Election Platforms

Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Upcoming debates

The debates section will be updated as more information becomes available.

‍Maclean’s / Citytv National Leaders Debate
When: Thursday, September 12, 2019 (8 p.m. EDT / 5 p.m. PDT)
Who (confirmed participants): Andrew Scheer (Leader, Conservative Party of Canada), Jagmeet Singh (Leader, New Democratic Party), Elizabeth May (Leader, Green Party of Canada); moderated by Paul Wells.
‍Where to watch: Live on Citytv, Macleans.ca, Facebook, Twitter, Rogers news radio stations and their websites, and CityNews websites. CPAC (with French translation), OMNI (with translation into Mandarin and Cantonese (broadcast) and Punjabi (online).

Le Grand Débat sur la Culture et les Médias
‍When: Wednesday, September 18, 2019 (3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT)
‍Who (confirmed participants): Pablo Rodriguez (Liberal Party of Canada), Gérard Deltell (Conservative Party of Canada), Chu Anh Pham (New Democratic Party), Pierre Nantel (Green Party of Canada), Monique Pauze (Bloc Québécois).
‍Where to watch: Monument-National, 1182, boul. Saint-Laurent, Montréal, QC.

‍Leaders’ Debate Commission (Canadian Debate Production Partnership)
‍When: Monday, October 7, 2019 (English / 7pm-9pm EST); Thursday, October 10, 2019 (French / 8pm-10pm EST)
‍Who (confirmed participants): Justin Trudeau (Leader, Liberal Party of Canada), Andrew Scheer (Leader, Conservative Party of Canada), Jagmeet Singh (Leader, New Democratic Party), Yves-François Blanchet (Leader, Bloc Québécois), Elizabeth May (Leader, Green Party of Canada) and Maxime Bernier (Leader, People's Party of Canada).
‍Moderated by (English): Rosemary Barton (CBC News), Susan Delacourt (Toronto Star), Dawna Friesen (Global News), Lisa LaFlamme (CTV News) and Althia Raj (HuffPost Canada); (French) Patrice Roy (Radio-Canada), Hélène Buzzetti (Le Devoir), Patricia Cloutier (Le Soleil), François Cardinal (La Presse) and Alec Castonguay (L'actualité).
‍Where to watch: Broadcast or stream for free (will be available in English, French, some Indigenous languages and non-official languages, American sign language, Quebec Sign Language, closed captioning and described video).
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Parties' cultural commitments

This section will be updated as parties announce their platforms.

‍Conservative Party of Canada (CPC)

To ensure that government programs and institutions support our cultural sector through changes in media and culture, we will work in a consultative way with the arts, music, film, and other industries to understand how government can adapt.
Ensure a level playing field with Canadian businesses. In line with similar taxes in Europe, we will apply a 3 per cent tax on revenues of businesses that provide a social media platform, search engine, or an online marketplace to Canadians. The tax will only apply to the largest companies; those with worldwide revenues of more than $1 billion and revenues in Canada of more than $50 million.
Include a pathway for these companies to set up shop here in Canada. If a company chooses to locate here and pay regular corporate income tax, then we will allow them to deduct their corporate income tax from the large technology company tax.

Read the full Conservative Party of Canada platform (see pg. 48/100 of the PDF for industry-specific commitments)
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‍Green Party of Canada‍

Increase funding to all of Canada’s arts and culture organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada.
Review tax incentives for film production to ensure all parts of Canada are competitive and attractive to the industry, with incentives rising when Canadian artistic and technical talent are employed.
Increase funding to CBC and Radio Canada by $315 million per year until the per-capita level of funding is equal to that of the BBC.
Reform the governance structure of CBC/Radio Canada to remove the potential for political interference in board appointments.
Apply a corporate tax on transnational e-commerce companies doing business in Canada by requiring the foreign vendor to register, collect and remit taxes where the product or service is consumed. The e-commerce sector – giants like Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Uber command a significant share of the Canadian market but pay virtually no tax.
Allow Quebec to veto agreements with foreign production companies, such as Netflix, that affect the province’s cultural sector.

Read the full Green Party of Canada platform (see pg. 32/44 of the PDF for industry-specific commitments)
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Liberal Party of Canada

Strengthen the regional mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada, so that local stations can broadcast more local news; and require CBC/Radio-Canada to open up its digital platform, so that journalism start-ups and community newspapers can access affordable technology to develop and distribute local content;
Continue to support Canadian film by increasing annual funding for Telefilm Canada by nearly 50 per cent a year;
Introduce a new Cultural Diplomacy strategy, with at least one international mission each year to promote Canadian culture and creators around the world; and
move forward, in our first year, with legislation that will take appropriate measures to ensure that all content providers – including internet giants – offer meaningful levels of Canadian content in their catalogues, contribute to the creation of Canadian content in both official languages, and promote this content and make it easily accessible on their platforms.

Read the full Liberal platform (see pg. 49 of the PDF for industry-specific commitments)
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New Democratic Party (NDP)‍

Make sure that Netflix, Facebook, Google, and other digital media companies play by the same rules as Canadian broadcasters. That means paying taxes, supporting Canadian content in both official languages, and taking responsibility for what appears on their platforms.
Increase funding for CBC and Radio-Canada.
Make sure that arts and cultural institutions receive stable, long-term funding to grow and promote Canada’s diverse cultures and histories.
Make life more affordable by putting in place income tax averaging for artists and cultural workers.

Read the full NDP platform (see pg. 85 of the PDF for culture-specific commitments)