Comparing the Party Platforms, Issue by Issue

We’re just days away from one of the most high-stakes elections in Canadian history — a contest shaped by a U.S. president’s threats against our country’s economy and sovereignty.

The instability sparked by Donald Trump’s tariffs and vow to make Canada the 51st state led to a dramatic reversal in voting intent: Canada’s Conservative party was poised to win a majority government after a decade of Liberal party rule.

But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has seen his once commanding lead in the polls evaporate after his campaign was slow to pivot to the threat posed by Trump; polls now show the Liberals in the lead, although that lead has narrowed in recent weeks.

While the NDP had occupied an influential position in Parliament, pressing the Liberals to adopt a dental care and pharmacare program in return for support, the party is now facing a collapse of seats as progressive and small-c conservative voters gravitate to the Liberals.

As this election draws to a close, let’s take a closer look at the parties’ platforms to get a sense of their vision of a strong Canada.

The Conservatives want a smaller government, a stronger military and an increased role for private business.

The Liberals see investing in infrastructure, pipelines, the CBC and defence spending as the path to strengthen Canada in the face of U.S. belligerence.

Meanwhile, the NDP are pushing a different vision: they want to increase government spending in health care, a green economy and housing, and increase taxes on wealthy people. They’re arguing Canada can carve out a place in the world through investment in social services and cultural institutions, and by strengthening alliances with other countries.

Response to US tariff and sovereignty threats

The Liberals are promising to strengthen Canada’s economy in the face of U.S. tariff threats by quickly breaking down barriers to interprovincial trade. They’re also promising to reduce “red tape” on major resource projects like pipelines, and to hasten approvals for “nation building” infrastructure projects like new bridges, roads, hospitals and electricity grids.

The Liberals are also promising to develop “AI infrastructure including data storage facilities, computing capacity, high speed, safe and reliable communication networks, and digital supply chain.”

The United States’ traditional allies have been shaken by the Trump administration’s promises to annex both Greenland and Canada and Trump’s reversal when it comes to supporting Ukraine.

The Liberals are promising to boost spending on Canada’s military, shift procurement to Canadian-made equipment and increase the presence of the Canadian Armed Forces in the Arctic.

The Conservatives are emphasizing building pipelines and focusing on the oil and gas sector as a way to counter the economic threat Canada is facing. While the Liberals have already scrapped a national carbon tax on consumers, the Conservatives are promising to also get rid of a carbon tax on industrial emitters, arguing the levy hampers the economy.

The Conservatives are also pledging to repeal a ban on oil tankers in the waters off British Columbia’s north coast and remove a cap on oil and gas production.

The Conservatives intend to increase spending on the military, committing to meet the NATO target of two per cent of GDP by 2030. They would rapidly increase the size of Canada’s army to 30,000 reservists and 71,500 regular forces in the next 18 months.

In contrast to the Liberal and Conservative focus on oil and gas, the NDP are promising to focus on growing Canada’s green economy with “good-paying union jobs in electric vehicle manufacturing, construction, energy efficiency retrofitting and renewable power.”

The party says it would focus on working with provinces to create an east-west power grid, with a goal of producing non-carbon-emitting electricity by 2045.

The NDP’s platform doesn’t mention the military, but the party is promising to defend Canada’s sovereignty by strengthening the economy, Canada’s social services and cultural institutions, and alliances with other countries.

The NDP are promising to hire “thousands” more border officers to protect Canada’s border with the United States.

Health

In its health platform, the NDP are promising a strategy to ensure that all Canadians have access to a family doctor by 2030. They also aim to expand access to mental health care, calling for more access and public funding for counselling and psychotherapy as well as more services for people in mental health crises and addictions. The NDP are also promising to protect Canada’s public health-care system and crack down on “cash-for-care” clinics.

The cost of the NDP promises is projected to total $46 billion over the next four years.

The Conservatives’ health promises are focused on getting rid of barriers to professional certification for health-care workers, creating a national “Blue Seal Certification” that would be the same across provinces and territories. The platform promises to add 15,000 doctors by 2030 and addresses criticism lobbed by other parties by promising to uphold “the Canada Health Act and defending universal public health care” and make no changes to abortion laws or access.

The Conservatives are also promising to make dramatic changes to tackle drug addiction and the overdose crisis, pledging to halt federal funding for overdose prevention sites and ban any of the life-saving sites if they are within 500 metres of schools, parks and seniors homes. The party is also promising to end federal involvement with safe supply programs, which offer drug users access to prescription drugs to end reliance on the volatile unregulated drug supply.

Instead, the Conservatives are promising 50,000 more spaces in addiction treatment centres and allowing judges to sentence people convicted of crimes to mandatory addiction treatment.

Like the Conservatives, the Liberals are also promising to implement a national licensing system for health-care professionals.

Otherwise, the Liberal health plan focuses on improving access to electronic health records, streamlining administrative systems and speeding up Health Canada’s evaluation of new drugs. The party is also promising to launch a task force to “invest and scale up made-in-Canada public health-care solutions, leverage, and improve the quality of data.”

