Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Tom Mulcair burnishes NDP's economic credentials; Duffy trial dogs Harper up north

The Canadian Press, 14 Aug, 2015 12:14 PM
    OTTAWA — Tom Mulcair is in Tory territory today to burnish the NDP's fiscal bona fides, while his Conservative rival returned the favour in a New Democrat riding with a promise to pave a key Northwest Territories highway.
     
    Mulcair has introduced former Saskatchewan finance minister Andrew Thomson as the NDP's challenger to Conservative counterpart Joe Oliver in the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence.
     
    And he is also promising to make the parliamentary budget officer an independent officer of Parliament to eliminate the possibility of political interference.
     
    Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Hay River, N.W.T. with a $14-million pledge to pave a stretch of a scenic highway that links Fort Smith to Hay River through Wood Buffalo National Park.
     
    Normally such a project would get a third of its cost from the federal government, with the territorial government and local communities splitting the rest. Harper, however, offered to cover the whole thing, saying small northern communities could take years to raise the needed money.
     
    Harper has made the North a focus, travelling the region each summer, promoting development and infrastructure projects.
     
    Despite his distance from Ottawa, the prime minister couldn't escape questions about the Mike Duffy corruption trial. He stuck to his stock answers, however, saying Duffy and Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff, are responsible.
     
    The prime minister also left the door open to Canada joining a North American ballistic missile defence shield, but only if national security was threatened.
     
    "Our position is that we keep evaluating our options," he said.
     
    Mulcair aimed to shore up his party's economic credentials by pitting Thomson against Oliver, but the showdown comes in a Toronto riding where the NDP has never been a contender.
     
    Thomson made his name in as finance minister Saskatchewan in 2006-7. He cut taxes, balanced the budget and produced strong growth and a budget surplus.
     
    He also engaged in skirmishes with Ottawa over resource revenues and their effects on the equalization system.
     
    "Andrew has the experience and strong fiscal record that Canada needs to get the economy on track and create greater opportunity for the middle class," Mulcair said.
     
    Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau took a down day from the campaign on Friday.
     
    Green party Leader Elizabeth May travelled to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island where she promised a better deal for veterans.
     
    She said she wants to reverse changes to veterans benefits and said any vet with post-traumatic stress disorder who wants a service dog should get one.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    B.C. First Nation Makes Cash, Land Agreement In Steps Towards Treaty

    B.C. First Nation Makes Cash, Land Agreement In Steps Towards Treaty
    TERRACE, B.C. — The Kitselas First Nation has signed multimillion-dollar cash and land agreement-in-principle with the provincial government.

    B.C. First Nation Makes Cash, Land Agreement In Steps Towards Treaty

    Community Rallies To Save Beached Whales On Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island

    Community Rallies To Save Beached Whales On Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island
    A resident of a small community on Cape Breton's west coast says about 25 people rallied to try and save 16 beached pilot whales today after they became stuck on the rocky shores of St. George's Bay.

    Community Rallies To Save Beached Whales On Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island

    Search Ends Tragically For Bryce Gray Missing In Northwestern B.C. Lake

    Search Ends Tragically For Bryce Gray Missing In Northwestern B.C. Lake
    The body of a teenager has been pulled from a lake in northwestern B.C., ending a nearly week-long search.

    Search Ends Tragically For Bryce Gray Missing In Northwestern B.C. Lake

    Two Dead, Three Wounded In Toronto's Muzik Nightclub Shooting

    Two Dead, Three Wounded In Toronto's Muzik Nightclub Shooting
    Two people are dead and three others are in hospital following an overnight shooting that began inside a packed Toronto nightclub that was hosting the official after-party of rapper Drake's annual OVO Fest.

    Two Dead, Three Wounded In Toronto's Muzik Nightclub Shooting

    Firefighters, Hydro Crews Team Up To Rescue Injured Skydiver Near Vernon

    Firefighters, Hydro Crews Team Up To Rescue Injured Skydiver Near Vernon
    VERNON, B.C. — A skydiver is OK after dangling unconscious from power lines for more than 30 minutes near Vernon, B.C.

    Firefighters, Hydro Crews Team Up To Rescue Injured Skydiver Near Vernon

    PM Harper Unveils Big-Budget Campaign Promise: $1.5 Billion Home Renovation Tax Credit

    PM Harper Unveils Big-Budget Campaign Promise: $1.5 Billion Home Renovation Tax Credit
    PM has delivered the first big-budget promise of the Conservative election campaign: a permanent home-renovation tax credit that will cost taxpayers $1.5 billion a year once implemented

    PM Harper Unveils Big-Budget Campaign Promise: $1.5 Billion Home Renovation Tax Credit