Compare

Federal Election 2011 – Party Policy Comparison Chart
Issues	CHP	Liberal	Conservative	NDP	Green
Compare Party Policies: Research for this comparison was done through the following websites – www.chp.ca, www.liberal.ca, www.conservative.ca, www.ndp.ca, and www.greenparty.ca.
Same Sex Marriage	Marriage is “The voluntary union of one man and one woman, to exclusion of all others.” Would call a Parliamentary inquiry into the social consequences, particularly to children. Would repeal Bill C-38	After just two weeks of sham “hearings”, the Liberal government of Paul Martin forced Bill C-38 through the House by “whipping” the Cabinet; this redefined marriage to include same-sex relationships	Promised in the 2005-2006 campaign to defend the traditional definition of marriage:one-man-and-one-woman; broke that promise by merely asking MPs whether they wanted to re-open C-38. They said “no,” and it was dropped. Broke promise to defend marriage with legislation.	Strongly supports same-sex “marriage”	Supports same-sex “marriage”
Age of Consent for Sexual Intercourse	Raise age of consent to 18	The party has voted against raising the age of consent	Raised age of consent to 16	Opposes increase to age of consent. Some advocate lowering age of consent for anal sex.	No policy statement found
Child Pornography	Would eliminate “artistic merit” defense for possession of child porn	Supports “artistic merit” excuse for possession of some child pornography	Opposes “artistic merit” excuse for possession of child porn	Supports “artistic merit” excuse to possess some child porn	No policy statement found
Life Issues	Amend the criminal code of Canada to protect all innocent human life from conception to natural death. Supports ‘Pre-born Victims of Crime” legislation	Strongly pro-abortion; the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau legalized abortion. Opposed to Unborn Victims of Crime Bill. Opposed ‘Roxanne’s Law’	Prime Minister Harper said in December, 2005, “I will use whatever influence I have to ensure that no legislation on abortion comes into Parliament. In an interview on CBC in January of 2011, he reiterated his firm opposition to allowing Parliament to even discuss abortion. The Conservative Party thus defends the abortion industry from Parliament. Mr. Harper and 21 Conservative Cabinet ministers voted against ‘Roxanne’s Law”. He recently stated that “As long as I am Prime Minister, a Conservative government will not re-open the abortion debate and any legislation regarding abortion will be defeated.”	Strongly pro-abortion Opposition to Unborn Victims of Crime law. Opposed “Roxanne’s Law”	Pro-abortion. No stated policy on Unborn Victims of Crime legislation
Family Taxation	Eliminate all tax disadvantages to single-income families. Allow income-splitting. Eliminate income tax and replace with Fair Tax (national sales tax)	A few subsidies and programs proposed	A few subsidies and programs proposed. Would allow income-splitting AFTER the budget is balanced (in 2014?)	Supports women in the workforce at expense of single-income families	No stated policy found
Day Care	A “Family Care Allowance” of $12,000 ($1,000 a month) for any family with children under 18 living at home if one parent stays home to raise the children. This plan would also apply to Elder care and family care for a disabled family member.	Advocates government-funded institutional national day care plan similar to Quebec’s, estimated at $5-15 billion of new taxes. (Quebec’s plan cost taxpayers 33 times what was predicted.) Short-term family care offset for income loss.	Pays $1,200 directly to each family for care of children under 6	Advocates government-funded institutional national day care plan and $100-400 per month per child	No stated policy found
Health Care	Stronger focus on prevention. Retain single gov’t payer plan but open competition for delivery of services. Eliminate funding for abortion and destructive lifestyles. Fund redesign of hospitals to current state of the art single room facilities to reduce hospital induced infections and deaths.	Strong support for dying state-monopoly on health care delivery	Wants to return more responsibility for health care to provinces; failed attempts to seriously reduce waiting times	Strong support for dying state-monopoly on health care delivery	.
Accountable Government	Strengthen powers and independence of Auditor-General and other gov’t watchdogs	Chretien and Martin gov’ts produced crisis of confidence in federal gov’t integrity	Passed the Accountability Act. Broke 13 promises in their “Accountability Act” so far.	.	.
Guns, Gun Registry and Crime	Oppose the long-gun registry; increase mandatory penalties for the criminal use of firearms. Supports the rights of citizens to protect themselves and their families. Supports restitution for crimes.	Strong advocates of gun control for law-abiding gun owners	Promised to repeal long-gun registry legislation; have not done it; increase penalties around criminal use of firearms; put more officers on the street	Strong advocates of gun control for law-abiding gun owners	.
Environment	Focus on real pollution; air, water, and soil. Considers water vapour and CO2 beneficial to life and agriculture.	“Green Shift” and Kyoto-type plans; advocates a ‘carbon tax’ on fossil fuel use, which would increase the cost of everything that is moved to market.	Advocates destructive “Cap-and-Trade” policy; implemented various pollution and chemical regulations in last Parliament	Advocates Cap-and-’Trade and Carbon credits market. Opposes further development of Oilsands	Advocates Cap-and-’Trade and Carbon credits market. Opposes further development of Oilsands
Taxation	Eliminate Income tax and replace with a “Fair Tax” on consumer items.	Would raise corporate taxes.	Lower corporate taxes. Targeted tax cuts and credits.	Would raise corporate taxes. Targeted tax cuts and credits.	Would raise corporate taxes. Targeted tax cuts and credits.
Defense of the Constitution	Restrain judicial activism, affirm Preamble of the Constitution	Ambivalent at best to judicial activism; ignore Preamble of the Constitution	Ambivalent at best to judicial activism; ignore Preamble of the Constitution	Ambivalent at best to judicial activism; ignore Preamble of the Constitution	No stated policy
Human Rights Commissions	Restrain human rights commissions to original mandate, and eliminate section 13	Agree with existing mandate	Justice Minister Nicholson tabled a 51-page document agreeing with existing mandate	Agree with existing mandate	No stated policy
Public funding of political parties	Introduced to Chief Electoral Officer’s Advisory Committee a plan to allow each taxpayer to designate who would get their $2. Plan was rejected by the four parties now in the House.	Voted for C-24, by which parties now in Parliament to share $30 million a year of taxpayers’ money	Voted against C-24, but now accepts the largest share of $30 million a year of taxpayers’ money. Claim they would eliminate ‘per-vote’ subsidy.	Voted for C-24, by which parties now in Parliament to share $30 million a year of taxpayers’ money	No stated policy

Federal Election 2011 – Party Policy Comparison Chart