NDP Leadership: a round-up of policies from candidates in the race

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

As the New Democratic leadership race picks up pace this winter, more and more candidates are releasing more and more policy proposals to let members know where they stand on given issues. I wanted to collect them in a central place to help me compare/contrast/keep track of them and figured I might as well share it with you.

Below is what I hope is a comprehensive list of policy proposals on a number of issues the candidates have released so far. I will try to update this list regularly as more are released. Please note there is no analysis here, and the summaries are more like keywords to help me sort them out. I have provided links to the campaign websites so that you can refer to the primary sources for more details. Please also note that I tried to keep this list to actual proposals (with varying levels of detail) and excluded vague "calls" for this or that or general statements on the topic of the day. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

I hope you find this useful as the race progresses. Please feel free to tell everyone what you think of them (and let me know if I am missing any) in the comments section.

ECONOMY/JOBS

Niki Ashton: Dec. 3 - A 10-point plan that takes a wholistic look at how the economy can be more inclusive, including plans for child care, a job growth fund, affordable housing, engaging the labour movement along with business in developing the economy and making education and training more accessible.

Nathan Cullen: Feb. 19 - appoint a minister of manufacturing, annual report to industry minister that sets targets for job creation, increase capital cost allowance to five years, increase corporate tax rate to 20 per cent, differentiated corporate tax rate of 25 per cent for oil and gas companies, reduce tax treatment for stock option capital gains, require shareholder approval of executive pay packages, go after tax havens, introduce new personal income tax bracket beginning at $300,000, national poverty reduction plan

Paul Dewar: Dec. 2 - national infrastructure program, support for small and medium-sized businesses, promote renewable energy industries, better national training program for youth

Peggy Nash: Dec. 2 - increase value of natural resources while decreasing their environmental impact, long-term federal investments in infrastructure, transport and energy projects, improve access to modern telecommunications technologies while boosting Canadian content, better income security programs, strengthen links between social programs and economic goals.

Brian Topp: Nov. 28 - higher tax rate (35 per cent) for those earning more than $250,000, reform capital gains tax, modernize treatment of stock options, increase corporate tax rate by 1.5 per cent each year until it reaches 22.12 per cent

Jan. 13 - enhance federal legislation for credit union, renewed federal labour-sponsored venture capital program, allocate five per cent of Export Development Canada programming to small and medium-sized businesses.

HEALTH CARE

Niki Ashton: Jan. 11 - national standards, Pharmacare, accessible dental care, more focus on primary care teams, rural health care, strategy to improve health in First Nations, Metis and LGBT community.

Paul Dewar: Nov. 24 - include hospitals and health equipment in proposed permanent national infrastructure program

Peggy Nash: Feb. 23 - federal support for midwifery in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, Expand the role of midwives in maternal and newborn healthservices at the federal level

Martin Singh: national pharmaceutical strategy that includes pharmacare and bulk purchasing

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - home and community care accord, national pharmaceutical accord (to supplement newly negotiated health accord), national child nutrition program

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

Nathan Cullen: Nov. 24 - A list of ways targeting the better use, production and sourcing of energy, including energy-efficent homes, a national public transit strategy, training for clean energy jobs, eliminating subsides to the oil and gas sector, cutting them for nuclear power, appointing a minister for energy security, mapping renewable energy resources in Canada and getting the premiers together for a meeting on energy competitiveness.

