(Reuters) – Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) have reached a rare agreement that aims to keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government in power until 2025.
The two parties published a list of priorities they had agreed upon on Tuesday:
HEALTHCARE
* Plan to launch a new dental care program for low-income Canadians, starting with under 12-year-olds in 2022, then expanding to under 18-year-olds, seniors and people living with a disability in 2023, before a full implementation by 2025.
* Work towards a universal national prescription drug coverage plan by passing a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023. Task the National Drug Agency to develop a national list of essential medicines and bulk purchasing plan by the end of the agreement.
LOWERING HOUSING COSTS
* Extend the Rapid Housing Initiative, a government scheme to create affordable housing units, for an additional year.
* Re-focus the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, which provides low-cost loans for the construction of rental apartment projects, on affordable housing units.
* Move forward on launching a Housing Accelerator Fund.
* Implement a Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights, which would make home-buying more transparent, and tackle the financialization of the housing market by the end of 2023.
CLIMATE
* Advance measures to achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and accelerate the trajectory to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
* Develop a plan to phase-out public financing of the fossil fuel sector, including ‘early moves’ in 2022.
WORKFORCE
* Ensure 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workers starts as soon as possible in 2022.
* Introduce legislation by the end of 2023 to prohibit the use of replacement workers when a union employer in a federally regulated industry has locked out employees or is in a strike.
RECONCILIATION
* Make ‘significant’ investments in housing for indigenous people in 2022.
TAX SYSTEM
* Change how financial institutions that have made strong profits during the COVID-19 pandemic are taxed.
VOTING
* Work with Elections Canada to explore ways to expand the ability for people to vote, through an expanded “Election Day” or three days of voting, allowing people to vote at any polling place within their Electoral District, and improving the process of mail-in ballots.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell)
