Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his party will not change its key policies in response to U.S. tariff threats, saying that the Tories’ proposed policies related to cutting taxes and promoting energy projects are now “even more correct.”
In a Feb. 18 social media post, Poilievre reiterated his policies of cancelling the federal carbon tax and the capital gains tax hike; approving more pipeline construction and repealing Bill C-69, sometimes called the No More Pipelines Act; and “celebrating, not cancelling, our history.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports, with the exception of 10 percent tariffs on energy imports, over border security concerns. Although Trump on Feb. 3 announced he would pause the tariffs for a month while he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked out a “final economic deal,” he has since continued suggesting that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Trump subsequently signed proclamations on Feb. 10 to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including those from Canada, beginning on March 12.
Poilievre’s comments built on a speech he gave at a “Canada First” rally in Ottawa on Feb. 15, where he said some media outlets are “now saying that I should change my entire platform because of the tariff threat.” He said Trump’s tariff threats “have proven Conservatives right on everything.”
The Tory leader also suggested the Liberals are admitting that his policies are correct, saying the new Liberal leadership candidates are supporting some of the measures first proposed by the Conservatives, such as cancelling the capital gains tax hike and expanding domestic pipelines.
“First the Liberals said, ‘Poilievre has no policies.’ And then they said, ‘OK, he does, but they’re really scary.’ And now they say they agree with all my policies,” he said.
Poilievre has repeatedly called for the federal government to do away with its carbon tax, making “axe the tax” one of his signature campaign messages. He has argued that the tax increases the cost of a range of essential items, from food to fuel, and has repeatedly called for the Liberals to hold a “carbon tax election.”
For his part, Liberal leadership contender and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has criticized Poilievre for his “axe the tax” slogan, saying it’s misleading.
“Pierre Poilievre, with his simplistic and misleading ‘Axe the Tax,’ doesn’t care about either problem. Now, that’s possible because he doesn’t really believe in climate change, or it’s possible he thinks that Canada, for the first time in our history, should be a free-rider on a massive global problem,” Carney said in Halifax on Jan. 31.
The top Liberal leadership candidates have proposed eliminating or lessening the carbon tax, with Carney proposing to replace the consumer carbon tax with an incentive program and making “big polluters” pay more. Former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has also said she would drop the carbon tax. Karina Gould, another leadership contender and former cabinet minister, has said she would halt the carbon tax hike scheduled in April.
During his Feb. 15 rally, Poilievre said Canada has been forced to import oil from other countries because of a lack of pipelines to bring energy across the country, despite being the fourth-largest global supplier of oil. He said that if his party forms government, he would repeal Bill C-69, which requires additional environmental assessments to build pipelines.
Poilievre also proposed to “end cancel culture and stop the war on our history” by increasing penalties for those who desecrate statues like that of Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald, reinstating the Canadian Navy’s marching anthem “Heart of Oak,” completing a monument paying tribute to Canada’s Afghanistan veterans, and bringing back historical figures like Terry Fox on the Canadian passport.
