Justin Trudeau was out first in Toronto, meeting with healthcare workers to discuss the problem of gun violence, but there were no announcements to come out of it.

Andrew Scheer was up next in nearby Whitby, Ontario, to announce promises to make changes to the disability tax credit that would make more people eligible for it. He also promised that his full platform would be released before advanced polls open on October 11^th. In response to questions, Scheer insists he would “support and introduce” legislation to protect LGBT people, and thinks that would support “treating homosexual blood donors on the same level as heterosexual blood donors” provided the science was there – which is basically the Liberal position (given that the government can’t actually legislate away the “blood ban” as blood services are independent of government post-tainted blood scandal, but the Liberals have poured resources into the science behind it and have reduced the “ban” to a few months instead of it being indefinite). The issue of his actual work in the insurance industry in Regina also remains a live question, and he is now more or less admitting that he wasn’t actually a broker and he was doing “preparatory work” that the brokers in the office finished off, and yet his biographies haven’t changed.

From Vancouver, where Jagmeet Singh has spent nearly a week so far on the campaign (which is starting to look like an attempt to save the furniture while he snubs other provinces), Singh promised more funding for childcare and a promise to have universal childcare by 2030 – yet another promise contingent upon negotiation with the provinces and not any mention of how exactly he hopes to implement it.

Other election stories:

• The format and topics for the commission debates have been announced.
• Here is some analysis of the Liberal fiscal promises, including from a former Bank of Canada governor.
• Here are the ten priciest promises in the Liberal platform.
• Harjit Sajjan is being criticized for attending a reception for the Chinese consul in Vancouver, but Sajjan says he raised the plight of the two detained Canadians there.
• One of the Conservative candidates in Quebec has called out his own leader for not attending any climate rallies last Friday.
• Climate activists keep dogging Scheer on the campaign trail.

Good reads:

• The Canadian Press’ Baloney Meter™ tests Trudeau’s assertions about the Conservatives’ climate record, and his own achievements.
• Chantal Hébert wonders if the Conservatives will rue the day they gave up on climate change policy, since it’s an issue that’s not going away.
• Andrew Coyne grouses that the era of permanent deficits are a bad idea because it means governments have no incentive to be choosy about their spending.
• Colby Cosh takes on the Liberals’ proposed tax on “luxury” cars, boats and planes in the most Cosh way possible (meaning it’s a good read).

Odds and ends:

I was on CPAC’s Have Your Say again yesterday. (Note: The second hour is a wash).

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