conservative platform

8/7/2019 Conservative Platform

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Conservative Party of Canada

Federal Election Platform


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A message from Stephen Harper

The time or accountability has arrived.

Canadians will soon be able to nally hold the Liberals accountable. Ater 12 years in power,

the Liberals must be held accountable or the stolen money; accountable or the broken trust;

and accountable or all that they ailed to accomplish because o this governments total

preoccupation with scandal and damage control.

For those Canadians seeking accountability the question is clear: which party can deliver

the change o government thats needed to ensure political accountability in

Ottawa? We need a change o government to replace old style politics

with a new vision. We need to replace a culture o entitlement and

corruption with a culture o accountability. We need to replace

benets or a privileged ew with government or all.Everyday Canadians the hardworking people who pay their

taxes and play by the rules want and deserve a new government

that will put the peoples interest ahead o sel-interest. And this

election provides them with a chance to tell Liberal Ottawa that

theyve had enough; that theyre tired o being orgotten; that its

nally their turn.

Its time or a new government that will get things done or all

o us. Our priorities are clear. We will clean up government,

cut the GST, oer parents help with child care, cut patient

wait times or medical procedures, and crack down on crime.

Our plan will help individuals, amilies, seniors, and small

business. A new Conservative government will strengthen

national unity and advance our interests on the world stage.

This platorm presents a clear choice or Canadians.

A clear choice between old and new; entitlement and

accountability; benets or a ew and leadership or all.

Only one party can deliver the change o government

thats needed to bring political accountability to Ottawa.

Join me and stand up or Canada.

Stephen Harper,

Leader o the Conservative Party o Canada

Stand up for Canada


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Conservative Party of Canada Federal Election Platform 2006 Stand up for Canada

Message From Stephen Harper ..................... .................... ........... 3

Stand up for Accountability ...............................................................................7Reorm the nancing o ederal political parties ............................ ..................... 8Toughen the Lobbyists Registration Act ............................................................8Ban secret donations to political candidates.......................................................9Make qualied government appointments .........................................................9Clean up government polling and advertising ..................................................10Clean up the procurement o government contracts ........................................10Provide real protection or whistleblowers ........................................................10Ensure truth in budgeting with a Parliamentary Budget Authority .................11Strengthen the power o the Auditor General .................................................11Strengthen the role o the Ethics Commissioner ........................... ................... 12Strengthen Access to Inormation legislation ..................................................12Strengthen auditing and accountability within departments ........................... 13Create a Director o Public Prosecutions ..........................................................13

Stand up for Opportunity ................................................................................15

Real tax relie or Canadians .............................................................................16Creating jobs and growing Canadas economy .................................................16Building opportunity in trades ..........................................................................17Limit growth o spending on grants and contributionsand in government departments and agencies ......................... ........................ 17Investing in research and development ............................................................18Promoting Canadas regions ..............................................................................18Supporting Canadas traditional industries .......................................................18Agriculture ........................................................................................................18Forestry ..............................................................................................................19Mining ...............................................................................................................19Fisheries .............................................................................................................20

Stand up for Security ........................................................................................21

Serious crime means serious time ......................................................................22

More police on the streets .................................................................................23Invest in eective gun control, not phoney measures ......................................23Get tough with young oenders ........................................................................24Youth at risk.......................................................................................................24Strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act .....................................................25Establish a national Victims Ombudsman Oce.............................................25Enact a national drug strategy ...........................................................................25Air India Inquiry ...............................................................................................26Securing our borders ..........................................................................................26Ensuring eective deportation laws ..................................................................27

Table of Contents

Stand up for CanadaAccountable Government that will get things done for all of us.

Stand up for Families ........................................................................................29Better health care or Canadians ......................................................................30Real solutions or health care a Patient Wait Times Guarantee.................... 30The Liberals have delayed or ailed to take actionon many other health issues over the last twelve years ....................................31

A new Choice in Child Care Allowance..........................................................31Security or seniors ............................................................................................32Support or students and amilies with students ...............................................32Promoting health and wellness .........................................................................32Giving MPs a ree vote on marriage ..................................................................33

Stand up for Our Communities ........................................................................35

Improving Canadas national inrastructure .....................................................36Building more aordable housing .....................................................................37Fight congestion through public transit ............................................................37A cleaner, healthier environment .....................................................................37An immigration plan that works or Canada ....................................................38Opportunity and respect or aboriginals ............................................................38Promoting arts, culture, and competitive sport.................................................39Supporting charitable giving ............................................................................39

Stand up for Canada ........................................................................................ 41

Open ederalismstrengthening national unity ................................................42Fiscal imbalance ................................................................................................42Protecting and promoting ocial languages ......................... ............................ 43Enshrining property rights in the Constitution ................................................43A better democracy ...........................................................................................44Ensure airness in party nomination races .........................................................44Advancing Canadian values and interests on the world stage ......................... 44Deending Canada .............................................................................................45Creating jobs through international trade ........................................................46


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Ban secret donationsto political candidates

While campaign donations are regulated, it is still legal to give unrestricted amounts

to political candidates during an election campaign, i ncluding MPs who are not cabinet m

Thanks to this loophole, some MPs have accumulated large, secret trust unds. The Chie

Ocer estimates millions o dollars may be held in these trusts.

The planA Conservative government will:

Prohibit nominated candidates or MPs seeking re-election rom accepting large personal gits.

Ban the use o trust unds to nance candidates campaigns.

Require that all sitting or elected MPs report the existence o any trust unds or secret accountssuch accounts be wound up.

Make qualifed

government appointmentsThe Liberals have repeatedly appointed insiders, in some cases completely un

to important public oces. Liberal candidates and MPs have received appointments

o Crown corporations, board members, and ambassadors. Liberal staers, including

those responsible or the sponsorship program, have worked their way into key positio

public service.


Ensure that all Ocers o Parliament are appointed through consultation with all parties in the Ho Commons and conrmed through a secret ballot o all Members o Parliament, not just namedPrime Minister. This appointment process will cover:

- The Ethics Commissioner

- The Auditor General

- The Chie Electoral Ocer

- The Inormation Commissioner

- The Privacy Commissioner

- The Registrar o Lobbyists

Establish a Public Appointments Commission to set merit-based requirements or appointments government boards, commissions, and agencies, to ensure that competitions or posts are widely and airly conducted.

Prevent ministerial aides and other political appointees receiving avoured treatment when applypublic service positions.

Stand up for AccountabilityPeople who work hard, pay their taxes, and play by the rules want accountability rom their

political leaders. We dont expect politicians to be perect. But we do want to know that our tax

dollars money weve worked or are being spent properly and wisely. Above all, we want and

expect our dollars to be spent legally.

Weve been let down.

The Liberal Partys 12 years in power have eatured one scandal ater another. And despite

Paul Martins promises to clean up Ottawa, the scandals just keep happening. Justice Gomery was

right when he talked about the culture o entitlement within the Liberal Party. This culture o

waste, mismanagement, and corruption cannot reorm itsel.

The rst piece o legislation to be introduced by a Conservative government will be the Federal

Accountability Act, a sweeping plan to clean up government.

Reorm the fnancingo ederal political parties

Under the Liberals, money and infuence have played ar too large a role in Canadian politics.

During the sponsorship inquiry, Canadians learned o envelopes ull o cash being used to und

Liberal Party campaigns, and o money rom government contracts being unnelled back to the

Liberals. The pay to play years in Liberal Ottawa must come to an end.


