Canada votes: Platform highlights from Jagmeet Singh's NDP

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has seen a significant surge in support for his personal leadership, while the party is promising to make life more affordable for Canadians, highlighting commitment to invest in a universal pharmacare program.

Here are some highlights from the NDP platform:

Taxes

• Roll back the corporate income tax cuts by three percentage points

• Implement a new one per cent wealth tax on wealth over $20 million

Housing

• Create 500,000 units of affordable housing in the next ten years with $5 billion in additional funding in the first year and a half

• Waive the federal portion of the GST/HST on the construction of new affordable rental units

• Re-introduce 30-year terms to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation insured mortgages on entry-level homes for first time home buyers

• Double the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to $1,500

• Put in place a Foreign Buyer’s tax on the sale of homes to individuals who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents

Health

• Invest $10 million in expanding Medicare to include quality prescription drug coverage for everyone by late 2020

• Regulate natural health products under stand-alone legislation

• Support overdose prevention sites and expand access to treatment

• Work towards a national school nutrition program

• Develop national care standards for home care and long-term care

Seniors

• Funded national dementia strategy and an elder abuse prevention plan

• Make the Canada Caregiver Tax Credit refundable

• Put in place a one-year delay to help seniors at risk of having their Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits suspended for being unable to make the required income statement

Climate Change and Environment

• Ensure that federal buildings use renewable energy and move the vehicle fleets of the federal government to electric by 2025

• Produce more zero-emission vehicles in Canada building towards them being 100 per cent of new car sales by 2040

• Waive the federal sales tax on zero-emission vehicle purchases and grow incentives up to $15,000 per family for made-in-Canada vehicles

• Set a net carbon-free electricity by 2030 and move to 100 per cent non-emitting electricity by 2050

• Fulfill Canada’s G-20 commitment to eliminate these fossil fuel subsidies and redirect these funds to low carbon initiatives

• Ban single-use plastics across Canada

• Protect 30 per cent of land, freshwater, and oceans by 2030

Immigration and Refugees

• End the cap on applications to sponsor parents and grandparents

• Give caregivers brought to Canada status and allow them to reunite with their families without delay

• Suspend the Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S.

Child care

• Introduce legislation that enshrines Canada’s commitment to high-quality, public child care in law

• Invest $1 billion in child care in 2020 and grow that investment annually

Governance

• Tougher penalties in the Conflict of Interest Act

• Prohibit government officials from accepting donations from anyone whose private interest could be benefited by their decisions

• Launch an independent public inquiry into Justin Trudeau’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin scandal

• Work with the provinces towards abolishing the Senate

• Lower the voting age to 16

• Bring in a mixed-member proportional representation electoral system