Conservative Campaign Commitments to Date for the Economy
Cost of Living and Quality of Life
- Cut the federal excise tax on diesel and aviation fuel in half – from 4 cents to 2 cents reducing the tax burden on truckers, railroads, airlines, shipping companies and public transit systems by $600 million per year. This will save farmers $47 million a year in inputs.
- Implement stronger competition laws to prevent cartel behaviour and price-fixing.
- Give consumers protection from gas-pump and home-heating price gouging.
- Allow families to split their income between spouses to reduce their taxes in situations where one spouse is not working full-time in order to care for one or more family members with disabilities – whether children or adults.
- Improve the Registered Disability Savings Program by making it easier for a person with disabilities to access money that has been transferred from the unused retirement savings of a deceased parent.
- Help first time home buyers to get into the housing market by giving a tax credit for up to $5,000 of the closing costs on the purchase of their first home.
- Tax relief for seniors: raising the Age Credit Amount by an additional $1,000 to reduce taxable income.
Jobs for the Future
- Support Entrepreneurs by giving self-employed Canadians access to maternity and parental benefits.
- Further increase the amount of income eligible for the reduced federal small business tax rate - this time to $500,000 – a measure that will allow more small businesses to grow without being bumped into a higher tax bracket.
- Index the lifetime capital gains exemption, to keep the value of the exemption from being eroded over time by inflation – a move that will help small business owners prepare for retirement through family succession plans or divestment.
- Continue to work toward a twenty per cent reduction in the federal paperwork burden on small businesses, fully reaching that target before the end of 2008.
- Provide companies with details of the $75-million venture capital fund announced in Budget 2008 to be administered by the Business Development Bank of Canada, which will help technology companies move from research and development to commercialization.
- Increase the threshold for foreign investment reviews to attract more investment from abroad that are of net benefit to Canada.
- Open up the regulated airline and uranium mining sectors to allow increased foreign investment.
- Enhance the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant with a $2,000 completion bonus for apprentices who complete their training in a nationally recognized Red Seal trade program.
- Place the issue of standardizing and recognizing foreign professional credentials on the agenda of the next first ministers’ meeting.
- Establish a new stand-alone regional development agency for Northern Canada, and provide $10 million in funding.
- Provide $300 million in new funding for regional agencies such as ACOA, DEC and WD, restoring their funding to levels before the 2004 and 2005 Liberal cuts.
- Provide $10 million per year for regional development programming for Southern Ontario.
- Support the development of tourism infrastructure on the St. Lawrence River, and extend funding for international port-of-call projects by an additional $24 million over two years.
- Increase funding of Targeted Initiative for Older Workers to $50 million year to help with job transition, training and counseling in one-industry communities where older workers lost jobs in the forestry and mining sectors.
- Helping farm families by providing $500 million over the next four years to help them cope with the costs of production pressures, promote innovation, ensure environmental sustainability, and respond to market challenges and opportunities important to each province.
- Reaffirm our support for supply management.
- Invest $50 million to strengthen slaughter capacity in various regions of the country to support our beef and dairy industries, and other livestock sectors.
- Provide $7 million investment over three years to develop Quebec’s sea farming industry.
A Strong, United, Independent and Free Canada
- Prevent export of raw bitumen to higher polluting countries.
- Reaffirm our commitment to northern pipeline development to bring our oil and gas to market.
- Invest $25 million in TV5, which includes support for television production in Quebec.
- Provide a fully refundable Children’s Arts Tax Credit, of up to $500 per child per year.