Limit individual donations to parties or candidates to a maximum o $1,000.

Prohibit all corporate, union, and organization donations to political parties, ridings, and candidates.

Ban cash donations to political parties or candidates o more than $20.

Extend to ten years the period or which Elections Act violations can be investigated and prosecuted.

Toughen theLobbyists Registration Act

Under the Liberals, lobbying government oten by riends and associates o Paul Martin and

other Liberal ministers has become a multi-million dollar industry. Senior Liberals move reely

back and orth between elected and non-elected government posts and the world o lobbying.

Liberal lobbyists have accepted success or contingency ee arrangements where they dont get paid

unless they deliver the policy change their clients want.

The planA Conservative government will: Extend to ve years the period during which ormer ministers, ministerial staers, and senior public

servants cannot lobby government.

Ban success or contingency ee arrangements.

Require ministers and senior government ocials to record their contacts with lobbyists.

Make the Registrar o Lobbyists an independent Ocer o Parliament.

Give the Registrar o Lobbyists the mandate and resources to investigate violations.

Extend to ten years the period during which violations can be investigated and prosecuted.


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Give the Public Service Integrity Commissioner the power to enorce compliance with the PubliDisclosure Protection Act.

Ensure that all Canadians who report government wrongdoing are protected, not just public serv

Remove the governments ability to exempt Crown corporations and other bodies rom the Act.

Require the prompt public disclosure o inormation revealed by whistleblowers, except where nsecurity or the security o individuals is aected.

Ensure that whistleblowers have access to the courts and that they are provided with adequate lega

Establish monetary rewards or whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing or save taxpayers dollars

Ensure truth in budgetingwith a Parliamentary Budget Authority

In the spring o 2004, the Liberal government told Canadians that the 2003-04 surp

only be $1.9 billion. In act, it was $9.1 billion. In 2004-05, the Liberals spent about $

at the end o the year to reduce their surplus to only $1.6 billion. Just this year, the 200estimated the 2005-06 surplus at $4 billion, a number no reputable economic orecaster

In the economic update only nine months later, this estimate had ballooned to $13.4

Governments cannot be held to account i Parliament does not know the accurate state

nances.


Create an independent Parliamentary Budget Authority to provide objective analysis directly toParliament about the state o the nations nances and trends in the national economy.

Require government departments and agencies to provide accurate, timely inormation to theParliamentary Budget Authority to ensure it has the inormation it needs to provide accurate anParliament.

Ensure that government scal orecasts are updated quarterly and that they provide complete darevenue and spending orecasts.

Strengthen the powero the Auditor General

Over the past decade, the Auditor General has repeatedly blown the whistle on

corruption. From the $250 million sponsorship program, to the scandalous waste and misman

o the $1 billion HRDC grants boondoggle, to the ineective $2 billion gun registry, ne

audit turns up more examples o Liberal mismanagement.


Ask the Auditor General to conduct, on an expedited basis, an audit o all ederal grant, contribucontracting policies, and will commit to ollowing her recommendations.

Increase unding or the Oce o the Auditor General to ensure she has the necessary resourceconduct a complete audit o grant and contribution programs and o any such departments, agenCrown corporations as she deems necessary.

and up for Accountability

Clean up governmentpolling and advertising

The Liberal government commissions some $25 million per year in polling and public opinion

research. Much o this polling is conducted by Liberal-connected polling rms. The Auditor

General revealed that Paul Martins Finance department commissioned polling or which there

were only verbal reports nothing was written down so there was no paper trail. Yet the Martin

government prevented the Gomery Commission rom investigating this part o the Auditor

Generals report.


Ensure that all government public opinion research is automatically published within six months o thecompletion o the project, and prohibit verbal-only reports.

Ensure that an independent review is conducted o government public opinion research practices discussedin Chapter 5 o the Auditor Generals November 2003 report to determine whether urther action, such

as a judicial inquiry, is required. Open up the bidding process or government advertising and public opinion contracts to prevent insider

rms rom monopolizing government business.

Clean up the procuremento government contracts

Under the Liberal government, abuse o the government contracting process has become

commonplace. Former Liberal cabinet minister Art Eggleton, or example, awarded an untendered

contract to a ormer girlriend. He was later appointed to the Senate by Paul Martin.


Review and amend all contracting rules to make the governments procurement process ree rompolitical intererence.

Appoint a Procurement Auditor to ensure that all procurements are air and transparent, and to addresscomplaints rom vendors.

Permit smaller vendors and vendors outside o the National Capital Region to receive due considerationor government contracts.

Provide real protectionor whistleblowers

There have been many examples over the years o reprisals against government whistleblowers,including public servants who helped reveal the sponsorship scandal, and others who exposed

waste and abuse in the Department o Foreign Aairs. Ater pressure rom the opposition and

whistleblowers themselves, the Liberals brought orward weak legislation to deal with the issue.

Much more still needs to be done.


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Provide a general public interest override or all exemptions, so that the public interest is put besecrecy o the government.

Ensure that all exemptions rom the disclosure o government inormation are justied only on to the harm or injury that would result rom disclosure, not blanket exemption rules.

Ensure that the disclosure requirements o the Access to Inormation Act cannot be circumventsecrecy provisions in other ederal acts, while respecting the condentiality o national security aprivacy o personal inormation.

Strengthen auditing andaccountability within departments

The sponsorship scandal rst came to light in an internal audit an audit which th

initially tried to cover up. Under the Liberals, the lines between ministers and non-part

servants have been blurred, and clear lines o accountability need to be re-established.


Give the Comptroller General the overall authority or the internal audit unction in each goverdepartment.

Designate the deputy minister o each government department or agency as the Accounting Oor that department. The deputy will be responsible to Parliament or the departmental spendingadministrative practices o his or her department.

Require that, in the event o a disagreement between a minister and deputy minister on a matteradministration, the minister must provide written instruction to the deputy minister and notiy tAuditor General and Comptroller General o the disagreement.

Create a Director oPublic Prosecutions

To ensure prosecutorial independence, a Conservative government will ollow

o several provinces, including Nova Scotia and British Columbia, and other parlia

democracies such as the United Kingdom and Australia and establish an independent

the Director o Public Prosecutions.


Create the Oce o the Director o Public Prosecutions, with the responsibility to conduct prosunder ederal jurisdiction.

Give the Director o Public Prosecutions the power to make binding and nal decisions to prosenot unless the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General instructs the Director to do otherwmeans o public written notice.

Appoint the Director o Public Prosecutions rom among qualied candidates recommended by acommittee which will include representatives o the opposition parties in Parliament.

Give the Director o Public Prosecutions the mandate to review recent decisions on prosecutionthe sponsorship scandal and other matters which have been the subject o investigation by the AGeneral and the Ethics Counsellor or Commissioner.

Structure the Oce o the Director o Public Prosecutions in accordance with best practices in ojurisdictions such as British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Allow the Auditor General to ollow the money to end recipients by providing her with the statutoryauthority to conduct audits o the records, documents, and accounts o any individual, institution, orcompany that receives grants, contributions, or transers under an agreement with the Government oCanada.

Ensure that all granting programs are reviewed every ve years.

Strengthen enorcement o government nancial guidelines, and introduce new Criminal Code penaltiesor raud involving the misuse o taxpayers money.

Strengthen the roleo the Ethics Commissioner

In 1993, Paul Martin and the Liberals promised the appointment o an independent Ethics

Commissioner. For over ten years, Paul Martin and the Liberals ai led to ulll that promise, and

Martin voted against his own Red Book words in the House o Commons.

