HAMILTON, ONT.—The 2019 federal NDP’s election platform doesn’t look anything like the party’s 2015 iteration and that’s the way Jagmeet Singh wants it.

‘”I’m a different leader,” Singh proclaimed to reporters when explaining the dramatic difference in election platforms from the party between two consecutive votes.

Singh, at the helm of the party since October 2017, revealed a platform Sunday that promises major new social programs, spending and tax hikes. The platform is night and day from the platform put forward in the 2015 election by then leader Tom Mulcair.

In that election, Mulcair ran his party down the middle and ended up having his lunch eaten by the Liberals, who outflanked him on the left. Mulcair promised to run on balanced budgets and pitched only a few new social programs — the biggest of which was a national $15 a day child care program.

Fast forward four years and the NDP are promising universal pharmacare, dental care, mental health care, hearing and vision care and billions in new spending on climate change and housing. Singh is also taking 2015 tax hike plans further with more aggressive tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and a new wealth tax.

“It’s an affirmation of our values, it’s an affirmation who we are as New Democrats and what Canadians need,” Singh told reporters.

The promises laid out by Singh were met by several standing ovations from party members on hand, and likely comes as a relief after Mulcair’s platform — which many New Democrats saw as a rejection of NDP values. Mulcair went into the campaign leading the polls but ultimately fell to third place behind the Liberals and Conservatives.

He was ousted less than a year after the 2015 election.

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This time is different, Singh said: “It’s a rejection of the policies of Liberals and Conservatives who have said that governments should work for the very top, they should work for the wealthiest, they should work for those who already have all of the advantages in society.”

He released the first phase of his party’s platform in Hamilton, Ont., at the provincial party’s policy convention. Singh told reporters the unusually early reveal of platform was done to ensure Canadians know where the NDP stand “well in advance” of the election.

The 2019 document called “A New Deal for People,” proposes “head to toe” medicare but doesn’t cost out anything, other than the proposal for universal pharmacare. The party says more details and timelines will be released closer to election day.

Playing off the “N.D.P.” acronym for the platform, Singh told a raucous crowd of about 1,500 people that the message to Canadians is “we are the way forward.”

“It’s a new deal, because it is a kind of vision no government in Ottawa has ever proposed to Canadians,” Singh said in his speech to applause and chants.

Key spending promises in NDP platform

$10 billion annually for universal pharmacare.

$1 billion in the first year for more affordable child care.

500,000 new affordable housing units in the next decade, with a $5 billion investment in the first year and a half.

$15 billion climate change plan over four years.

Working with provinces to cap and reduce tuition fees.

Imposing a price cap on cell phone and internet bills.

Key tax changes proposed by the NDP

Raise corporate taxes by three points to 18 per cent.

Two point hike on the top marginal personal income tax bracket, for people earning $210,000 and more, bringing the rate to 35 per cent.

A one per cent wealth tax on people who’s net worth exceeds $20 million. The tax would only apply to the wealth over $20 million.

Increase capital gains taxes from 50 per cent to 75 per cent.

Close tax loopholes like the CEO stock option deduction.

15% foreign buyers tax on purchases of residential properties across Canada.

Citing a Toronto Star investigation into the declining share of corporate taxes in government treasuries, NDP officials at a technical briefing said the party wants to rebalance the contribution individuals make to the public purse compared to corporations.

The Star’s investigation shows that up until 1952, total contributions from corporate taxes and personal income taxes were more evenly split, but since then the share of revenues coming from personal taxes has steadily climbed. Officials at the technical briefing said the federal government’s personal income tax revenues are now four times those from corporations.

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The official said the NDP doesn’t plan to return to the 50-50 split of the mid 1990s but they do want to shift the balance.

Singh rejected the notion that raising corporate taxes — especially when President Donald Trump has cut U.S. taxes — will lead to any drain of companies with headquarters in Canada.

“We’re going to make sure that people contribute their fair share,” he said. “There are so many advantages to being in Canada and we’re confident business will understand that that is an advantage and they’ll stay here in Canada and continue to prosper.”

Singh said his policies would bolster the other elements that make Canada an attractive place to invest, including: a health workforce, highly educated and skilled labour force and a stable banking environment.

According to CBC’s poll aggregator, Singh’s NDP lag the Liberals and Conservatives significantly. The website pegs Singh’s support at 15 per cent compared to 30 per cent support for prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and 36 per cent for Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives.

In response to the NDP’s platform, the Liberals issued a statement questioning the lack of detail on many fronts but stopping short of criticizing any of the policy proposals.

The Conservatives did not reply to a request for comment.

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