Crime and public safety

Crime and public safety have played a central role in the Conservatives’ message to voters, and their platform fleshes out the tough-on-crime talking points that Poilievre has focused on throughout the campaign.

The Conservatives are promising 10-year mandatory sentences after a third conviction for a serious offence, and life sentences for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 40 milligrams of fentanyl. The platform commits to “stop intimate partner violence” by imposing first-degree murder charges on perpetrators and tough bail conditions. The party is also promising to house trans women in men’s prisons.

The platform promises to bring back the ability for judges to impose consecutive life sentences for multiple murderers — a sentencing provision that was struck down by the Supreme Court in a 2022 decision. Poilievre has promised to use the notwithstanding clause to override that court decision — a move his opponents have warned would undermine the independence of Canadian courts and our system of democracy.

On crime, the Liberals’ platform focuses on stricter gun control measures, hiring 1,000 more RCMP police officers and 1,000 more border guards, changing legislation to allow for more searches of mail packages for fentanyl and other illegal drugs and investing more money in prosecutors to handle complex organized crime cases.

Economy and inflation

In the years following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, prices of everything from housing to groceries shot up, putting a huge amount of strain on Canadians’ ability to afford everyday items.

The NDP’s platform promises to directly tackle rising grocery prices by implementing a price cap on basic food items and necessities like baby formula. The NDP are arguing that other commodities, like electricity, natural gas and some medications, already have price caps and other jurisdictions have successfully used the policy to halt rampant food inflation.

The party is also promising to help grocery store co-operatives and smaller food businesses to compete with Canada’s dominant grocery store chains, and wants to remove the GST on essential items to soften the blow of both U.S. tariffs and rising inflation.

The NDP are also promising higher taxes on wealthy people, including reintroducing a capital gains tax that was introduced by the Liberals when led by Justin Trudeau before being scrapped by current leader Mark Carney.

The Conservatives have blamed increased government spending, including benefit cheques handed out during the COVID-19 crisis, for pushing up inflation.

They’re promising to “streamline” the public service by replacing only two positions for every three departing employees, and to not introduce any new spending before first identifying new revenue or savings. The Conservatives are also promising to cut $9.4 billion in foreign aid, and $4 billion in cuts to Crown corporations, including defunding the CBC.

The Liberals are promising to tackle high food prices by investing in local food production, expanding the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s mandate to include considering the cost of food, and helping reduce costs for Canadian farmers to get their goods to market.

Housing

The differences between the Conservative, NDP and Liberal platforms on housing boil down to how much government should be involved in building housing, regulating the rental market and trying to control steeply rising housing costs.

In 2015, two decades after the federal government exited out of the housing file, the Liberals created the National Housing Strategy, committed more federal money to build housing and changed the mission of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., or CMHC, to focus on funding and building rental and affordable housing.

The Liberals are promising to continue National Housing Strategy programs and add another agency called Build Canada Homes that would act as a real estate developer to build housing on federally owned land. Through Build Canada, the Liberals have earmarked $25 billion in financing for prefab homebuilders to boost the prefabricated industry and housing supply. The platform also identifies $10 billion in financing for “homes that support middle and low-income Canadians.”

On homelessness, the Liberals are promising that $6 billion of the $10 billion promised for middle- and low-income housing will go towards “deeply affordable” housing, supportive housing and homeless shelters.

The Conservatives are promising to cut operational spending back to 2015 levels at CMHC and end two federal housing programs: the housing accelerator fund and the housing infrastructure fund. The platform commits to focus on reducing zoning and development regulations to make it easier for for-profit developers to build more housing. They’re also promising to sell federally owned land to developers for housing development.

On homelessness, the Conservatives are promising to “return to a ‘housing first’ approach to eliminating homelessness so that individuals experiencing homelessness can have a stable place to live.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has also promised to change Canada’s Criminal Code to allow police to arrest people who are living in homeless encampments and “discouraging the general public from using or moving through public spaces,” promising that encampments will be dismantled and people who live in them will be moved to addiction treatment centres or housing.

Meanwhile, the NDP are promising to tackle rising rents by making federal housing funding conditional on provinces adopting rent control and renter protection measures. They’re also promising to build 100,000 rent-controlled homes on federal land and to acquire more land for housing.

The NDP are promising to continue the National Housing Strategy and introduce a fund that would support infrastructure for housing as well as home building.

On homelessness, the NDP say their renter protection measure will prevent people from losing their housing. They’re also promising a housing insecurity prevention benefit “to help 50,000 people in critical need find homes.”

All three parties have similar promises when it comes to encouraging Canadian municipalities to allow denser housing in communities. The Liberals and NDP say they’ll reward municipalities that allow denser housing with federal funds, while the Conservatives say they’ll give infrastructure housing to municipalities only after jurisdictions permit over 15 per cent more home building every year. The Conservatives say they’ll reduce federal funding to municipalities that fall short of that goal.