Finally, under the pressure o the sponsorship scandal, the Liberals partially ullled their

promise. But many problems remain with the role o the Ethics Commissioner, including the

special exemptions Paul Martin created or his own business dealings.


Give the Ethics Commissioner the power to ne violators.

Prevent the Prime Minister rom overruling the Ethics Commissioner on whether the Prime Minister, aminister, or an ocial is in violation o the Confict o Interest Code.

Enshrine the Confict o Interest Code into law.

Close the loopholes that allow ministers to vote on matters connected with their business interests.

End venetian blind trusts that allow ministers to remain inormed about their business interests, andrequire all ministerial assets to be placed in truly blind trusts.

Allow members o the public not just politicians to make complaints to the Ethics Commissioner.

Make part-time or non-remunerated ministerial advisers subject to the Ethics Code.

Strengthen Accessto Inormation legislation

The Liberal government has consistently rejected attempts to provide Canadians with better

access to government inormation. The present Inormation Commissioner has gone to court

several times to orce the government to open its windows.


Implement the Inormation Commissioners recommendations or reorm o the Access to Inormation Act.

Give the Inormation Commissioner the power to order the release o inormation.

Expand the coverage o the act to all Crown corporations, Ocers o Parliament, oundations, andorganizations that spend taxpayers money or perorm public unctions.

Subject the exclusion o Cabinet condences to review by the Inormation Commissioner.

Oblige public ocials to create the records necessary to document their actions and decisions.



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Raise the threshold or the small business tax rate rom $300,000 to $400,000, and gradually resmall business rate to 11 percent over ve years. It is time to ease the tax burden on small businthey grow and create jobs.

Maintain the current regulations governing insurance marketing by the chartered banks.

Pay down the national debt by a minimum o $3 billion each year.

Building opportunity in tradesThe skilled trades are crucial or Canadas economic uture, but companies cant n

skilled workers. Canada has a shortage o 20,000 skilled tradespeople, which is expected

50,000 by 2010. Meanwhile, many young Canadians nd themselves stuck in low-paying

are either not encouraged to consider the trades, or unable to do so because o nancia

Canada needs a made-in-Canada plan to open doors or young people and end the u

treatment o tradespeople.


Implement a $1,000 Apprenticeship Incentive Grant to help new apprentices cover the high cosboots, and work accessories.

Implement a Tools Tax Deduction o up to $500 or existing tradespeople that eliminates red tapsel-employed and provides tax airness or the employed.

Implement an Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit o 10 per cent o an apprentices wages oyears to a maximum o $2,000 to support businesses that establish apprenticeship positions to crjobs in the trades.

Limit growth o spending on grantsand contributions and in governmentdepartments and agencies

During the last ve years, ederal government departmental spending has grow

unacceptable level. Far too much taxpayers money is absorbed by the Ottawa bure

spent on ineective or inecient programs.


Limit the uture growth o spending on ederal grant and contribution programs and by ederaldepartments and agencies (other than National Deence and Indian Aairs) to the rate o infatiopopulation growth.

Maintain the currently projected growth rates or transers to persons such as elderly benets anEmployment Insurance, and transers to other levels o government or health, social programs,

equalization, and municipal inrastructure.

For generations, people rom across the world have come to Canada seeking a better lie.

But Canadians are beginning to worry that our children and grandchildren may not enjoy the

same opportunities that we have had. Take-home pay o Canadians has been nearly stagnant or

a decade. Growth in amily income has stalled during Paul Martins time as Finance Minister and

as Prime Minister.

Under the Liberals, opportunities and rewards have gone to riends and allies o the governing

party, while Canadian amilies and entrepreneurs struggle to get ahead against red tape and high taxes.

A Conservative government will help individuals, amilies, and businesses get ahead by

lowering taxes, rewarding eort, and making Canada a great country to do business in.

Real tax relieor Canadians

With all the waste and corruption in Ottawa, Canadians deserve to keep more o their own money.

A Conservative government will deliver real, visible, and immediate tax relie to all Canadians.


Reduce the GST by one point right away, to six percent. And we will reduce the GST by another point,to ve percent, over ve years. The GST aects everyone amilies, seniors, and young people justgetting started in lie. Cutting the GST will help everyone deal with the rising cost o living, put money inpeoples pockets, and spur the economy immediately.

Maintain the GST/HST credit in the ederal personal income tax.

Eliminate the capital gains tax or individuals on the sale o assets when the proceeds are reinvestedwithin six months. Canadians who invest, or inherit cottages or amily heirlooms, should be able to sellthose assets and plough their prots back into the economy without taking a tax hit. It is time governmentrewarded Canadians who reinvest their money and create jobs.

Creating jobs andgrowing Canadas economy

While Liberals have been enriching themselves through their culture o entitlement, many

Canadians especially those who work in the manuacturing sector have been suering. Twelve

years o empty Liberal promises on prosperity, productivity, and growth have done nothing to

help Canadian businesses ace increased competition rom around the world. A Conservative

government will reduce job-killing business taxes to create jobs and grow Canadas economy or

all o us.

The planA Conservative government will: Make good, nally, on the business tax relie the Liberals promised in the February 2005 budget and

the November Economic and Fiscal Update. The Liberals changed their minds and abandoned thispromise last spring in their budget deal with the NDP. Now they are promising it again. A Conservativegovernment will deliver it. The general business tax rate will all rom 21 percent to 19 percent by2010 and the business surtax will be eliminated on January 1, 2008. We will also ollow through on theelimination o the ederal capital tax on January 1, 2006.

Stand up for Opportunity


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Replace CAIS with separate arm income stabilization and disaster relie programs. The new incomstabilization program must become a simpler, more responsive program that properly addresses the cproduction, market revenue, and inventory evaluation. The ederal government should be ready to when disaster strikes, unding disaster relie separately above and beyond its income stabilization p

Commit to adding an additional $500 million annually to arm support programs.

Speed up delivery o the $755 million in emergency aid the government promised grain and oilsearmers in November.

Ensure that agricultural industries that choose to operate under domestic supply management reviable. Canada needs ecient production planning, market-based returns to producers, and predimports to operate domestic supply management systems.

Give western grain armers the reedom to make their own marketing and transportation decisioWestern grain armers should be able to participate voluntarily in the Canadian Wheat Board.

Deend Canadas agricultural sectors when negotiating international trade agreements. A Consergovernment will seek better market access or Canadian agricultural and agri-ood products in omarkets. We will support the phased reduction o all trade-distorting barriers and the rapid elimi

all agriculture export subsidies. We will pursue strong, rules-based trade liberalization in conjuncall other countries that are members o the World Trade Organization.

Implement a Green Cover Crop Program to protect prairie armers. Severe fooding in both Saskand Manitoba has adversely aected the opportunity or armers to harvest their normal crop. ACrop Cover Program will create a compensation und or armers acing the devastating consequcrop damage caused by severe fooding.

Forestry


Demand that the U.S. government play by the rules on sotwood lumber. The U.S. must abide bNAFTA ruling on sotwood lumber, repeal the Byrd Amendment, and return the more than $5 illegal sotwood lumber taris to Canadian producers.

Provide real help or Canadian workers and businesses coping with illegal American trade actiongovernment o Canada will guarantee repayment o illegally imposed sotwood lumber taris throExport Development Canada. This will ensure that Canadian orest companies can continue twithout penalty. We will continue to help pay the legal bills o Canadian businesses that are American sotwood lumber taris. We will support displaced orestry workers.

