THINK HOW MUCH BETTER CANADA COULD BE.    THE NDP COMMITMENT TO CANADIANS   Dear Friend,   For seven years in a row, the Liberals in Ottawa have chosen to cut services that you count on.  Well, there’s a massive surplus now – building to over $130 billion.  What did the Liberals choose to do? They could have cut hospital waiting lists, cut pollution, cut tuition fees, cut child poverty. Instead, the Liberals chose to cut taxes for those who needed a break least. They gave millionaire bank presidents with hefty stock options a $500,000 tax break.  Working families made sacrifices in these seven years of cuts. Working families should be able to share in the benefits of the surplus.  The choices have never been more clear than in this election.  On the one hand, the Liberals are using the surplus to benefit the banks, big corporations and the wealthy. And the other parties are just Liberals in a hurry when it comes to cutting services that Canadians need and expect.  On the other hand, Canada’s New Democrats are fighting for a better choice. We want to use this surplus wisely. Instead of squandering it on tax cuts for the wealthy, we want to invest in our families and our future.  We want to invest in health care, stop the growth of for-profit medicine and extend medicare to include home care and basic prescription drugs.  We want to invest in our environment by cleaning up our air and water and making it safe. We want to invest in our young people by increasing child tax benefits and student grants.  We want to invest in our working people through economic policies that make full employment a reality. And we know we can pay for this investment without adding to the national debt.  We want a new approach to global trade and investment that puts the well being of working families, the environment and democracy before the interests of global corporations.  The pages that follow spell out our choices for Canadians. Read what we have to say, think about how much better Canada could be, and make your choice.  I believe you’ll choose to vote New Democrat and help the next Parliament work for working families.  Alexa McDonough, M.P. Leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party   MAKING SURE QUALITY HEALTH CARE IS THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT   Every Canadian deserves high quality health care, no matter where they live or how much money they have. Our health care — based on need, not ability to pay — is part of who we are. It is essential to our quality of life and to our economic competitiveness. We want to be sure it will always be there when we need it. To achieve that we know that our health care system must respond to the changing needs of Canadians.  But our cherished health care is under attack. Deep cuts by the Liberal government have eroded public confidence, opened the door to privatization and sowed the seeds for a system that allows people with money to get better, faster care than those without money.  After their cuts put health care on the critical list, the Liberals stood by while Ralph Klein brought in Alberta’s Bill 11, an act to allow private hospitals to make money at the expense of Canadians who need health care.  The Liberals have talked about defending health care. But faced with a clear choice, the Liberals gave only two cents to health care for every dollar in tax cuts — cuts that benefit mostly big corporations.  New Democrats know that guaranteed quality health care requires money, leadership and innovation. Here’s what we’ll do.  We’ll increase federal funding for medicare  The NDP will rebuild health care to meet the needs of all Canadians, protecting and enhancing its public, universal character while bringing in the changes needed to ensure it’s affordable in the future. The NDP will:  - Immediately increase federal cash transfers for health care to 25 per cent of shared public health spending from the low of 13.5 per cent under the Liberals. We will index federal support to growth in the population and the economy and take into account demographic factors. A five-year rolling commitment, negotiated with the provinces, would ensure stability and prevent unilateral off-loading of health costs.  - Halt the drift towards privatization and two-tier health care by legislation preventing public health dollars from funding private, for-profit hospitals. This would be done by amending the Canada Health Act to clarify that federal transfers would be withheld from provincial or territorial governments that allow private for-profit clinics to provide insured health services covered by provincial or territorial health insurance plans.  - Create a national home care plan under the Canada Health Act to support families caring for their loved ones outside of institutions. We will extend universal health coverage to pay for home care, community care and palliative care services, while allowing flexibility to suit the needs and circumstances of different provinces.  - Introduce a national pharmacare plan. The first step is to cover the drugs discharged patients need while recovering at home and to protect Canadians who face chronic disease and catastrophic drug costs not covered by existing public or private drug plans.  1.  We'll provide strong federal leadership  Canadians want good reliable health care regardless of where they live or the size of their wallets. They don’t care which level of government does the job — they just want it to happen. The Liberals have been using the excuse of provincial jurisdiction over health to duck their responsibility to lead and co-ordinate. New Democrats believe that, for all Canadians to have quality health care, the federal government has to stand up for primary care reform, the setting and keeping of national standards, training and recruitment of health care workers, and innovative ways of getting the best value for the health care dollar. Building on initiatives already underway in some provinces, New Democrats will:  - Promote comprehensive primary care reform through initiatives such as the expansion of community health centres operating around the clock.  - Ensure that Canada has enough doctors, nurses and other health care personnel by working with the provinces and territories to anticipate future demand, coordinate training and recruitment, remove obstacles to mobility for health care providers, and upgrade responsibilities and pay for nurse practitioners.  - Establish, in cooperation with the provinces, national health goals to give all Canadians an equal chance at a healthy life, regardless of income or where they live. Health goals would involve both outcome and performance measures.  - Develop outcome goals that include reducing infant mortality, chronic disease and early death among low-income and Aboriginal Canadians to levels experienced by other Canadians and set performance targets that include shorter waiting periods for common procedures.  - Monitor the health care system to ensure that the principles and goals of the Canada Health Act are being achieved.  1.  We’ll provide help for the high costs of prescription drugs  Prescription drug costs eat up more and more of Canadians’ health care dollars. Rather than put working Canadians first, the Liberals listened to the drug companies. They chose to keep the Mulroney government’s Bill C-91, which helped drive up costs for both the health care system and individual Canadians. The federal government must show leadership and work with the provinces to protect Canadians and stabilize and manage drug costs. In addition to a national pharmacare program, New Democrats would:  - Increase competition among drug manufacturers by reducing the waiting time to a maximum of 10 years before another company can market the drug.  - Institute a federal-provincial system of bulk purchasing to reduce the per-unit cost of widely used pharmaceuticals.  - Establish drug registries and ensure that physicians prescribe the most cost-effective products.  1.  We’ll improve health protection and disease prevention  The Liberals have let Canadians down in the important area of health protection. New Democrats will protect the health of working families by:  - Restoring the independent scientific capacity of the Health Protection Branch, ending its reliance on industry information and funding, re-establishing its legislative powers to regulate safety under our food and drug laws, and ensuring it has the capacity to conduct independent analyses of the potential impact of genetically modified organisms.  - Implementing mandatory labeling for genetically modified foods to give consumers accurate product information and preserve their right to choose.  - Expanding support for research into the links between health — especially the health of children — and contaminants in the environment.  - Playing an expanded role in programs supporting good nutrition and physical fitness among young Canadians.  1.  We’ll improve Aboriginal health  Aboriginal Canadians are the poorest group in our society and have the worst health status of all Canadians. Aboriginal infants are more than twice as likely to die before the age of 18 months than are other Canadian infants. The federal government must close this shameful health gap by adopting proposals from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.  - Implement a community infrastructure program to deal with urgent problems of housing, clean water and waste management.  - Educate and train Aboriginal people to staff and manage health and social services in Aboriginal communities and in mainstream institutions.  - Reorganize existing health and social services into a system of health and healing centres under Aboriginal control, ensuring adequate human and financial resources are in place to carry out the task.  1.     ACTING TODAY TO PROTECT TOMORROW   Canadians are increasingly concerned about the state of the environment in their communities and around the globe. They worry about the quality of the air they breathe and the safety of the water they drink. And they are deeply concerned about the kind of ecological legacy they will leave to their children.  We’ll protect the environment   The Liberal record on the environment is a litany of neglect, delay and broken promises. New Democrats will protect the environment by:  - Asserting a strong federal presence in both environmental monitoring and regulatory enforcement  - Implementing comprehensive, enforceable and understandable standards for water and air quality and for food safety.  - Developing and implementing a national water strategy, including development of national safe drinking water standards and a ban on bulk water exports.  - Instituting agreements that give environmental protection precedence over trade agreements in trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and other environmentally dangerous goods.  - Ensuring that a "green screen" integrates environmental criteria into all federal government decision-making.  - Implementing endangered species and habitat protection legislation developed in cooperation with other governments, affected communities and labour, making use of traditional Aboriginal knowledge and vesting identification of species at risk with independent scientists.  - Expanding marine protected areas and the national parks system and protecting the parks system from commercial development that threatens its integrity.  - Introducing tough punishment for polluters, including criminal charges for corporate owners, directors and managers who break the law.  - Developing an environmental Bill of Rights to ensure the legally enforceable right of all Canadians to a safe and healthy environment  1.  We'll invest in and improve the environment  Public services - like clean water and effective waste disposal and diversion, good roads and accessible public transit are essential to strong, healthy communities. By the 1990s, Canada was investing just 2.1 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in public infrastructure about half of what we spent throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Two decades of neglect have meant poorer public services, major problems like poor water quality and pollution, and a $75-billion deficit in municipal and environmental infrastructure.  Ecologists warn that, without major new investment and a national approach to water quality, access to fresh water will soon become Canada's worst environmental crisis. Significant public and private investments are also needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and cut back the release of waste into the environment.  Too many corporations have opposed efforts to deal with these pressing issues. The Liberals have listened to corporate Canada, ignoring the fact that no economy or society can exist independently of the environment. The Liberals have made no progress in developing a sustainable economy for Canadians.  We all want jobs and economic prosperity, but we also want to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. With leadership from the federal government, working families can have both environmental and economic security.  New Democrats believe Canada needs a new commitment to rebuilding our publicly-owned and publicly-operated infrastructure. The NDP will set up a multi-year National Environmental Infrastructure Investment Program(NEIIP)to channel investment into pressing environmental concerns like water and air quality, toxic waste disposal, energy efficiency and the clean-up of environmental hot spots. NEIIP will be used to:  Clean up our water  - set up a Clean Water Fund to upgrade municipal water and wastewater treatment plants to improve water quality, water conservation and effluent management. We cannot have another Walkerton.  - clean up toxic hot spots like the Sydney Tar Ponds and sites in the Great Lakes.  1.  Clean up our air  - renew efforts to achieve short-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the wake of the Liberals' abandonment of commitments made at Kyoto, Japan in 1997.  - set up a Clean Air Fund to back community-based initiatives that reconcile job creation with the challenge posed by climate change. The fund would be used for tree planting, alternative energy, and transition programs for workers displaced by actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  - support expansion and encourage greater use of public transit.  - put mandatory limits on sulphur content in gasoline.  1.  Stimulate green investment  - change the federal tax system to ensure that tax policies encourage a more sustainable economy. Taxes should be reduced on sustainable activities, particularly those that involve a greater investment in labour, and increased on non-sustainable activities.  - create a Green Jobs Fund to provide loan security for the cost of retro-fitting residential, commercial and industrial buildings to meet higher standards of energy efficiency and make greater use of energy from alternative sources, resulting in reduced green-house gas emissions and lower costs.  - improve recycling, composting and recovery systems to improve the diversion rate of household, commercial and industrial waste.  - encourage dynamic environmental industries and the development of new environmental technology.  1.  Expand public transit  - invest as a partner in integrated, co-ordinated and affordable public transit and commuter rail service in and around our major urban centres. This would be part of a national transportation strategy.  1.  We'll make work environments safer  Working people have the right to feel safe and secure in their workplaces. They need strong health and safety laws. And corporate officials must be held accountable when their conduct results in death or injury in the workplace. In the aftermath of the Westray mining disaster, New Democrats have fought for laws to make work environments safer. New Democrats will amend the Criminal Code to ensure that corporate officials are held accountable for unsafe workplaces   MAKING JOBS THE FIRST ECONOMIC PRIORITY   Several years of economic growth have lowered Canada's official unemployment rate from the appallingly high levels experienced in the 1990s. However, more and more Canadians find themselves working longer hours at insecure jobs for rates of pay only marginally higher than a decade ago. While the stock market is soaring, corporate profits are high and CEO incomes skyrocketing, prosperity has not benefited working Canadians and their families.  Over the past 20 years, governments have relegated employment to the bottom of the priority list. The public interest has taken second place to the narrow interests of corporations. This has not only caused hardship for working families, it has undermined the foundations of the economy of the future. New Democrat economic policy goals are:  - Full employment, defined as paid work for those who want it.  - Decent and fulfilling jobs that provide adequate pay and benefits, the right to organize, reasonable job security, access to training, opportunities for advancement, predictable working hours, access to leisure and sufficient flexibility to balance work and family life.  - Fair and equitable sharing in the opportunities created by technological change and of the burden of adjustment to that change.  - Economic development consistent with sustained high environmental quality and a transition to sustainability that distributes fairly the burden of adjustment.  - An approach to environmental protection that takes advantage of the transition to sustainability while ensuring that the environment we leave our children is healthier than the one we inherited.  1.  We'll work to create jobs  We must reinvigorate the federal government's role in making Canada competitive in the new economy of technology and globalization. New Democrats will:  - Establish employment targets in parallel to inflation targets through a legislated shift in the Bank of Canada's mandate to require that monetary policy works toward targets for both employment and inflation.  - Initiate programs, like the National Environmental Infrastructure Investment Program, that can grow in good economic times and stimulate the economy during economic downturns.  - Ensure federal reinvestment in education.  - Rebuild social programs like medicare and public infrastructure that have deteriorated over the last decade.  - Provide federal leadership to guarantee fairer treatment for part-time workers.  - Expand federal investment in research and development in post-secondary educational institutions, the National Research Council and in private, non-profit research and development centres.  1.  We'll ease the adjustment  To ease worker and community adjustment to change, New Democrats will:  - Improve Employment Insurance and build better links between EI and training programs.  - Guarantee workers the right to advance notice and severance pay in the event of layoff and priority over all other claims in bankruptcy proceedings.  1.  We'll deepen investment  To broaden and deepen the investment capital base in Canada, New Democrats will:  - Enlarge the mandate for investment of the Canada Pension Plan to require that investment decisions take into account the general economic interests of Canadians as well as return on investment, that decisions pass through an "ethical screen," and that the CPP investment board includes worker and community representatives.  - Provide a legislative framework for joint trusteeship as well as for active investment by pension funds based on environmental and community economic criteria.  1.  We'll provide leadership on training   Working families know lifelong training is a must in the knowledge-based economy. Increasing capital mobility, rapid job turnover, and the continuing advance of new technologies make continual skills upgrading a necessity for employed, as well as unemployed, Canadians. This requires federal leadership to create a significant training infrastructure and public support for programs to ease transitions into employment and re-employment.  Since 1993, the Liberals have cut $4 billion from training programs and devolved responsibility for training under EI to the provinces. This has left the system in a state of chaos and confusion in some provinces. New Democrats will restore the federal government's central and coordinating role in labour market training. New Democrats will establish national training standards, supported and enforced by the restoration of federal training funding. Training transfers should be based on six principles. Training must:  - be accredited, sequential and transferable  - be available as a right to all workers with equity for women, people with disabilities, visible minorities and Aboriginal people.  - reinforce respect for human rights and progressive workplace policies.  - provide child care and supplementary costs.  - not be linked to workfare schemes  - include workers and their unions in training decisions.  The NDP will:  - Re-establish the role of the federal government as a lead player in job training, backed up by the creation of a $1 billion national training fund.  - Establish a Canada-wide roster of employment services, linking federal and provincial training and labour adjustment programs for all unemployed Canadians.  - Increase training funds for social assistance recipients and seasonal and short-term workers who do not qualify for EI.  - Ensure that public training institutions and existing union-run apprenticeship and training programs will be the preferred providers of training.  1.  We'll strengthen community economic development  New Democrats believe that a key task is to ensure that working people in all regions of Canada have the education, training, health care and transportation infrastructure they need. Beyond that, efforts to create jobs and strengthen local economies should focus on capital formation and local decision-making.  More than 40 years of experience have shown that federal handouts to entice businesses to locate in economically disadvantaged areas do not solve regional disparity. Too often when the subsidies run out, the businesses leave. Despite this dismal record, the Liberals have stuck to this approach, failing to adequately support community economic development.  We'll provide access to capital  Small business and community-based, non-profit enterprises committed to strengthening local economies don't have the access to capital they need. New Democrats will:  - Expand the role of the Business Development Bank of Canada so that capital can be made available for long-term investment in community-based businesses. Investment decisions would be coordinated through partners such as provincial and territorial development agencies, credit unions and caisse populaires, and local development agencies.  - Introduce a new legislative framework so that democratically-controlled financial institutions like credit unions and caisses populaires can play a greater role in providing investment capital to local communities.  1.  We'll support local development agencies  The old top-down approach to economic development has spawned political slush funds like the Canada Jobs Fund at HRDC and created an alphabet soup of agencies like ACOA and DREE with broadly-focused mandates that don't address the pressing needs of many of our communities.  New Democrats believe we need a new approach, one that taps into the tradition of cooperation and self-reliance that exists in communities, one that targets communities and regions with the worst economic problems, and one that works through community-based agencies. The NDP will:  - Phase out agencies like ACOA and redirect federal funds to broadly-based community economic development organizations, with built-in accountability and transparency, operating in regions and communities of greatest need. Priority for funding would go to projects in communities hit by economic restructuring.  - Provide investment, technical and marketing support for entrepreneurs and community economic development groups.  1.  We'll support greener, safer transportation links  Canadians have always worked collectively, through government, to build and maintain transportation links. We still need an efficient, high quality and safe network of highways, railways, ferries, ports and airports to move goods and people. But our transportation infrastructure has deteriorated. The Liberals have shown they lack the vision and the will to ensure that communities have the reliable transportation links essential to participation in the modern economy. New Democrats will:  - Ban price gouging by a monopoly carrier. The new Air Canada monopoly requires a regulatory regime that caps prices on domestic flights and guarantees frequent flights to all regions of the country, especially smaller communities.  - Promote fair fuel prices by forcing oil companies to be transparent about how they set their prices and establish a federally-appointed energy price commission to review and approve fuel price increases.  Over the last 20 years, Liberal and Tory governments have abandoned their responsibility for the railways. Traffic has been forced off the rails and onto provincial roads, but Ottawa hasn't begun to provide the provinces with the cash needed to maintain that road network. New Democrats will:  - Keep farmers' costs down by amending grain transport legislation to provide for future productivity sharing with farmers through enhanced railway competition and allowing short-line carriers to use existing rail lines.  - Cooperate with the provinces to develop a national highways program that deals with the crisis created by federal abandonment of its responsibility for rail transport.  - Ensure a major role for fuel-efficient rail passenger and freight service as part of an integrated transportation system.  Canada is the only industrialized country where the national government does not support urban transit. As gridlock and air pollution from auto exhaust reach crisis levels in our major urban centres, the Liberal government washes its hands of responsibility. New Democrats will create a national strategy to support improved urban public transit, essential if Canada is to meet its international environmental commitments while improving the quality of life in Canadian cities. New Democrats will:  - Provide federal grants to help municipalities upgrade public transit facilities.  - Provide a tax benefit for employers providing public transit passes to their employees.  - Make grants to municipal transit authorities for the purpose of lowering transit fares.  - Make Canada a world leader in green transportation research and development by designating funds for development of new, less-polluting technologies.  1.     PROVIDING REAL HELP FOR FAMILIES AT HOME, AT WORK AND AT SCHOOL   Secure jobs, good education, affordable housing, a safe physical environment and community support are keys to building strong, successful families. New Democrats believe in a Canada that gives all families an equal opportunity to realize their hopes and dreams. The Liberal government let the social and economic supports for families deteriorate and allowed poverty to deepen. New Democrats want to make sure that every family is given the tools to succeed at home and at work by:  - Doubling the Canada Child Tax Benefit to $4,200 per year, what it really costs to raise and nurture a child. Income thresholds should be raised to increase benefits to low and middle-income earners. We'll extend the benefit to all low-income families with children through federal legislation ending the clawback of the CCTB from social assistance recipients.  - Responding to the crisis in homelessness with a national housing strategy that spends one per cent of the federal program budget to create 25,000 units a year of non-profit, affordable housing. The NDP plan would provide low-interest loans to provincial governments, municipal housing authorities, co-op housing organizations and other partners in the social housing sector.  1.  We'll give working families a break  For working families, changes on the job have increased the pressures of coping with day-to-day living. Families now have to work harder just to keep pace. Instead of supporting working families, the Liberals chose to cut un-employment insurance benefits and coverage. New Democrats will support working families by:  - Helping young families balance work and family responsibilities by changing eligibility for EI parental benefits. Working parents would no longer be penalized for absences from the labour force, and federally-regulated employers would be required to offer reduced hours upon return to work after maternity or parental leave.  - Restoring EI benefits to two thirds of weekly pay and eliminating discriminatory features to allow for coverage of at least 70 per cent of unemployed workers. Coverage and benefits will recognize the reality of today's workforce - more part-time and on-call workers, more mobility between jobs and high levels of short-term unemployment.  - Treating part-time employees fairly by adopting model federal legislation to provide part-time workers with the same pro-rated benefits, job security and job advancement prospects as full-time workers.  - Reintroducing a minimum wage for federally-regulated employees  1.  We'll create better opportunities for children and youth  Canadian families know that education and training are vital to the future success of their children. The Liberals talk about the need to be competitive in the world economy, then fail to equip children and youth with the skills they willneed to succeed. In the New Democrat vision, every child will start school ready to learn and graduate ready to succeed.  We'll provide early child care and education  A child's experience in the early years lays the foundation for future success. But Canada's children are falling behind.  European countries and some U.S. states provide publicly-supported programs that parents may choose for their pre-schoolers and kindergarten-aged children. Few Canadian families have these options. Seventy per cent of Canadian mothers with children under six are in the paid workforce. But only 10 per cent are able to choose regulated, affordable, quality early childhood education and care that is cost-shared by family and government. Canadian families need programs that expand and support real parental choice. The Liberals have responded with years of foot-dragging and half-baked, under-funded proposals. New Democrats will:  - Work with provincial and territorial governments to create a national plan for child care and early childhood education. The National Early Years Fund will be fully funded at $3.5 billion a year by 2004 and be based on five principles:  comprehensive, covering pre- and post-natal care, early learning and child care, parental supports and parents both at home and in the labour market  integrated, meaning it will be available across education, social and health services  accessible to all Canadians regardless of barriers, location, ability or cost  quality of services ensured by strong standards  non-profit.  We'll make post-secondary education affordable  Public education is still the best way to achieve equality and a higher standard of living for all. At one time, people needed a minimum of 12 years of education to succeed in the work world. Today they often need 16 to 17 years of formal education to prepare for jobs. But receiving good education and training is much more difficult for most working families.  Canada has the third highest university tuition in the industrialized world, with average fees up by 125 per cent over the past decade. Average student debt on graduation tripled between 1990 and 1998, to $25,000. Access to student loans has been tightened and repayment terms are more stringent. After cutting post-secondary transfers to the provinces and pursuing otherpolicies that forced up tuition fees and student debt, all the Liberals did was create a useless Millennium Scholarship program that will help only seven of every 100 students.  Education is the best investment a government can make in the economy. New Democrats will force down the barriers to higher education for ordinary working families and ensure our young people will no longer graduate into poverty. We will:  - Replace the Millennium Scholarship Fund, which helps only seven of 100 students, with the Canada Education Accessibility Fund, which will give grants to help a greater number of students in financial need.  - Make the Canada Student Loan Program interest-free during the life of a loan and credit all interest repaid since 1995 as payment on the principal of the loan.  - Work with the provinces on an immediate freeze on tuition fees to be followed by a strategy to roll back fees to 1995 levels through federal reinvestment in the core budgets of colleges and universities.  - Repeal laws that discriminate against students seeking bankruptcy protection.  - Deny federal funding for the establishment and operation of private, for-profit universities.  1.     NEGOTIATING FAIR TRADE DEALS   Canada is a trading nation. International trade is vital to our economy. But trade must be the servant, not the master, of democratic societies. Trade must be a vehicle for raising living standards and improving environmental protections. It must not be a tool to undermine the quality of life for working families in pursuit of mega-profits for global corporations.  New Democrats were part of the popular movement against corporate globalization that culminated in the "Battle in Seattle" and the defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Public rejection of that failed model has led to a new search for fair and democratic alternatives. New Democrats continue to believe that Canada should play a leading role on the world stage in that search for an alternative set of global fair trade rules - rules that will protect the rights of workers and the environment, provide for cultural diversity and ensure the ability of national governments to act in the public interest.  New Democrats will fight for a new approach to global trade that puts the interests of working families ahead of those of global corporations. New Democrats will:  - Ensure that, before Canada negotiates any new trade and investment rules at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), or any other trade forum, binding and enforceable international rules are in place to protect human rights, core labour standards, cultural diversity, and the environment. At the same time a complete review of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism will be conducted.  - Protect Canada's ability to manage our most important social programs without interference from commercial interests by negotiating a complete "carve out" of culture, health care, education and other public services from international trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Trade in Services at the WTO.  - Ensure that international environmental agreements take precedence over trade agreements.  - Seek elimination of the investor-state dispute mechanism of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which gives foreign corporations the right to sue and intimidate democratically-elected governments, and exclude such mechanisms from any future trade agreement.  - Negotiate a clear exemption for water under NAFTA, the WTO and all other trade agreements so that Canada regains the right to ban bulk water exports and the ability to preserve, protect and conserve Canadians' fresh water resources.  - Work with progressive legislators and activists in the three NAFTA countries to build a majority in favour of getting needed changes in NAFTA or failing that, replacing the agreement altogether.  1.  We'll regulate global finance  New Democrats will continue their support of the Tobin Tax, a proposal that would have all countries simultaneously place a small tax of 0.1% on the $1 trillion daily in cross-currency transactions. The tax would discourage short-term capital flows that have destabilized many developing countries. In addition, New Democrats will:  - Play a leading role in the international campaign for a new global financial framework that allows nations to maintain meaningful control over their exchange rates and interest rates.  - Oppose any move to adopt the U.S. dollar as Canada's currency.  1.     STANDING UP FOR CANADIAN COMMUNITIES   All Canadians, no matter where they live, have a right to economic opportunities, public services, cultural expression, safety and security. The federal government must make sure no one – individual Canadians, families or communities – is left behind.  The global corporate marketplace has put enormous pressure on Canadian communities. The domination of the market has wreaked havoc from the fishing communities of Atlantic Canada and the coal mines of Cape Breton to the farms of the Prairies and the coastal communities of British Columbia. Far from helping these communities adjust to economic disruption, Liberal policies have made things worse.  We’ll fight for farm families  The Liberals, although they say Canadian farmers must become more competitive to survive, choose to slash support payments while the American and European governments continue to support their farmers. This has placed the family farm in jeopardy. New Democrats will implement a national Family Farm Support program with the following components:  - Adequate income support for farmers devastated by international subsidies, including working in concert with our trading partners to reduce or eliminate those subsidies.  - Meaningful disaster assistance for farmers affected by severe weather.  - A strong commitment to orderly marketing, the Canadian Wheat Board and supply management.  - Protection for both the family farm and the environment by promoting environmentally-sustainable farming methods and increasing the capacity for Agriculture Canada to support sustainable farming methods.  1.  We’ll stand up for forestry, fishing and coastal communities  Corporate greed and the lack of political will by past federal governments has had a devastating effect on our forestry and fishing sectors. New Democrats believe that only by working with local governments, labour, Aboriginal peoples, women’s organizations, small business, social action and other community groups can we ensure that those renewable resources will be here for future generations. New Democrats will:  - Support sustainable forestry by investing one per cent of the forest sector’s contribution to Canada’s economy in reforestation, the development of selective harvesting methods, sustainable management plans, and the marketing of forest products obtained from sustainably-harvested timber.  - Ensure that fishery goals of conservation and sustainability are achieved through community-based, co-management of fish resources.  - Ensure that aquaculture is developed in a responsible manner that protects adjacent waters and communities.  - Support coastal communities by creating a national shipbuilding policy that will enable Canadian shipbuilders to compete against their subsidized international competitors.  1.  We’ll support Canada’s cultural community  Canada’s cultural community gives voice to our rich diversity and helps build national identity. But that community is being undermined by trade deals, global media concentration and indifference or hostility from the Liberal government. In a global information society, the voices of our artists, writers, creators and citizens need to be strengthened, and our information sources must become more diverse. The NDP is committed to strengthening cultural infrastructure and the distinct voices of Canadian cultural workers. New Democrats will:  - Establish a floor-operating grant of $1 billion per year to begin rebuilding the CBC as a distinctive national broadcaster firmly rooted in all regions.  - Promote diversity in Canadian news media and book publishing by empowering the Competition Bureau to review takeovers that concentrate ownership.  - Promote diversity of expression through tax incentives to assist community groups, cooperatives or entrepreneurs to invest in community media.  1.  We’ll make communities safer  While statistics show that crime rates continue to decline, not all Canadians feel safe in their homes or communities. Many women continue to live in fear of domestic violence, and seniors fear an increasing threat from home invasions.  Those who commit violent crimes should know there are consequences for their actions. Gang violence and organized crime activities in our ports and cities must be eliminated. New Democrats will:  - Address the underlying causes of crime by dealing with poverty, investing in children and families and rebuilding communities.  - Support preventive intervention for high-risk youth by investing in community facilities and programs for youth and through drug dependency programs, literacy programs, treatment for victims of sexual and physical abuse and help for children with behavioural and learning disorders.  - Support community policing, restorative justice and rehabilitation programs for young offenders through initiatives like alternative sentencing and victim reconciliation.  - Restore Canadians’ faith in the justice system through better resources for victims of crime and ensure that the system operates speedily and effectively.  - Make sentences and bail conditions tougher for chronic repeat violent offenders.  - Enact new laws and programs to combat domestic violence, spouse abuse, stalking and home invasions.  - Ensure the RCMP have the funding, personnel, training and equipment they need to combat crime in our communities.  - Reinstitute a dedicated national ports police force to combat organized crime and smuggling in our seaport communities.  1.     TARGETING TAX FAIRNESS   Canadians sacrificed their social programs to help pay off the deficit. Now that we have a surplus, the Liberals stole the Alliance platform and cut taxes, mostly for the benefit of the big corporations, the banks and the wealthy.  We’ll see everyone gets a fair share and pays a fair share  New Democrats believe that working families have sacrificed enough. It’s time for everyone to pay a fair share of the cost of building a better Canada. New Democrats will provide tax relief targeted at low and middle-income Canadians. We will:  - Double the maximum Canada Child Tax Benefit to $4,200 per year.  - Ensure that no individual making $15,000 or less per year pays federal tax.  - Make disability and medical expense tax credits fully refundable to all Canadians with disabilities.  Restoring full indexation of the personal income tax has been a long-standing demand of New Democrats. To ensure tax relief for middle-income Canadians, New Democrats will:  - Guarantee full indexation of all tax levels and credits.  - Retain the reduction of the middle-income rate from 26 per cent to 23 per cent.  New Democrats support ending the regressive GST/HST, and we will take steps to reduce the impact of these taxes on lower-income Canadians. At the same time, we recognize that ending the GST/HST will have to be done gradually and with reference to the need to reinvest in the public services working families want and need. In the short term, New Democrats will:  - Enhance the GST tax credit for lower-income Canadians by $200 a family.  - Immediately remove the GST on books and magazines.  Canadians don’t mind paying taxes in return for public services. But the Liberals chose to cut $100 billion from taxes, giving $500,000 in cuts to a bank president and nothing to an unemployed worked in Atlantic Canada.  New Democrats will add fairness to the tax system by ensuring that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share. We will:  - While retaining full indexation and the middle-income rate reduction, replace with fair-share taxation the Liberal tax giveaways to the economic elite.  - Introduce an excess profit tax (20 per cent tax on rates of return by financial institutions that exceed 10 per cent).  - Bring Canada’s tax system into line with most other industrialized countries by introducing a millionaire’s tax on transfers of inherited fortunes of $1 million or more. The transfer of farms and small businesses within the family would not be taxed.  - Treat capital gains income the same as other income – 100 per cent of capital gains income would be subject to taxation instead of the proposed 50 per cent. Ensure that existing exemptions from capital gains are available to small businesses and family farms.  - Disallow political lobbying costs, meal and entertainment expenses and salaries over $300,000 a year as deductions for corporate tax purposes.  - Remove the GST exemption from brokerage fees.  - Improve enforcement of income tax laws to ensure tax cheats are caught.  Public health must take precedence over protecting corporate profitability. Tobacco pricing is strongly related to the increase in smoking among Canada’s youth, a factor linked to the dramatic rise in lung cancer among young women. New Democrats will restore taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products to their levels prior to 1994.   ENSURING EQUALITY FOR ALL CANADIANS   New Democrats have a proud history of standing up for equality and social justice. We have fought for the democratic rights of all Canadians, regardless of their gender, skin colour, sexual orientation or religion. Progress towards equality is threatened. Globalization has widened the gap between rich and poor. The Liberals have failed to provide the leadership and funding needed to ensure that all Canadians can participate on an equal footing.  We’ll fight for equality  New Democrats will further the goal of equality for all Canadians through:  - Anti-poverty measures such as the increase in the Child Tax Benefit.  - National child care and home care programs that broaden the choices open to women.  - Improved EI benefits and coverage.  - Protection of funding for programs that support equity for racial and ethnic minorities and for groups that advocate for the disadvantaged.  - Improved pay equity legislation.  - Fair immigration policies that stop discrimination against ordinary applicants from developing countries.  - A comprehensive reproductive health policy that recognizes women’s right to control their own bodies and opposes recriminalization of abortion.  - Amendments to the Human Rights Act to recognize same sex marriages.  1.  We’ll work with Aboriginal communities  New Democrats believe the next Parliament must implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples to renew the relationship with Aboriginal peoples on a more equitable basis, to resolve outstanding land claims and to recognize the inherent right to self-government.  As an interim measure, and in recognition of treaty rights and Aboriginal inherent right to self-government, the federal government must work with Aboriginal communities to foster economic development. New Democrats will increase access to lands and resources and implement co-management of resources, consistent with conservation and the established participation of other groups.  We’ll support Canadians with disabilities  The federal government must show leadership to ensure that Canadians with disabilities have the support they need, no matter where they live. Equality of citizenship for persons with disabilities is guaranteed by the Charter and promised by federal policy, but formidable barriers remain. Disabled Canadians deserve better than the patchwork of services they currently endure. New Democrats will:  - Ensure that all future policies and practices of federal government departments, agencies and programs are viewed through a "disability lens".  - Make the disability tax credit fully refundable.  New Democrats believe that a priority for federal-provincial negotiations is the creation of a single, adequate and accessible income support program for Canadians with disabilities. In the interim, New Democrats will:  - Top up pensions for those whose only source of income is Canada Pension Plan disability pension, ease restrictions and create clearer eligibility criteria and an improved appeal process.  - Improve access to employment training for persons with disabilities, regardless of their eligibility for other programs like EI or social assistance.  1.     BUILDING A STRONGER CANADA IN A STRONGER WORLD   Canada’s New Democrats believe in globalization for people – not just for corporations. New Democrats have long been committed to working for global peace and security through the United Nations, global nuclear disarmament and arms control, human rights, democratic development and global solidarity. The NDP will work to:  - Strengthen the central role of the UN in maintaining peace and security and protection of international human rights.  - Democratize the UN through increased participation by public and civil society organizations and restrictions on the veto power of the permanent members of the Security Council.  More than a decade after the end of the Cold War, progress on universal nuclear disarmament and arms control has been distressingly slow. Now the proposed development of the National Missile Defence (NMD) by the U.S. jeopardizes the modest gains made. New Democrats will:  - Actively support negotiation and adoption of an international treaty to eliminate all nuclear weapons based on the model convention adopted by the United Nations in 1997.  - Oppose Canadian participation in and further development of the NMD.  - Improve arms exports controls so that Canadian-made weapons are not used to fuel arms races or supply repressive regimes.  The NDP will enhance the role of Canada and its defence forces as international peacekeepers. The NDP will:  - Provide better training for peace-keeping personnel, make Canada an international leader in teaching conflict resolution, mediation and peacekeeping, and upgrade equipment to ensure forces personnel can perform their jobs in safety.  - Redirect additional resources to peacekeeping and enhance Canada’s role as a peace broker within the frame-work of the UN as the alternative to participation in NATO and NORAD.  The NDP stands up for our peacekeepers and those Canadian Forces personnel who stand in our defence at home and abroad. We will:  - Increase pay and benefit levels for armed services personnel, improve housing and living conditions on military bases, and upgrade educational and health care services for forces families.  The NDP believes that Canada’s foreign policy should be guided by the principles of conflict prevention. We need policies that address the roots of conflict – poverty, environmental degradation and the power of global corporations and the governments that support them. New Democrats will:  - Work through the UN to reform the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to eliminate the imposition of austerity measures as a condition of lending.  - Sanction Canadian companies that deal with totalitarian regimes.  - Immediately increase international development assistance toward the long-term goal of 0.70 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.  - Support Jubilee 2000, the movement for debt relief for the poorest countries.  1.     DEVELOPING RESPONSIVE FEDERALISM FOR A REVITALIZED DEMOCRACY   Working families from coast to coast to coast find unity in our shared values of tolerance, compassion and community. New Democrats believe that national unity will be assured when the federal government, working with the provinces, takes as its primary objective the building of a healthy, compassionate society that ensures the well being of all Canadians.  Working Canadians need guarantees that their social, economic, environmental, cultural and democratic rights will be protected and promoted by all levels of government. The NDP advocates responsive federalism, a framework that recognizes Canada’s diversity and the need for governments to work together cooperatively. Responsive federalism will:  - Support a social union based on the principle of co-decision, meaning that governments in Canada would work co-operatively to develop priorities for social policy and set Canada-wide standards for social programs.  - Recognize Quebecers as a people, which means embracing Quebec as a diverse, multi-ethnic society and the centre of one of the two linguistic societies to which immigrants to Canada belong and recognizing that Quebec must have the tools necessary to respond to the challenges this fact entails.  - Secure justice for Aboriginal peoples and First Nations and recognize the inherent right to self-government.  - Make the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs a priority. Resources devoted to negotiating land claims settlements should be increased to step up the pace of resolving these disputes and accelerate negotiations on self-government.  - Protect French-speaking minorities outside Quebec by ensuring that the principle of co-decision will apply to the provision of the tools these minorities need to preserve and develop their language and culture.  - Ensure that federal-provincial fiscal arrangements allow all provinces to meet their responsibilities to provide quality public services to their citizens.  1.  We’ll set up a new deal for Canada’s cities  More than 75 per cent of Canadians now live in urban centres. It’s time for a new deal for cities, based on direct partnerships with the federal governments. New Democrats will, through these new partnerships, provide direct help for struggling cities as they cope with their responsibilities to provide mass transit, affordable housing, urban redevelopment, and settlement services to new Canadians.  We’ll work to build a new democracy  As a further element of responsive federalism, New Democrats will support reforms that will enhance the ability of Canadians to work together to create the kind of Canada they want – not the Canada the large corporations want.  A system of proportional representation will ensure that Canadians can make their vote count in every election. Our current system of electing Members of Parliament distorts results so that a minority normally forms government and makes decisions for the majority. This is an affront to the very idea of democracy and can have grave results – such as 1988 when the Mulroney Tories, with 43 per cent of the vote, dragged Canadians into the Free Trade Agreement even though most Canadians opposed it. New Democrats will establish an election reform commission to consult with Canadians on the best way to introduce proportional representation.  New Democrats are committed to making government more accountable. New Democrats will:  - Abolish the Senate.  - Amend the Elections Act to incorporate funding of party leadership campaigns under the disclosure requirement.  - Remove the prime minister’s arbitrary power to make unilateral appointments without any checks or balances.  - Give the House of Commons authority to ratify international agreements and decisions to send Canadian military personnel abroad.