards for energy efficiency; set tough new standards for home appliances.
NDP
- A moratorium on expanding Alberta's tarsands and requiring oil companies to reclaim land strip mined for petroleum production.
- $8.2 billion over four years to create, protect and foster growth of "green-collar" jobs and manufacturing.
- A "cap-and-trade" system to create incentives for big business to reduce their emissions.
- Slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
- A price-monitoring agency to investigate fuel price spikes and consult with provinces about regulations.
- Capping credit-card interest rates at five per cent over prime.
- Outlawing automated banking machine fees, which the party claims would save consumers at least $104 per year.