Commit to investing $1 billion over ve years to support Canadas sotwood industry, including the spread o the pine beetle in western Canadian orests and helping communities struggling rosotwood duties.

Mining


Retain tax incentives such as the super fow-through share program. These measures are criticalCanadas vibrant and eective nancial market or mining.

Streamline regulatory processes related to the mining industry. We will implement the recommeno the External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation related to mining, such as a single wapproach to ederal regulatory bodies in the North or the oil and gas and mining sectors.

Investing in research and developmentIncreased promotion o basic and applied research, especially in science and technology, is

an essential component o Canadas uture economic well-being. It i s unacceptable that Canadas

expenditure on research and development, at 1.9 percent o GDP, is below all other G-8 countries

and well below the OECD average o 2.3 percent.


Invest an additional $500 million over the next ve years supporting university-based research throughthe national granting councils, including the indirect costs o research.

Recognize the success o the Scientic Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax creditin spurring private investment in research and development, and work with stakeholders in all elds oresearch and various industry sectors to explore expanding this tax credit.

Promoting Canadas regionsWe must encourage economic development in all regions o the country and create job

opportunities or all Canadians, regardless o where they live. Regional development policies are an

important part o any comprehensive strategy to assist the regions o Canada to meet the opportunities

o the new global economy, and a Conservative government will make them more eective.


Support regional development agencies, like ACOA, WED, FEDNOR and CED-Q, and maintain theircurrent unding levels.

Ensure that regional development agencies are depoliticized and ully accountable to Parliament and Canadians.

Develop, together with northerners, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, a northern vision to guideeconomic, social, and environmental progress in the region.

Supporting Canadastraditional industries

It sometimes seems the Liberal view o Canada is the view rom the CN Tower or the Peace

Tower. Disputes over sotwood lumber, agriculture, and shing rights just never seem to get resolved.

It is time or a government that ocuses on the needs o communities that depend on arming,

lumber, mining, and shing sectors vital to ensuring Canadian prosperity. A Conservative

government will stand up or workers in traditional industries.

AgricultureThe amily arm has long been a backbone o our country. For generations, our armers haveed Canadians and become a breadbasket to the world. But armers need our support. We must

stand up or Canadian agricultural interests in world trade negotiations, and government needs to

be responsive when it comes to arm income support and disaster relie.

and up for Opportunity


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Fisheries


Work with interested provinces in managing the sheries. We will adopt, in conjunction with interestedcoastal provinces or territories, a system o increased provincial management o the sheries through jointmanagement and joint sheries councils.

Invest more in sheries science and research. Sustainable harvesting is an area o special need.

Establish an independent judicial enquiry to determine the cause o the collapse o the sockeye salmonstocks on the Fraser River.

Extend the two hundred mile limit to the edge o the Continental Shel, the nose and tail o the GrandBanks, and the Flemish Cap in the North Atlantic and be prepared to exercise Canadian custodialmanagement over this area.

Exempt rom capital gains tax the rst $500,000 worth o shing property transerred within a amily.

and up for Opportunity


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Ensure ederal corrections ocers have the tools and training they require to do their job as peace o

Adopt, in collaboration with the provinces, a national strategy to ght organized crime, includincreation o a joint national task orce on security.

Increase the nancial resources allocated to the RCMP to help them combat organized crime in ao the country.

More police on the streetsCanada needs more ront-line law enorcement. According to Department o Pu

documents, there is currently a shortage o 1,059 RCMP ocers in ederal, provin

municipal policing roles. In addition, many provincial and municipal police orces

unded and overstretched. It is time to reinvest in ront-line law enorcement in Cana


Reinvest savings rom cancellation o the ineective long-gun registry program into hiring more enorcement personnel, including lling 1,000 RCMP positions.

Negotiate with the provinces to create a new cost-shared program jointly with provincial and mugovernments, to put at least 2,500 more police on the beat in our cities and communities.

Invest $100 million per year o new ederal money on criminal justice priorities, including wowith the provinces and municipalities to hire more police, as well as victim assistance and youthprevention programs.

Invest in eective gun control,not phoney measures

When the Liberals rst introduced Bill C-68, the ederal l ong gun registry, they said

cost around $2 million. Today, at a cost o almost $2 billion 1,000 times more than

the registry is incomplete, riddled with errors, and according to the ormer Toronto

Police, ineective in helping catch criminals.

Canadians demand more than simple cosmetic reorms to ail ed programs. The wa

gun registry must end and the money must be redirected to genuine law enorcement p

Canadians want to see eective gun control that stops crime in our streets, not phoney r


Repeal the wasteul long-gun registry legislation (Bill C-68).

Reinvest savings rom scrapping C-68 into hiring ront-line law enorcement ocers and assistino crime.

Maintain the existing handgun registry and bans on all currently prohibited weapons. Work with the provinces on eective gun control programs designed to keep guns out o the han

criminals while respecting the rights o law-abiding Canadians to own and use rearms responsibMeasures will include:

- Mandatory minimum prison sentences with restricted parole eligibility or the criminal usrearms, tracking or possession o stolen rearms, or illegal possession contrary to a baior rearms prohibition order.

- Strict monitoring, including tracking place o residence, o high-risk individuals prohibiteowning rearms.

Sae streets have been a dening characteristic o the Canadian way o lie and Canadians are

rightly proud o that tradition o community saety and security. The ederal government must act

decisively to ensure that all Canadians particularly the most vulnerable members o society can

live in sae, healthy communities.

Security also means knowing that our borders are secure and that our ederal government is

actively protecting us against terrorism, smuggling, and organized crime.

The Liberal record on saety and security has been weak. The homicide rate is up, gun violence

is a growing menace, drug cultivation oences have doubled in the last decade, and the government

has demonstrated an inability to deport criminals out o Canada and keep them out.

A Conservative government will protect Canadians, ensure eective and appropriate justice

is administered to criminals, and secure our countrys borders.

Serious crime must meanserious time

A Conservative government will protect our communities rom crime by insisting on toughersentences or serious and repeat crime and by tightening parole. We will ensure truth in sentencing

and put an end to the Liberal revolving door justice system. The drug, gang, and gun-related

crimes plaguing our communities must be met by clear mandatory minimum prison sentences and

an end to sentences being served at home. Parole must be a privilege to be earned, not a right to

be demanded.


Introduce mandatory minimum prison sentences or designated drug tracking oences, weaponsoences, crimes committed while on parole, and repeat oenders to ensure that serious crime results inreal punishment.

End conditional sentences (house arrest) or serious crimes, including designated violent and sexualoences, weapons oences, major drug oences, crimes committed against children, and impaired drivingcausing death or serious injury.

Create presumption-o-dangerous-oender designation or anyone convicted and sentenced to ederalcustody or three violent or sexual oences.

Repeal section 745.6 o the Criminal Code the so-called Faint Hope Clause that allows a criminalserving a lie sentence to apply or early parole.

Create mandatory consecutive sentences (instead o concurrent sentences, as is usually the case) or selectmultiple violent or sexual oences.

Replace statutory release (the law entitling a prisoner to parole ater serving two-thirds o his sentence)with earned parole.

Toughen parole provisions once you have been convicted o committing a crime while on parole, andeliminate parole or lie ater the third such conviction.

Prevent courts rom giving extra credit or pre-trial custody or persons denied bail because o their pastcriminal record or or violating bail.

Create a reverse onus or bail hearings or anybody charged with an indictable rearms oence.

