In the Air - HRAI Industry News

Federal Election 2021: Where do Parties Stand on Important Industry Issues?

The federal election campaign has almost run its course and Canadians will be heading to the polls on Monday to exercise their democratic rights.  Many promises have been made during the election campaign and HRAI members might be wondering where the parties stand on key issues that matter to their businesses.  HRAI asked Impact Public Affairs (IPA) to do a summary of the party platforms as they relate to the stated priorities of the HVACR industry.  More specifically, we asked IPA to review the three major party promises and positions in relation to:

• COVID-19 Response
• Infrastructure investment
• Climate action policies, specifically in relation to home and building retrofits
• Industry workforce development and training
• Economic recovery and jobs

HRAI does not endorse any one party over another.  We urge members to vote and we encourage you to take the following information into consideration as you make your decisions.

Liberal Party of Canada Platform Promises

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

• Vaccinations
  • Procure enough vaccines to ensure all Canadians have access to free COVID-19 booster shots and second-generation vaccines as needed.
• Proof of Vaccination
  • Launch a $1 billion COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund to support provinces and territories who implement a requirement for proof of vaccine credentials in their jurisdiction for non-essential businesses and public spaces.
  • Table legislation to ensure that every business and organization that decides to require a proof of vaccination from employees and customers can do so without fear of a legal challenge.

• Paid Sick Leave
  • Introduce amendments to the Canada Labour Code to provide 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workers.
• Indoor Air Quality & Ventilation
  • Provide a $100 million top-up to the Safe Return to Class Fund for ventilation improvement projects across Canada, as well as $10 million for First Nations to improve indoor air quality in on-reserve schools.
  • Provide $100 million to the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative with $70 million of this funding directed to a new pillar focused on increasing air quality and indoor ventilation.
  • Introduce a tax credit for small businesses to make it easier for them to invest in better ventilation.

Infrastructure Investment

• Infrastructure Investments
  • Keep moving forward with plan to boost business investment by allowing privately owned, Canadian-controlled businesses to immediately expense up to $1.5 million of growth-enhancing investments, including in areas like software, patents, and machinery.
• Indigenous Infrastructure
  • Make additional investments in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation housing, as we continue to work towards meeting our 2030 commitment on closing the gaps for Indigenous Infrastructure.

Retrofits, Environment and Climate Change

• Green Jobs
  • Continue to deliver on $80 million investment to train workers for green jobs.
  • Launch a Clean Jobs Training Centre to help industrial, skill and trade workers across sectors to upgrade or gain new skills to be on the leading edge of zero carbon industry.
• Energy Efficiency & Retrofits
  • Create a Pan-Canadian Grid Council to promote infrastructure investments, smart grids, grid integration, and electricity sector innovation.
  • Continue to improve the energy efficiency of homes and reduce energy bills, providing grants of up to $5,000 for home retrofits and interest-free loans of up to $40,000 for deep retrofits.
  • Accelerate the transition from fossil fuel-based heating systems to electrification through incentives and standards, including investing $250 million to help low-income Canadians get off home-heating oil.
• Green Building Strategies & Climate Resilience
  • Launch a National Net-zero Emissions Building Strategy, which will chart a path to net-zero emissions from buildings by 2050 with ambitious milestones along the way.
  • Accelerate the development of the national net-zero emissions model building code for 2025 adoption.
  • Create a Low-Carbon Building Materials Innovation Hub to work directly with entrepreneurs, municipalities, provinces and territories, and Indigenous governments to ensure Canadian innovations are best positioned to succeed.
  • Introduce a new Buy Clean Strategy to support and prioritize the use of made-in-Canada low-carbon products in public and private infrastructure projects.
  • Create a nation-wide flood ready portal so that Canadians have the information they need to make decisions on where and how to build their homes and communities, and how they can protect their homes and communities from flood risk.
  • Create open-access climate toolkits to help infrastructure owners and investors develop projects that ensure Canada is on the path to a net-zero emissions and resilient future.
• “Just Transition”
  • Establish a $2 billion Futures Fund for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador that will be designed in collaboration with local workers, unions, educational institutions, environmental groups, investors, and Indigenous peoples who know their communities best.
    • Will support local and regional economic diversification and specific place-based strategies.

