Conservatives promise surpluses in the billions, if re-elected
Posted October 9, 2015 9:19 am.
Last Updated October 9, 2015 12:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) – The Conservatives are releasing the party’s full platform at an event in Richmond today.
The Tories promise a balanced budget and surpluses in the billions if they are re-elected on October 19th.
The full Conservative party platform says its campaign promises will cost $6.8 billion over four years, with much of the spending coming in the final years of the mandate.
It says the pledges will cost $590 million next year and gradually rise to $2.9 billion by 2019-20, as about a billion dollars in compensation costs for the TransPacific Partnership trade deal kicks in.
Harper is reiterating his position that his party is the only one that can protect what he’s calling a troubled, fragile economy and Canadian jobs.
The party platform predicts what it’s calling “meaningful” surpluses over the next four years: anywhere from $948 million to $2.4 billion. That does not include contingency funds –which includes emergencies and natural disasters — of anywhere from $1 billion to $3 billion per year.
The 159-page document includes costs for programs already announced during the campaign, such as the $1.5-billion home renovation tax credit Stephen Harper proposed in August.
There is also $3 million per year year for a Correctional Service Canada program to have prisoners build homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and $10 million a year to fund summer jobs in the trades for high school students.
However, a re-elected Conservative government would continue a freeze on federal operating budgets, with savings estimated at $565 million next year. The freeze was originally set to expire this year, but is being extended by a year.
There is also a plan to bring in legislation that would allow an aboriginal band in BC to begin allowing people to own their own properties on the reserve. The law would specifically apply to the Whispering Pine/Clinton Indian Band near Kamloops, but would allow other bands to opt in.
Threatening that jobs are at risk, Harper is reiterating that the Conservatives’ number one priority is the economy, that it needs protection, and that his party is the only one with a proven track record.