Work or a constitutional amendment to orbid prisoners in ederal institutions rom voting in elections.

Review the operations o Correctional Service Canada with a view to enhancing public saety.

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Strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice ActA Conservative government will hold young lawbreakers accountable to their victim

community. The youth criminal justice system must provide eective punishment or ad

who commit serious crimes, instil a sense o responsibility in young oenders or their b

and give young people better opportunities or rehabilitation.


Ensure that anyone 14 years or older who is charged with serious violent or repeat oences isautomatically subject to adult sentencing provisions.

Amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act to include deterrence and denunciation as mandatory senprinciples to be considered.

Establish a national Victims Ombudsman OfceThe Liberals have oten put the rights o criminals ahead o compassion or the victim

who have been injured, had their property and privacy violated, or are mourning the loss oone. A Conservative government will give victims o crime an advocate within gover


Establish a national Victims Ombudsman Oce with a budget allocation equal to that o the OCorrectional Investigator to ensure victims have a voice in the ederal corrections and justice sys

Provide $10 million per year or victim assistance, including support or victim appearances at parole

Enact a national drug strategyThe Liberals have put Canada on the road to drug legalization. This must stop.

police ocers alike know that the last thing Canada needs i s more drugs on our streets.

Liberals, the number o marijuana grow-ops has increased dramatically, as has the produc

distribution o drugs such as crack cocaine, crystal meth, and ecstasy. Despite widesprea

to the contrary, one o Paul Martins new Liberal Senators said that concerns about th

meth disaster were garbage.


End house arrests and ensure mandatory minimum prison sentences and large monetary nes ordrug oenders, including marijuana grow operators and producers and dealers o crystal meth an

Prevent the decriminalization o marijuana. Make precursor chemicals o crystal meth, such as pseudoephedrine, harder to get.

Introduce a national drug strategy with particular emphasis on youth. This strategy will encompdrugs, not just marijuana, in implementing a nationwide awareness campaign to dissuade young prom using drugs.

Expedite deportation o non-citizens convicted o drug tracking, drug importation, or runninggrow operations.

Restore the Canada Ports Police disbanded by the Liberals, which resulted in the growth o orgacrime at Canadas seaports.

- Tighter restrictions on individuals on bail or parole or rearms oences, including the use oelectronic monitoring.

- Cracking down on gun smuggling.

- Sae storage laws.

- Firearms saety training.

- A certication system requiring a background check and saety training or all those wishing toacquire and use rearms legally.

- Eliminating exceptions to rearms prohibition orders ollowing criminal conviction.

Get tough with sex oendersFamilies should be able to raise their children without ear o sexual predators in our communities.

Women should be able to live without ear in any Canadian city. But under Liberal governments,

we have seen slap-on-the-wrist sentences or sex oenders, while Canada has become a haven or

internet child pornography, and the Liberals have reused to raise the age o consent to prevent

adults rom exploiting young teens.


Require the registration o all convicted sex oenders and dangerous oenders. The registry will includemandatory DNA sampling o all those convicted or currently in custody on such oences.

Rename the Age o Consent to the Age o Protection and raise the age rom 14 to 16 years o age to stopadults rom sexually exploiting vulnerable young people.

Adopt a zero tolerance policy or child pornography, eliminating the so-called legitimate purposedeence.

Prohibit conditional sentences or sex oences committed against children. Anyone who commits thesecrimes should serve prison time.

Amend s. 810.2 o the Criminal Code (the provisions that recently allowed Karla Homolka to avoidpost-sentencing supervision) to permit the participation o the prosecutors involved in the original trial,as well as the victims o the crime and their amilies, at the hearing. Allow judges to impose residencyrestrictions on oenders, and extend the term o the order.

Youth at riskToo many crime-related problems begin when our youth are not equipped with the necessary

lie skills to make the right choices, to say no to drugs, gangs, and violence. We need to invest

in positive opportunities or young people to say yes to.


Work with provinces, municipalities, police, and community leaders in areas threatened by gun and gangviolence to support programs which reach out to young people. We must help them recognize the dangerso violence in their schools and community, so that they reject gang and gun violence.

Support results-oriented, community-based initiatives or addictions treatment, training, and rehabilitationo those in trouble with the law.

Direct $50 million in unding into community-based, educational, sporting, cultural, and vocationalopportunities or young people at risk.

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Ensuring eective deportation lawsIn April 2003, the Auditor General reported that the ederal government had lost

some 36,000 people who were under deportation orders. This is unacceptable. Peo

under deportation orders must be removed. Canadians deserve nothing less.


Rapidly reduce the backlog o unexecuted deportation orders and switly carry out new deportation

Put the top priority on executing existing and new deportation orders against individuals with crrecords, connections to terrorist organizations, or organized crime.

Amend the Immigration and Reugee Protection Act, the Criminal Code, and the Corrections anConditional Release Act to permit sentencing courts to order deportation ollowing conviction ooences and prohibit persons already ordered deported rom parole eligibility beore deportation

Air India inquiryThe Air India bombing was the largest mass murder and terrorist act in Canadian history, and

there is evidence that errors were committed by the i nvestigative agencies involved.


Establish, at the earliest possible time, a comprehensive, independent judicial inquiry into theinvestigation o the Air India bombing o June 23, 1985.

Securing our bordersTerrorist attacks, natural disasters, and outbreaks o disease world-wide have ocused the

spotlight squarely on the Liberal governments inaction regarding terrorist and other threats here

at home. Four years o inaction since September 11, 2001, have let the ederal government ill-

prepared to protect Canadas national security.

The March 2004 report by the Auditor General criticized the government or ailing to create

an integrated security system. The March 2004 report o a bipartisan Senate committee concluded

Canada was unready to respond to a terrorist attack. Even the governments annual National

Security Policy review released in April 2005 identied 12 government priorities that have still

not been improved or addressed.

Canadians cannot wait or the Liberal government to wake up to the growing threats to our

national security.


Name a National Security Commissioner with the responsibility o providing recommendations togovernment as to how to coordinate the work o the RCMP, CSIS, the Canada Border Services Agency,a revitalized Coast Guard, a reinstated Ports Police, and a new Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency, aswell as the security aspects o the Departments o Immigration and Transport.

Create a Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency to eectively gather intelligence overseas, independentlycounter threats beore they reach Canada, and increase allied intelligence operations.

Establish the Canadian Coast Guard as a stand-alone agency and honour the plans to invest $276 millionover ve years in expanding and updating the Coast Guard feet.

Create a National Security Review Committee to ensure eective oversight and a greater degree oaccountability and transparency regarding Canadas national security eorts.

Ensure that agencies such as CSIS, RCMP, and the Canada Border Services Agency have adequateresources and equipment.

Provide our border ocers with sidearms and the training required or their use, and ensure, or the

saety o these ocers, that there are no work alone posts.

Reopen RCMP border detachments in Qubec and the West and increase resources to the RCMP so thatthey can respond promptly to border calls when required.

Deploy ace recognition and other biometric technology at border crossings and ports o entry.

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The Liberals have delayed or ailedto take action on many other health issuesover the last twelve years.


Work with the provinces to develop comprehensive plans or the prevention and treatment o camental illnesses, and heart disease. We will implement a $260 million, ve-year Canadian StrateCancer Control to improve screening, prevention, and coordination o resources among the edegovernment, cancer advocacy groups, and the provinces, and work to develop new national planmental illness and heart disease.

Immediately compensate all individuals who contracted hepatitis C rom tainted blood, as recommby the Krever Inquiry.

