Move forward on providing adoptive parents an additional 15-weeks of leave to make sure they get the same level of support to care for their children as other parents.

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

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A New Democrat government will honour the special bond of mutual obligation between Canadians and veterans, and deliver the services that veterans need and deserve. As part of this process, we will work with veterans to design a system that provides fair benefits to all veterans, including equal access to lifetime pensions.

Veterans shouldn’t have to wait weeks or even months or years to receive the services they need. We’ll get rid of backlogs and step up high-quality, personalized service delivery by actually providing one caseworker for every twenty-five veterans, hiring more disability adjudicators to clear the backlog, putting in place automatic approvals for the most common injuries, and improving services that are delivered by phone and online.

There’s also much more that we can do to ease the transition from service for veterans. A New Democrat government will give Canadian Forces members access to care and support before the transition, and make sure that their benefits are in place before they are released from service.

New Democrats know that sometimes a sacrifice abroad means being unable to care for yourself when you return, and we will help support veterans and their families by expanding the caregiver allowance to more people.

New Democrats will work with partners in community services and the veterans community to end veteran homelessness for good – because one veteran on the streets is one too many.

To ensure that taxpayer money earmarked for veterans care actually gets spent on it, we will automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending in Veterans Affairs to improve services. There should never be an incentive for any government to save money on the backs of veterans.

And finally, to hold all governments accountable to the sacred commitments we make to veterans, New Democrats will make the Veterans Ombudsman fully independent so they can report transparently and directly to Canadians.

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Move forward on our plan to launch a pilot program next year that will provide rent supplements and wrap-around supports to homeless Veterans, so that they can get the housing and services they need.

Introduce a Veterans stream to the Rapid Housing Initiative which will see new affordable housing become available for Veterans.

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Continue our work to reduce wait times and ensure Veterans and their families receive decisions on their applications in a timely manner.

Invest the necessary resources to accomplish this, such as hiring more case workers and adjudicators, continuing to enhance disability benefit processing, and by enhancing innovative digital solutions.

Ensure the benefit system and Veterans Affairs services are responsive and meet the needs of underrepresented Veterans including women, LGBTQ2, racializes, and Indigenous Veterans.

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

Launch Canada’s first National Veteran Employment Strategy, with a goal of ensuring that every Veteran can find meaningful work after releasing from the Canadian Armed Forces. A part of this strategy will include improving qualification recognition so that certifications earned while in service can be used in civilian life.

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

Support Commemorate Canada and ensure this program recognizes modern Veterans as well as women, Indigenous, racialized, and LGBT2Q Veterans from all conflicts.

Ensure that we recognize the valuable contributions of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans who have served our country in domestic operations such as wildfires, ice storms, and floods.

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• Empowering military doctors, who know the demands of service and the impact of injuries, to determine a service-related injury for all CAF and VAC purposes.

° No longer will one medical evaluation deny someone the ability to serve, and a separate assessment then deny them benefits.

• Revising the concept of “universality of service” to be job-specific.

° The “everyone is a rifleman” concept is outdated and unsuited to the realities of modern warfare while leading to injured service members being pushed out and cut off.

° Fitness categories will become job-specific, and those who wish to continue to serve after injury will have the opportunity to retrain in an area where they can serve.

• Ensuring a smooth transition for any CAF members who have to be medically released, including retaining them in the CAF until all the benefits and services from the CAF, VAC, and Service Income Security Insurance Plan have been confirmed and put in place.

• Implementing the Lifelong Disability Benefit for moderately to severely injured veterans.

• Making a transfer to the reserves a practical and easy option and adjusting service requirements to balance the need for training with the reality of adapting to the civilian workforce.

° This will ease a regular force member’s transition and strengthen the reserves.

• Ensuring that military families, especially spouses, are provided with sufficient support.

• Implementing a strategy to combat homelessness among veterans and explore the potential for using surplus military housing to provide housing for homeless veterans.

• Covering the cost of PTSD service dogs for veterans and creating training standards for them.

• Empowering frontline VAC employees to adjudicate claims.

• Completing the Afghanistan War Memorial.

• Funding educational initiatives that teach Canadians about veterans’ service and Canada’s place in the world.

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Require financial institutions offer flexible repayment options by default if you fall on hard times or face a life event that causes financial stress. This will include a mandatory option for a 6-month deferral of mortgage payments in qualifying circumstances.