Paul Dewar: Jan. 11 - cap and trade system, permanent Green Retrofits Fund (residential/commercial), remove tax benefits for oil and gas industries, investments in renewable energy sector, improve grid to reach goal of 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, reduce government energy costs

Thomas Mulcair: Dec. 8 - cap and trade plan that includes all major sources of emissions and uses revenue to help families reduce energy use and costs

Peggy Nash: Jan. 18 - focus on cities and green jobs, national transit strategy with 10-year funding horizon, new Canada Green Buildings fund, permanent inventory of pre-approved green infrastructure projects and speed up funding to stimulate economy when needed, mandate CMHC to support investments in energy efficiency, revise national building and energy codes and bring all federal buildings up to these higher standards and Feb. 23 - reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent 1990 levels by 2050, cap-and-trade system, restore ecoENERGY Retrofit with focus on low-income housing and new financing options for single-family homes, direct incentives for renewable energy technology, end federal subsidies for oil and gas sector, enhance Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and Species at Risk Act

Martin Singh: Feb. 1 - expand National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, cap-and-trade system, improve and expand ecoEnergy retrofit program, Green Trust Fund to help businesses become more energy efficent and engage in renewable energy sector, national sustainable transportation strategy, national conservation plan, national water strategy, remove amendment to Federal Fisheries Act that allows natural water bodies to be converted to waste dumps for mines, make federally funded environmental research accessible and independent through integrity policy for communicating science, Canadian Centre for Climate Change Science, improve environmental assessments

Brian Topp: Feb. 16 - reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, end federal tax subsidies for oil and gas producers, cap-and-trade system, home and industrial retrofit program, phase out "carbon-intense" fuels like coal and invest in renewable energy, national transit strategy, get gas-burning cars out of cities, Canadian Energy Strategy that includes slower pace of oil sands development and phasing out toxic tailing ponds within a decade, $200 million a year for five-year Great Lakes Initiative, legally binding ban on oil tankers off northwest Pacific coast, Safe Chemicals, Safe Kids Act, stop producing and exporting chrysotile asbestos

DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Nathan Cullen: Nov. 29 - hold a national referendum on reforming the electoral system (Cullen supports mixed-member proportional representation), abolish the Senate, restore political subsidies, hold a plebiscite on the future of the monarchy in Canada

Paul Dewar: Dec. 7 - Link per-vote subsidy to number of female candidates

Peggy Nash: Feb. 27 - make replacing first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation a top priority, target message at non-voters as a way to get them to vote for NDP, Royal Commission on Electoral Reform

Brian Topp: Jan. 10 - abolish or reduce power of Senate, mixed-member proportional representation, forbid prime minister from asking for a prorogation to avoid a confidence vote

FOREIGN AFFAIRS/INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Niki Ashton: Jan. 25 - Remake the Canadian International Development Agency (perhaps renaming it Solidarity Canada) and give it the mandate to reduce poverty in the poorest countries

Nathan Cullen: Dec. 21 - includes renegotiating trade agreements to include "real" labour and environmental standards, ensuring Canadian goods have access to foreign markets for new agreements and building support for a currency speculation tax and Feb. 19 - modernize Investment Canada Act to block foreign takeovers in key sectors without transparent net benefit to Canada

Paul Dewar: Feb. 10 - Centre for Peacebuilding and Human Security, oppose Canadian engagement in military conflict with Iran, Responsibility to Protect, work towards devoting 0.7 per cent of Canada's GDP to fighting global poverty, promote Canadian International Development Agency to full department, focus on empowerment of women and girls, reinstate funding for NGOs that perform abortions, make climate change a focus of foreign policy, free trade agreements that protect human rights, corporate social responsibility

Thomas Mulcair: Feb. 7 - focus on preventing rape as a weapon of war, merge CIDA into DFAIT, cancel purchase of F-35 fighter jets, strengthen military's ability to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises, preferential trade to countries that respect human rights and climate change, corporate social responsbility, develop global treaty to replace Kyoto, include Brazil and India on UN Security Council, better benefits for veterans

Peggy Nash: Feb. 10 - 0.7 per cent of GDP to fighting global party with increase of $500 million per year, export generic medications to impoverished countries, implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, reinstate funding to NGOs providing abortions, support global campaign to end conflict-related gender violence, leading role in climate change negotiations, promote LGBT rights foreing policy priority