In conjunction with the provinces, allow or a mix o public and private health care delivery, as lhealth care remains publicly unded and universally accessible.

Improve access to natural and complementary health products and supplements.

Introduce a National Disability Act to promote reasonable access to medical care, medical equipeducation, employment, transportation, and housing or Canadians with disabilities.

A Conservative Government will not initiate or support any legislation to regulate a

A new Choice in Child Care AllowanceThe Liberals and the NDP believe that the only answer to expanding childcare in C

their one-size-ts-all plan to build a massive childcare bureaucracy which will benet on

percentage o Canadians. Only the Conservatives believe in reedom o choice in child

best role or government is to let parents chose whats best or their children, and provid

with the resources to balance work and amily lie as they see t whether that means or

care, inormal care through neighbours or relatives, or a parent staying at home.

The planA Conservative government will introduce a amily support policy that gives parents true choice in ch

A Conservative government will:

Provide all amilies a new $1,200 per year Choice in Child Care Allowance or each child underbe taxable in the hands o the spouse with the lower income, starting in 2006. This will be in the current Canada Child Tax Benets, National Child Benet Supplement, and the Childcare EDeduction. The Choice in Child Care Allowance will let parents choose the childcare option tsuits their amilys needs.

Help employers and communities create child care spaces in the workplace or through cooperaticommunity associations by allocating $250 million a year in tax credits to employers who cover t

cost o creating spaces. We will provide similar support to non-prot associations to create spaestimate that this program will create 125,000 new child care spaces over ve years and make it working people to juggle child care and work responsibilities. The program will be designed tosmall business and rural communities will be able to access it as well as larger employers and citi

Honour the governments existing bilateral child care commitments or one year.

The amily is the building block o society. Healthy amilies provide the love and support to raise

the next generation o Canadians, and care or the aged and inrm. But amilies need support and

recognition rom government. Parents need help with child care choices so they can balance work

and amily lie. Seniors need security to protect their hard-won gains. Families with college- and

university-aged children need help with rising tuition costs. And all amilies and individuals need

access to health care thats there when they need it. A Conservative government will be committed

to meeting the needs and interests o Canadas amilies and building a stronger society.

Better health care or CanadiansThe Conservative Party is committed to ensuring that all Canadians have access to timely,

quality health care services regardless o their ability to pay. We are committed to a universal,

publicly unded health care system that respects the ve principles o the Canada Health Act and

the Canadian Charter o Rights and Freedoms.

Twelve years o Liberal government have done nothing to improve health care or Canadians.

It is harder to nd a amily doctor. Canadians wait longer or access to critical surgery and specialist

services. Hospitals get dirtier and dirtier. And more Canadians cross the border or seek out privateclinics in Canada to get the care they need.

Canadians should be able to get timely care within the public health care system. As the

Supreme Court o Canada recently declared, access to a waiting list is not access to health care.

Real solutions or health care a Patient Wait Times Guarantee


Push ahead with implementing the September 2004 ederal-provincial Health Accord. We will ensure that:

- Evidence-based benchmarks or medically acceptable wait times, starting with cancer, heart,diagnostic imaging procedures, joint replacements, and sight restoration are established as soon aspossible, as promised in the Health Accord.

- Patient Wait-time reduction targets or priority procedures identied by provinces are establishedby the end o 2006.

- Canadians get regular reports on progress towards meeting these wait-time targets, as promised inthe Health Accord.

- We will work with the provinces and territories to increase the numbers o, and expand educationalprograms or doctors, nurses, and other health proessionals.

Work with the provinces to develop a Patient Wait Times Guarantee to ensure that all Canadians receiveessential medical treatment within clinically acceptable waiting times, or can be treated in anotherjurisdiction, as required by the Supreme Court o Canadas Chaoullidecision and the Canadian Charter oRights and Freedoms.

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Commit to spending at least one percent o total ederal health unding annually on physical actiincluding amateur sport and programs or school age children such as the Awards o Excellence p

Allow the parents o young people under 16 years old who register their children in programs thpromote physical tness to claim a ederal tax credit on spending up to $500 per year per child sregistration ees and memberships.

Giving MPs a ree voteon marriage

The Liberal legislation abolishing the traditional denition o marriage passed o

whipped cabinet vote. We believe that Parliament alone, based on a completely ree vot

be able to determine the denition o marriage.


Hold a truly ree vote on the denition o marriage in the next session o Parliament. I the resois passed, the government will introduce legislation to restore the traditional denition o marriarespecting existing same-sex marriages.

Security or seniorsThe Liberal track record or Canadian seniors is a sad story o unair taxation, poor government

services, and now an inexcusable policy blunder that has destroyed the retirement savings o

Canadians invested in income trusts.

It is time or a government that respects those who have spent their lives raising amilies,

saving or their retirement, and building this country.


Conrm its commitment to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) as well as theGuaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) as undamental guarantees o income security in retirement years.

Stop the Liberal attack on retirement savings and preserve income trusts by not imposing any new taxeson them.

Protect the integrity o the CPP investment und to stop politicians rom raiding it to balance the budgetor pay or other political projects.

Protect seniors rom over-taxation by raising the pension income tax amount that is eligible or a ederaltax credit rom $1,000 to $2,000 per year in 2006, and to $2,500 in ve years.

Appoint a Seniors Council comprised o seniors and representatives o seniors organizations to advise theminister responsible or seniors on issues o national importance.

Support or students andamilies with students

The rising cost o postsecondary education puts a heavy load on Canadian students and their amilies.


Invest $100 million per year in measures to improve support or postsecondary students, including theenhancement o the Canada Student Loans program.

Work with the provinces to increase amily income thresholds or student loan eligibility.

Exempt the rst $10,000 o student scholarship or bursary income rom taxation.

Provide students or their parents with a ederal tax credit on spending up to $500 per year on textbooks.

In cooperation with the provinces, remove postsecondary education unding rom the Canada SocialTranser and create an independent Canada Education and Training Transer to ensure that there isdedicated unding or postsecondary education and training.

Promoting healthand wellness

The most important part o health care is prevention, including insuring that Canadians,

especially children, have proper diet and exercise. A Conservative government will promote a

wellness and physical tness agenda to help Canadians and their children stay t and healthy.

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Building more aordable housingAll Canadians should have a air chance to own or rent their own home.


Work with the provinces and municipalities to develop tax incentives or private-sector builders that low-income city dwellers will have improved access to aordable housing. Specically, on anexperimental basis to supplement existing programs we will establish a low-income housing tax cprogram. Beginning in 2007-08, we will set aside $200 million annually in the orm o ederal tato encourage developers to build or reurbish aordable rental units in which at least 40 percentoccupants earn less than 60 percent o the local median income.

Fight congestionthrough public transit

Improved public transit usage will help both reduce trac congestion in our urban ce

reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions. Canadians must be encouraged to choose t

making this option more nancially attractive.


Give public transit riders a ederal tax credit to cover the cost o their monthly transit passes. will be able to receive this credit or their dependent children as well.

A cleaner, healthierenvironment

For all the Liberal talk about the environment, they have done nothing to clea

environment here in Canada. They sign ambitious international treaties and send money

governments or hot air credits, but cant seem to get anything done to help people here

A Conservative government will implement a made-in-Canada plan ocused on

uture generations enjoy clean air, clean water, clean land, and clean energy here in Can


Develop a Clean Air Act to legislate the reduction o smog-causing pollutants such as Nitrogen (NOx), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter.