Workforce Development & Training

• Training
  • Double the Union Training and Innovation program to $50 million a year to support more apprenticeship training opportunities and additional partnerships in the Red Seal trades across Canada, and target more participation from women, Indigenous people, newcomers, persons with disabilities, and Black and racialized Canadians.
  • Move forward on plan to establish a new Apprenticeship Service which will connect 55,000 first-year apprentices in Red Seal trades with opportunities at small and medium-sized employers.
  • Launch a Clean Jobs Training Centre to help industrial, skill and trade workers across sectors to upgrade or gain new skills to be on the leading edge of zero carbon industry.
  • Make it easier for women and vulnerable groups to access training by requiring businesses supported through the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program to include wrap-around supports.
    • This could include transportation to and from the training program, computers, food, referrals to counselling, housing, and legal support, support in finding child care, and mentoring or coaching.

Economic recovery & jobs plans

• Job Creation
  • Restore employment to pre-pandemic levels.
  • Boost the participation of diverse Canadians in the skilled trades. (unspecified)
  • Address the specific needs of evolving sectors.
  • Continue to expand the Canada Workers Benefit to support about 1 million additional Canadians in low-wage jobs, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for Canada’s most vulnerable, who will be eligible for up to $1,400 a year.
  • Continue to ensure that secondary earners—mostly women—can exclude up to $14,000 of their working income when income-testing the Canada Workers Benefit, so that families can receive up to $2,400.
  • Reform economic immigration programs to expand pathways to Permanent Residence for temporary foreign workers and former international students through the Express Entry points system.
  • Grow and improve the Global Talent Stream program by simplifying permit renewals, upholding the 2-week processing time, and establishing an employer hotline, to allow Canadian companies to attract and hire highly skilled workers.
  • Continue to work with provinces, territories, and regulatory bodies to improve foreign credential recognition. 
  • Introduce a new Labour Mobility Tax Credit to allow workers in the building and construction trades to deduct up to $4,000 in eligible travel and temporary relocation expenses giving them a tax credit of up to $600 a year.
  • Introduce a Career Extension Tax Credit to help seniors who want to stay in the workforce, stay in the workforce.
    • The tax credit will let people 65 and over, who earn a working income, reduce their taxes.
    • Seniors who earn a minimum of $5,000 at their jobs will be able to eliminate tax payable on a portion of their income and receive a tax credit of up to $1,650
  • Create a new stream of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESS) to support 5000 opportunities a year for young people with disabilities.
• Employment Insurance & Recovery Benefits
  • Reform EI system to address gaps made obvious during COVID-19.
    • Will bring forward a vision for a new and modern EI system that covers all workers, including workers in seasonal employment, and which is simpler and more responsive for both workers and employers.
  • Introduce a new EI benefit for self-employed Canadians, delivered through the tax system, that would provide unemployment assistance comparable to EI and lasting for as much as 26 weeks.
    • This could provide support of nearly $15,500.
    • Self-employed Canadians seeking to access this benefit would only be responsible to contribute the portion they would normally pay if they were a salaried employee.
  • Establish an EI Career Insurance Benefit.
    • This benefit will be available to people who have worked continuously for the same employer for five or more years and are laid off when the business closes.
    • The Career Insurance Benefit will kick in after regular EI ends, providing an additional 20% of insured earnings in the first year following the layoff, and an extra 10% in the second year.
    • This will give workers up to an almost $16,900 over two years.
  • Extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program to March 31, 2022, so businesses can hire more workers and Canadians can get back on the job.

