Tracking the cost of promises

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This article was published 06/10/2015 (3685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tracking the cost of PROMISES

IT’S tough to keep up with the daily campaign promises and even tougher to tell what they cost. Here’s a tally of what’s been announced to date, based on a four-year mandate. Several spending pledges are spread out over part or all of a mandate, so those have typically been multiplied by four.

Conservatives

• Estimated: $7.8 billion
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to be frugal with his spending promises, preferring instead to make waves with a tip line for the public to report “barbaric cultural practices” and the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. In recent days, Harper has offered some very modest pledges that have almost no impact on his total. Those include $14 million a year for neurological research done by Brain Canada and an extra $10 million for anti-gang programs.

Liberals

• Estimated: $74.7 billion
• That’s a hefty price tag, but it includes a $60-billion increase to the existing federal infrastructure fund over the next decade. But over the last week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has continued to announce big-ticket items, such as $3 billion for home care and lower prescription drug costs and $3.1 billion announced Monday for post-secondary loans and grants, especially for low-income students.

NDP

• Estimated: $6.56 billion
• The NDP has already announced two marquee promises — a national, universal child-care program and some form of pharmacare. Those cost billions together.

Over the last week, Leader Tom Mulcair’s pledges have included $350 million to retrofit homes and apartments so they’re more energy efficient and the restoration of $115 million in cuts to the CBC.

— staff, The Canadian Press