Thread by @EmmMacfarlane

OK. I'm gonna live-tweet my skim of the CPC platform.

My thread on the Liberal platform is here:

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1178374576943894535

And my thread on the NDP platform is here:

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1180894772388663297

The first substantive thing in the CPC platform is "More money in Your Pocket FOR YOU" in case you were wondering if this was gonna be a technocratic exercise in good governance. 2/n

First big ticket item is the tax cut for the lowest bracket, from 15% to 13.75% cut. This is better targeted than the 'middle class' cut the Liberals implemented 3-4 years back. A.

The next item is repealing the 'Carbon Tax' - a terrible idea. F.
3/n

The funny thing with the carbon pricing repeal is the CPC simultaneously critique its effectiveness but then criticize potential future increases *that would make it effective*.

Oh, and they promise to remove GST from home energy bills, which is anti-climate. F.
4/n

In what I think will be a trend, they promise a 'Green Public Transit Tax Credit'. This does very little for the climate and while it might save families money there was evidence under the Harper period that disproportionately upper-middle class even bothered to claim it. D. 5/n

They're removing the Mortgage Stress Test from the mortgage renewal process and extending the mortgage amortization period to 30 years for first-time buyers. This seems backwards policy if we're worried about, y'know, another financial crisis. D. 6/n

A Green Home Renovation Tax credit. 20 percent on up to $20K! Not a fan of tax credits gumming up the overall tax code but lots of smart people talk about the value of retrofitting homes for energy savings. B. 7/n

Investigate money laundering in real estate. Okie-doke. B.

Turn surplus federal real estate into housing? How many federal buildings are easily converted? Weird. Er, C+?

8/n

They're going to incentivize municipalities to build more homes via competition to 'cut red tape'. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? (Also, this sounds like indirect interference in provincial policy). D. 9/n

They're going to make it easier for people to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit and Registered Disability Saving Plan. Sounds good. B+. 10/n

The next section of the CPC platform is ALSO entitled 'More Money in Your Pocket' but with the added 'FOR YOUR KIDS'. Because.

Making maternity benefits tax free. Giving adoptive parents 15-week leave modelled on the EI maternity leave. All good. A.
11/n

Another tax credit, this one for children's fitness (I believe this is also a revival). C.

A Children's Arts and Learning tax credit. C.

An increase to the extremely regressive RESP grant program. F.

Small government indeed.
12/n

And now it's onto 'More Money in Your Pocket FOR RETIREMENT!!!'

They're gonna make the Age Credit more generous. I don't think I knew there was an 'age credit'. C.

They're promising to maintain OAS at age 65. Boo! Cowardly climbdown from the Harper policy of upping it to 67. F.

Companies will be required to be transparent and report on solvency of pension funds. Sounds good? B+

14/n

Onto a section entitled MOAR GOOD JOBS.

They're gonna restore a small business deduction that evil Trudeau eliminated. B.

They're exempting spouses from taxes of dividends for business owners. Why? Because time and money aren't the only things that count! apparently. D. 15/n

They're gonna CUT RED TAPE for businesses. How? Make ministers look for things to cut. Institute a 2:1 rule where any new reg requires cutting two first. Because THAT sounds evidence-based and completely free of unintended consequences! D. 16/n

Onto Energy Policy. They're promising the creation of a National Energy Corridor. Very light on details. A blue ribbon commission will apparently make recommendations. C-.

Repeal C-69, because fuck the environment. F.

17/n

End the shipping ban on BC's north coast. Because fuck the environment. F.

Build the Trans Mountain pipeline. I mean, I support this but not if you're ignoring the duty to consult, which the platform fails to mention. D. 18/n

Oh, wait, they're gonna "appoint a Minister of consulting Indigenous rights holders"... huh. I feel like these promises might be in tension just a tad. Of course the Liberals are guilty of the same thing. 19/n

Innovation time. More free trade agreements! Building tech skills! Attract the best and brightest (restore points for job offers under Express Entry for immigrants)! Promote jobs in rural areas [record scratch - I don't know how this is innovative but whatevs]. B-. 20/n

They're gonna give Quebec even more autonomy over immigration. F. 21/n

There's a section on infrastructure. Didn't we hear this week they're gonna cut infrastructure spending?

Anyway, the platform promises roads! bridges! ports! Toronto subways! BC tunnels! Saint Lawrence links! I'm pro-infrastructure spending, so B. 22/n

Interprovincial trade. They like it. They want to reduce barriers. A for intent. C for squishy details. 23/n

HOLD THE PHONE. They'll "work with colleges and universities to make sure courses, programs, and academic
curricula reflect the demands of today’s labour market "

Fuck off you will. F. F for provincial jurisdiction and another F for even thinking gov't should micromanage this.

