This is part of a two-part series examining changes in the leading federal parties. You can read the article on the Liberals here.
Pierre Poilievre has been constantly rolling out policy announcements that follow his “common sense” motto since he became leader of the Conservative Party in 2022.
In the campaign trail, Poilievre has kept some of his longtime key policies, including in the areas of public safety and resource development projects.
However, some of these policy proposals have been modified since Mark Carney became Liberal leader and prime minister and the election campaign kicked off amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a look at some of those items.
Energy and Climate Change
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a press conference regarding his “Axe the Tax” message from the roof of a parking garage in St. John's, on Oct.27, 2023. The Canadian Press/Paul Daly
Poilievre initially made the federal carbon tax a centrepiece of his campaign, going so far as to call for an “Axe The Tax” election. The Tory leader argued that the policy, which started in 2019 at $20 per tonne and was set to increase until reaching $170 per tonne in 2030, has been raising the cost of food, fuel, and heating during a cost-of-living crisis.
The Liberals under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had vowed to keep the policy, only allowing a carve-out for the tax on home heating oil. However, the policy lost relevance after Carney ended the tax for consumers on his first day as prime minister.
Poilievre subsequently modified his policy, stating he would remove the carbon tax for both consumers and industries while also rewarding heavy industries that make products with lower emissions than the world average. He hadn’t previously vowed to remove that industrial part of the tax.
The Tory leader has also consistently said he is opposed to the Impact Assessment Act, which gave the federal government the power to evaluate major infrastructure projects like pipeline projects and new mines. Poilievre referred to this legislation as the “No New Pipelines” law and has pledged to repeal it.
Since the election was called, Poilievre has doubled down on his pro-energy policies. He has outlined proposals for pre-approving “Canada Shovel Ready Zones,” speeding up mining and energy projects, and scrapping Bill C-48 that stops ships holding 12,500 metric tons of oil from operating in the waters off B.C.’s north coast. He has also pledged to create a new office to speed up regulatory approvals and to approve a number of resource projects that have been delayed for years, specifically identifying 10 such projects.
On international treaties, Poilievre has said he is not proposing that Canada withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. He has said the path to reducing emissions is through the use of technology.
Support Programs and Budget
The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill is seen in Ottawa on March 9, 2025. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
Prior to the election, Poilievre had been critical of the Liberal government’s pharmacare and child care support programs, saying they should be left to the provinces. He did not express an opinion on the dental care program.
During a debate in the House of Commons in September 2024, Poilievre said he would “reject” the Liberals’ single-payer pharmacare plan; he had previously warned that the plan would effectively “ban” private drug insurance plans. He also criticized the government’s $10-a-day child care plan as being overly bureaucratic.
On the campaign trail in March, however, Poilievre said he would “protect” those social programs and ensure no Canadians currently covered will lose that coverage.
Taking away the programs would be unpopular among some sectors of society, a consideration that has likely played into the party’s calculation to maintain them. However, Poilievre’s wording could indicate less likelihood the Conservatives would expand the programs.
Poilievre has also said he would use proceeds from Canada’s retaliatory tariffs to help the impacted Canadians.
Since the start of the U.S. tariffs threat, he has been proposing programs to encourage more investments in Canada, including deferring capital gains tax if proceeds are reinvested in Canada. He has also put forward tax-cutting measures, including cutting the tax rate of the lowest income bracket, and proposed savings incentives.
Poilievre has long been outspoken about government spending and the national debt, and in 2023 put out a YouTube series called “Debtonation” about “Canada’s $10 Trillion Problem.” For over a year, he has vowed to “fix the budget” through a dollar-for-dollar rule, which would mean that every new dollar in spending would need to be accompanied with a dollar in savings.
New homes are constructed in Ottawa on Aug. 14, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Poilievre’s initial housing plan in 2023 involved removing “gatekeepers” and “red tape” to speed up home building. He proposed listing 15 percent of the federal government’s 37,000 buildings to be turned into housing, requiring cities to enable a 15 percent increase in annual home construction as a condition for receiving federal infrastructure funding, and removing bonuses for and even firing Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation “gatekeeers” if they fail to speed up approval of applications for housing programs.
While the Conservatives had also pledged to get rid of the federal sales tax on new homes under $1 million, Carney announced in March that a Liberal government would remove the tax on all new and “substantially renovated” homes under $1 million. This led Poilievre to subsequently announce he would get rid of the sales tax on new homes of up to $1.3 million.
Poilievre has also said a Conservative government would get rid of the $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund and $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, arguing that the two policies have not resulted in new homes being built. That money would instead go toward eliminating the federal sales tax on new homes, he said.
Immigration
A treatment room in the emergency department at a hospital in Calgary, Alta., on Aug. 22, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh
Poilievre started talking publicly about immigration in August 2023, when he promised a “common sense” immigration policy built around the number of vacancies in the private sector, the number of charities that can sponsor refugees, and family reunification. But he did not comment on the government’s immigration targets, which saw the population grow by more than a million people the previous year.
At the end of 2023, Poilievre went further by saying it was “simple math” that increasing immigration without ensuring adequate housing would drive up housing prices. In August 2024, he accused the Liberals of having “destroyed our immigration system” and said he would make cuts to immigration levels.
Poilievre has said he would keep immigration levels in line with the availability of housing, health care, and jobs.
Since the election began, immigration hasn’t been a top talking point for the Conservatives, except when criticizing Carney for bringing aboard his Canada-U.S. council, the co-founder of the Century Initiative, which advocates for Canada to have a population of 100 million by 2100. Poilievre called this a “radical” idea that will “drive wages down” for Canadians while increasing profits for multinational corporations.
