Domestic policy of the Stephen Harper government

Several policies regarding interior and domestic issues in Canada were planned and adopted by the Cabinet of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, after he came to office as the head of a minority government on February 6, 2006.

[11] On January 16, 2007, an article in a Montreal newspaper, La Presse, reported that the federal government would give an additional $1.5 billion in transfer payments with another $500 million for post-secondary education and infrastructures.

Saskatchewan Finance Minister Andy Thompson asserted that the government was using revenues from the oil industry of the West to gain votes in Quebec.

[15] Following a meeting with all premiers after the 2008 election, the federal government removed Newfoundland and Labrador from its list of provinces receiving equalization payments due to revenues from its offshore oil platform Hibernia.

Howe Institute, which stated: "This tax policy gem is very good news for Canadians, and Mr. Flaherty and his government deserve credit for a novel program.

[29] In their last year in office, a number of factors complicated efforts to succeed in reducing the deficit in order to achieve a balanced budget by April 2015.

[44] In 2013, former director-general with Citizenship and Immigration Canada Andrew Griffith wrote that "Under the Harper government, one of the main challenges for the public service was having its knowledge and expertise put into question".

[59] During the 2006 election campaign, Stephen Harper promised a free vote to revisit the issue of same-sex marriage which had been legalized in 2005 by the previous government.

It will provide funding for refurbishing and renovating low-income homes, as well as improving access for homeless people to various services and supports such as health and substance abuse treatment programs.

[73] On June 11, 2008, Harper made a speech at the House of Commons in which he issued an official apology to the First Nation groups in regard to a residential school abuse in which children were isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.

The Ontario government also contributed to $1.3 billion for the industry which has been hit hard by the recent economic downtown initially due to record oil prices which resulted in a sharp drop in the sales of new vehicles, including pick-up trucks and SUVs.

Many actors across the country had criticized the move citing that the arts and culture industries represent over 1.1 million jobs in Canada and contributes to about $86 billion to its gross domestic product.

James Moore who replaced Verner as Heritage Minister following the election stated that he had no plans to cancel the cutbacks citing the decisions made were in the past but added that there will be opportunities in the future to view the spending.

[97] On November 14, 2006, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced an immediate $37 million investment on improving security in public transit systems across the country.

The news laws would make it illegal to tamper with vehicle identification numbers, would target organized group specialized in car and parts theft, chop shops and stolen property trafficking.

[120] During the 41st Parliament the newly formed Conservative majority government again introduced legislation to repeal the requirement to register non-restricted firearms and to destroy the registry database.

His 2009 budget included $12 billion in new infrastructure stimulus funding for roads, bridges, broadband internet access, laboratories and border crossings across the country.

[123] On March 6, 2007, the government announced over $1.5 billion in funding in Ontario for improving the city of Toronto's transit system including the extension of a subway line to Vaughan.

The city council of Saint John, New Brunswick was told by their local Conservative MP Rodney Weston that funding their new water treatment plant through a P3 was the only option.

[135] Harper's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty intervened in the 2013 Regina wastewater plant funding referendum, arguing that voters should select the P3 option.

[136] The 2013 Canadian federal budget contained a new Building Canada Plan for the construction of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, transit and port facilities.

Critics mentioned that the federal government had interfered in provincial jurisdictions while Ontario's Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Marie Bountrogianni cited the deal as a "photo-op" and an insignificant contribution to the health system.

[139] Previously, on January 5, 2007, the government also launched a similar pilot project worth $3.7 million for guaranteed wait times for aboriginal people from First Nations reserves in Manitoba who have "diabetes related-foot ulcers and possible amputations" [140] On April 4, 2007, a deal between Ottawa and the 13 provinces and territories was concluded in which guaranteed wait times will be implemented country-wide by two measures including funding for provinces to reach the goal.

The plan is worth an estimated $300 million over four years and would either eliminate, control or reduce some of the more hazardous toxic chemicals in order to protect the environment and the health and safety of Canadians, particularly in workplaces, as well as animals.

[145] On April 11, 2006, President of the Treasury Board John Baird, on behalf of the Canadian government, tabled the Federal Accountability Act and action plan.

The plan was meant to reduce the opportunity to exert influence in politics with money by: banning corporate, union, and large personal political donations; instituting a five-year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aides, and senior public servants; providing protection for whistleblowers; and enhancing the power for the auditor general to follow the money spent by the government.

On March 13, 2008, Justice John Gomery, who had led the commission into the federal sponsorship scandal, told the government operations Committee that most of the recommendations he made in his report were still not implemented.

[146] After sidestepping the political landmine for most of his first year in office, much as all of the post-Charlottetown Accord Prime Ministers had done, Harper reopened the debate on November 22, 2006, by introducing a motion in the House of Commons to recognize "the Québécois" as a "nation within Canada."

[159] On November 5, 2007, Harper supported a motion made by the NDP to organize a referendum that would decide the fate of the Senate, including the possibility of abolishing it, as Jack Layton described it as "outdated institution that has no place in a modern democracy".

[160] However, experts said that the NDP-Conservative plan would likely fail, with a historian indicating that it would be impossible to pass the motion with a Liberal-majority Senate, and to have an amendment to the constitution accepted by the majority of the provinces.