The Bloc has stated it will not support any trade or investment deal that doesn't benefit Quebec's economy.

Party leader Gilles Duceppe has stated he supports raising federal transfer payments for education and social programs, and wants more support from Ottawa for Quebec's forestry and manufacturing sectors.

The party has vowed to reduce the province's dependence on oil, and proposes a surtax on the profits of major oil companies.

The Bloc would implement a 10-year interest-free loan program for first-time homebuyers, increase employment insurance benefits and benefits for seniors, and reverse Conservative cuts to arts and culture funding.

The Conservatives have sought to reassure Canadians that the economic situation is stable, and the country is not headed for a further downturn. Stephen Harper has called for "sober analysis" but has stressed that average Canadians are not at risk.

Harper has unveiled a series of consumer protection measures to avoid price gouging at the gas pumps and on heating and cell phone bills.

He has also promised modest tax breaks for first-time homebuyers and seniors, and an economic development agency for northern Canada.

To encourage foreign investment, the Conservatives have proposed looser regulations on foreign ownership in certain industries such as the airline industry and the uranium mining industry, while maintaining regulations in others, such as telecommunications and banking.

Like the NDP, the Green Party has vowed to scrap NAFTA and renegotiate a trade deal with the U.S.

The new deal would place an emphasis on the environment, human rights, and Canadian sovereignty. The Greens have taken issue with NAFTA's Chapter 11 on water exports and have said any new deal will renegotiate energy provisions.

The Greens would shift consumption taxes to products and services that harm the environment, such as fossil fuels.

Their approach to economic management would be to invest only in activity that "makes us healthier and better educated and the environment cleaner."

The party has blamed recent economic troubles on Conservative mismanagement. In order to spur growth, the Liberals have proposed a long list of spending plans including $70 billion over 10 years on infrastructure.

Despite the overall $16.3 billion in proposed spending over four years, they have vowed to provide an annual $3-billion budget surplus.

Their plan, entitled "Richer, Fairer, Greener, an Action Plan for the 21st Century," relies on a carbon tax to fund personal and corporate tax cuts. It aims to decrease Canada's dependence on fossil fuels, while outlining new programs for the poor, parents, farmers and immigrants.

The Liberals have promised to scrap the Conservatives' tax on income trusts, replacing it with a levy that is refundable for Canadian investors.

Jack Layton has been most concerned with addressing Canadian manufacturing job losses. The party has stated that it would scrap NAFTA and the softwood lumber deal and renegotiate a trade deal with the U.S. that helps protect Canadian jobs.

The NDP has said it would reverse corporate tax cuts, and use the money to fund worker training programs.

They would require the government to purchase domestic goods, create a jobs commissioner and an agency to monitor fuel prices. The party would introduce tuition caps and childcare subsidies, cap credit card interest rates and eliminate bank machine fees.

Layton has also promised to repair what he considers an ineffective employment insurance program.

The Bloc has not made any announcement about health care so far in the campaign. The party has long fought for more provincial control over its health-care system.

The Conservatives have made no health-care campaign promises yet. The Conservative record includes agreements with all provinces and territories to be included in a $1-billion patient wait-time guarantee which will be implemented by 2010.

They've instituted a $260-million fund for a national cancer strategy. The Conservative government increased funding for new training spaces to address the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.

It also funded the Canada Health Pathway, a system of developing electronic health records.

The Green Paper on Health Promotion outlines an extensive plan for disease prevention but does not indicate how much the plan would cost.

The Green party would protect Canada's universal health-care system and increase funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The party would limit the commercialization of genetically modified crops and impose labeling of GMO products.

The Greens promise to promote physical activity and health eating (including a junk-food tax), and reduced exposure to pesticides and growth hormones in agriculture. They would develop national goals for prenatal care.

The Liberals promise to create a Doctors and Nurses Fund, investing $420 million over four years to increase the number of residency positions, speed up the process of licensing new health care professionals, reward medical students choosing family medicine, rural medicine and geriatrics, and assist foreign-trained doctors and other health care professionals in quickly obtaining their Canadian qualifications.

The party would invest $900 million over four years to create a new catastrophic-drug coverage plan for Canadians facing serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, and arthritis.

Also on the Liberal platform is a plan to provide funding for Vancouver's safe drug injection site.

The NDP would spend $2.5 billion over four years for a home-care plan that would see 100,000 more families taking care of seniors in their homes instead of putting them into institutions.

The party would commit an average of $200 million a year toward training 1,200 more doctors and 6,000 more nurses per year; forgiving student loans for graduating doctors and nurses who commit the first 10 years of their practice to family medicine; and working with the provinces and territories to fix Canada's foreign credentials system.

The NDP promises to phase in a prescription drug program.

