Dominion Party of Canada

519-851-2041

About Us - canadian values, foreign policy, defence policy

POLICY IDEAS

DOMINION PARTY OF CANADA

FOUNDING POLICY IDEAS

19 JULY 2023

1. Pro- Democracy Measures - Ranked ballots, free votes, a level playing field for all parties and candidates in terms of government financial support. Candidates should be selected by local associations for all parties (if they have riding associations), without the interference of party leaders. In the House of Commons, we will eliminate all party whips, allowing all votes to be free votes, where each MP is free to vote as his/her riding dictates. Voter Recall legislation will be introduced to force poor performing MPs to stand in a byelection to retain their seat or be replaced. We support using binding Referenda at election time to decide significant national issues.
2. Pro-business Measures (and no subsidies to business: We will simply create the ideal conditions for business to thrive) -
a. Bank of Canada: Canadian Dollar & Interest Rates - Canada likely has the most stable banking and financial system in the world. That is due to the rules and regulations around the Bank of Canada and our banking industry. The Bank of Canada’s interest rate decisions will determine how fast or slow our economy operates, and what we each will pay for borrowed money.
b. Federal Taxation - We all pay federal taxes. Whether it is at the gas pump or through our personal or corporate income tax, or the GST, or Estate Tax, Capital Gains Taxes, as well as Import and Customs duties? Through your taxes you are providing revenues to the federal government to help fund all of its operations and programmes. Canada Revenue Agency is the lead here. Should the federal government focus on income tax and provincial governments on sales tax? Or maybe flat taxes should be applied to our personal income? All good questions. Do taxes remove money from the economy which citizens or businesses could better spend to further stimulate the economy? Of course they do. It is a balancing act to collect taxes to fund government public spending programmes and yet not hinder private economic activity.
c. Government Finances – A Balanced Budget Law is needed to ensure the federal budget is balanced at least over the term of the government (4 years). Additionally, a Federal Debt Repayment Schedule is needed, and the federal government must start paying off $1-billion per year…every year, no exceptions. Even at that slow rate it will take over 1,200 years to pay off the federal debt…assuming government does not add to that debt by overspending. But at least it is a start and shows federal financial management is headed in the proper direction.
d. Weights & Measures, Business Competition - Whether you buy gasoline, bulk foods, or wonder if business mergers are creating unfair business practices, the federal government handles it all. Level playing fields are required - with a minimum of Red Tape.
3. Pro-Aboriginal reforms in line with National Reconciliation - A hold-over from our first constitution, the federal government representing the Crown has responsibility to ensure the well-being of our First Peoples. We ought to continue implementing self-government where ever First Nations are willing and financially able to proceed and implement treaties and carry out their terms fully. We should also speed up the implementation of recommendations of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
4. Charter of Canadian Values -
As a Canadian I treat other people the way I expected to be treated.
As a Canadian I want to help others in need.
As a Canadian I am opposed to any country, company, or person, bullying us.
As a Canadian I do care about looking after our planet and environment, especially the local environment where I live. I value nature and other life forms like animals, trees, etc.
As a Canadian I value my health, happiness, and prosperity, and I aim for the same for my family.
As a Canadian I very much value peace, order, and good government.
As a Canadian I value free speech and expect to be able to have my say and to be listened to at crucial moments in time.
As a Canadian I am willing to do my fair share of the national effort because I am a citizen of Canada.
As a Canadian I expect my government to always do its best to do what most of us want done.
As a Canadian I expect that all citizens are equal, that we all are allowed to have equal opportunity, and will all be treated equally regardless of age, gender, race, handicaps, or religion.
As a Canadian I expect that we will all be able to communicate verbally with one another in at least one of our two official languages.
As a Canadian I expect my neighbours to not do things which infringe upon my rights, property, and my enjoyment of life.
As a Canadian I value that we are all allowed to pursue our lives as we see fit - so long as they don’t break the law or interfere with others’ life pursuits.
As a Canadian I value our free market economy as the best and fairest way to provide us all with an opportunity to make a living and be self-sufficient.
As a Canadian I believe all Canadians should be expected to be self-sufficient and that the government should help them to be so, through public education and career counselling. Any short-term aid to individuals should be short-term, unless they suffer from serious mental or physical problems.
