Candidates answer The Wren’s questions on affordability

A woman is putting up a vote sign on one of the polling stations. Candidates answer questions on affordability. — *A voting sign at one of the polling stations.* ***Photo by Elections Canada***

To ensure Kamloops has a voice in the federal election conversation, The Wren surveyed readers to identify their top questions and concerns for candidates in the lead-up to the April 28 election.

The Wren took the most-asked questions on the survey and reached out to all of the candidates. Affordability and the cost of living were often included as a top issue by survey respondents.

The Wren requested responses from all candidates for the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola and Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies ridings. As of April 22, candidates Jenna Lindley for the Green Party of Canada, Frank Caputo and Mel Arnold for the Conservative Party of Canada did not respond. We will update the story if responses are provided. To request that additional information be included, send us an email.

These responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What is your party’s plan to help make basic living more affordable?

Candidates for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding

Iain Currie, LPC: The first thing that Mark Carney did as prime minister was reduce the consumer price on carbon to zero. [Carney] did so because that was divisive and because Canadians needed to see that the money going out was reduced every month. That quickly happened and I think that’s made a positive difference.

We’ve proposed a tax cut across the board, which again it’s not a panacea but it will result in more money in everybody’s pocketbook for the time being. There are also significant programs, the whole idea of the housing platform is to reduce the cost of housing, which of course is the biggest line item in most people’s budgets, almost everybody’s budget.

That’s a process that will take time, but it needs to take a whole lot less time than it has to this point. Specifically with respect to seniors, to increase the guaranteed income supplement by five per cent for one year. So that’s $652 more to low income seniors, tax-free. There’s some adjustments to EI, including waiving the one-week employment insurance waiting period; suspending the rules around separation for six months so that more workers don’t have to exhaust their severance pay for example before collecting EI.

Expanding dental coverage, that doesn’t specifically have to do with seniors, but expanding dental coverage to Canadians 18 to 64. So that’s four-and-a-half million more Canadians who are receiving dental care. Dental care has already been introduced; it was more restricted initially and so what’s coming is an expansion of that to not just children and seniors but to the Canadian population, depending on income, extending that as part of public healthcare so dental care is healthcare. It would be all over but again since healthcare is a provincial jurisdiction it would be money from the federal government paying to expand the medical services plan to include dentistry.

Same thing with the national pharmacare program. The idea of the national pharmacare program is funded by the federal government rather than each province individually negotiating with pharmaceutical companies.

It would be across the country and it would be the federal government paying the lion share. I understand that it is administered by the provinces because they’ve got health.

Miguel Godau, NDP: When New Democrats fight, Canadians win. Since the last election, New Democrats used their power to help lower your monthly bills.

We delivered on a national dental care program, which saves your family $1,700 a year and gave over 3.3 million people access to a dentist. We delivered on a national pharmacare program, which will make birth control and diabetes medication free for everyone. We delivered on a $500 Canada Housing Benefit that helped over 1.8 million people pay their rent or mortgage.

New Democrats will make your life more affordable by scrapping the GST on basics like grocery and restaurant meals, diapers, kids’ clothes, phone and internet bill and home heating, putting a price cap on basic essentials at the grocery store so everyone can put dinner on the table for less.

Fixing Liberal failures to the National Dental Care Program so that millions more Canadians can qualify. Making more life-changing drugs free. Building more homes for people, and working with provinces to implement rent control, ban unfair practices like fixed-term leases and renovations.

Chris Enns, PPC: Economically, we must open our resource sector. This will create globally competitive high-paying jobs, but will also create demand for our exports (commodities) and thus our dollar (in which they are priced). Canadian’s dollars will then work harder, to purchase the goods that we do not produce (which is most of them).

Monetarily, we must stop causing inflation through stimulus, bailouts and money printing. In trade we must secure true free trade arrangements, with the provision that ‘dumping’ of foreign products to destabilize our producers will not be tolerated. We cannot continue to protect dairy, egg and poultry producers through government sanctioned cartel-behaviour at the expense of Canadians. But we can put in regulations that stop predatory oversupply of those goods by foreign producers looking to undermine our agribusiness.

Candidates for Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies riding

Ken Robertson, LPC: On April 1, gas prices went down for tens of millions of Canadians. Cancelling the consumer carbon tax was the first step in ensuring that Canadians can keep more of their hard-earned money.

We have a plan to build an economy that everyone can afford. A Mark Carney-led government will cut income taxes for the middle class and save dual-income families up to $825 a year. We will get Canadians the benefits they deserve by delivering automatic tax filing starting with low income households and seniors.

This will ensure more Canadians can access the benefits they are entitled to. We will make mortgage payments more affordable by reviewing Canada’s mortgage market with the objective to offer Canadians more options while retaining stability in the market. This work will look at barriers to longer interest rate terms on mortgages, which would give Canadians more financial stability.

We will protect transfers to individuals (e.g., pensions, EI, CCB payments, etc.) and to provinces and territories (e.g., Equalization, Canadian Health Transfer, Canada Social Transfer, and Territorial Formula Financing). As well, we will protect social programs including $10-a-day child care, dental care and pharmacare.

Phaedra Idzan, NDP: It’s not spending that’s out of control; it’s corporate greed.

We’ll take the GST off essentials like groceries, diapers, cell phone bills and home heating.

We’ll implement a cap on grocery prices and make dental care and prescription medications free for everyone, and we’ll raise taxes on billionaires and big corporations so you don’t pay more while they keep getting richer.

This is about putting people first and giving everyone a fair chance to get ahead.

Owen Madden, GPC: We would remove the need for the one-third of Canadians who earn less than $40k to pay income tax. We would implement a Guaranteed Livable Income structured as a negative income tax.

John Michael Henry, PPC: The People’s Party of Canada is the only party with a real plan to make life affordable again — not with gimmicks or temporary handouts, but by tackling the true causes of Canada’s cost-of-living crisis.

We will end the carbon tax immediately — lowering the cost of food, fuel, heating, and transportation overnight. [We will]Cut the size of government and eliminate wasteful spending to stop printing and borrowing money that drives inflation, reform the Bank of Canada to protect the value of your dollar and your savings, reduce income taxes and simplify the tax code so Canadians keep more of what they earn, Fifteen per cent on the first $100,000, 25% on income over $100,000 and end supply chain disruptions by investing in Canadian-made energy, food, and manufacturing — instead of relying on foreign imports.

The cost-of-living crisis was created by bad policies. The PPC will fix it by putting Canadian families, workers, and seniors first — and restoring common sense to our economy.