Romeo Saganash: long-term, preventative, global approach to diplomacy

Brian Topp: Feb. 24 - work with United States and European Union on developing balanced taxation policy, fair trade agreements, abandon the construction of pipelines to increase exports of bitumen to the U.S. and China, truth and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian dispute, re-engage in Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, invest 0.7 per cent of GDP in UN Millennium Development Goals, gender analysis for humanitarian aid, pass Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) legislation, better benefits for veterans, review military procurement procedures

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Niki Ashton: Dec. 21 - lower dollar value for screening

Peggy Nash: Jan. 3 - reduce review threshold to $100 million, explicit and transparent criteria for "net benefit to Canada" test, community involvement in decision, public disclosure and enforcement of all commitments by potential investors

EDUCATION

Paul Dewar: Dec. 15 - monthly stipend, relocation cost and scholarship for students who spend a year volunteering for a non-profit organization ($200 million for first year of implementation), dedicated transfer of $800 million to provinces to reduce tuition fees, expand student grant program, reduce interest to student debt to the prime rate.

FAMILIES/CHILDREN

Peggy Nash: Jan. 26 - policy framework and funding commitments to guide provinces/territories in developing and maintaining more and better early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs.

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - national child nutrition program, reverse moratorium on family reunification applications (and clear up backlog)

ARCTIC/NORTHERN CANADA

Nathan Cullen: Dec. 15 - strategy includes input from First Nations, Inuit and local people in decisions on infrastructure and natural resource development, reducing reliance on diesel, making finishing modern treaty negotiations with Northern Aboriginal people a priority, an Arctic University

Peggy Nash: Feb. 1 - access to water, education and housing for Aboriginal communities, passenger rail to connect communities, forgive student loans for doctors who commit to practicing in the North for at least 10 years

WATER

Paul Dewar: Jan. 24 - includes federal ban on bulk water exports, funding for public water infrastructure and delivery projects, safe drinking water on all reserves in 10 years, research and development in water conservation systems, global leadership on water issues

ARTS AND CULTURE

Paul Dewar: Nov. 7 - income tax averaging for artists and cultural workers, extending federal income support to self-employed, freelance and part-time workers, remove federal income tax on first $15,000 professional artists earn from copyright and residual payments.

Brian Topp: Jan. 20 - cultural industries investment fund for the rest of Canada (like SODEC in Quebec), overhaul the CBC on television and the Internet (including a suggestion to provide multiple channels), modernization of the Broadcast Act and better enforcement of Canadian content requirements, improve federal income support and taxation policies for professional artists

MUNICIPALITIES

Paul Dewar: Oct. 24 - give municipalities a seat at the table for federal/provincial/territorial negotiations that affect their interests.

Thomas Mulcair: Feb. 19 - dedicate one additional cent from the gas tax to public transit in municipalities, devote $500 million annually to public transit and eventually increase to $2 billion annually and Feb. 21 - make co-op housing a priority and reinvest in rental housing through Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation

AGRICULTURE/RURAL CANADA

Niki Ashton: Feb. 24 - more federal funding for community-based economic development organizations, allow producers to vote on future of marketing boards (eg. Canadian Wheat Board), encourage New Generation Co-operatives to give producers bigger share of profits from crops, support shortline rail to reduce costs of transporting goods to market, improve rural access to clean drinking water, family doctors and Canada Post, keep CBC stations open in rural and northern communities

PENSIONS

Thomas Mulcair: Jan. 11 - double maximum pension benefit to $1920/month, increase Guaranteed Income Supplement, create a new pension exchange ("CPP+/QPP+") to give all Canadians access to a defined benefits pension plan, develop a national pension insurance program

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - double CPP (discuss parallel reinforcements for QPP with Quebec), reinforce Old Age Security program

