Affordability & Housing
Food prices
NDP's promises
"We will introduce emergency price caps on basic food items—like pasta, frozen vegetables, and infant formula—to keep costs of food down. These items have seen some of the steepest increases since 2020: cooking oil is up 75 per cent, pasta is up 43 per cent, and infant formula—an essential for so many parents—is up 30 per cent and still climbing.
Price regulations are already in place for a number of sectors of Canada’s economy, like electricity, natural gas and certain medicines. And they have been used in other jurisdictions to tackle food price inflation. We would attempt to negotiate this cap but if big grocery chains refuse, we would act by passing the appropriate legislation.
To enforce this cap, we will put in place a mandatory Grocery Code of Conduct."
— ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will also strengthen the Competition Bureau to act as a grocery price watchdog with the power to impose serious penalties on those who don’t comply. These powers will extend to price gouging, price surging, price fixing and shrinkflation." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"Our mandatory Grocery Code of Conduct would help level the playing field in the grocery industry." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We would establish a National Food Cooperative Strategy aimed at boosting independent small- and medium-sized grocery stores." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"And we would fix Nutrition North, to make sure the subsidy goes straight to people, and not to corporations." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Home construction and supply
NDP's promises
"We will replace the expiring Housing Accelerator Fund with a permanent $16 billion national housing strategy made up of the new Canadian Homes Transfer and the Communities First Fund." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"The Canadian Homes Transfer will reward cities that build quickly, allow more townhomes and apartments, and prioritize homes near transit." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"The Communities First Fund will support provinces in building the infrastructure needed for growth – like water, transit, and public services." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Home heating
NDP's promises
"With the cost of living soaring and energy bills eating into household budgets, we will make it more affordable for Canadians to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. A major home retrofit program will deliver free energy-saving upgrades to 2.3 million low-income households, and offer grants and low-interest loans to 1 million more. This could include the installation of heat pumps, insulation and other energy efficiency upgrades. It is estimated that in some areas, such upgrades could save a household as much as $4,500 a year." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"This measure will be entirely financed by eliminating public subsidies for oil and gas companies, saving $18 billion over ten years." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Home ownership
NDP's promise
"We will also help more people buy their first homes, by unlocking the financial power of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to offer low-interest public-backed mortgages." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Homelessness
NDP's promise
"We will also establish a Housing Insecurity Prevention Benefit to help 50,000 people in critical need find homes. This program will be piloted and delivered through existing Reaching Home community entities, ensuring a community-based approach to helping Canadians experiencing chronic homelessness." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Poverty
NDP's promises
"We will double the Canada Disability Benefit, providing individuals up to an additional $2400 a year." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"And we will take a tangible step towards a guaranteed livable income by raising the Guaranteed Income Supplement to lift all seniors out of poverty." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Public and affordable housing
NDP's promises
"The Canadian Homes Transfer will reward cities that build quickly, allow more townhomes and apartments, and prioritize homes near transit. This will help us reach a target of 20 percent non-market housing in every neighbourhood." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Renting and rental housing
NDP's promises
"We will fight soaring rents by requiring strong tenant protection measures from other levels of government as a condition for accessing federal housing funding. These measures include rent control, as well as prohibitions on practices such as renovictions, demovictions and other predatory landlord practices aimed at pushing people out of their homes and driving up rents." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will ban predatory financial landlords from buying any existing purpose-built rental apartments and any of Canada’s existing 650,000 social housing units. Legitimate private landlords and property managers would not be impacted. This measure is aimed at preventing corporate entities like REITs, Hedge Funds, and private equity funds from purchasing affordable housing. These entities do not function like landlords, instead their function is to either liquidate and redevelop the real estate, maximize revenues through poor maintenance leading to renoviction and increasing rents, and generally financialize these properties as assets." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will also cut off handouts – including low-interest federal loans, preferential tax treatment and mortgage loan insurance – for big corporate landlords who gouge their tenants." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"And we will boost the Rental Protection Fund by providing an additional $2 billion to help non-profits such as tenant associations and housing co-ops purchase thousands of affordable apartments, to keep them affordable when they come onto the market." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Tax measures and rebates
NDP's promises
"Last fall, the Liberal government put in place a temporary GST holiday on certain goods, in recognition of the cost of living crisis facing families. The Liberals rejected our proposal that the measure be extended, while the Conservatives opposed it altogether.
