Canadian Sovereignty

Jack Layton and the New Democrats will:

Stop the hollowing out of Canadian industries by strengthening the Investment Canada Act. Foreign takeovers of Canadian companies will be subject to more stringent tests respecting job protection and creation, head office location, and the promotion of research and development in Canada.

Cease Canadian participation in the Liberal and Conservative-driven Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). This deal would deepen integration with the U.S. and erode Canadian authority in key areas of public policy.

Transfer the Canadian Coast Guard to the Department of Public Safety and increase resources to improve its operational effectiveness, including initiatives that will better protect and strengthen our sovereignty over Canadian waters.

Arctic Sovereignty and the North

Jack Layton and the New Democrats will protect Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty, and help the people of the North by slowing and reducing the pace of climate change. To affirm our sovereignty, we will:

Assert and defend Canadian Sovereignty over the land and waters of the Canadian Arctic, including the Northwest Passage, where Canadian law will remain in full force and effect.

• Increase diplomatic efforts, particularly in light of recent comments by the United States and Russia, to ensure that other countries respect our sovereignty.
• Accelerate the sea bed survey work which supports Canada’s claim to an extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean so it is complete in time for submission to the United Nations in 2013.

To secure our Arctic Sovereignty, Jack Layton and the New Democrats will:

Ensure that the Arctic is protected and defended through the Coast Guard and civilian enforcement of Canadian Law along with an adequate—but not excessive—military capability.

• Work to ensure the Canadian Coast Guard has the appropriate tools to protect Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic. This means investing in Icebreakers, not slush-breakers.
• Position more RCMP, Fisheries, and Environment protection officers in the North.
• Provide modern equipment to the Rangers, including advanced communications technology and improved transportation equipment.
• Station new search and rescue personnel and aircraft in the North.

To sustain our Arctic Sovereignty, Jack Layton and the New Democrats will:

Provide support to the people of the Arctic so they can build communities which are on par with other Canadians. We will ensure Arctic communities are full partners within Canada. We will negotiate governance structures, and devolution of authority and resources from Ottawa to the territories.

• Complete the negotiations and fully implement Aboriginal Land and Self-Government Agreements, and follow Justice Thomas Berger’s 2006 recommendations concerning the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
• Build Northern infrastructure like small craft harbours, highways, water plants, and airstrips, including appropriate local renewable energy sources, and a deep water port in Iqaluit.
• Support increased scientific research.
• Close the Northern Prosperity Gap by increasing the Northern Resident’s Tax Deduction.
• Create an economic development agency for the North.
• Support Northern post-secondary educational institutions.
• Invest in essential services – such as health care – based on the true cost of delivering these services in the North, rather than the Liberal and Conservative approach of using pan-Canadian benchmarks that short-change northern people and communities.