How to pay for it all? The Conservative party is promising deep tax cuts, but when asked Stephen Harper was not able to explain how exactly this would be paid for. Paul Martin's anounced plans are turning out to be just re-annuoncements of programs that are already in the pipeline. Which is not so bad in itself, one wouldn't expect a government to hold up development of programs until an election. But Martin is taking criticism from the other parties for supposedly taking double credit for some of the announcements. One thing is clear, though, and that is that the Liberals are not being very up-front about what in their platform is new and what is already existing.

The NDP just announced their plans to pay for proposed new spending. Key points seem to be an introduction of an inheritance tax for amounts above $1 million, something the United States has, and something I'm frankly surprised we don't have. There'd be an exception for farms and small businesses. They also anounced plans to crack down on off-shore tax havens, pointing out that Paul Martin's company Canada Steamship Lines is headquartered in Barbadoes ad pays no federal income taxes. I can't say I'm a big fan of sniping statements like that, but it is quite ironic. Also "He proposes to cut tax breaks and subsidies for the oil, coal and nuclear industries and shift them to green-energy sectors such as wind, tidal and solar power." This is common sense. No one needs a tax break for running a coal-burning power plant.

The Grope and Flail has an election commentary page with some good election-related editorials, even if they are a bit horse-race-centric. The press can't help themselves, it seems.

There's a cute little page with at-a-glance leader profiles here.

I'm going to look for more info on how the Liberals plan to finally implement all the promises they've been waxing poetic about for 10 years and haven't gotten around to yet. CBC.ca has a good Report card on the 2000 Liberal platform and how their promises stack up against what was accomplished.

What I hope someone mentions in this race is how Canada is no longer the UN #1 best country to live in, what has changed and what can be done to change it back. I'll write more about this later.