Establish a single, independent ombudsperson for handling consumer complaints involving banks, with the power to impose binding arbitration.

Crack down on predatory lenders by lowering the criminal rate of interest.

Enhance the powers of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to review the prices charged by banks and impose changes if they are excessive.

Move forward with a made-in-Canada model of open banking that will launch no later than the beginning of 2023. This system will ensure that you, not your bank, control your data.

Modernize Canada’s payments technology to deliver faster and lower cost options so that you can securely and conveniently manage money, pay bills, and transfer funds to loved ones around the world.

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Implement a “right to repair” to extend the life of home appliances, particularly electronics, by requiring manufacturers to supply repair manuals and spare parts and facilitate their replication after the part is no longer produced.

Introduce a new 15% tax credit to cover the cost of home appliance repairs performed by technicians (up to $500).

Introduce a bill that includes provisions to better inform citizens of the environmental impacts of consumer products.

Require businesses to inform Canadians of the environmental impacts of consumer products.

Amend the Copyright Act to ensure that its provisions cannot prevent the repair of digital devices and systems, even when nothing is being copied or distributed.

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Ensure the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) becomes an eligible health expenditure under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.

Expand the Medical Expense Tax Credit to include costs that have been reimbursed to a surrogate mother for her IVF expenses.

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We need to do better for Canadians in uniform and for the defense of our country. A New Democrat government will make sure that our troops have the equipment, training, and support they need to do the difficult and dangerous work we ask them to undertake. We will ensure that funding supports our national defence and international commitments, with a renewed priority of advancing multilateral peacekeeping initiatives around the world.

Here at home, New Democrats are committed to bringing our search and rescue response times up to international standards, and ensuring that our capabilities are sufficient to meet the needs of the North.

In contracting for new military equipment, including ships and fighter jets, New Democrats will ensure maximum industrial benefits and jobs. This will help ensure the survival of healthy shipbuilding and aerospace industries all across Canada. And when it comes to operations here at home, New Democrats oppose the privatization of services on Canadian Forces bases across the country.

Our vision is a military where Canadian Armed Forces members can work safely, get the support they need when they need it, and count on fair policies to govern their work.

A New Democrat government will make mental health support for members and their families a priority. No member or veteran of the Canadian Forces should ever feel that they are all alone in dealing with the impact of their experiences or in transitioning to civilian life. They – and their families – need to know that their country and their government has their back, during their service and for the rest of their lives.

We are also committed to putting an end to sexual harassment and assault in the military. The Liberals have talked about the issue for six years but have failed to make needed changes, while survivors of sexual misconduct continue to suffer from a culture of silence and impunity that extends right to the top of the chain of command. We will immediately implement the recommendations of the Deschamps Report, including establishing independent oversight and accountability for sexual harassment and assault in the military.

New Democrats will also ensure that the recruitment and retention efforts of the Canadian Armed Forces reflects the diversity of Canada. Finally, we will reform the universality of service principle to make sure that ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members are not unfairly pushed out of service.

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• Addressing the challenges of deployments and postings

° Being conscious of the heavy operational toll that tears military families apart and depletes Canada’s ability to deploy, only deploy our forces when they have clear and achievable missions along with the appropriate resources needed to achieve them.

° Lengthening postings where possible to enable families to put down roots.

° Working with the provinces to help ensure that the process of moving between provinces is as seamless as possible for military families.

• Prioritizing recruitment and retention, including an emphasis on retraining and skills development to allow those willing to serve to continue to do so.

• Working with provincial governments to develop comprehensive job protection legislation that shields reservists who leave their day job to deploy, since protecting your neighbours should not cost you your job.

• Reviving the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) at civilian universities to provide educational opportunities for youth serving their country.

• Harmonizing trade training in the Armed Forces with Red Seal Qualifications so that military service becomes an incubator for skilled workers who can transition easily and productively to the civilian economy.

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Implement the recommendations of the Independent External Comprehensive Review led by Justice Arbour to address sexual harassment and misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, including instituting external oversight and independence over the processes of reporting, investigating, and adjudicating complaints, outside of the chain of command.

Modernize the military justice system and ensure survivors are treated with respect and have the full range of options and services available in the civilian system, including implementing recommendations from the Third Independent Review of the National Defence Act led by Justice Fish.

