Harper’s Conservatives – seeking a rare fourth consecutive mandate – have prided themselves on their handling of the economy but have posted a string of budget deficits since the 2008 financial crisis.
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Harper repeated his message that his government is the best bet in uncertain economic times.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper has a campaign event in Drummondville.
After Mulcair left provincial politics in 2007, he briefly considered an offer to become an environmental advisor to Stephen Harper.
Mulcair said the fact the Conservatives and Liberals are increasingly attacking him is a sign the NDP campaign is going well.
High profile incumbents John McCallum, a former bank economist, and Chrystia Freeland, a former journalist and author of books on income inequality, held a news conference in Ottawa to try to poke holes in the governing Conservatives’ economic record.
“I want to make sure that everybody understands that the NDP’s position is decriminalization the minute we form government”, he said.
Just before Mulcair won the NDP leadership in 2012, former party head Ed Broadbent went public in a last-ditch effort to prevent the bearded Quebecer from taking the helm. The New Democrat leader touted economic promises aimed at seniors and families with young children in need of daycare, while pledging to be a champion of Canada’s struggling manufacturing sector.
Mulcair said Harper “put all his eggs in one basket” by focusing the Canadian economy on the oil and gas sector, which has been rocked by a downward price spiral.
In addition to changes to the veterans’ charter, Trudeau will invest $100 million in services to veterans, including the creation of two centres of excellence, one on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast.
Trudeau was circumspect on how he would pay for the promise, noting that the Liberals would release a fully costed platform soon.
“Right now, with the instability on global markets, there are an very bad lot of Canadians anxious about their retirements, looking with anxiety at the coming years”, Trudeau said.
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Harper’s plan gives billions in benefits to the wealthiest few and will do nothing to help Canadians in the middle class – and those working hard to join it – get ahead.
