Leader: Paul
McKeever
Web
Site: www.freedomparty.ca
Platform: 2008
Election Platform (Freedom
Party of Canada is preparing to run its first
slate of candidates in 2008)
Candidates: None
for 2004.
The
Party: Freedom
Party of Canada ("FpC") is the recently
founded federal counter-part to the Freedom
Party of Ontario. The FpC is preparing
its organization to run its first slate of
candidates not in the 2004 election, but in
the next one, expected to be called in 2008.
FpC is getting an early start promoting its
vision for Canada: it released its 2008 election
platform on May 22, 2004, one day prior
to the dropping of the writ for the 2004 election.
Arguably
Canada's only capitalist party, Freedom Party
proposes to reverse the trend of government involvement
in economic matters. It would end corporate welfare
in its various forms: specifically, it would
eliminate subsidies to private businesses and
their customers, it would eliminate monopolies
on such things as satellite services and airline
flight routes, and it would give consumers more
choice and encourage competition by opening banking
up to competition from foreign competitors. It
would encourage freer international trade, but
without compromising Canada's sovereignty: "Global
Trade, Not Global Government" is how they
put it. It would restore funding sources to the
arts and sports communities by lifting bans on
the marketing of legal products (such as cigarettes
and alcohol). It would also take definite steps
to end inflation. The party would also end the
taxation of capital and capital gains, and would
eliminate surtaxes. It would replace the current "progressive" rates
of income taxation with a single rate for all
Canadians. Government would be prohibited from
borrowing, except to finance the military during
a war in the defence of Canada. A Freedom Party
government would eliminate mandatory participation
in the CPP, return excess EI premiums to those
who paid them, and eliminate foreign content
restrictions on RRSPs.
Socially,
Freedom Party would end government spending on
culture, and leave cultural evolution to Canadians.
It would eliminate the CRTC's power to censor radio
and TV content, eliminate Canadian content requirements,
and allow Canadians to buy channels, such as Al-Jazeera,
that offend some tastes. It would end marijuana
prohibition, release from prison/custody all who
have been charged or convicted of a marijuana offence,
and clear marijuana offences from every Canadian's
record. It would recognize all unions of heterosexual
and homosexual couples, but would call no union
a "marriage", instead using the more
inclusive term "civil union", and leaving
the definition of the word "marriage" to
Canadians themselves.
In
terms of government, Freedom Party would adhere
to the division of law-making powers set out in
Canada's constitution: the federal government would
cease to dictate provincial policy in matters falling
into exclusively provincial jurisdiction, such
as health care, education, and property. Freedom
Party would limit federal spending to only those
things over which the federal Parliament has the
authority to make laws. Freedom Party would require
all international agreements to be ratified by
Parliament, and would prohibit the delegation of
law-making, law-enforcement, or judicial functions
to international bodies: Freedom Party wants Canada
to remain in full control of its destiny. Freedom
Party would prohibit "reading-in" and "reading-down/out" by
the judiciary to eliminate the anti-democratic
effects of "judicial activism". Freedom
Party would also replace the appointment of trial
judges with public elections of trial judges, and
allow judges to sit only for a single, 10 year
term.
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