OTTAWA — The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is expected to remain a hot topic today on the federal election campaign trail.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper begins his day in Whitby, Ont., visiting a firm that makes air control emission parts.
Harper has promised new measures soon to attract auto investment and protect auto-assembly operations in Canada. CTV News reported late Monday that he will announce more than $1 billion to help the industry during his visit to Whitby.
A source told the network Harper will announce a 10-year plan to provide loans and grants to lure global auto-parts manufacturers to Canada and various incentives for Canadian manufacturers to buy new equipment and modernize plants.
The Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada has said the deal means small and medium-sized suppliers to Canada’s vehicle assembly supply chain will face new pressures from large, multinational firms in the 11 other TPP countries.
In the evening, Harper will speak at a rally in Saskatoon.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau heads back to his home turf and will spend the morning in Montreal, with an announcement planned at the city’s Olympic Stadium. He will then visit the Quebec communities of Granby and Sherbrooke.
With polls showing a drop in support for Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats, Trudeau no doubt hopes some of those suddenly undecided voters will give his party a look.
Mulcair is in B.C. today, where he’ll hold a town hall meeting in Surrey to highlight his party’s plans to improve medicare.
Specifically he will talk about the high cost of prescription drugs at a time when those costs are coming under close scrutiny with the signing by the Harper government of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.
The New Democrats are worried that drug prices will skyrocket under the agreement.
Mulcair will be in the riding of Surrey-Newton, where the New Democrats are expected to be in a close race with the Liberals. Its boundaries were restructured in 2013 from parts of three different ridings in advance of this year’s election.
Green party Leader Elizabeth May will hold a morning news conference in Vancouver to discuss tanker and pipeline safety before attending an all candidates forum on Mayne Island, B.C.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe will visit five Quebec communities today. His main event will be an afternoon news conference in Drummondville where he will discuss rail safety.
04:00ET 06-10-15
