Singh promises more doctors, Carney supports the trades, Poilievre vows to cut red tape
NDP promises all Canadians can access primary care and a family doctor by 2030
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has unveiled his party's plan to improve Canadians' access to primary health care with a strategy designed to retain and hire more doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.
"We're proud of our values as Canadians, and one of those values that we hold so dearly is the idea we believe in taking care of each other," Singh said in St. John's on Saturday morning.
"And what represents that value is our universal health-care system."
The NDP plan would train more doctors from underserved areas, including rural and remote communities, by investing in regional medical schools. The party is also promising to streamline support for U.S. doctors looking to move to and practise in Canada.
Singh said the NDP will also create 1,000 more family medicine residency placements annually for international medical graduates. Provinces and territories that sign on to the NDP's plan would receive an additional one per cent in Canada Health Transfers.
The NDP also promised that all Canadians would get access to primary care and a family doctor within five years, by 2030.
"I believe that everyone in our country should be able to have a family doctor. I think that is a fundamental thing we need in our health care system," Singh said.
If all the provinces and territories signed on, it would cost the federal government $10 billion over four years, the party said.
Carney makes his pitch to trades workers
Liberal Leader Mark Carney said his party would build up Canada's skilled trades workforce by providing a new apprenticeship grant of up to $8,000 and would work with Indigenous communities to raise awareness of the new grant.
The Liberals also promised to double funding of the Union Training and Innovation Program from $25 million to $50 million and expand a labour mobility tax deduction so workers who travel more than 120 kilometres from their home to a job site can deduct more expenses.
"For those in the skilled trades in Canada, we are not just going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the skilled trades. We are creating hundreds of thousands of careers," Carney said in Oakville, Ont.
"Crane operators, brick layers, welders and those in the specialized trades that are essential to the future of Canada — we have to invest in their futures too," he added.
Poilievre pledges to cut down red tape
On Saturday afternoon, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced in Osoyoos, B.C. that, if elected, he would cut 25 per cent of government red tape over the next two years.
"We'll impose a two-for-one rule," Poilievre said. "Which means every new regulation or rule will have to be matched with eliminating two existing ones."
The Conservative leader said that policy extends to administrative costs, meaning for every dollar added to the administrative burden of the federal government, two dollars must be cut elsewhere.
"And to ensure the reductions happen, a new Conservative government will pass a law requiring the Auditor General to verify them every year," the Conservatives said in a press release sent out Saturday morning.
Poilievre also criticized Carney over his new promise to trades workers and said the Liberal leader "[plagarized] my latest policy."
Last weekend, Poilievre said his party would change the Income Tax Act to allow travelling trades workers to write off the full cost of food, transportation and accommodation.
The Conservatives have also promised to end tax write-offs of luxury corporate jets, though people will be able to write off the equivalent cost of a commercial flight.
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