Following up on my earlier post, let's take a quick look at the policy proposals that have been unveiled by NDP leadership candidates over the last couple of weeks.
- Niki Ashton's plan for a more inclusive economy includes plenty of noteworthy ideas, including a direct attack on structural discrimination and engaging labour and other partners in economic development along with many of the same proposals emanating from most of the contenders. There's plenty of room to flesh out the details, but Ashton's plan should give her a strong base for discussion as the campaign progresses.
- Rather than heavily promoting his own policy ideas, Robert Chisholm is asking interested voters to submit, discuss and vote on their own policy suggestions alongside his proposals. And no matter where Chisholm ends up in the leadership campaign, that looks to be a fantastic precedent for the party to follow.
- Paul Dewar's proposal to reinstate per-vote electoral funding with a focus on promoting women's participation has been fairly well received among members so far. But I have to wonder whether the latter purpose undermines the best rationale for the former: per-vote funding serves as an alternative (however meager) to proportional representation in making sure that every vote counts equally in a substantive sense, while Dewar's proposal would eliminate that effect.
- As part of a concerted effort to paint himself as the leading choice for environmental voters, Thomas Mulcair launched his climate change proposal (PDF). But it's worth noting that Mulcair's focus also includes some obvious efforts to win over relative skeptics of climate-change action - featuring both a strong economic case for putting a price on carbon through a cap-and-trade system, and a promise that revenues will be reinvested in the regions where they originated.
- Peggy Nash unveiled her broad economic vision (PDF) including both stronger income security programs and a direct link between those and economic goals. And she followed that up with an announcement on her LGBT priorities.
- Finally, Martin Singh released his pharmacare plan (PDF), consisting of not only a national funding mechanism but also a Canada-wide formulary and tendering process.
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