Conservative Party of Canada Platform Promises

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

• Vaccinations
  • Prioritize the signing of contracts for booster shots to ensure that Canadians are protected as quickly as possible against new variants.
  • Support the provinces by rapidly making available to them whatever logistical resources they need to deliver vaccines and booster shots to Canadians as quickly as possible.
• Testing
  • Deploy rapid testing at all border entry points and airports to screen new arrival.
  • Make at-home rapid tests readily available to all Canadians.

Infrastructure Investment

• Infrastructure Investments
  • Scrap the Canada Infrastructure Bank and commit the money sitting unused on its books to infrastructure projects that can strengthen the economy. The CPC would continue already committed projects and return to the model used in the last Conservative government of working in partnership with provinces, municipalities, and First Nations to encourage the use of Public-Private Partnerships.
  • Reprioritize the Investing in Canada Plan towards infrastructure projects that would have the maximum benefit for economic recovery. The CPC proposes including projects that strengthen transit and trade, reduce congestion and gridlock, and advance economic reconciliation with First Nations. The CPC also notes that they will reduce bureaucratic red tape in the application process so money can get out the door faster.
  • Create requirements that equipment and materials for federally funded infrastructure projects be purchased from Canadian companies or those from countries with which Canada has agreed to mutually allow our workers to supply each other’s infrastructure projects.
• Legislative Commitments
  • Pass a Critical Infrastructure Protection Act to prevent protestors from blocking key infrastructure. The CPC would amend s. 431.2 of the Criminal Code to create an offence of interference with an infrastructure facility or a public transportation system punishable by either summary conviction or indictment, depending upon the severity of the offence.
  • The CPC proposes to change the Impact Assessment process created by Bill C-69, basing their changes on the bipartisan recommendations made by the Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources.
• Indigenous Infrastructure
  • Provide more flexibility to municipalities and First Nations.
  • The CPC states that they will respect and uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples by:
    • Creating the Canadian Indigenous Opportunities Corporation that will support First Nations and Inuit organizations seeking to purchase an equity stake in major projects.
  • Based on the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, apply rigorous market analysis to guarantee loans to Indigenous groups so they can invest in natural resource and infrastructure projects.
  • Provide an initial $5 billion of capital for investment in projects across the country.

Retrofits, Environment and Climate Change

• Green Jobs
  • Immediately invest in critical projects that will put Canadians to work, cut commute time, and clean up the environment.
• Energy Efficiency & Retrofits
  • Work with provinces, territories, and applicable utilities to put in place a Residential Building Retrofit Initiative that will:
    • Provide an “efficiency concierge” service for homeowners that acts as a one-stop-shop to access programs and information; and
    • Apply lessons learned from technology pilots and from government, institutional and commercial retrofits, to a residential context.
  • Introduce a tax credit to rapidly accelerate the deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage technology in the energy sector and in important industries that have few alternatives to burning fossil fuels, like fertilizer and chemical production.
  • The CPC will also take further actions to cut emissions by:
    • Creating an accelerated Impact Assessment process for projects that will reduce GHG emissions.
    • Investing a billion dollars in Small Modular Reactors, to get this zero emissions source of electricity and heat to the point that it starts to be deployed across the country, including in the oilsands.
• Green Building Strategies & Climate Resilience
  • In order to kick-start building emissions reductions by 2030 and achieve significant, broad-scale reductions in building emissions by 2050, the CPC will:
    • Provide a regulatory and financial framework that will facilitate Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC). This program would be modelled after the SOFIAC program in Quebec.
      • The CPC would also work with provinces and territories to promote ESPC for government and publicly funded institutional buildings, including a “2030 Bonus” that will provide an additional benefit for those buildings that complete their retrofits prior to 2030.
  • Develop a Net Zero Foundations program to begin putting in place the building blocks required to meet our net zero goals. This will include:
    • Continuing to develop the building codes and standards necessary to support net zero goals for both new builds and retrofits;
    • Developing curriculum for trade schools and institutes that support building design and construction;
    • Improving certification standards; and
    • Developing initiatives to pilot new technologies and solutions that will lower the cost and speed up the pace of retrofits, particularly residential retrofits.
  • The CPC plans to build resiliency and better prepare Canada for the impacts of a changing climate by:
    • Incorporating a mitigation and adaptation lens to the government’s infrastructure investments.
    • Working with provinces and territories to develop a natural infrastructure plan that includes:
      • The development of a national standard to assess the value of natural infrastructure;
      • A requirement that public sector accounting practices be updated to include a proper valuation of existing natural infrastructure;
      • Requirements to incorporate retention of natural infrastructure into community design; and
      • Incentives for farmers and landowners to protect and restore natural infrastructure.

