How the major parties’ election promises could affect Canadians

Personal income tax

The Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, promises to reduce the marginal tax rate on the lowest tax bracket by one percentage point. The cut would save dual-income families up to $825 a year.

The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, plans to reduce the lowest income tax bracket from 15% to 12.75%, which would save a dual-income family up to $1,800 per year. The party also promises to let seniors keep RRSPs until age 73, and allow working seniors to earn up to $34,000 a year tax-free.

In addition, the Conservative Party plans to let any person or business defer capital gains tax if proceeds are reinvested in Canada. A TFSA top-up is planned to allow Canadians to contribute up to an extra $5,000 a year for investments in Canadian companies.

The New Democratic Party, led by Jagmeet Singh, promises to raise the basic personal amount to $19,500, which would help taxpayers earning between $19,500 and $177,882 save $505 a year. At the same time, the NDP plans to implement a graduated wealth tax of 1% for households with a net wealth of between $10 million and $50 million; 2% between $50 million and $100 million; and 3% for households worth over $100 million.

The Bloc Québécois, under leader Yves-François Blanchet, proposes to eliminate GST on all second-hand goods and double the GST credit for quarters when inflation exceeds the Bank of Canada’s target. It will also table a bill to raise old age security (OAS) for people aged 65 to 74 by 10% and raise the threshold allowing people receiving the guaranteed income supplement (GIS) to earn more work income without penalty to their benefits.

Housing

The Liberal Party plans to eliminate the GST on homes up to $1 million for first-time homebuyers, saving them up to $50,000. First-time buyers of homes between $1 million and $1.5 million will also get a GST break, but the Liberals did not say by how much.

The Conservatives say they will scrap the sales tax on new homes with a sales price of under $1 million, saving homebuyers up to $65,000. The party is also proposing to eliminate the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund and the federal government’s Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.

The NDP said it will use the financial power of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to offer low-interest, public-backed mortgages to help first-time homebuyers.

The Bloc plans to offer federal assistance for first-time home buyers of reasonable value to help them finalize their down payment. The Bloc also wants to abolish GST for first-time buyers on related services, such as notaries, building inspectors and surveyors, and support the GST rebate on new homes for first-time buyers.

Benefits for Canadians

The Liberals promise to expand dental coverage to Canadians aged 18 to 64, saving 4.5 million people an estimated $800 in dental care costs per year. The party also wants to launch a new training and upskilling benefit of up to $15,000 for mid-career workers, targeted at priority sectors like tech, health care, construction and manufacturing.

The NDP wants to double the Canada Disability Benefit, which will give eligible Canadians up to $2,400 more per year. The party also wants to raise the Guaranteed Income Supplement, but did not say by how much.

The Bloc will review the children’s allowance to adapt it to blended families, basing it on the income of the parents who have responsibility for the children, rather than on household income. The Quebec-based party also wants to change the criteria for accessing EI where job loss is directly linked to the international trade conflict in order to facilitate access and improve benefits.

Apprenticeship grant

The Conservative Party intends to reinstate apprenticeship grants of up to $4,000. The previous apprenticeship incentive grant of up to $2,000 ended on March 31.

The Liberal Party has promised a new apprenticeship grant of up to $8,000 and to maintain the $20,000 interest-free Canada apprentice loans program.

Fiscal plan

The Liberals want to separate the government’s capital and operating spending to create more transparency. The federal government spends about 1% of GDP on capital expenditure, such as machinery and buildings, and the Liberal Party wants to spend more than half of the incremental expenditure over the next four years on increasing this. They also plan to eliminate the structural deficit, which is currently about $15 billion a year. It expects to partially plug the gap by increasing tax penalties and fines to bring in about $3.75 billion by the 2028-29 fiscal year.

The Conservatives plan to reduce the deficit by $15.4 billion by the 2025-26 fiscal year. Over a four-year mandate, the party said it will reduce the federal deficit from the current $46.8 billion to $14.2 billion by the 2028-29 fiscal year. In addition, it said it will require any new tax hikes be put to a referendum.

The NDP wants eventually to balance the budget once the trade war subsides and unemployment goes down. Its fiscal target over a four-year mandate is to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio, but did not say by how much. Revenue-raising measures like taxing wealth and a surtax on some corporations will help balance new spending and prevent a structural deficit. It also plans to repatriate unpaid tax due to usage of tax havens and loopholes.

With files from Richard Cloutier.