Address the issue o greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), with a made-in-Caplan, emphasising new technologies, developed in concert with the provinces and in coordination

other major industrial countries.

Ensure water quality by addressing environmental issues such as the need or aquier mapping, po the Great Lakes Basin, banning interbasin water transers, imposing substantial penalties or ibilge oil dumping, and ensuring adequate watershed management and methods to ensure water qquantity.

Clean up ederal contaminated sites and encourage the private sector to clean up brownelds.

Require 5 percent average renewable content in Canadian gasoline and diesel uel, such as ethanbiodiesel, by 2010.

The strength o Canada is the strength o our people and our communities, and government

can play an important role in building strong communities. We need good roads and inrastructure

so that suburban commuters arent stuck in trac going to work and rural Canadians dont have

to boil their drinking water. We need an immigration policy that responds to Canadas economic

needs and helps reunite amilies. We need good housing in our cities and communities and a

healthy, liveable environment.

A Conservative government will build roads and improve inrastructure, clean up the

environment, and strengthen our immigration system to build strong communities that serve the

needs o all Canadians, not just the interests o a privileged ew.

Improving Canadasnational inrastructure

Inrastructure is a crucial investment in our economic productivity and quality o lie. Suburban

commuters should not have to sit on gridlocked highways. Truckers carrying cargo vital to Canadas

economy should not be stuck at inadequate border-crossing bottlenecks. Rural Canadians should

not have to dodge potholes or much o the year. The Liberals have committed to unding municipal

inrastructure, but roads, highways, and border crossings never seem to keep up. A Conservative

government will have a better approach to xing Canadas inrastructure decit.


Maintain the unding or the New Deal or Cities and Communities and ully implement the transero the equivalent o ve cents per litre o gasoline to cities and communities by 2009-10 or municipalinrastructure.

Expand the New Deal to allow all cities and communities, including cities with more than 500,000people, to use gas tax transer dollars to build and repair roads and bridges to improve road saety and ghttrac congestion.

Negotiate a new inrastructure agreement with the provinces to provide a stable, permanent Highways andBorder Inrastructure Fund. We will commit $2 billion over the next ve years to Highways and BorderInrasructure, reaching $600 million by 2010.

Use the new Highways and Border Inrastructure Fund to work with the provinces to improve CanadasNational Highways System, with the Trans-Canada Highway as its centrepiece.

Develop a national Road Congestion Index to track progress in reducing road congestion, and worktowards reducing congestion levels in municipalities across Canada. We must begin to measure the resultsobtained or the inrastructure money spent.

Maintain the existing ederal inrastructure agreements that have been entered into between the ederalgovernment, the provinces, and municipalities.

Support the development o the Pacic Gateway Initiative, designating at least $591 million to the

Initiative, but giving greater reedom to British Columbia and the other partners to designate their priorityprojects without ederal intererence.

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Implement all o the recommendations o the House o Commons Standing Committee on AboriAairs and Northern Development contained in its ourth report on Resolving Indian ResidentiClaims, to expedite the settlement o claims and save money.

Recognize the contributions o Aboriginal veterans, and redress 60 years o inequity by implemethe resolution o the House o Commons to acknowledge the historic inequality o treatment andcompensation or First Nations, Mtis, and Inuit war veterans, and take action immediately to gicompensation to these veterans in a way that truly respects their service and sacrice.

Promoting arts, culture, and competitive sportCanada is a nation o great artists and athletes. Arts, culture, and sport all make

contributions to our national identity.


Establish a Francophone Secretariat within the Department o Canadian Heritage. Language is apart o culture and heritage and should orm the basis o decision-making or the Francophone cand artistic community.

Ensure that the CBC and Radio-Canada continue to perorm their vital role as national public sebroadcasters.

Preserve the role o the National Film Board, the Canada Council, and other ederal arts and culture

Give Canadians increased access to international and oreign-language television and radio progr

Maintain the $140 million annual commitment to amateur sport, which includes a $55 million commitment or high perormance athletes or the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Supporting charitable givingCharities play an invaluable role in helping other Canadians and building our sense o co

Government should make it easier or Canadians to support the charities o their choice.


Remove the capital gains tax on listed stocks donated to charities. Government should not penalCanadians when they contribute to charities. Canadians who donate publicly traded shares to Cacharities should not pay capital gains taxes on those donations.

An immigration plan that works or CanadaCanada has long welcomed hard-working, law-abiding men and women seeking reedom,

democracy, and opportunity or themselves and their amilies.

The Liberal record on immigration is to tolerate queue-jumping, set up special programs

or oreign strippers, and hold up legitimate immigration applications in years o red tape. And

they charge sky-high immigration ees to pay or their wasteul and corrupt spending on other

departments o government.

A Conservative government will stand up or a air and sensible immigration plan that works

or Canada.


Cut the $975 Right o Landing Fee in hal. Immigrants and their amilies can better use this money tocover the costs o getting lie started in Canada.

Create a Canadian Agency or Assessment and Recognition o Credentials, to provide pre-assessment ointernational credentials and experience. We will work with the provinces and proessional associations toensure oreign-trained proessionals meet Canadian standards while getting properly trained proessionalsworking in Canada quickly.

Support Canadian parents who adopt oreign-born children by extending automatic citizenship to thesechildren once the adoption is nal.

Opportunity and respector aboriginals

Every year or twelve years the Liberals have paid lip service to aboriginal issues. But their

real legacy is bad water, bad schools, and bad housing. Every year aboriginal spending goes up, but

lie or Canadas aboriginal peoples keeps getting worse. And meanwhile the disputes, claims, and

lawsuits pile up.

The Liberals should be ashamed o themselves. Its time or a new approach.


Accept the targets agreed upon at the recent Meeting o First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders,and work with rst ministers and national aboriginal leaders on achieving these targets.

Support the development o individual property ownership on reserves, to encourage lending or privatehousing and businesses.

Let aboriginal parents choose the schooling they want or their children, with unding ollowing the students.

Replace the Indian Act (and related legislation) with a modern legislative ramework which provides orthe devolution o ull legal and democratic responsibility to aboriginal Canadians or their own aairswithin the Constitution, including the Charter o Rights and Freedoms.

Pursue settlement o all outstanding comprehensive claims within a clear ramework that balances therights o aboriginal claimants with those o Canada.

Adopt measures to resolve the existing backlog o specic claims so as to provide justice or aboriginalclaimants, together with certainty or government, industry, and non-aboriginal Canadians.

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Work with the provinces in order to achieve a long-term agreement which would address the issuimbalance in a permanent ashion.

Ensure that any new shared-cost programs in areas o provincial/territorial responsibility have thconsent o the majority o provinces to proceed, and that provinces should be given the right to oo the ederal program with compensation, so long as the province oers a similar program with accountability structures.

Work to achieve with the provinces permanent changes to the equalization ormula which would ennon-renewable natural resource revenue is removed rom the equalization ormula to encourage ecogrowth. We will ensure that no province is adversely aected rom changes to the equalization orm

Protecting and promotingofcial languages

Canadas ocial languages constitute a unique social and economic advantage that b

Canadians. The ederal government has a responsibility to encourage the protection and f

o both English and French throughout Canada.


Support the Ocial Languages Act, ensuring that English and French have equality o status anrights and privileges as to their use in all institutions o the Parliament and Government o Cana

Work with the provinces to enhance opportunities or Canadians to learn both ocial languagesensure the viability o minority language communities within the provinces.