Expand resources available to survivors through the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre and make these services available to all members of the defence team, including DND employees, veterans, and members of military families.

Expand health services available to women in the CAF, ensuring comprehensive access to sexual and reproductive health resources, child care, and mental health resources. We will increase investments to address the clinical, occupational and deployment health needs of CAF women in cooperation with the newly established National Institute of Women’s Health.

Co-design and fully fund a permanent peer-to-peer support program for CAF members who have experienced military sexual trauma and make it accessible to all members of the defence team.

Work to root out all sources of anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism, LGBTQ2 prejudice, gender bias, and white supremacy in the Canadian Armed Forces and implement the recommendations of the Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism, Discrimination to ensure that all members of the defence team work in a safe and respectful workplace.

Undertake ambitious efforts to improve the diversity of the CAF, including women, LGBTQ2, Indigenous, Black, and racialized Canadians and persons with disabilities.

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° Enhancing the participation of women, Indigenous people, and visible minorities through proactive, targeted recruitment at the community level.

° Ensuring a respectful and professional workforce free from sexual misconduct and discrimination.

° Calling a public inquiry into harassment and discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forces and make immediate changes such as removing commanders’ access to their subordinates’ medical files.

° Ordering a service-wide independent investigation into sexual misconduct in the military.

° Introducing policies to ensure future complaints are made to an external, independent body outside the chain of command.

° Making the CF and DND Ombudsperson an independent Officer of Parliament.

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We'll work with the provinces towards abolishing the Senate. In the meantime, a New Democrat government will insist that theSenate change its rules so unelected Senators can't hold up legislation for months when it has already been adopted by the elected Members of Parliament, who have been sent by voters to Ottawa.

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Update CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate to ensure that it is meeting the needs and expectation of today’s Canadian audiences, with a unique programming that distinguishes it from private broadcasters.

Reaffirm the role of the public broadcaster in protecting and promoting the French language and Francophone cultures in Quebec and across the country.

Increase production of national, regional, and local news.

Strengthen Radio Canada International, our voice for peace, democracy, and universal human values on the world stage.

Ensure that Indigenous voices and cultures are present on our screens and radios.

Bring Canada’s TV and film productions to the world stage.

Provide $400 million over 4 years to CBC/Radio-

Canada so that it is less reliant on private advertising with a goal of eliminating advertising during news and other public affairs shows.

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• Give Radio-Canada a separate and distinct legal and administrative structure to reflect its distinct mandate of promoting francophone language and culture while maintaining its funding and providing for continued sharing of resources and facilities where applicable.
  • The Board of Directors of the reformed Radio-Canada would include representatives appointed by the Government of Québec and representation of francophone minority communities outside Québec.
  • Radio-Canada will:
    • No longer charge user fees for its online streaming services or operate branding services like Tandem in competition with private francophone media.
    • Provide increased content representative of francophone communities outside Québec.
• Protect CBC Radio and CBC North.
• Review the mandate of CBC English Television, CBC News Network and CBC English online news to assess the viability of refocusing the service on a public interest model like that of PBS in the
• United States, ensuring that it no longer competes with private Canadian broadcasters and digital providers.

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Our alternative approach will:

• Require large digital streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video to reinvest a significant portion of their Canadian gross revenue into producing original Canadian programming, of which a mandated proportion must be French language programming.

° If they fail to do so on their own in a given year, they will be required to pay the difference into the Canadian Media Fund.

° The proportion chosen will vary based on the nature of the streaming service and would be determined based on the best practices of other jurisdictions, such as those in Europe and Australia, as well as the nature of the Canadian market.

° Content reinvestment requirements will also recognize and incentivize partnerships with Canadian independent media producers.

• Exempt the content Canadians upload onto social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok (sic) from regulation in order to protect free speech.

• Streamline and reduce the regulatory burden placed on conventional Canadian broadcasters and cable companies, including CRTC license fees and Canadian Media Fund contribution requirements, with the loss in revenue to be compensated by a portion of the revenue from the new digital services tax.

° This will include abolishing CRTC Part II license fees.

° The health of the Canadian cultural sector depends on the continued viability and success of its private broadcasters. Conventional Canadian broadcasters and cable companies have experienced significant losses in subscribers and revenue in recent years due to the rise of online streaming services.

