Singh promises more doctors, Carney supports the trades, Poilievre vows to cut red tape

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has unveiled his party's plan to improve Canadians' access to primary health care with a strategy designed to retain and hire more doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.

"We're proud of our values as Canadians, and one of those values that we hold so dearly is the idea we believe in taking care of each other," Singh said in St. John's on Saturday morning.

"And what represents that value is our universal health-care system."

The NDP plan would train more doctors from underserved areas, including rural and remote communities, by investing in regional medical schools. The party is also promising to streamline support for U.S. doctors looking to move to and practise in Canada.

Singh said the NDP will also create 1,000 more family medicine residency placements annually for international medical graduates. Provinces and territories that sign on to the NDP's plan would receive an additional one per cent in Canada Health Transfers.

The NDP also promised that all Canadians would get access to primary care and a family doctor within five years, by 2030.

"I believe that everyone in our country should be able to have a family doctor. I think that is a fundamental thing we need in our health care system," Singh said.

If all the provinces and territories signed on, it would cost the federal government $10 billion over four years, the party said.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney said his party would build up Canada's skilled trades workforce by providing a new apprenticeship grant of up to $8,000 and would work with Indigenous communities to raise awareness of the new grant.

The Liberals also promised to double funding of the Union Training and Innovation Program from $25 million to $50 million and expand a labour mobility tax deduction so workers who travel more than 120 kilometres from their home to a job site can deduct more expenses.

"For those in the skilled trades in Canada, we are not just going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the skilled trades. We are creating hundreds of thousands of careers," Carney said in Oakville, Ont.

"Crane operators, brick layers, welders and those in the specialized trades that are essential to the future of Canada — we have to invest in their futures too," he added.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to hold a press conference in Osoyoos, B.C., at 10:30 a.m. PT. 

Earlier on Saturday morning, the Conservatives announced Poilievre would cut 25 per cent of all red tape within his first two years as prime minister — a move the party says would "significantly ease the administrative burden" on taxpayers and businesses.