2025 Federal Election Weekly Briefing: April 1 – 7

Party Policy Announcements

Conservative Party of Canada: 

For relevant announcements from the Conservative Party of Canada, check out last week’s briefing. 

Liberal Party of Canada   

Apprenticeships for Skilled Trades Workers 

During a week on the campaign that saw tariff announcements from the United States, Liberal Leader Mark Carney announced that to support Canada’s economy during uncertain times, a Liberal government would support skilled trades workers by covering the costs of their apprenticeships. Mr. Carney announced that a Liberal government would provide an Apprenticeship Grant of $8,000 for registered apprentices. 

A Liberal government would: 

  • Increase access to union-led training initiatives by doubling the funding of the Union Training and Innovation Program from $25 million to $50 million annually; 
  • Establish a new $20 million capital funding stream for colleges to support new training spaces for apprenticeships; 
  • Uphold the Apprenticeship Service program to support employers in hiring new apprentices in Red Seal trades, with up to $10,000 for eligible employers for each new apprentice hired; 
  • Increase labour mobility for skilled tradespeople between provinces and territories through the vital work of breaking down internal trade barriers; and 
  • Expand the Labour Mobility Tax Deduction to ensure workers who travel more than 120 km from their home to a job site can deduct more of their expenses, and commit to significantly increasing the per-year tax deduction limit. 

New Democratic Party of Canada  

NDP Tariff Response Plan 

While on the campaign trail, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced his plan to protect workers and safeguard Canadian jobs from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The NDP plan included strategic investments such as: 

  • Launching a massive building plan focused on shovel-ready infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, transit, and health facilities – using Canadian materials like steel. 
  • Building an East-West clean energy grid with Canadian products to deliver affordable, secure energy. 
  • Rescuing at-risk home-building projects impacted by tariffs to stabilize housing markets and create jobs in construction. 
  • Banning American companies from federal procurement contracts if Canadian workers can do the job until Trump removes his tariffs. 
  • Incentivizing value-added processing in Canada – like refining raw materials domestically – to reduce reliance on exports and create local jobs. 

 Canada Victory Bonds 

To respond to tariffs implemented by the United States, Singh also announced that his government would create Canada Victory Bonds — secure tax-free savings bonds to allow Canadians to invest in the Canadian economy. The announcement of Canada Victory Bonds also included a Build Canadian, Buy Canadian plan which outlined: 

  • Use 100% Canadian steel in all federally funded projects. 
  • Ban U.S. companies from federal procurement contracts as long as they are targeting Canadian goods with tariffs. 
  • Prioritize Canadian unionized firms in public project building. 
  • Increase Canadian content requirements for all federally funded projects.