Canada’s Conservatives will also conduct a full review of the mandate of the CRTC to ensure that it better reflects the needs of Canadians and doesn’t prevent Canadian broadcasters from innovating and adapting to changes in the market.

CBC and Radio Canada have made important contributions to Canada over the past 84 years. While parts of it remain as relevant as ever, including Radio Canada, CBC Radio, and CBC North, many question whether CBC’s English TV continues to live up to its mandate. There are also concerns that CBC’s online news presence is undermining the viability of Canadian print and online media, reducing the diversity of voices available to Canadians.

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

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People in rural Canada deserve better access to services – and the future of our rural communities depends on those services being available. That’s why a New Democrat government will focus on improving access to in-person services in Northern and rural communities. In order to make our rural and Northern communities safer, and to recognize the selfless work of our volunteer emergency responders, we’ll also expand the Volunteer Firefighters Tax Credit and ensure that federal funding for rural and First Nations policing is made available in a fair, predictable and sustainable way.

In many rural areas, simple things like going to the bank have become complicated and difficult. Despite record profits, financial institutions are closing rural branches and cutting services in more and more communities every year. It’s clear that we need to find other ways to deliver these important financial services. Today, almost 1,200 rural communities in Canada have a post office, but no financial services. That’s why a New Democrat government will work with Canada Post to develop a model of postal banking that will help nearly two million Canadians access more affordable, quality banking services where none are currently available.

Travel is a necessity of life in rural Canada – and it should be easier to get around without putting a dent in the family budget. But instead of improving rural transit services, the lack of funding and coordination under this Liberal government made the situation worse. Combined with Greyhound’s route cancellations, too many communities have been left stranded without reliable transportation services.

New Democrats believe that every community in Canada should be able to count on reliable transit to connect them to their jobs, health care services, schools, and family members. Greyhound’s service cuts have hit rural communities hard, and we need a reliable alternative to help people get where they need to go. That’s why we’ll work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous communities to create an affordable public transit service that connects rural areas, including restoring cancelled bus services, expanding into under-served areas , restarting the Ontario Northlander train, re-establishing vital regional air routes and much more to keep our communities connected.

Staying connected digitally is more essential than ever, yet too many rural communities in Canada don’t have reliable cell phone or broadband service.

A New Democrat government will change that, delivering high-speed rural broadband to all communities in Canada without delay, and ensuring that reliable cell phone service is expanded to every area of Canada – while keeping rates affordable for families and businesses.

Rural Canada drives at least a third of the country’s economy, but successive Liberal and Conservative governments have missed the opportunity to develop these regions to their full potential. COVID-19 has hit small communities and rural areas hard, and Canada’s economic recovery plan needs to respond to that reality. A New Democrat government will invest in regional economic development agencies and provide economic support for rural areas to invest in job creation in areas like tourism and community development.

Many Northern, rural and remote communities are working hard to retain families, attract workers and stop out-migration, but they can’t do it alone. That’s why New Democrats will put in place a new tax credit for graduates to work in designated rural and Northern communities, and make it easier for employers to hire and retain the workers they need.

To make all of Canada’s communities sustainable for the long term, we need to change how we build them. Rural communities need fair access to federal infrastructure and transit funds, and more help to prepare for and deal with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. New Democrats will work with provinces to put in place a new deal for rural infrastructure programs that provide long-term predictable funding for communities – and we’ll increase the amount of help the federal government provides to communities to adapt to climate change and rebuild when disasters happen. We’ll make sure that affordable housing investments go to rural communities, too – and that federal infrastructure dollars flow now to create good local jobs that stay in the community.

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When it comes to accessing help from government, people want reliable services that work – but the Liberal government failed to even pay public servants correctly, and the Conservatives are more interested in making cuts than in making government work. A New Democrat government will put in place a Service Guarantee that will make departments responsible for establishing and publishing binding service standards for programs like Employment Insurance, veterans support, Indigenous services, passports, Canada Revenue Agency call centres, and other services. Ministers will be held responsible for delivering on these targets.

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Create the Diversity Fellowship in the Public Service to mentor and sponsor diverse groups in the public service and implement an action plan to increase representation in hiring and appointments, and leadership development within the Public Service.

Create a fellowship for 1000 students and new graduates and offer French Language Training to 3rd and 4th year students to help bridge current gaps including language barriers.

Increase diversity by offering language programs to racialized employees and expanding the public service recruitment program to international students and permanent residents.

