OTTAWA — The federal opposition parties are already off and running as each leader aims to jump the gun on an election race expected to kick off in the coming days.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh have been criss-crossing the country, with O’Toole making whistle stops in at least seven provinces in the past four weeks.
On Wednesday in Waterloo, Ont., he laid out his plan to spur innovation by cutting the income tax rate in half on new patented technologies developed in Canada, which followed a pledge Monday to connect every Canadian with high-speed internet by 2025.
Singh plans to unfurl a blueprint this morning of New Democrat priorities that stresses jobs, health care and the environment.
Commitments in the NDP proto-platform include paid sick leave, universal pharmacare, rapid emissions reduction and student debt cancellation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also been jetting across Canada in recent weeks as he and his cabinet sign child-care funding deals with more than half the country’s premiers and make a flurry of funding announcements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2021.