Support for the Afghan mission is lower in Quebec than in any other province, so few observers were surprised when the Bloc voted against extending the Canadian mission in Kandahar to 2011. The party wants the mission to end next year.

Bloc members have criticized the Conservative government for being too closely aligned with the Bush administration in Washington, and say Canada should take a more multilateral approach to international relations. The Bloc advocates stepping up involvement with U.N. peacekeeping missions.

The Bloc wants to renegotiate Chapter 11 of the North America Free Trade Agreement, which permits foreign investors to legally challenge Canadian policies if they threaten investments.

Earlier this year, Parliament passed legislation calling for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Kandahar by 2011. Now, some critics are saying the Conservatives would simply move the troops from that volatile region to another part of Afghanistan.

Stephen Harper has denied the charge and says most troops would come home at that time. In the next three years, the Conservatives would like to train as many Afghan police and soldiers as possible, help rebuild the Dahla Dam, rebuild schools and train teachers.

The Conservatives have fostered close relations with Washington, and support the American stance on many foreign policy issues. In fact, Stephen Harper has been criticized in some quarters as an American lap dog.

The party doesn't want Canada to participate in the NATO-led combat mission in Afghanistan beyond February 2009 because it doesn't consider NATO to be "the appropriate command structure for security operations against an insurgency."

Instead, the Greens would like to see a balanced U.N. command effort. The party would endorse a regional peace conference involving Pashtun tribal leaders and the governments of Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, Russia and India.

The Greens would like to see the current mission shift its focus from combat operations to reconstruction and development.

The Greens also endorse the recommendation that opium in Afghanistan be licensed and legitimately marketed.

The Greens want to scrap the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, viewing it as a long-term threat to Canadian sovereignty. They oppose NAFTA for similar reasons.

The Liberals supported legislation setting 2011 as the end of the Canadian mission in Kandahar. While the troops are there, the Liberals want the mission to place greater emphasis on training, security and reconstruction.

The Liberals also emphasize the need to heighten diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, where many Taliban operatives are based.

The Liberals say the government should safeguard the rights of all Canadians abroad, and increase Canada's foreign aid spending. Also, they would like to contribute resources to the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission to Darfur.

In their policy outline, the Liberals describe the United States as Canada's "closest ally" but they want Canada to stay out of the U.S. missile defence plan and focus on strengthening ties with other countries, especially those in Asia.

The NDP has been an outspoken critic of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan and opposed extending it to 2011. The party wants to bring Canadian troops home immediately and is calling for negotiations with the Taliban. The NDP also wants to reduce combat activity by Canadian troops in the war-torn country and increase development efforts there.

The NDP has criticized what it perceives as a cozy relationship between the Conservative government and Washington, and has even cast Harper as an underling of U.S. President George W. Bush.

NDP members would like to renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement to protect Canadian jobs. Also, leader Jack Layton wants to remove a provision that allows foreign investors to legally challenge Canadian policies if they threaten investments.

The NDP wants Canada to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, an initiative designed to foster greater cooperation on security and economic issues by Canada, the United States and Mexico. The NDP sees the initiative as a threat to national sovereignty.

The Bloc has been very critical of the Conservatives so far in this election campaign, and the environment has been one of their main targets. The Bloc supports the cap-and-trade system, but in a provincial framework. The targets are territory-specific, meaning each province is responsible for its own reductions, but can trade with other provinces. The Bloc targets a 25-per-cent reduction from 1990 emission levels by 2020.

The party emphasizes sustainable solutions, with a detailed plan on reducing the use of gasoline and increasing energy efficiency. It also proposes to eliminate subsidies for oil and gas industries. Like the NDP, the Bloc plan lacks a carbon tax.

The Conservative Party supports the cap-and-trade system, but is the only party to support "intensity-based" targets that measure a company's reductions per units of production. This would allow some sectors to increase their emissions. According to Environment Canada, the emission levels of the Alberta oil sands could triple over the next decade. The party targets a three-per-cent overall reduction from 1990 levels of emissions by 2020.

Conservatives have criticized the environmental plans of opposing parties, saying they are not financially viable. They have released a regulatory framework called "Turning the Corner," which proposes to set specific carbon-reduction requirements on industrial polluters in 2010. The requirements regulate newer facilities with tougher regulations, while allowing these industries to purchase credits to offset emissions or contribute to a Technology Fund that develops emissions-reducing technologies.

The Green Party says it would reduce greenhouse emissions to 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The Greens would meet this objective by applying a carbon tax across the entire economy. The tax would start at $50 per tonne and would be raised to $100 per tonne by 2020 if necessary.

The Greens would also introduce a cap-and-trade system, where the government sets a limit on how much polluters would be allowed to emit. A polluter who fell below the limit would be allowed to sell excess pollution permits to other polluters.