Help community organizations foster students to enter the public service.

Establish a mental health fund for Black public servants, and support career advancement, training, sponsorship, and educational opportunities for Black workers.

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• Prohibit the application of non-disclosure agreements in circumstances where an individual is disclosing information to a lawful authority or seeking medical assistance or legal advice.
  • This would apply across all federally regulated enterprises as well as the government.
• Amend the Canada Evidence Act to ensure that Cabinet Confidence can no longer be used to shield government insiders from criminal investigation.
  • Where the government does not want to turn over information or allow the police to interview an official, Cabinet Confidence would need to be asserted in writing by the Clerk of the Privy Council with an explanation of the reasons that the government believes Cabinet Confidence applies.
  • The RCMP would then be able to apply to the Justice of the Federal Court to access information protected by Cabinet Confidence.
    • The information will be provided to the RCMP if there is a reasonable basis to believe an offence has been committed and that the information is relevant to the investigation.
  • This new application mechanism would set a high bar to protect the principle of Cabinet confidence and to ensure that genuine Cabinet deliberations are protected. Cabinet confidence is meant to ensure good government, not shield illegal behaviour. These measures will safeguard our democracy against the whims of unscrupulous politicians.
• Fix Access to Information by giving the Commissioner of Information the power to make orders to departments to release information promptly, to bring an end to the current government’s practice of endless delays that makes a mockery of the law.
• Strengthen whistleblower protection by creating a strong federal legislative framework that will enable workers to speak up about wrongdoing without fear of reprisal.
• Mandate that government departments, Crown Corporations, and those receiving public funds publish more data in machine-readable formats using prevailing open standards.

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A New Democrat government will bring in mixed-member proportional representation that works for Canada – and we will do it in our first mandate in government. We’ll establish an independent citizen’s assembly to recommend the best way to put it in place for the next election to ensure both local representation and a federal government that reflects the voters’ choice of parties.

Once Canadians have the opportunity to experience the new voting system and compare it to the old one, we will hold a referendum to confirm the choice.

Young people are increasingly engaged in the world, and many are worried about facing a future with rising inequality and catastrophic climate change. It’s no surprise: often they can see themselves paying the biggest price for the decisions governments are making today. Young people can and should have a say in their future. Simply put, if you are old enough to work and pay taxes, you are old enough to have a say in who forms the government. It’s time to lower the voting age to 16.

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New Democrats will bring in tougher penalties in the Conflict of Interest Act to ensure that the abuse of public trust is treated seriously, and to fully ban cash-for-access events we will prohibit government officials from accepting donations from anyone whose private interest could be benefited by their decisions.

The rule of law also has to be free from political interference. Unfortunately, the last six years have made it clear that for this Liberal government, there is one set of rules for the well-connected – and another set of rules for the rest of us.

That’s why New Democrats will formally prohibit corporations facing criminal charges from lobbying elected officials. Prosecutions of corporate crime must be thorough and completely independent of political interference.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

We’ll also introduce an ethical, social and environmental screen on government procurement, so that Canadians can be confident that their tax dollars are not going to pay for bribes in foreign countries, or pollution that we'll all have to pay to clean up later. Finally, we will empower the Auditor General to review taxpayer-funded government advertising to make sure that it is non-partisan.

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Toughening the Conflict of Interest Act by expanding the monetary penalties to cover all violations of the Act. Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau were both found to have behaved unethically but faced no penalties for doing so. This needs to change.

Increasing the monetary penalties in the Conflict of Interest Act from a maximum of $500 to a maximum of $50,000, with the fine to be proportionate to the severity of the offence and the offender’s history and personal net worth.

Amending the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament to prevent Members of Parliament from collecting speaking fees while serving in the House of Commons since speaking to Canadians is a part of the job.

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

Mandate full transparency by requiring all corporations and other organizations that lobby to register and report their meetings; and

Ban lobbying by an individual or entity on a matter that is the subject of a criminal proceeding, to prevent a future Liberal government from repeating the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

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

Canada’s Conservatives will pass a Foreign Agents Registry Act requiring individuals and companies acting as agents of designated foreign principals (country, corporation, entity or individual) in a political or quasi-political capacity including lobbying, policy development, advertising, and grassroots mobilization to register. Requirements for disclosure would include the amount of payment, the nature of the relationship, and the activities performed.

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