WHEREAS both federal and provincial governments share jurisdiction for agriculture and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada continues to be the central ministry for Agri-food issues;

WHEREAS government has centered its focus on industry matters and not on consumers interests in having a sustainable Canadian food industry for Canadians;

WHEREAS the family farm remains in peril because of indebtedness, and many farmers, including young farmers have exited the industry;

WHEREAS the inadequateness of measures taken to negotiate between farmers and lending institutions and the rural transition programs to keep farmers in the industry;

WHEREAS programs intended to retain employment in rural areas have not proven successful;

BE IT RESOLVED that a Liberal Government create a partnership between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to develop a national food strategy for Canada that will address food supply, sustainable farm income for farmers, agricultural employment, environmental sustainability and a secure food supply for Canadians.

Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island

WHEREAS multiple studies (1991, 1995, 2008) have recommended implementation of high speed rail (HSR) along the Windsor-Quebec corridor;

WHEREAS high speed rail transit is a proven technology in use throughout the G-8 countries;

WHEREAS there is strong support amongst surveyed Canadian citizen’s “organizations, policy analysts, economists, and politicians for investment in a Canadian HSR”¹;

WHEREAS Canadian companies are acknowledged leaders in transit engineering and manufacturing technology;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada support the development of a comprehensive, environmentally sustainable, rail transportation system that would include construction of a high-speed rail system through the Quebec City-Windsor and Edmonton-Calgary corridors and other jurisdictions where appropriate with improved and integrated access to local transit, cargo and passenger lines throughout the country;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED to that end, that the Government of Canada ensure that the development of a comprehensive integrated transportation system, under the joint management of a public-private board, would remain fiscally healthy, ensure job creations as the program expands, while keeping it secure and affordable for the public.

¹ EKOS poll 2009; and http://www.canada.com/travel/vast

Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario)

WHEREAS students need greater financial support to complete increasingly expensive programs;

WHEREAS there is a need for increased incentives for students to apply their education to the Canadian workforce;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urges the government of Canada to offer current and future students opportunities to access education at any point in their career, including trades; payment of first and last year tuition for undergraduates; and a work forgiveness program which would allow students to pay off their loans in exchange for work in designated communities, industries, and public initiatives.

Liberal Party of Canada (Alberta)

WHEREAS provincial jurisdiction over housing has created a fractious system that promotes an environment in which some provinces and cities work hard to combat homelessness and to create affordable housing while others do little or nothing;

WHEREAS there is a correlation between homelessness, mental health and addictions, and homelessness is not limited to large or medium sized communities, it is an issue in all communities across Canada;

WHEREAS tens of thousands of people are homeless and families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population;

BE IT RESOLVED that a comprehensive national housing strategy be developed that includes social housing, low-income rental housing, co-op housing, and middle- income housing in partnership with other levels of government service providers and business.  This national housing strategy should employ federal tax policy to encourage the building and maintaining of long-term affordable rental and co-op housing;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that specific measures be included in the national housing strategy to prevent and address homelessness.

Liberal Party of Canada (British Columbia) 
Northern and Western Caucus

WHEREAS all products brought into the territories rely on transportation fuelled with hydrocarbons, including diesel used by many communities to generate electricity;

WHEREAS it is anticipated that the cost of hydrocarbon-based fuel will rise exorbitantly over the next 10 to 20 years due to demand, declining supply in a “post-peak oil” era and increased political instability in many regions of the world that produce oil;

WHEREAS non-renewable resource demands world-wide will mean increasing interest and development of mining, oil and gas, and related activities throughout the north;

WHEREAS with the warming of the Arctic Ocean combined with technological advancements, the mineral and oil and gas wealth of the Arctic Ocean can be increasingly exploited;

WHEREAS new sources of energy like gas hydrates, a product found in abundance locked up in northern ice, will eventually be economic in an increasingly energy-hungry world;

WHEREAS there are fragile ecosystems both on and off-shore already profoundly affected by climate change meaning that development must be very carefully planned and managed;

WHEREAS communications infrastructure is fundamentally important to the health of northern economies and societies;

BE IT RESOLVED that a National Liberal Government will lead a dialogue among northern residents and provide substantial financial contributions on ways to support diversification of the northern economy, utilizing northern resources that can reduce vulnerability to fuel price increases;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National Liberal Government will fund infrastructure development that will support reduced reliance on external fuel supply, specifically through developing territorial oil and gas supplies for northern markets, and especially to support the anticipated massive energy demands of mining activities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National Liberal Government will support the territorial governments’ efforts to develop infrastructure that will result in the availability of more renewable energy such as tying Yukon to the North American energy grid, investing in biomass energy production, and exploring avenues to increase energy efficiency in the local marketplace throughout northern communities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National liberal Government will invest heavily in R&D that would support environmentally safe development of northern resources, and R&D that will assist in reducing northern dependency by working with territorial governments on the creation of a northern University with a strong focus on northern R&D and associated research in the social sciences;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National liberal Government will invest in the development of communications broad band infrastructure so that there are redundancies capable of maintaining connection with the outside world if there are disruptions in the single pathways in place today;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National liberal Government will initiate a national dialogue with the academic, private and public research communities to design the most relevant and effective research program and approach to generate understanding of the impact of climate change on the north;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a National liberal Government will triple Canada’s investment in northern scientific research to collect information that will support understanding of the impacts of climate change on northern environment, economy and society.