But families are still facing rising prices – and Donald Trump’s trade war is driving prices even higher. That’s why we would permanently remove the GST from the essentials that every family needs. This includes grocery store meals, diapers and strollers, and monthly cell, internet and home heating bills. We estimate this measure will save a family of four $448 per year." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will raise the basic personal amount to $19,500 to allow workers to earn more before starting to pay taxes. This would put $505 back in the pockets of those earning between $19,500 and $177,882. We will also lower the high-income BPA to best target these changes to lower-income earners." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Trades
NDP's promise
"To deliver on this [housing] plan, we will train over 100,000 skilled workers, including newcomers and those affected by Donald Trump’s reckless trade war." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Climate Change & the Environment
Clean energy
NDP's promise
"We would start work on an East-West clean energy grid—a major country-building infrastructure project that could deliver affordable, clean and secure energy to people and businesses across the country." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Electricity
NDP's promise
"We would start work on an East-West clean energy grid—a major country-building infrastructure project that could deliver affordable, clean and secure energy to people and businesses across the country." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Public transit
NDP's promise
"The Communities First Fund will support provinces in building the infrastructure needed for growth – like water, transit, and public services." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Culture, Arts, & Media
CBC/Radio-Canada
NDP's promise
News and journalism
NDP's promise
"We would expand supports for the CBC and for local journalism, so critical during this time of misinformation, disinformation and US threats." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Health & Healthcare
Addiction and the poisoned drug supply
NDP's promise
Health funding
NDP's promises
"To help tackle the doctor shortage, we’ll boost Canada Health Transfers by an additional 1% for provinces that commit to action and publicly report on their progress. This incentive will support real partnerships to train, recruit, and retain the health workers Canadians need." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"Implementing a pan-Canadian licensure, to help medical professionals practice where they are needed across the country" — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"Working with territorial governments to provide housing and facilities for family doctors and primary care teams to keep healthcare providers in the North" — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"And we will put in place a $5,000 tax credit to help boost pay for more than 780,000 nurses and Personal Support Workers." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Health privatisation
NDP's promises
Mental health
NDP's promises
"As a tangible step to expanding mental health coverage, we will ensure that all Canadians can access services like psychotherapy and counselling by launching a new plan to cover these services for those who are currently not covered by work plans." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Pharmacare
NDP's promise
"We will get the job done, putting in place a universal program within four years. Mark Carney’s proposed cuts would stop pharmacare in its tracks. During the first year of the next Parliament, we will get deals with every province to cover diabetes medications and birth control. And we will expand that first step by covering essential medicines by the end of the first year, building to full coverage by the end of four years." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Jobs, Businesses, & Labour
Employment Insurance
NDP's promises
"[...] and increasing the benefit level and insurable earnings cap to provide a minimum weekly benefit of $450." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Inter-provincial business and trade
NDP's promise
"And we would work with provinces to eliminate inter-provincial trade barriers, including harmonizing environmental and health and safety standards to the highest level." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Manufacturing
NDP's promise
Trades
NDP's promise
"To deliver on this [housing] plan, we will train over 100,000 skilled workers, including newcomers and those affected by Donald Trump’s reckless trade war." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Trump's tariffs
NDP's promises
"We would ensure that every dollar collected from Canada’s counter tariffs go directly to support workers and communities hit hardest – with no loopholes and no delays." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Minority Rights, Fair Government, & Democracy
Tax fairness
NDP's promises
"We will maintain the capital gains inclusion rate changes which the Liberal government flip flopped on, and was opposed all along by the Conservatives. As the Minister of Finance said at the time, “only 0.13 per cent of Canadians—with an average annual income of $1.4 million—will be affected by this change in any given year. But millions more, especially younger Canadians, will benefit from it.”" — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"Income from flipping stocks should not be taxed at a lower rate than the wages earned by a nurse, a carpenter, a pipefitter, or a teacher. We will rebalance the tax system to ensure it values work as much as wealth." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"For those at the very top, super-rich multi-millionaires with over $10 million in wealth holdings, we will put in place a graduated wealth tax of 1% for wealth between $10 million and $50 million, 2% from $50 million to $100 million, and 3% for households with net worth over $100 million." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will put in place a 2% surtax on the most profitable corporations – those earning over $500 million in profits." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"We will take additional measures to tackle corporate tax avoidance, including instituting a 15% minimum tax on corporate book profits, ending tax agreements with known tax havens, requiring corporations to prove a genuine business reason for offshore accounts, and providing additional resources to the Canada Revenue Agency to step up enforcement." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Post-Secondary Education & Jobs Training
