2025 Federal Election Weekly Briefing: April 8 – 14

Party Policy Announcements

Conservative Party of Canada  

On the campaign trail this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continued to unveil policies focused on affordability, housing, and cutting red tape to support Canada’s critical industries.  

Canada First Economic Action Plan:  

To support Canada’s economy during uncertain times and to help grow the Canadian economy for the future, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre outlined his Canada First Economic Action Plan, outlining how a Conservative government would cut taxes, lower costs, and support Canadian businesses. The plan includes:  

  • Repealing C-69 along with Bill C-48, lift the cap on Canadian energy and scrap the industrial carbon tax, to get major projects built, unlock our resources, and start selling Canadian energy to the world again, bringing home good jobs and billions of dollars in lost investment, and putting Canada First–For a Change.  
  • Creating a National Energy Corridor, a pre-approved transport corridor for pipelines, transmission lines, railways and other critical infrastructure to rapidly build the projects our country needs and move Canadian resources from coast to coast, bypassing the US and making us less reliant on the American market.  
  • Bringing in the Canada First Reinvestment Tax Cut to reward Canadians who reinvest their earnings back into our country, unlocking billions for home building, manufacturing, and tools, training and technology to boost productivity.  
  • Create a One-Stop-Shop to safely and rapidly approve resource projects, with one simple application and one environmental review within one year.  
  • Rapidly approve Phase 2 of LNG Canada to the project’s double gas production and accelerate at least nine other projects currently snarled in Liberal red tape. Upgrade the Port of Churchill to open another door to export Canadian resources to the world.  
  • Pre-permit Shovel-Ready Zones for development, to eliminate delays and red tape. Cut red tape by 25% with a new Two-for-One Rule, eliminating two regulatory requirements for every new one imposed to unleash our entrepreneurs. 

Conservatives Will Build Homes for Canadians:  

To address Canada’s ongoing housing crisis, Mr. Poilievre announced that a Conservative government would remove obstacles to housing construction and require cities to free up land, speed up permits and cut development charges to build 15 percent more homes every year. If the 15 percent target is missed, cities will see a reduction in federal funding and will need to make up for the missing target in construction the following year.  

Additionally, the Conservatives promised:  

  • Selling 15% of the federal government’s 37,000 buildings, to be turned into affordable housing.  
  • If housing applications are not approved within 60 days by the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation, workers will see a reduction in bonuses, pay, or possible firing to speed up permitting.  
  • Removing the GST on new homes up to $1.3 million to save homebuyers up to $65,000  

One and Done Approvals:  

Mr. Poilievre also announced plans to speed up the permitting process for new infrastructure projects and reduce red tape by creating a “One and Done” approval process. The new regulatory landscape would include:  

  • Create a ‘One Stop Shop’ – A single office called the Rapid Resource Project Office will handle all regulatory approvals across all levels of government, so businesses don’t waste years navigating bureaucratic chaos and coordinating between multiple departments with different processes.  
  • One application. End duplication – There will be one application and one environmental review per project, ensuring efficiency without sacrificing environmental standards. Instead of multiple overlapping studies that stall projects, governments will work together to deliver a single, effective review.  
  • One-year maximum wait times for approvals with a target of six months. There will be a target goal of decisions on applications in six months, with an upper time limit of one year, giving businesses certainty, cutting delays, and getting shovels in the ground faster.  

Liberal Party of Canada 

Canada: Global Energy Superpower

While in Alberta this week, Liberal Leader Mark Carney announced that if elected, his government would turn Canada into a global energy superpower. Mr. Carney’s plan included three objectives: energy security, trade diversification, and long-term competitiveness. To achieve this a Liberal government would:  

  • Kickstart the clean energy supply chain by investing in critical minerals Get clean energy projects built quickly across Canada by fast-tracking and supporting Projects of National Interest  
  • Secure Canada’s energy and electricity sovereignty by building an East-West electricity grid and invest in Canada’s conventional and clean energy potential  

Canadian Homes with Canadian Lumber  

On the campaign trail, Mr. Carney expanded on his promise to expand Canadian home construction by promising to use Canadian resources, specifically lumber, for the Liberal’s proposed housing plan.  

In addition to creating Building Canada Strong and providing federal financing for projects, Mr. Carney also promised that Canadian homes would be built using Canadian lumber to support national resource industries.  

New Democratic Party of Canada  

Canadian Home Transfer  

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spent time on the campaign trail this week promising Canadians that the NDP would work to build more affordable homes and protect Canadians who rent. First, Mr. Singh promised to create a new $8 billion Canadian Homes Transfer to build 3 million affordable homes by 2030. To make sure homes are built quickly, Mr. Singh also promised to:  

  • Require cities to allow more multi-unit homes in all neighbourhoods;  
  • Require more housing near public transit routes; 
  • Speed up permits and approvals so homes can get built faster;  
  • Support good jobs by requiring Project Labour Agreements or Community Benefits Agreements;  
  • Provide guidelines for using Canadian-made materials like steel, cement, and mass timber;  
  • Support building pre-fabricated homes to help meet tight timelines. Freezing the increase on development charges and working with provinces to halve development charges that hold up construction  
  • Committing to 20 percent non-market housing in every neighbourhood 

Communities First Fund:  

Mr. Singh also promised to protect renters with a Communities First Fund to expand the water, sewage, and infrastructure foundations needed to support housing by requiring that to access funding provinces:  

  • Following national rent control rules;  
  • Bringing forward a housing security strategy to end encampments and homelessness;  
  • Implementing a Renters’ Bill of Rights;  
  • Ending exclusionary zoning that blocks new homes;  
  • Requiring cities to allow at least four units on residential lots and more multi-unit homes.  

Crackdown on Foreign Homebuyers  

Mr. Singh also promised that the NDP would enact a permanent and enforceable ban on foreign homebuyers, major affordable investments in affordable, non-profit housing, and a stronger anti-flipping tax by expanding the current 1-year rule to 5 years to make housing more affordable.