With just days to go before election day and millions of Canadians already having voted, both the Liberal and Conservative parties have finally dropped their full platforms. And the two are as different in substance, structure and style as the two campaigns — for better and worse.
Substance-wise, the Liberals offer a slew of big-ticket items: a $5 billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund, billions for Arctic sovereignty, major housing and health infrastructure, and — refreshingly — a serious uptick in defence spending to exceed current NATO commitments. They also promise to drop the deficit in the “operating budget” to $220 million by 2028-2029 (more on that math later).