Yukon Federal Liberal Association
Northern and Western Caucus

WHEREAS complete access to reproductive health services saves women’s lives and protects their health, thereby making these services an integral part of women’s overall health care;

WHEREAS many publicly funded health institutions refuse to perform abortions and other reproductive health procedures and may offer women misleading information as to the availability of such services in other health institutions;

WHEREAS in certain areas of the country women’s access to reproductive health services is limited, being eroded or non-existent, in direct opposition to the guarantees of the Canada Health Act, forcing women to travel long distances at their own expense to obtain these services;

WHEREAS many provinces list abortion on their “excluded services list” for reciprocal billing under Medicare, which means that an abortion obtained outside a woman’s home province may not be covered, even if no provider exists in the area in which she resides;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urge the Government of Canada to enforce the provisions of the Canada Health Act to guarantee women’s access to timely and effective reproductive health services, including reciprocal billing for out-of-province services;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Government of Canada financially penalize provinces that fail to abide by the provisions of the Canada Health Act with respect to i) ensuring complete access to these services, and/or ii) covering costs related to their provision.

National Women’s Liberal Commission

WHEREAS this situation will intensify as the baby-boomer generation retires in larger numbers, resulting in extra costs and an increasing shortage of space and services in acute care facilities;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Government of Canada should offer to partner with provinces, territories and municipal governments, as appropriate, in the expansion of homecare, long-term (chronic) and palliative care facilities and services across Canada, to achieve a more effective and efficient allocation of available health care resources.

National Liberal Caucus

WHEREAS a large segment of this population has been shut out of the economic benefits accruing to most Canadians;

WHEREAS the Kelowna Accord negotiated by the Liberal government, provinces/territories and Aboriginal groups was cancelled by the current government;

WHEREAS Canada was one of only four countries to vote against the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and endorses the principles in the Kelowna Accord;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada provide resources for Aboriginal people to establish a preferred future for themselves by strengthening their identity, governance relationships, and accountability among themselves and others;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada take immediate steps to provide clean drinking water on reserves;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada improve housing for Aboriginal peoples both on and off reserves;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada provide programs and services to improve living conditions by addressing substance abuse and violence in particular;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada work with Aboriginal peoples to devise and provide education programs that include cultural, lifestyle, employment and academic components;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada work with Aboriginal peoples to create economic development.

Liberal Party of Canada (Saskatchewan) 
Aboriginal People’s Commission

WHEREAS pension reform is needed if Canadian seniors are to have a dignified, secure and healthy retirement;

WHEREAS adequate pension reform must include those members of our society not traditionally considered to be a part of the formal workforce including, but not limited to, stay at home parents, homemakers who were dependent on their husbands’ income;

WHEREAS these people have made a valuable contribution to their communities as volunteers, it seems unfair that they are forced to exist in restrained financial circumstances;

WHEREAS the financial burden of taxpayers in such circumstances could be eased by income splitting between dual wage earners in a family, or forward averaging for a sole taxpayer;

WHEREAS the Liberal Party of Canada Expert Working Group on Retirement Income Security in its White Paper entitled, Canadian Pension Security, Adequacy and Coverage; Public Policy Challenges and the Baby Boom Generation, has made a number of recommendations for the reform of Canada’s pension system, one of which is described as a Supplemental Canada Pension Plan, (SCPP);

WHEREAS this SCPP appears to offer the most optimum benefits to seniors while, at the same time featuring simple and efficient implementation;

WHEREAS the basic Old Age Security pension is deemed to be not sufficient to allow seniors to live in dignity even when coupled with the Guaranteed Income Supplement;

WHEREAS the clawback practice has resulted in some injustices to certain groups of pensioners;

WHEREAS financial literacy is a skill that is not being offered to Canadians at large in a way that provides the skills for the general public to invest well;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that a Liberal Government will undertake to implement the Supplemental Canada Pension Plan without undue delay;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a Liberal Government will give consideration to the other recommendations in the White Paper with the intent to bring about their early implementation;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a Liberal Government adjust the basic monthly Old Age Security pension to lot less than $600.00 per month with Consumer Price Index adjustments in subsequent years;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the clawback practice be discontinued;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a Liberal Government introduce changes to the Income Tax Act to allow that provisions for income splitting between dual income earners in a family, or forward averaging of income, from employment and self employment, be available to caregivers and their related family members, upon defined conditions;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a Liberal Government undertake, in consultation and cooperation with the provinces and territories, the promotion and support of the concept of financial literacy within the regular educational system and such other human resource development programs with which it may, from time to time, be involved.

Senior Liberals’ Commission 

WHEREAS Aboriginal women account for approximately twenty five (25) percent of federal female inmates;

WHEREAS the Liberal Party of Canada is committed to a correctional system that is just and fair;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada is committed to the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v. Gladue as enshrined in 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada will petition the Government of Canada to take meaningful steps in order to reduce the gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in Canada’s correctional system including, but not limited to, rehabilitation, reintegration, and poverty reduction strategies.

Liberal Party of Canada (Nunavut)
Aboriginal People’s Commission