Trades
NDP's promise
"To deliver on this [housing] plan, we will train over 100,000 skilled workers, including newcomers and those affected by Donald Trump’s reckless trade war." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Public Safety, Policing, & the Justice System
Border security
NDP's promises
"We would hire thousands of new border officers and give them the right to stop border crossers in between regular ports of entry – to strengthen the border and stop guns before they get into Canada." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Seniors, Disabilities, & Retirement
Canada Disability Benefit
NDP's promise
"We will double the Canada Disability Benefit, providing individuals up to an additional $2400 a year." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Retirement savings and income
NDP's promise
"And we will take a tangible step towards a guaranteed livable income by raising the Guaranteed Income Supplement to lift all seniors out of poverty." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Sovereignty, Foreign Relations, & the United States
Defence procurement
NDP's promise
"We will cancel Canada’s F-35 contract to ensure our needs are met by a proposal that supports Canadian assembly jobs as well as using our knowledge and capacity to maintain them." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Defending Canada's north
NDP's promise
"That will also include new investments in arctic sovereignty and in facilities which benefit Northerns (sic) and their communities." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Foreign policy
NDP's promises
International aid
NDP's promise
Israel and Palestine
NDP's promises
"We would join the increasing number of countries that recognize the State of Palestine. This is a concrete step towards peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis, consistent with Canada’s traditional support for a two-state solution." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
"And we will immediately impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and close loopholes that allow military and goods and technology to be exported to countries that abuse human rights." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
National defence
NDP's promises
"We will meet Canada’s commitment of increasing defence spending to two per cent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product by no later than 2032, with an emphasis on making investments that support Canadians, communities, those who are serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Veterans." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Trump's tariffs
NDP's promises
"We would ensure that every dollar collected from Canada’s counter tariffs go directly to support workers and communities hit hardest – with no loopholes and no delays." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Ukraine
NDP's promise
"And we would continue to support Ukraine and Ukrainians in their fight against Putin’s horrific invasion and genocide. This includes putting in place stronger sanctions to hold Putin’s oligarch friends accountable for their complicity in this war." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Transit, Transportation, & Infrastructure
Electricity
NDP's promise
"We would start work on an East-West clean energy grid—a major country-building infrastructure project that could deliver affordable, clean and secure energy to people and businesses across the country." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Infrastructure investment
NDP's promises
"And we would offer Canada Victory Bonds as an opportunity for everyday Canadians to invest in the rebuilding of our economy." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Municipal infrastructure
NDP's promise
"The Communities First Fund will support provinces in building the infrastructure needed for growth – like water, transit, and public services." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Public transit
NDP's promise
"The Communities First Fund will support provinces in building the infrastructure needed for growth – like water, transit, and public services." — ndp.ca, retrieved 2025-04-19
Biography
Serena Purdy is a multigenerational community organizer in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. A healthcare-focused academic at the University of Toronto, she is working on strengthening health systems and helping people who fall through the cracks in our social safety net.
Bridging her training and community work, Serena helped thousands of underserved people in University-Rosedale access vaccines through no-barrier clinics.
She has already had an impact on housing. As the former chair of Friends of Kensington Market, her work fighting Airbnb has helped establish Toronto’s strong short-term rental by-laws. Serena has brought local residents together by working with non-profit organizations, including the Cecil Community Centre, and has defended Kensington Market’s affordable housing by supporting the creation of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust.
Serena loves and lives in University-Rosedale and is ready to work to protect our public healthcare system, end the housing crisis, support small businesses, and help every Canadian who needs to punch up.
In the meantime, you can learn more about them on their website.
serenapurdy.ndp.ca serenapurdy.ndp.ca