LABOUR

Paul Dewar: Feb. 22 - end federal interference in collective bargaining, bring in federal version of Manitoba's "60-day rule" that mandates the Canada Industrial Relations Board to settle a strike or lockout with binding arbitration after that time period, ban the use of replacement workers, reduce injury rate in federal workplaces, federal minimum wage, reject bill C-377, extend language rights to all Quebecers in federally regulated industries, enforce "Westray Bill" enabling criminal charges for workplace deaths

INNOVATION

Peggy Nash: Jan. 13 - new Canada Innovation Fund, a new Canada Development Bank for pre-commercial and commercial fiscal support, tax credit for investing in high-tech new machinery and equipment, make it easier to commercialize university-based research and development

Martin Singh: national strategy for innovation and entrepreneurship

WOMEN

Paul Dewar: Feb. 1 - new proactived pay equity law and expand pay equity coverage to include women, Aboriginals, workers with disabilities and workers of colour, national child care plan

Thomas Mulcair: Jan. 22 - 50 per cent of all appointments to boards of Crown corporations and federal agencies go to women, implement recommendations from 2004 Pay Equity Task Force, improved maternity benefit rules, six months leave from work to care for ailing relatives, restore Court Challenges program, improved firearms registry, national plan to end violence against Aboriginal women, universal child care program, re-establish Status of Women Canada as a full ministry

Peggy Nash: Jan. 11 - return an amended version of the federal long-gun registry and protect its data through legislation, Royal Commission on the Status of Women, employment equality, focus on violence toward First Nations, Métis and Inuit women and girls, increase support for women and families

LGBTQ

Niki Ashton: Jan. 13 - endorses the proposals put forward by the 'Regina B Team', including ending homophobic bullying in schools, funding for anti-homophobia organizations, reversing blanket MSM ban for donating blood or organs, add gender identity/expression to Canadian Human Rights Act, endorsing the Montreal Declaration on LGBT Human Rights to protect queer rights in foreign countries

Peggy Nash: Dec. 11 - implement the NDP's Trans Rights Bill, restore long-term federal funding for HIV/AIDS/HCV epidemics in Canada, advocate for LGBT rights in foreign affairs, support provincial and local anti-bully initiatives

 Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - implement the NDP's Trans Rights Bill, national anti-bullying strategy, review legislation/policy on assisted human reproduction and ensure access for LGBTTQ families, inclusive and non-discriminatory health care for seniors

How to get the national media to show up at your campaign event early on a Friday morning when the weather is terrible.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

Late Monday night I received an email from Joe Cressy, who is the media spokesman for NDP leadership candidate Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre).

The subject line: "Joanna - you'll want to be at this announcement".

That caught my attention (even while knowing it is the job of a media relations person to tell me that I want to be at every announcement, no matter how big or small I as a journalist might think it is), but I asked for more details before deciding whether to make a note in my calendar.

The reply?

The announcement on Friday has two parts:
1. Paul will announce what we believe is the biggest endorsement of any of the leadership campaigns yet.
2. Paul will articulate the theme and next phase of his leadership campaign

Not bad.

A couple of colleagues in the Ottawa Bureau and I began brainstorming. Who could be a bigger endorsement than Ed Broadbent, who had already come out in support of Brian Topp? We started trying to think of someone of that stature.

One idea that came to mind was NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina), who was married to the late Jack Layton and would provide symbolic weight to any campaign. She had already said that she was going to remain neutral in the leadership race, but people have changed their minds before. Cressy knows her well and co-chaired her campaign last year, so it was within the realm of possibility. I called her up and asked and the answer was a clear no. She wasn't even aware that Dewar was holding an event Friday and she still plans to remain neutral. Scratched her name off the list.

Another name that came up was former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis, whose work to help people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa would fit well with Dewar's passion for international and humanitarian affairs. Cressy is director of communications at the Stephen Lewis Foundation, so there is a connection, and Lewis would be at the level of Broadbent when it comes to "big" names in the NDP world.

So I came right out and asked Cressy.

He replied:

"...(It's) not Stephen.  It's also not Batman or Obama as I've read on twitter. 