They want to create a task force for competitiveness in the natural resources sector. Literally no details except complaining how bad sectors fared under Trudeau. Empty pablum. 25/n

An agricultural section all about helping farmers, reducing red tape, returning fees, and yes, like every other party, defending supply management. F. 26/n

We're into Fisheries and "Create Meaningful Advisory Panels" has got to be the most boring-sounding intro to a page on a party platform since Wilfrid Laurier promised to "'Sup with but four pieces of cutlery instead of five" in the famed Fine Dining Election of 1904. 27/n

Hahaha. The entire Forestry section contains two promises: protecting woodland caribou, and protect forestry from pests. Both laudable goals, but this feels light. B-. 28/n

Manufacturing. Get this. This is the promise. They're gonna "reduce the regulatory burden by 25 percent." How? Shrug. Is 25 percent a random number they pulled out of someone's butt? Nod.

I'm gonna reduce this grading burden by 50 percent. F. 29/n

OK, we're into the CPC Climate Change section. They're gonna regulate instead of tax - which every expert notes is more expensive, less efficient, and less effective. F.

There's a host of stuff on protecting wetlands, working with Indigenous peoples, ending raw sewage dumps...

cleaning lakes, banning exports of plastic waste. Many of these things sound good but a bunch of them have nothing to do with lowering CO2 emissions. C-. 31/n

One big promise - taking the climate change fight GLOBAL! - is basically a promise to export as much gas as possible. On the one hand, they're right: natural gas > coal. On the other hand this reads like 'we're gonna expand the oilsands as much as freakin' possible'. D. 32/n

Oh my god I'm only on page 50/104.

Heh. They're gonna commemorate our country's builders, a list on which they include Riel. Was he trying to 'build' *this* particular country? Awwwwkard. 33/n

Make Canada's museums free! I mean, alright. Most of the federal ones are in Ottawa though. But this is better than grants for poor kids to go canoeing or whatever the Liberal promise was. C. 34/n

Invest in palliative care! Okay, this is important. And they're going to invest... $15 million. That seems... paltry? C+.

A focus on skills training for prisoners. Replacing statutory release with 'earned parole' and why does this sound expensive and potentially unfair? D. 35/n

End unescorted day passes from prison. Wait, for everyone?? I'd kinda get it for violent offenders but this seems like a blanket ban. C-.

End prison needle exchange programs. Jesus fucking Christ you anti-evidence dipshits. F. F F F. 36/n

Full body scanners at every prison, for everyone who enters. Note: there's no costing on ANY of this. Also, do full body scanners spot things like tobacco and drugs that they're looking for? How does it distinguish that from, y'know... ok I'll say it: poop. 37/n

Ethics time! Launch a judicial inquiry into SNC-Lavalin. I'm torn. On the one hand, there's probably more to know. On the other, the optics of a PM investigating his political opponents is terrible. 38/n

Introduce the 'No More Cover-ups Act'.

Can we introduce a 'No More Lame Names for Acts Act'?

Anyway, this will allow RCMP to apply to the SCC to access cabinet docs. Fun! B. 39/n

More powers for the Ethics and Lobbying Commissioners! This is potentially good. The Conflict of Interest and Ethics commish is a relatively weak office compared to some of the other officers. B. 40/n

Removing the cap on private refugee sponsorships. B+ (But a lower grade if this doesn't mean more refugees overall.)

Aaaand then they refer to irregular border crossers as "illegal" and that's just wrong. F. 41/n

A section on Indigenous policy talks in vague terms about 'barriers to prosperity' (without specifics. Guys, the whole colonial oppression thing? Y'know, control of land, resources, inequitable funding of social services, shitty housing etc etc etc). Weak lack of detail. F. 42/n

Repeal C-71. This is making gun control more lax. Why? WHYYYY. F.

Promote free speech on campus. What do campuses have to do with federal jurisdiction? (the answer is nothing). They'll hold hostage grant money. So, if a prof gets censored, they'll... hurt the prof? Genius! F.

Criminal justice policy. They're gonna target gangs, treat gangs like terror orgs by listing them in the crim code, tougher sentences on a range of things, including mandatory minimum that will be likely be struck down by the courts. C-. 44/n

A whole section on drug policy with a focus on 'recovery' that *sounds like* code for not supporting supervised consumption sites. D. 45/n

I'm skipping over some of the more minor stuff here...

A national autism strategy. One or both of the NDP/Liberals had something similar. C. 47/n

Foreign policy. Recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. This is Trumpian, unbalanced stupidity. F.

REopen the 'Office of Religious Freedom' - this thing always seems rather selective in what it was purporting to protect. C-. 48/n

A bunch of risible misleading nonsense about foreign aid dollars going to upper-income countries. F.

A promise to provide military aid to Ukraine (but really push for UN to do something, apparently). Weird language here. C. 49/n

Diversifying trade. More free trade. Sure. B+. 50/n

Resolve the softwood lumber dispute! Ta-da! (no details on how). D. 51/n

Depoliticizing military procurement sounds good but it would mean not turning procurement into a jobs policy which doesn't necessarily sound like what they're talking about. C. 52/n

They're gonna balance the budget in five years. After all the tax break/credit promises, and every other spending promise, the platform simply has no credibility for doing that. D. 53/n

Overall, the CPC platform has many of the 'lack of details' problems of the NDP platform. It's quite a visionless document, emphasizing 'Money for Your Pocket' and a whole lot of poorly thought-out, anti-evidence or just plain bad policies. Overall grade: D. 53/53.