Canadian federal election, minor party positions

The policy positions of minor political parties in Canadian federal elections are summarized here by election.

2006 election

Taxation: The 2005 federal budget originally implemented relatively modest tax cuts that have been criticized by both the right and left. Parties, major and minor, from the centre to the right demanded much greater tax relief. The Christian Heritage Party (CHP) urged more support for families raising children at home. Parties on the left, the Communist and Marxist–Leninist parties, urged higher taxes for corporations and higher-income Canadians. The Green Party is proposing to "shift" $3.5 billion of taxes by raising taxes on polluting activities and reducing personal and corporate income taxes. In particular, the Green Party would impose a tax on motor fuel of 10 cents per litre, reduce the lowest personal income tax rate, and eliminate the Goods and Services Tax on "green" products and reading materials.

Electoral reform: The Green Party and the CHP promote the idea of proportional representation voting. Neither party has won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons under the current first-past-the-post system. The Marxist–Leninist Party advocates the enshrined right of the public to recall elected officials from office. They also support replacing Elections Canada with a Canada-Wide Electoral Commission, as well as having Electoral Committees in each constituency.

Gun registry: The CHP and the Libertarian Party strongly oppose the Canadian gun registry, while the other parties generally support it.

Foreign policy The Marxist–Leninist Paty calls for the complete and immediate withdrawal from all economic and military blocks such as the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, North American Free Trade Agreement, APEC, NORAD, and NATO. They also call on the democratization of the United Nations. The Green Party says that it will commit to military actions only if sanctioned by both the Canadian parliament and the United Nations. The Green Party opposes the U.S. space based missile programme and would declare Canada a "military nuclear-free zone". The Green Party also calls on Canada to push for a delay in the Haitian elections, scheduled to be held in 2006, until all political prisoners are freed and the killing and intimidation of Lavalas Party supporters by the Haitian National Police is stopped.

2004 election

Child care: The CHP supported a large tax break for two-parent families with school-age or younger children, if one parent stays home to care for the children. The Communists and Marxist-Leninists support an expansion of child care.

Same sex marriage: The Communist party also strongly favoured same-sex marriage. Support also came from the Canadian Action Party. All CHP candidates opposed it.

National missile defence: The Communist party also opposed Canada joining a US missile shield.

Gun registry: The CHP strongly opposed the gun registry.

Legal status of Marijuana: The Marijuana Party made legalization of marijuana a cornerstone policy that impacted on all other issues, citing how the ban on marijuana negatively impacted rental property, for example. The CHP opposed decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Abortion: The CHP opposes abortion. All other minor parties (Canadian Action, Marxist–Leninist, Communist, Green, Libertarian Party) support legal abortions.

Monetary policy: The Canadian Action Party promoted a change to monetary policy to allow the Bank of Canada to fund all government debt.

Taxation: The Green Party proposed a policy of "tax shifting", i.e., increasing taxes on polluting activities in order to reduce income taxes on individuals and corporations.

1993 election

National debt: The Natural Law Party proposed meditation to eliminate the national debt.

Direct democracy: In addition to the Reform Party, the Canada Party also supported direct democracy, with referendums and recall as initiatives to be available to citizens through petition.

Parliamentary reform: The Abolitionist Party favoured the abolition of the Canadian Senate and the role of the monarchy in Canada's government. The Canada Party favoured the election of the prime minister and cabinet ministers by the members of the governing party.

Monetary reform: The Canada Party and the Abolitionist Party promoted social credit thoeories of monetary reform.

Free trade: The National Party campaigned to abrogate the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 1988.

1988 election

Free trade: The CHP supported the principle of free trade, but had serious reservations about the deal just reached with the United States.

Free trade was opposed by the Communist and Marxist–Leninist parties.

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