The NDP\u00a0is kickstarting\u00a0its\u00a0campaign this weekend with stops in Ottawa and Toronto.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Leader Jagmeet Singh unveiled the\u00a0party’s tour bus\u00a0\u2014\u00a0covered with photos of Singh\u00a0and accented\u00a0in the traditional orange of the party \u2014 before departing for an event in Toronto. The day before\u00a0was the opening of the NDP campaign headquarters in Ottawa.<\/p>\n Singh held a rally in the riding of Toronto-Danforth Sunday evening, the seat held by former party leader Jack Layton until his death in 2011.<\/p>\n Layton’s name was on everyone’s lips at the event as his widow Olivia Chow and son Mike introduced Singh to the crowd.<\/p>\n In return he thanked them for continuing Layton’s legacy, saying his policy priorities remain with the party today.<\/p>\n “This is a country where we believe in taking care of one another,” he said, vowing that’s what the NDP’s campaign will be about.<\/p>\n Singh said the election question his party wants to ask voters mirrors their French slogan: “Who can you count on to fight for you?”<\/p>\n The party has\u00a0focused its campaign on measures like\u00a0lowering the cost of medications, increasing affordable housing and fighting climate change. Singh said people are looking for a party that represents those things as they consider who to vote for on Oct. 21.<\/p>\n “They look around at who is going to fight for them. It’s us. We’re going to fight for them,” he told supporters, reinforcing his campaign message\u00a0of “In it for you.”<\/p>\n The party under Singh has proposed an ambitious health care reform, including covering\u00a0all drugs, vision and dental care. Their platform was released in June, without full costing of that\u00a0promise. Earlier this spring, a Liberal government-appointed advisory council on pharmacare estimated a single-payer system would cost $15 billion.<\/p>\n To help pay for the multi-billion dollar reform, the party would raise taxes on the wealthiest Canadians \u2014 those with wealth over $20 million annually. It also would raise corporate taxes, end fossil fuel subsidies, close tax loopholes and levy a foreign home buyers tax.<\/p>\n But another NDP\u00a0platform promise does have a price tag.<\/p>\n The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO)\u00a0just released a cost analysis of the party’s proposal to cut interest from current and future student loans.<\/p>\n The\u00a0report shows that plan would cost\u00a0$432\u00a0million in 2020-2021\u00a0and\u00a0would gradually increase to $598 million\u00a0nearly a decade later.<\/p>\n The NDP\u00a0are the first party this year\u00a0to have a platform piece costed and the report released to the public.<\/p>\n The PBO\u00a0can be used to cost out any campaign proposals during the 2019 campaign, and the subsequent reports will be published as the promises\u00a0are announced by the parties.<\/p>\n Singh said as of this weekend 205 candidates would officially be nominated, with more announcements coming early next week bumping the number over 300. That\u00a0still leaves\u00a0a\u00a0gap to fill\u00a0before the campaign officially begins sometime this week.<\/p>\n The leader’s defence of the slow timeline has been that it takes longer to convince the diverse candidates the NDP is courting \u2014 like Indigenous leaders and women \u2014 to run for office.<\/p>\n At least one prospective NDP candidate, Sid Ryan, dropped his bid for nomination citing a sluggish\u00a0process that wouldn’t leave him enough time to run a proper campaign.<\/p>\n Singh has said he hopes 50 per cent of his candidates are women.\u00a0All the other\u00a0parties have nominated candidates in more ridings than Singh’s team.<\/p>\n The NDP is\u00a0currently straggling behind the Liberals and Conservatives in the polls, registering only 13.4 per cent nationally, with the Greens hot on their heels at 10.6 per cent.<\/p>\n They’re also struggling to fill their coffers.\u00a0Elections Canada posted the party’s annual financial return online on Thursday, showing the NDP finished last year with assets worth $4.7 million and liabilities totalling $9.2 million, leaving the party $4.5 million in the hole \u2014 a low the party hasn’t seen in\u00a0at least 17 years.<\/p>\nCosting the platform<\/h2>\n
Missing candidates, financial woes<\/h2>\n