As a Canadian I value friendship, both between people and also between countries. I believe Canada should ‘play well’ with other countries and develop as many international friendships as possible. We also must deal with those countries not playing well, either by ignoring them - or through agreed upon action with our international friends and allies to encourage them to behave well.
As a Canadian I believe our country must be able to protect itself, by legal means as well as through the use of force to protect Canada, Canadians, and Canadian interests.
As a Canadian I believe in the state (via the provinces) providing all of us with public health care and helping those who face special health and mental care needs.
As a Canadian I understand that we have three levels of government - federal, provincial, and municipal – with their own areas of legal responsibility.
5. End Multi-culturalism (which is divisive in our society) and focus on the things that unite us, things that ‘ARE’ Canada, like the original 3 founding peoples (British, French, Aboriginals) along with Cultural Melting Pot philosophy, rather than Cultural Mosaic concept which merely divides us and weakens our society.
6. Citizenship, Passports & Immigration - Who is a citizen, who is a permanent resident, who is on some form of visa or another? Selection of immigrants, foreign workers & students, and the handling of refugees... Issuance of passports and permanent resident cards and visas. Immigration has always been one of the important driving forces behind the idea of ‘Canada’. We need to continue that, setting the number of immigrants allowed to enter the Dominion of Canada annually at 1% of our population. They need to have been better selected to benefit our existing society and economy. This means insisting on language fluency in English or French before any further immigration application work is done for a prospective applicant. Fluency will mean they can become involved in work, their community, and with their new neighbours right away after arrival. An Immigrant Settlement Programme is needed to better share the economic benefits of immigration around the entire country, thus strengthening acceptance of Immigration as a Nation-Building tool.
7. Convene a ‘Who Does What Commission?’ to ensure federal, provincial, and municipal responsibilities do not overlap – this will increase accountability & voter awareness, and reduce financial waste. Each level should fully fund its own responsibilities - by itself. No more 3-levels of government needed for important projects. This means greater transparency and better accountability to taxpayers and voters.
8. Switch government departments into Crown Corporations run by boards of directors (including hired subject matter experts) under a minister autonomous from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Make all ministers accountable to Parliament (NOT THE PMO) for the success or failure of their department. All ministers will be chosen (and if needed, replaced) by all MPs rather than the Prime Minister.
9. International Trade - Shift away from new multilateral trade deals in favour of bilateral ones with countries who have things we need. This is a move away from the globalization, as globalization destabilizes national sovereignty, resilience, and independence. Our Trade with other countries - under fair circumstances - is good for us. Rather than Canada being part of large multi-national trade agreements where we each give up something to supposedly get something more, we believe Canada should we pursue bilateral trade agreements with only those nations we need something from who need something from us. Three groups of countries we have always had relationships with and could turn into a successful bilateral trade deals are those through the British Commonwealth of Nations, NATO, and La Francophonie.
10. National Defence -The Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force: Probably too small and under-equipped to do what Canadians expect of them. More funding is needed to correct this situation, as well as more manpower, and more equipment. Continuing the hugely beneficial and cost-effective defensive alliances we have with our NATO and North American partners is imperative. But Canada needs to meet its 2% defence spending obligation (as a minimum) that it has agreed to with NATO. We need to have modern and responsive regular and reserve forces to operate across this vast land and its coastal waters, as well as taking part in expeditionary forces overseas if needed.
If the problem of sexual harassment in the Canadian military does not end, in order to finally resolve the sexual harassment problems within the CF, combat forces will be arranged into single-gender units (Males or Females).
To resolve the recruiting problems and to instill patriotism in young Canadians, launch a revised Katimavik Programme based on national military service for youth for 1-2 years after high school graduation- like most of western Europe. This will allow those enrolled to understand national security, why we need defence forces, learn some job and life skills, and learn about other Canadians and Canada! There would be a non-military option for Conscientious Objectors: A national service for forestry and agricultural labour through Katimavik. This could become part of a new National Emergency Response Command to deal with forest fires, wildfires, floods and other weather related damage from our warming climate.