The endorser is someone who the grassroots of our Party (Paul's whole campaign focus) like a great deal."

That ruled out Lewis, but the "grassroots" mention was another clue. We needed to think of someone outside the NDP "establishment" but still popular with members.

I tried another couple of names. David Suzuki? Maher Arar?

Cressy replied:

"Neither...but that's the end of our guesses.

Though when you said Arar, I can't help but note that Monia Mazigh (Maher Arar's wife and a leading activist) has already endorsed Paul."

True. She has.

So, still scratching my head (Naomi Klein? Elizabeth May?) I trudged through the slush and snow/rain to the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa (where Liberals were milling about the hallways for their policy convention) by 8:15 a.m. to cover this big, surprise announcement.

And who was it?

Drumroll please...

NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins--James Bay), who Dewar said will also be his deputy leader if he wins the leadership race.

Now, don't get me wrong. Angus, as far as caucus endorsements go, is a catch. It is true that he is liked by grassroots members of the NDP and his deft handling of the G8 infrastructure spending issue and the housing crisis in Attawapiskat made him one of the stars in the House of Commons last year. His past life as a punk rock musician makes him an interesting character and he helped his party make gains in Northern Ontario. He's a good addition to the Dewar campaign team.

But "the biggest endorsement of any of the leadership campaigns yet"? That's debatable.

What is more certain is that this was a pretty smart way to get the national media (and there were quite a few of us there) to show up for a campaign announcement early on a Friday morning. And even if it's likely not what Cressy had in mind when he sent me that first email, here I am still writing about it.

UPDATE:

Cressy noticed this blog post, of course, and gave me a call to explain the thinking behind all the hype.

"Our true belief that Charlie is... in the context of a leadership race, he is certainly one of the biggest 'gets' that anybody will be able to get the whole campaign. Remember: leadership races are one member, one vote. And Charlie, within our party, he is somebody who many people were hoping was going to run for leader. If he was running, he would be a frontrunner right now, but he also brings lots of support with him. Lots of memberships, lots of folks, big and small names," said Cressy, going on to say that he realized the speculation had run more rampant than he had expected.

"So, I know it wasn't what people were expecting. The minute the Twittersphere went a little nuts, it was like 'Uh, Tim Tebow? Do we have him?' But it was an honest calculation of ours that he is one of the biggest MPs and certainly the biggest that we have," Cressy said.

Surprising, but not a surprise: NDP learned of MP's defection through the media

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

The defection of rookie NDP MP Lise St-Denis (Saint-Maurice--Champlain) to the Liberals Tuesday morning was a surprise to her former party, but not by the time she told them about it.

Karl Bélanger, senior press secretary to NDP Interim Leader Nycole Turmel, said he received a phone call from St-Denis about 10 minutes before her 10:30 a.m. news conference with Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Quebec Liberal MP Denis Coderre.

“She gave me a call and then told me as she was probably on her way to the press conference," Bélanger said Tuesday afternoon. "By that time the cat was out of the bag and her name was being widely reported by different media, either on social media or the networks."

As for Turmel, Bélanger said that St-Denis never spoke to her directly.

"She was not able to reach her," said Bélanger, who speculated that St-Denis likely called him after trying unsuccessfully to contact Turmel, but he did not know what time she had first reached out.

St-Denis had said at the news conference that she had "called" Turmel and "spoke" to Bélanger.

While her phone call to Bélanger may have been anti-climactic, the defection itself -- and the stated reasons for it -- threw the NDP for a loop.

One senior NDP source noted that while St-Denis told reporters it was differences in opinion over the Senate, the mission in Libya and a public-private partnership for the Champlain Bridge that drove her to abandon her party for the Liberals, she had never aired those complaints in caucus or to anyone else in the party.

“Watching her on television was the first time that we heard about that,” said the source, later adding that she was not a prominent voice of dissent on any issue.