The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—Stephen Harper’s blockbuster trade deal upstaged Justin Trudeau’s students and the stage and screen stars backstopping Tom Mulcair yesterday as the three main parties began their two-week sprint to the ballot box.
Mulcair, the NDP leader, had a stage full of television, music, and film personalities (it even included a performance by the folk duo Whitehorse) all lined up for his announcement about helping artists.
Trudeau, meanwhile, was all set to unveil a high-gloss campaign platform—a popular Liberal strategy—in front of a crowd of earnest university students eager to cheer his plan of expanded grants and easier loan repayment terms.
But the Pacific Rim depth charge known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership blew them both out of the water.
“Today is a historic day,” a prime ministerial Harper beamed during a news conference in Ottawa as he described the deal as nothing short of “the largest economic partnership in the history of the world.”
Not everyone is enamoured of the deal. Held up by Harper as a model for future 21st-century trade agreements, Mulcair is committed to tearing it to pieces.
“I will not be bound by Stephen Harper’s secret deals,” he vowed.
A New Democrat government would provide $60 million over four years to Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, and loosen rules to secure grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Mulcair promised instead.
The NDP also would allow self-employed artists to average their incomes—a move the party says would make tax filing fairer and more predictable.
There also would be a new $10-million digital content fund to support celebrations of Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.
Trudeau, unveiling the Liberal platform at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., parked his vote on the TPP until all the details are clear.
“We will ratify this properly in the House of Commons after a fulsome and responsible discussion,” he remarked.
The main points of the Liberal platform—three years of deficit spending on infrastructure, higher taxes on the wealthiest Canadians, and lower rates for most others—were released long ago.
But a few new details came out yesterday, including new restrictions on marketing unhealthy food and drinks to children (restrictions similar to ones already in place in Quebec) and regulations to limiting the amount of trans fats and salt in processed foods.
Popular among the university crowd was a plan to increase Canada Student Grants by 50 percent to $3,000 a year.
Trudeau said a Liberal government would allow students to wait until they’re earning at least $25,000 a year before requiring them to start repayment.
“Finding money to pay for school is only half the battle,” he noted.
“Repaying those loans after you leave is often just as challenging.”
Later yesterday, Harper was back in his campaign uniform—blue blazer, open collar, ever-present smile—as he arrived in Richmond Hill, Ont. for a campaign rally.
But it was clear he was feeling fresh energy as talk turned to the TPP.
“Today friends, we took another significant step in securing our economic future,” he remarked.