A further remedy for today’s recruiting problems would be to restore Army Cadet training in high schools across Canada, as a credit course. It could be offered each year during grades 9 through 12, and possibly managed by the Royal Canadian Legion.
11. Veterans Affairs - While we have no more First World War veterans remaining, there are plenty from the Second World War, as well as Korea, Afghanistan, as well as those who served in the Canadian military & RCMP who are entitled to ongoing benefits and prompt customer service. It is the least we can do for them and their families.
12. Foreign Policy - Pro-NATO and Pro-NORAD, pro-reformed UN, pro-Commonwealth with a retained involvement also in La Francophonie and the Organization of American States. International Affairs' role is to operate Canada's embassies overseas and representing the government, business, and individual Canadians outside of our country, and to manage the Immigration and Refugee systems on the ground around the world. Canada gathers information about many countries and peoples through our embassy staff. That helps us make proper decisions in a timely way. Using these government workers to select immigrants, trade partners, and to look out for Canadian interests overseas is vital.
13. Senate Reform –Produce a Triple-E Senate, as follows: All 10 current provinces be given same number of seats as PEI = 4; all territories be given 2. Reassign some of the original unfilled provincial seats to become Aboriginal Senators = 24. Total new senate = 72 senators, ALL being Independents Senators with no groups allowed to form, and one-third of all senate seats would be Aboriginal senators. All provincial and territorial senate seats would be filled by the Governor-General (GG) appointing people who win in elections held to nominate senators during regularly-scheduled provincial & territorial elections. Aboriginal seats would be elected and appointed by the GG in a similar way.
14. Federal Laws, Border Security, CSIS & RCMP - Federal laws exist and need to be enforced. Various agencies including the RCMP, Ports Canada Police, CSIS (our spies), the Communications Security Establishment, and the Canadian Border Services Agency all help to keep us safe. How much security do we need? There is a lot of bad stuff happening which average Canadians do not see in their daily lives, so we need to beef up our security agencies to meet these modern-day challenges and help protect us all.
15. International Aid - Canada is a major player in development aid in Third World countries. Should we give more? Should we give less? Should we focus it on a few promising nations by giving them more in order to ensure at least some measure of success? Should we focus exclusively on emergency aid and not long-term aid? These are all things to be decided by Canadians in a referendum.
16. Canadian Honours & Awards - Annually medals and awards are handed out to those who merit them by the Governor-General, on behalf of His Majesty The King. It would be nice to see a wider membership in these award programmes than just those in the ‘Canadian Establishment’, and our big name celebrities, performers, politicians, and athletes. These should be used to encourage Canadians at all levels of society to continue doing great things and to excel. Perhaps a new honour would fulfill that need: We propose 'The Order of the Beaver', an animal known for hard work and which was Canada's first symbol.
17. Amateur Sports - Canada on the world stage: The Commonwealth Games, the Olympics, the Francophonie games, World Championships, and more. We all like to see Canadians do well. Canada doing well boosts our national pride, so the more success the better we all feel about our lives. Team Canada members – athletes and trainers plus support staff – need to be paid livable salaries and benefits.
18. Tourism - The 'Great White North' is huge - the second largest country on Earth. There is plenty to see and do here. The federal government is responsible for attracting tourists, a big benefit to the economy in many places in Canada. The federal government needs to advertise in many countries to attract tourists to visit our great northern land. Perhaps these new tourism initiatives might see package tours across Canada to introduce tourists to Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the West, BC and the North, rather than just promoting a week or two at Niagara Falls and the CN Tower, or in Ottawa and its fine museums?
19. Canadian Space Agency - Up, up and away! Canadian astronauts and technology are as good as anyone else's. There are definite benefits to a presence in space. Canada likely needs to continue expanding our space efforts both in concert with our space partners as well as in solo efforts to go where no one has gone before. Canadian missions to explore Mars or other planets, moons, or asteroids would make us proud and bring future benefits to our economy.
20. National Parks - Protecting our crown jewels of natural scenery and heritage for the enjoyment of everyone is important. Creating more amazing nature reserves and historic sites is part of what drives our identity - as well as our tourist economy.
