NDP pledges mental-health coverage, non-Tesla EV rebates in costed platform

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This article was published 19/04/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The federal NDP are pledging tax reforms, mental-health coverage and more homebuilders in their costed electoral platform, as well as a promised wealth tax on the “super rich” which it says could raise upwards of $22 billion each year.

The platform calls for a net increase of $48 billion to the federal deficit over four years, a tally that already builds in large offsets from that anticipated tax revenue from the rich.

“No nurse, no teacher, no tradesperson should pay more than a billionaire flipping stocks,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said at an event in Burnaby, B.C.

He says Canada must defend values like health care instead of following U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead of chipping away at public services.

“We won’t let Trump’s trade war become your burden to carry,” he said.

The party is pledging a rebate for zero-emissions vehicles which doubles for Canadian-made cars and exempts any vehicles made by Tesla, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

The rebate enacted under the Liberals ran out of funding earlier this year.

New Democrats are also pledging to boost employment insurance payments, funded by tariffs on American goods, as the primary way to help Canadians weather the impact of U.S. tariffs.

The party says it would spend $7 billion over four years on mental-health coverage, and would also help train 100,000 tradespeople to help build more homes.

The NDP platform would require other levels of government to put in place rent controls and prohibit measures such as renoviction if they want to access federal housing funding. It has a plan to make real-estate investment trusts less profitable, in the hopes of keeping more attainable housing on the market.

The platform would generate revenue by reinstating the capital-gains tax increase Prime Minister Mark Carney scrapped shortly after taking office, as well as cracking down on tax havens.

The party’s wealth tax on people with more than $10 million in holdings would generate $22.7 billion this fiscal year, scaling up to $25 billion three years later, the party projects. The NDP would tax 1 per cent of holdings between $10 and $50 million, double that percentage for up to $100 million, and 3 per cent for households with a net worth over $100 million.

Those estimates were validated by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in one of a dozen analyses of NDP pledges released Saturday, with the PBO estimating revenue based on 35 per cent of those facing the tax hiding their income. 

The platform reiterates other pledges the NDP has made during this electoral campaign, such as issuing victory bonds, removing the GST from essential goods, boosting funding for the CBC and providing each Canadian with a family doctor.

That last pledge would involve just $1 billion in federal spending this coming year, scaling up to $4 billion three years later; the party says this would amount to incentives for provinces who would be the ones paying salaries.

The document lists the costs for NDP promises but is not a comprehensive costing of all federal expenses in each budget, meaning that existing programs like childcare were not listed as proposed expenses. The platform estimates deficits and costs based on various economic scenarios. 

Singh unveiled the platform in Burnaby, B.C. where his own riding of Burnaby Central is located. Polling aggregator 338Canada.com currently suggests Singh is struggling to win his seat against the surging Liberals.

Singh will head to a rally later today in Victoria. another incumbent seat for the NDP which polls suggest may go Liberal this time. 

Half of the 25 seats the NDP won in 2021 are in B.C.

Like all the main parties, the NDP are only releasing their platform after both leaders’ debates and while advance polls have already opened.

At a press conference Saturday, Singh also revealed he hopes to expand trade not just with peers in Europe and the Indo-Pacific but also South and Central America.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2025.