Workforce Development & Training

• Training
  • The CPC pledges to support training by supporting union and similar training programs and encouraging employers to invest in their workers. They also would like to bring women and New Canadians into the skilled trades. The CPC plans to:
    • Double the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit for the next three years to help create more places for apprentices.
    • Invest $250 million over two years to create the Canada Job Training Fund. The Fund will provide grants to organizations including employers, apprenticeship training delivery agents, unions, post-secondary institutions, and community organizations for projects that:
      • Give laid-off workers immediate access to training,
      • Reach out to traditionally underrepresented groups,
      • Support the talent needs of small businesses, and
      • Otherwise help workers get the training they need - focusing on areas where there are shortages of skilled workers.
  • Create the Working Canadian Training Loan to provide low interest loans of up to $10,000 to people who want to upgrade their skills.
  • Work with Indigenous groups, provinces, territories, and trade organizations to identify opportunities to increase access for Indigenous workers and youth to apprenticeship programs.
  • As part of their investment in jobs training, the CPC will invest in trades training programs designed in partnership with the private sector, Indigenous organizations, and provincial/territorial governments to maximize opportunities for employment.

Economic recovery & jobs plans

• Job Creation
  • Canada’s Conservatives will launch the Canada Job Surge Plan - paying up to 50% of the salary of net new hires for six months following the end of CEWS.
    • The government will pay at least 25% of the salary of a net new hire, with the subsidy
    • increasing up to a maximum of 50% based on how long the new hire has been unemployed. The salary maximum will be the same as for CEWS.
  • Launching the Main Street Business Loan to provide loans of up to $200,000
    • The $60,000 Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan is too small for thousands of small and medium businesses.
    • Canada’s Conservatives will immediately offer a loan on similar terms but offering up to 4 months of pre-pandemic revenue up to a maximum of $200,000
      • The CPC will forgive up to 25% depending on a company’s revenue loss.
  • Make the first $25,000 of our Canada Investment Accelerator refundable for small business, providing a 5% investment tax credit for any capital investment made in 2022 and 2023.
  • Will launch the Rebuild Main Street Tax Credit.
    • This will provide a 25% tax credit on amounts of up to $100,000 that Canadians personally invest in a small business over the next two years.
• Employment Insurance & Recovery Benefits
  • Introduce a Construction Mobility Tax Credit to help with expenses construction workers incur when they temporarily relocate for work. The construction mobility tax credit will allow workers to subtract up to $4,000 per year of temporary relocation expenses (moving, temporary lodging) from taxable income.

NDP Party Platform Promises

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

• Vaccinations, Testing & PPE
  • Ensure that Canada maintains an adequate and responsibly managed stockpile of personal protective equipment, with an emphasis on supporting domestic production.
  • New Democrats will establish a crown corporation charged with domestic vaccine production.

• Paid Sick Leave
  • Move immediately to legislate 10 paid sick days in the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated workplaces.