21. Official Languages - Making sure the linguistic future of Canada is balanced, calm, and happy…in English and en Francais! As part of our Immigrant selection process we ought to first and foremost, select only those who want to come here who are already fluent in English or French, and ensure the support for English/French minority language rights across the country.
22. Territorial & Northern Affairs - The federal government still oversees the operation of the three territories in Canada's North: Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. When they are ready for provincial status, they should be granted it. Meanwhile, why not add a fourth territory? Turks & Caicos Islands have asked to join Canada twice. While we are down in the Caribbean we ought to consider offering to take on British colonies such as the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, etc. Acquiring Greenland is another option worthy of discussion.
23. Federal Prisons (Corrections Canada) - Two years or more prison time coming to you? Then get set for a stay at one of His Majesty's federal penitentiaries. In more recent years dubbed Correctional Facilities, these prisons need to be places inmates never want to return to again. Prisoners need to be sent here, do all their sentence, and then be reintroduced back into society in a way that will set them on the right track. Bail for repeat offenders should not be granted.
24. National Research Council (NRC) - From nuclear energy to all sorts of futuristic things, the NRC serves the country well. More research into things such as space exploration, fusion power, and large-scale electrical storage batteries, semi-conductors, lasers, as well as benign Artificial Intelligence products that will not displace humans from their jobs, likely are worth pursuing, along with computer and robotic technology.
25. Fisheries & Oceans, Marine Services, the Coast Guard - Canada has the world's longest national coast line, so what happens in the water should matter to Canadians. We need to conduct research, chart the seas up North, and maintain marine and offshore resources, all the while enforcing our jurisdiction within our Exclusive Economic Zone. With the opening up of marine traffic in the Arctic as our climate warms, Canada must be able to deliver the expected level of vessel management services, navigational services, environmental protection, search & rescue, the enforcement of federal laws at sea, and sovereignty enforcement that we do in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
26. The Environment & National Weather Science - The #1 topic of conversation in Canada is almost always the weather. And why not? It affects travel, farming, trade, the fisheries, transportation, and many other areas of Canadian life. Accurate and reliable weather forecasting is a must. The federal government is the lead on Environmental issues. Is the global climate warming? Weather data shows it is and has been for many years. Is it man-made or due to natural cycles of our sun? Canada generates only 1.8% of the world's Carbon pollution. Even if our 1.8% were reduced to 0%, the world would barely notice. Furthermore, Canada's boreal forests can capture 4 times the 500-million tons of carbon Canada produces annually. On top of that, our wetlands and farmlands can also capture much more. Likely our best course is for Canadian provinces and territories to continue with their pollution regulations, their waste management regulations, and continue upgrading their building codes to require solar-power shingles on all new buildings, sufficient to generate that new building’s energy. Installing infrastructure for EV and Hydrogen vehicle charging stations could be a useful federal government environmental initiative. If we are to retain a carbon tax because the majority want it (let's decide that in a referendum, by the way), then it makes no sense to give the carbon tax (in fact, more than Canadians spend) back to us. Tax it and don’t give it back, if you want to change consumer behaviour.
27. Radio Telecommunications: Radio, TV, Internet, the CBC - The Canadian Content (CanCon) rules crafted and enforced by the CTRC have helped create a vibrant radio, television, music, and film industry here in Canada. They are threatened - as is the traditional media - by the no-rules internet companies based overseas and making money here without paying taxes here or following CanCon rules. Is that fair? Clearly it is not. They should play on the same playing field as Canadian companies.
28. National Transportation: Sea Ports, Air Ports, Railways, Pipelines – The federal government controls international points of entry: Airports and sea ports, rail lines, pipelines, etc. They are tied to the movement of people and goods, to immigration controls, and to our trade/customs needs & responsibilities. Energy corridors east to west, north to south, will help Nation Building.
29. Canada Pension Plan & Old Age Security - We all plan on Freedom 55 - but many achieve it at age 65 or 75. Then it is a life as a pensioner. How will yours be? We are all living longer and healthier lives. Having enough money to live on, in a comfortable lifestyle, is important to us all. Where will we live? Who will take care of us? A Department of Seniors Affairs will focus on retirement income and other issues for seniors such as CPP and OAS, but not interfere with provincial or new First Nations responsibilities in this area.

About Us - canadian values, foreign policy, defence policy

POLICY IDEAS

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