The cap for industry would reduce emissions by 2012 to 29 per cent of their current levels, and proposes a 47-per-cent reduction by 2020. The carbon tax would be revenue-neutral: whatever amount the government raised from its carbon tax, it would give back in related tax cuts and credits. The party expects to raise about $40 billion annually, and some of the revenue would be used to provide income tax cuts.

The Liberal Party says it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. The Liberals say they would increase that figure to 25 per cent if other countries set comparable targets.

The Liberals would meet that objective by introducing a carbon tax that would begin at $10 per tonne and increase $10 per tonne annually, to a maximum of $40 per tonne.

The carbon tax would not be applied to gasoline, diesel or aviation fuel in the first year.

The Liberals would introduce a cap-and-trade system in a few years, and would work with provinces to ensure it was national in nature.

Under the Liberal plan, the carbon tax would be entirely revenue-neutral.

The revenue raised by a carbon tax would be used to provide tax cuts and credits, most notably income and corporate tax. Also, tax cuts and credits would be used to stimulate innovation and investment in green sectors of the economy.

Like all other major federal parties, the NDP supports a cap-and-trade system that sets limits on industrial pollution. The framework requires companies to purchase permits from green businesses to exceed these limits, which become stricter over time.

The party would initially auction 10 per cent of the permits, with a goal of reaching 100 per cent by 2030. The NDP sets the permits at $35 per tonne (generating an estimated $2.5 billion in the first year of auction), increasing to $50 per tonne after four years. The party's platform does not include a carbon tax on emissions, which charges polluters by the tonne.

The party has also proposed a five-point plan to fight climate change. It targets a 25-per-cent reduction from 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, with a framework of policies to re-invest money in creating "green jobs," new funding for public transit and programs to retrofit homes. The party would also re-invest in green initiatives such as fuel-efficient vehicles and low-consumption appliances.

The Bloc emphasizes the need to rehabilitate young offenders, and leader Gilles Duceppe has criticized the Conservatives new plan. On Sept. 24, Duceppe said the Tories' tough approach to youth crime could lead to imprisoned teenagers being targeted by pedophiles.

"Sending children to prison is sending them to the university of crime," Duceppe said. "If we want to be sure of making them criminals, let's do that. And it's young flesh as well. Let's not hide it. We know there is that kind of problem in prison and sending kids there is terrible."

Harper dismissed the comments as "extreme" and demanded a retraction.

Duceppe says the Bloc would make gang symbols illegal, establish training for street-gang prosecutors and end early parole for drug dealers.

Conservatives advocate stiffer punishments, seeing them as a deterrent. Under the party's recently unveiled plan, judges would be allowed to impose life sentences on the most serious young offenders, and the names of those offenders would be published.

People convicted of drug-related crimes would receive minimum jail terms. Also, the Conservatives want to end house arrest for a host of offences, including robbery, arson, and crimes committed with weapons.

With the support of opposition parties, the Conservatives have already passed legislation introducing tougher mandatory prison terms for serious gun crimes and making it harder to get bail. They have also raised the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 and introduced stronger penalties for impaired driving.

Leader Elizabeth May is critical of recent government initiatives aimed at combating crime. Like NDP leader Jack Layton, May also emphasizes the need to tackle the root causes of crime.

She also advocates so-called restorative justice, which calls for offenders to make reparations to their victims and the community.

To combat gun smuggling, the Greens would provide more support for the special task forces that gather intelligence and arrest gun smugglers, and would introduce strict measures for those caught trying to smuggle weapons across the border.

May wants to improve the gun registry, and develop other programs to control gun use and ownership.

The Greens also address domestic violence in their platform. They want to increase penalties for domestic violence and ensure protection for victims and survivors of the crime.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion criticized the Conservatives' new plan for young offenders as "an ideological approach that failed in the United States. Our American friends don't want to go there anymore," Dion said.

Instead, the Liberals are focusing on gun control. They want to retain the federal firearms registry, opposing the Conservatives' intention to eliminate it. Also, the Liberals have promised to crack down on gun smuggling and establish a "guns and gangs" task force.

The Grits also want to ban military assault weapons. "[They] have no connection to hunting or sport shooting, and serve absolutely no purpose in our society," Dion said at a recent campaign stop. "No one outside of the military needs these weapons and we would all be safer without them in Canada."

The NDP promote intervention as an effective way to combat crime. The party wants to establish programs that tackle poverty, addiction, sub-standard housing and other conditions they say foster criminal activity.

Also, the party would like to give all the provinces and territories the power to implement complete handgun bans in their jurisdictions.

Emphasizing the need to combat illegal handgun smuggling, the NDP wants Canadian and American lawmakers and law enforcement personnel to meet to address the issue.

The NDP also wants to strengthen Canada's witness protection program so that people are more willing to come forward with information about gun crime.