Enshrining property rightsin the Constitution

The 1960 Bill o Rights, introduced by the Right Honourable John G. Dieenbaker

the protection o property rights on Canadians. However, property rights are not mention

Charter o Rights and Freedoms.


Propose an amendment to the Constitution to include the right to own property, as well as guarano person shall be deprived o their just right without the due process o law and ull, just, and tcompensation.

Enact legislation to ensure that ull, just, and timely compensation will be paid to all persons whdeprived o personal or private property as a result o any ederal government initiative, policy, p

regulation, or legislation.

Canada is a great nation, strong, glorious, and ree. We have tested our mettle in world wars

ought to deend reedom. We have worked to unite and keep united a country with two ocial

language communities, vast geographic distances, and many cultures. We have exported our

products and ideas around the world and built a trading nation that is second to none in the world.

But or all o our pride in our history, Canada is losing its place in the world and its unity at home.

Will Canadas military be able to deend our sovereignty? Will Canada stay united ater a corrupt

Liberal government has tarnished the reputation o ederalism in Quebec? Can we maintain our

standing as global traders when the ederal government wont stand up or our national interests?

A Conservative government will restore pride in Canada. We will protect our national

sovereignty and security, work to unite the country by respecting provincial and cultural dierences,

and stand up or our economic interests.

Open ederalism strengthening national unity

Preserving the countrys unity is the ederal governments oremost responsibility. Yet the

ederal Liberals have hurt the ederalist cause in Quebec, launched pointless attacks on provincial

premiers, and cut a series o one-on-one deals with some provinces that have let everyone

dissatised.

Its time or the ederal government to establish a new relationship o open ederalism with the

provinces, while clariying the roles o both levels o government within the division o powers o

the Constitution.


Support the creation o practical intergovernmental mechanisms to acilitate provincial involvement in areaso ederal jurisdiction where provincial jurisdiction is aected, and enshrine these practices in a Charter oOpen Federalism. We will work with the provinces in areas such as culture, environment, and trade, withinthe context o the Constitution. Specically, we will:

- Invite the Government o Quebec to play a role at UNESCO along the lines o its participation inla Francophonie.

- Facilitate provincial participation in the development o the Canadian position in the negotiation obilateral, continental, hemispheric, or global trade agreements where provincial jurisdiction is aected.

- Work with permanent provincial international trade oces to promote and develop trade opportunities.

- Support the important contribution the Council o the Federation is making to strengtheningintergovernmental and interprovincial cooperation, expanding the economic and social union inCanada, and advancing the development o common standards and objectives o mutual recognitionby all provinces.

Fiscal imbalanceIn the last eight years, the ederal government has amassed enormous surpluses. Meanwhile,

many provinces have seen reduced revenues and have had to run decits in order to pay or education,

health, and other social programs. While some sectoral and ad hoc agreements with provinces

have temporarily reduced the nancial pressure, it is time or a comprehensive agreement.

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Articulate Canadas core values o reedom, democracy, the rule o law, human rights, ree markeree trade and compassion or the less ortunate on the international stage.

Advance Canadas interests through oreign aid, while at the same time holding those agencies inthis area accountable or its distribution and results.

Increase spending on Overseas Development Assistance beyond the currently projected level andtowards the OECD average level.

Make Parliament responsible or exercising oversight over the conduct o Canadian oreign policcommitment o Canadian Forces to oreign operations.

Place international treaties beore Parliament or ratication.

Deending CanadaFor decades, successive Liberal governments have undermined and under unded

armed orces. We need to strengthen Canadas independent capacity to deend our

sovereignty and security. In an increasingly dangerous world this Canada First vision is

to deend our vast territory and three ocean areas. Greater strength at home will als

greater condence abroad within Canadas longstanding global role. Achieving this v

require large-scale investments in every region o the country to strengthen Canadas m

combat-capable deence orce.


Complete the transormation o military operations and deence administration.

Recruit 13,000 additional regular orces and 10,000 additional reserve orces personnel.

Increase spending on the Canadian Forces by $5.3 billion over the next ve years, beyond the cuprojected levels o deence spending.

Expand recruiting and training, reduce rank structure overhead, review civilian and military HQunctions, and increase ront-line personnel.

Increase investment in base inrastructure and housing or our orces.

Acquire equipment needed to support a multi-role, combat-capable maritime, land, and air orce.Fundamental capability requirements are national surveillance and control, counter-terrorism, aideployability, and logistics supportability.

Increase the Canadian Forces capacity to protect Canadas Arctic sovereignty and security.

Restore the regular army presence in British Columbia.

Treat Canadas veterans with the respect and honour that they deserve, and ensure better responto veterans with a Veterans Bill o Rights and a Veterans Ombudsman.

A better democracyCanada is a democracy, yet our democratic system has not kept pace with the needs o a

changing society. Paul Martin used to talk about a democratic decit, but his actions as Prime

Minister have deepened it. A new Conservative government will be committed to signicant

democratic reorm o our Parliamentary and electoral institutions.


Begin reorm o the Senate by creating a national process or choosing elected Senators rom eachprovince and territory.

Propose urther reorms to make the Senate an eective, independent, and democratically elected bodythat equitably represents all regions.

Restore representation by population or Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta in the House oCommons while protecting the seat counts o smaller provinces.

Introduce legislation modeled on the BC and Ontario laws requiring xed election dates every our years,except when a government loses the condence o the House (in which case an election would be held

immediately, and the subsequent election would ollow our years later).

Make all votes in Parliament, except the budget and main estimates, ree votes or ordinary Members oParliament.

Increase the power o Parliament and parliamentary committees to review the spending estimates odepartments and hold ministers to account.

Ensure airnessin party nomination races

Questions have been raised about the nomination process in all parties. Liberal prime ministers

have oten unilaterally appointed Liberal candidates to run in ridings, leaving various ethnic and

cultural groups eeling they have been discriminated against.


Ensure that party nomination and leadership races are conducted in a air, transparent, and democratic manner.

Prevent party leaders rom appointing candidates without the democratic consent o local electoral districtassociations.

Advancing Canadian valuesand interests on the world stage

Canadians are rightly proud o our values o reedom, airness, and compassion. But too oten,

Liberal oreign policy has compromised democratic principles to appease dictators, sometimes or

the sake o narrow business interests. Foreign aid has been used or political purposes, not to ensure

genuine development. We need to ensure that Canadas oreign policy refects true Canadian

values and advances Canadas national interests.

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Creating jobs throughinternational trade

A Conservative government will seek to strengthen rules-based trading arrangements, and

expand ree and air market access, at the national, continental, hemispheric and global levels.

Canada is a trading nation, and Canadian jobs depend on our ability to pursue ree and air

trading relationships with like-minded countries throughout the world. Yet, the Liberals have

ailed to enhance our trading relationship with our largest trading partner, the United States, and

have also ailed to seek out new markets and secure Canadian jobs.


Take aggressive action to strengthen the Canadian economic union.

Deend Canadas primary producers against repeated and unounded internationaltrade challenges.

Explore the possibility o appointing special envoys between Canada and the United States to chart acourse or the uture o NAFTA and achieve a resolution o the sotwood lumber dispute in accordancewith Canadian and American legal rights and obligations.

Reassert Canadas traditional leadership in negotiating the Free Trade Area o the Americas.

Create an investment, regulatory, and security environment or our western ports to grow and fourish.

Explore the possibility o ree-trade negotiations with Canadas democratic and economic partners in theAsia-Pacic, Japan, and India.

and up for Canada


25/25

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