The 2008 Canadian Federal Election is on Tuesday October 14. The Z103.5 Morning Show encourages you to exercise your right to vote. This is a short summary of the major political parties and their platforms taken from their respective websites.

Conservative Party of Canada Leader: Stephen Harper

Party Platform Highlights:

Manage the economy so Canada does not go into an economic crisis. No new taxes. Secure Canadian sovereignty over the arctic. Give self-employed Canadians E.I. benefits. Lower taxes for small businesses. Increase funding for anti-gang and anti-organized-crime police task forces. Replace the young offender law and allow for criminals 14 and older to be identified by the media after conviction. End house arrest for serious crimes. Pull Canadian troops from Afghanistan by 2011. Offer a $500 tax credit to families who enroll children is art or music programs. Establish new funds for the automotive and aerospace industry to develop new technology. Add $2,000 to the apprenticeship grant for those who complete training. Cut the federal excise tax on diesel fuel and aviation fuel by 50% Modernize Canada’s competition laws to better protect consumers. Restrict cell phone providers from charging for unsolicited text messages. Restrict Internet spammers from collecting personal information to commit crimes. Create a law to ensure labels on food and products are truthful. Allow income splitting for caregivers taking care of sick family members. Give 1st time home buyers a $5,000 tax credit to cover closing costs. Index the universal child-care tax credit to inflation.

Liberal Party Leader: Stephane Dion

Party Platform Highlights:

Implement the Green Shift environmental plan. Charge $10 per ton of greenhouse gas emitted (rising to over 4 years). Lower income taxes to offset carbon tax. Reduce the general corporate tax rate by 1% Cut the small business corporate tax rate by 1% Invest $8 billion over 10 years on a national transit strategy. Invest $3 billion over 10 years on sports and recreation facilities. Transfer $25 billion to municipalities over 10 years through a gas tax transfer. Offer broadband Internet service to rural areas. Create a child tax benefit worth $350 per child. Create a $1,850 tax credit for those who make less than $50,000 per year. Create a $250 million green farms fund. Replace the existing education and tuition tax credits with an education grant that is payable every 3 months. When combined with the GST returns this will be $1000 for a full-time student. Create a doctors and nurses fund to hire more health care workers. Make all students eligible for a $5,000 student loan, regardless of parental income. Increase the Canadian film and video production tax credit to 30% Double funding to the Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million per year. Introduce interest free green mortgages of $10,000 for Canadians to make their homes more environmentally friendly. Invest $400 million to modernize and streamline the immigration system. Commit to processing E.I. claims faster and deliver cheques within 3 weeks. Provide 30,000 new social housing units. Reduce the number of Canadians living below the poverty line by 30%

New Democratic Party Leader: Jack Layton

Party Platform Highlights:

Create a green-collar jobs fund of $750 million to train new and displaced workers. Appoint a jobs protection commissioner to investigate major layoffs and shutdowns. Introduce mandatory vehicle emissions standards across Canada. Require vehicles to display fuel consumption labels. Reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. (25% below 1990 levels by 2020). Invest 1% of the GST into cities for local infrastructure projects. Create a national minimum wage at $10 per hour. Create a new national holiday in February. Reverse corporate tax cuts to the pre-Liberal and Pre-Conservative government rate of 22.12% Maintain a balanced budget every year of their mandate. Ban ATM fees and cap credit card interest rates at 5% points over prime. Reform food labeling to inform Canadians of where their food has been before coming to Canada. Create new laws to target identity theft and cyber-crime. Provide a $1000 grant to all under-graduate students who qualify for student loans, payable at the beginning of each school year. Reform the student loan act so that students are not required to repay loans until they have finished their education. Ensure that 100% of all E.I. premiums go to the E.I. fund and skills training, and are not diverted to other programs. Create 220,000 new childcare spaces over 4 years. 150,000 spaces in year 1. Create a new child benefit that expands to $5,000 per year per child in phases. Increase by 50% the numbers of doctors and nurses trained in Canada.

Green Party Leader: Elizabeth May

Party Platform Highlights:

Introduce a $50 per tonne carbon tax. Eliminate income tax for those who make less than $20,000 per year. Allow income splitting and low-income support. Create a guaranteed annual income program. Forgive half of the student loan for students who complete degree or certificate programs. Legalize marijuana and tax the sale of it. Renegotiate the NAFTA agreement. Expand the rights of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transsexual Canadians. Cut corporate taxes by $50 per tonne of carbon reduced. Return the GST to 6% but expand the number of exemptions to include more food items, books, and children’s clothing. Introduce a cap & trade system for polluters with hard caps for the worst polluters. Guarantee pay equity for woman. Commit 0.7% of Canada’s G.D.P. to overseas development assistance. Restore Canada’s peacekeeping role and establish a U.N. force to respond to conflicts and climate disasters. Declare Canada a nuclear weapons free zone. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020. 80% by 2050. Introduce a national program to retrofit buildings to be greener. Reduce cigarette smoking through education and higher taxes. Promote physical activity and healthy eating, while reducing exposure to contaminants.