Infrastructure

• General Infrastructure
  • The NDP will develop comprehensive industrial strategies to incubate and expand critical domestic manufacturing capacity and supply chain infrastructure including for auto, aerospace, shipbuilding, construction materials, pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment.
  • The NDP will eliminate the Invest in Canada agency and create iCanada. iCanada will be a one-stop shop inside federal government to help attract investors to Canada.
  • The NDP will make it a requirement for the use of Canadian-made steel and aluminum for infrastructure projects across the country.
  • Create Community Benefit Agreements to guarantee that jobs, training, apprenticeships and support for local businesses are included in every infrastructure project.
  • The NDP will work with provinces to create a new deal for rural infrastructure programs that provide long-term predictable funding for communities.
• Indigenous Infrastructure
  • The NDP will respect Inuit self-determination by co-developing the federal government’s Arctic Policy Framework through shared governance within the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, including through the adoption of an Inuit Nunangat policy in full partnership with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
    • Will support economic and social self-reliance of Inuit by addressing the massive infrastructure deficit in Northern communities, including housing, access to high-speed broadband, and airports.
  • The NDP will make the necessary investments to end all drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities as soon as elected.
  • Support locally-driven economic development and the creation of jobs through targeted public investments in Indigenous communities.
  • The NDP will create a Northern Infrastructure Fund to fast-track investment and focus on improving infrastructure like roads and broadband internet for communities in the north.
  • Partner with Indigenous communities on job creation, employment training and infrastructure projects through targeting public investments.
  • The NDP will ensure Indigenous communities have the resources to make energy efficient changes to their homes.

Retrofits, Environment and Climate Change

• Green Jobs
  • Creation of one million new jobs that will include jobs building green infrastructure in communities across Canada.
    • These infrastructure projects will all require use of Canadian made steel, aluminum, cement and wood products.
• Energy Efficiency & Retrofits
  • The NDP will launch a country-wide retrofitting program
  • Requiring large scale building retrofits in all sectors
  • Retrofit all buildings by 2050, beginning with upgrades to all buildings built before 2020 in the next 20 years.
• Green Building Strategies & Climate Resilience
  • Develop a National Crisis Strategy to assist all levels of government and Indigenous communities with resources to cope with extreme weather events
    • Strategy will assist with community adaptation to climate change, particularly for vulnerable, remote and indigenous communities.
    • Strategy will be supported with long-term funding for adaptation, disaster mitigation, and climate resilient infrastructure.
  • Bring all levels of government together with business and labour leaders to develop a national industrial strategy to build an advanced low carbon manufacturing economy that will provide middle-class jobs to Canadian workers.
  • Establish a new Canadian Climate Bank that will help boost investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low carbon technology across the country.
• Just Transition
  • Work with labour, employers and levels of government to support worker transitions due to the transition to a low-carbon economy.
    • Will provide expanded EI benefits and re-training and job placement services.
    • Will ensure companies retain and redeploy their workers while in transition.
    • Will ensure workers nearing retirement will have retirement security, and will not be face pension penalties if they decide to retire early.
  • Post COVID-19 recovery funding will only be made available to large businesses that agree to plan for net-zero emissions.

Workforce Development & Training

• Training
  • The NDP recognizes the shortage of workers creating barriers for small businesses in rural areas. The party is committing to new investments to help train Canadians and boost support to traditionally underemployed groups.
  • The NDP will help launch a Canadian start-up culture, with a focus on helping Canadian companies in all regions of the country commercialize new technologies and scale-up, train and retain the highly-skilled Canadian workforce needed to support industry growth, and bolster Canadian competitiveness.
  • The NDP will require large employers to spend at least 1% of payroll on training for their employees annually
  • The NDP will work with all levels of government to create a new Workers Development and Opportunities Fund to expand training options beyond people who qualify for EI.
  • The NDP will permanently double non-repayable Canada Student Grants and gradually shift away from loans.
  • Introduce a targeted debt forgiveness program for graduates that will forgive up to $20,000 in student debt. 

Economic Recovery & Jobs Plans

• Job Creation
  • Will strengthen and modernize the Investment Canada Act to protect Canadian jobs by preventing more takeovers of Canadian companies by foreign investors without national security reviews.
• Employment Insurance & Recovery Benefits
  • Adjust EI rules to allow workers who quit their job to go to school to qualify for EI benefits. 

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