Poilievre Promises More Tax Write-Offs for Workers, Carney Campaigns in His Ottawa Riding

(L-R) Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick, Justin Tang, Jacques Boissinot

On the campaign trail on March 29, the Conservative Party said it will expand tax write-offs for those in the trades who travel for work. The same day, Liberal Leader Mark Carney made a stop in his Ottawa riding, while the NDP promised a cap on the price of some food items.

The parties are in day seven of the campaign, with voting to be held on April 28.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced his party’s plans to allow workers who travel more for work to write off their expenses for income tax, including food, transportation, and accommodation.

“They will not have to stay overnight in order to be eligible for the write-off, and they will only have to travel 120 kilometres for the write-off to be eligible rather than the current 150 kilometres,” Poilievre said during a campaign stop in Winnipeg on March 29.

Poilievre said in a news release that the “principle of the tax system should be that people can write off costs needed to earn income.” He said that corporations are permitted to write off expenses like private jets while trade workers are limited to $4,000 worth of tax write-offs.

The write-offs were originally proposed in a private member’s bill introduced by Conservative MP Chris Lewis in February 2022. It is currently being debated in the Senate.

As part of the changes proposed by the bill, corporations will no longer be able to write off corporate jets, but they will be permitted to write off the equivalent of a commercial flight, the release said. Charter flights to take workers to remote job sites will not be impacted.

“Corporations do not need to fly their executives around in private jets to sell products, given that there are commercial flights,” Poilievre said in the release

Workers who travel to jobs will be able to “write off the full cost” of food, transportation and accommodation, the Conservatives said.

Carney Visits Nepean Riding

Carney made his first stop of the day at his campaign office in Nepean, the Ottawa riding he will be running in, and met with volunteers and supporters.

The Liberal leader thanked the volunteers at the office, saying this was an important election.

“I want to thank all of you for volunteering already a tremendous amount of time on my behalf, on behalf of the Liberal Party, and on behalf of our country,” Carney said.

“This is the most important election of our lifetime. It’s critical in redefining our relationship with the United States. It’s critical in redefining our economy on our own terms, standing up for Canada, creating one economy, one strong economy, and I can think of no better place to build that economy out than Nepean.”

Carney has said that he has been a “resident in the Ottawa area for almost 20 years,” except when he lived in the UK. He has also said he knows the riding well.

The Nepean seat had been represented by MP Chandra Arya since 2015. However, the Liberal Party recently disqualified Arya from running, saying the chair of its Green Light Committee recommended Arya’s candidate status be revoked. Arya was also disqualified from the party’s leadership race earlier this year, with the party not elaborating on the reason.

NDP Focuses on Affordability

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh stopped by an Ottawa food bank on March 29 to promote his party’s plan to keep food costs down.

Singh said an NDP government would introduce emergency price caps on basic food items such as pasta, frozen vegetables, and infant formula.

The party also says it would introduce a mandatory Code of Conduct for grocers to regulate prices and tax profits of retailers, including Costco, Loblaws, and Walmart.

“People are doing everything they can to make ends meet—and they’re being squeezed from every side,” Singh said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this article.