Tom Mulcair as PM would end Canada's fight with ISIS

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says his first acts as prime minister would include pulling the Canadian Forces out of Iraq and Syria, bringing in 10,000 Syrian refugees and reducing taxes for small and medium-sized businesses.

• Full text of Peter Mansbridge's interview with Tom Mulcair

Mulcair, whose party is currently leading in the polls, sat down with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridgeforthe third in a series of four interviews with the national party leaders.

"We will immediately stop the bombingmission and bring thosetroops home," Mulcair toldMansbridge in an interview forThe Nationalon Wednesday.

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Mulcair said the personnel returningwould include troops taking part in missions against Syria and those involved in training. Canada currentlyhas sixCF-18s, an aerialrefueller, two surveillance planes and about 600 personnel involved in the air war, as well as 69 special forces training Kurdish fighters.

"So we are out of the fight with ISIS if the NDP win?" Mansbridge asked.

"Yes. Yes, no question about that," Mulcair said.

Asked whether ISIS poses a threat to Canada,Mulcairsaid that it'swar in the region for 35 years that has posedthe true threat.

"I think that the best thingfor Canada to do is to start playing a positive role for peace, andthat would be atop priority for me as the prime minister of Canada,"Mulcairsaid.

ConservativeLeader Stephen Harper hasinsisted that continued military action against ISIS is the best way to resolve the current refugee crisis. On that issue, Mulcairsaidhe wouldbring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada before the end of the year.

Among other steps he would take soon after becoming prime minister, Mulcairsaid,would beanumber of tax initiatives, whichwould have to wait until his first budget in the spring.

He said he would eliminate the CEO stock option tax loopholeandreducetaxes for small and medium-sized business, dropping them one percentage pointimmediatelyandanother point within a year.

Mulcairsaid he would keep the child-care benefit subsidyand make no changes to GST, butwould scrap the Tories' income splitting plan, keeping it only forretired seniors on their pensions,

Raise corporate tax rate 'reasonably'

As well,under his government,the tax free savings account limit would drop back down to $5,500,having been raised to $10,000 in the last budget.

The corporate tax rate, currently at 15 per cent, would be raised "reasonably,"Mulcair said, but will staybelow what it has been as an average under the Conservatives.

"They're the onlyCanadians not paying their fair share right now," he said.

Abolishing the Senate

Abolishing the Senate is still a goal, although Mulcair admits it would be tough.However, his electoral victory would give him the mandate to go forward, he said.

Mulcair chastised Harper, saying he had talked a good game aboutSenate abolition, but then gaveup the effort.Last year, the Supreme Court put a damper on Harper's plans forSenate reform,rulingthat the federal government needsthe support of sevenprovinces representing half the population to implementfixed terms or provincial elections for Senate candidates. The government would need unanimous provincialsupport to abolish theSenate altogether.

"I called him after the Supreme Court decision and I said, 'Are you going to make me do this alone?' It was a light-hearted conversation, but I was really surprised, because he immediately threw in the towel after having gotten elected on a promise to either profoundly reform the Senate or get rid of it," Mulcair said."And he was doing neither."

Clarity Act reform

Mansbridge also pressed Mulcair on the NDP plan to reform the Clarity Act, legislation that calls for a "clear majority" resultif Quebec were to vote on secession. The NDP have put forward their own unity billthat would recognize areferendum victory by the Yes side, even if it were by a majority of 50 per cent plus one.

"The side that wins wins," Mulcair said."But as in the caseof Great Britain, it requires negotiation, and the quality of the mandate you have tonegotiate is of course dependent on what you just got as a number.

"But I don't know ofanyone in any British-inspired democracy who will tell you that in a referendum the sidethat wins doesn't win. And if you are going to say that, then the onus, the burden is onthe people making that claim. The Liberals claim that it's more. Fine. What's thenumber? They won't give one."

Trudeau/Mulcair pact?

As for this election,Mulcair agreedthat the party with the most seats should automatically governin a minority situation.But he added thereare constitutional conventions that are complex and that there have beeninstances in the past where governments have tried to hold onto power.

Whether he would form some kind of agreement with Liberal LeaderJustin Trudeauto topple a Harper government, Mulcair said,was hypothetical, but he blamed the Liberals for shutting down those talks.

"Every time I've opened the door with the current Liberals, Mr. Trudeau haspersonally slammed it. He's gone so far as to say that he could work with the NDP buthe can't work with me.

"My priority is to get rid of Stephen Harper. Apparently JustinTrudeau's priority is to get rid of me."