Poilievre's Solutions to Canada's Woes

Monday, 11 September 2023 11:49

By Geoff Waterfield

Conservative Leader attacked the prime minister, while speaking on inflation, housing and opioid crisis, crime, and other issues

Canada's Conservative leader spoke Friday night at the beginning of the party's policy convention in Quebec City over the weekend.

He spent a lot of the speech going after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government's policies.

Pierre Poilievre said the first thing he would do as Prime Minister is "axe the tax", making reference to getting rid of the carbon tax. He accused the Liberals and NDP of planning to raise the price of a litre of gas by 61 cents.

He then went to inflation, calling it a tax, and said the radical money printing deficits of Trudeau make life harder.

His solution is a dollar for dollar law. "It works the same you run your personal finances at home. Every time a politician has a bright idea to spend money, he'll be forced to root out waste in his own department to pay for it, rather than pass the bill on to you in higher inflation, taxes or debt."

The Conservative leader also focused on the housing crisis, blaming Trudeau for what he called the biggest problem in the housing crisis... government regulations.

He said he'd get rid of that, and have a new funding formula. "Links the number of federal dollars cities get for infrastructure to the number of houses they allow to be completed. We will require big cities permit 15% more home building per year or lose federal infrastructure money."

He says those municipalities that exceed 15% receive a bonus.

Poilievre also targeted the opioid crisis, what he called the catch and release policy of the government when it comes to crime, and would keep tax money in Canada for investment instead of sending it to what he called foreign dictators.

Outside the convention hall, Liberal MP Pablo Rodrigues questioned what programs the Conservatives would cut, and the NDP said the speech was a throwback to Ontario Premier Mike Harris days.