Poilievre has also kept his policy promise of establishing a “Blue Seal” national testing standard to allow people from other countries to more easily acquire licences in regulated trades such as health care.
Public Safety
Filmmaker and now-Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn (R), sitting with Nanaimo, B.C., resident Collen Middleton, shows the littered evidence he regularly finds outside a nearby pharmacy where addicts are selling their "safer supply" drugs to other people. Courtesy of Aaron Gunn
Public safety, especially the issue of Canada’s bail system as well as drug policies, was a particular focus for Poilievre before the election, and that has continued to be the case during the election campaign.
Prior to the election, Poilievre frequently criticized the Liberal government’s crime policies and vowed to implement “jail not bail” for repeat offenders. Before the election, Poilievre called on the Liberals to revoke parts of Bill C-75, legislation that instructs judges to release criminals as early as possible under the least onerous conditions.
Poilievre has said he would get rid of Bill C-48, which created a reverse onus provision for individuals who have been charged with a serious offence involving violence and who have been convicted in the previous five years of a similar offence. The bill also required courts to record how they determine whether the accused belongs to a “vulnerable population” and how these circumstances were considered.
Most recently, the Tory leader said his government would enact a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” law to prevent those convicted of three serious offences from getting bail, probation, parole, or house arrest, and to ensure they instead get a minimum jail sentence of 10 years and up to a life sentence.
Poilievre has also proposed to allow judges impose consecutive life sentences for mass murderers. He has said he would use the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to do this, which if it came to pass would make him the first Canadian prime minister to use the controversial clause.
Poilievre has long been opposed to the “safer supply” drug policies that give prescribed medications to those at risk of overdosing from substances such as opioids. His party is also against safe injection sites that allow drug users to use drugs under the supervision of staff who can help them if they overdose.
While the drug policies surrounding the “safer supply” or “harm reduction” policies are often implemented by provincial governments, some federal health ministers have been supportive of such policies and encouraged their use. As well, the federal government allowed an exemption for B.C. to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs starting in 2023, before the province backtracked the next year amid a public backlash as drug use in public spaces increased.
On gun control, the Conservatives have said they would repeal Bill C-21, which codified a national handgun freeze and increased penalties for firearms offences. The party also pledged to stop the Liberals’ gun buyback program. These topics haven’t been a focus during the election campaign.
The Conservatives have also opposed Liberal legislation aimed at regulating online content, including the Online Harms Act. While the Online Harms Act was killed after Parliament was prorogued in early January, Carney has said he would bring back aspects of Bill C-63 related to countering child exploitation and hateful speech. The topics related to internet regulation haven’t been a main campaign focus for the Conservatives.
Foreign Policy
The logo of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is seen at its headquarters in Beijing on June 15, 2023. Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
Poilievre has said his government would cut back on foreign aid as part of savings to fund tax cuts, higher military spending, and other policies that would benefit Canadians. He has kept this message consistent during the campaign.
He has also stayed consistent in his messaging on Canada’s support for Israel. Poilievre has said that the Conservative Party continues to “unapologetically stand with Israel” as it fights its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and further condemned Iran’s “proxy” Hezbollah armies. Before the election, Poilievre also said he supported Israel taking pre-emptive action to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
He has said he would cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), which oversees help distribution in Gaza and other parts of the region. In pledging to do so, he cited investigations into some of the agency’s employees for taking part in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
In addition, Poilievre has expressed strong support for Ukraine, saying just ahead of the election campaign that his message to Ukraine three years ago, at the start of the war, remains true, that “Canadians stand in total solidarity with you.”
As the issue of U.S. tariffs arose ahead of the election campaign, Poilievre said Canada should target the country with retaliatory tariffs that are focused on items that Canada either does not need, can manufacture itself, or can buy elsewhere. But more of his focus has been on strengthening Canada’s own economy and making it more attractive for investment by lowering taxes and reducing red tape, so that the country can compete with the United States.
Poilievre has also condemned foreign interference activities in Canada by China, and said he would end involvement by Canada in the China-created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The issue of China has come up during the election campaign, with the Conservatives criticizing Carney’s interactions with Chinese officials when he was in the private sector, as well as his refusal to drop candidates with Beijing ties. The topic of Chinese interference, however, hasn’t been a central focus so far in the campaign.
Defence
HMCS Fredericton in Frobisher Bay at the southern tip of Baffin Island, taking part in a sovereignty exercise in a file photo. Michel Comte/AFP via Getty Images
When it comes to Canada’s military, Poilievre has been critical of its “woke” culture that he says has harmed military readiness and reduced the number of recruits. Although he hasn’t repeated these points during election campaign press conferences, he has been talking about these issues in his widely attended campaign rallies with supporters.
Poilievre said in July 2024 that he would not commit to meeting NATO’s spending target of 2 percent of GDP, as he would be inheriting a “dumpster fire of a budget” if he becomes prime minister.
As Trump has made NATO members meeting their defence spending commitments a major issue, Poilievre has also since said that a Conservative government would meet the defence pact’s expenditure requirements.
Ahead of the election campaign, Poilievre has increasingly emphasized the importance of Arctic security, holding a press conference in Nunavut in February and saying he would build a permanent base in Canada’s Arctic.
His more specific plan also involves procuring two additional polar icebreakers for the Royal Canadian Navy, and doubling the amount of Canadian Rangers patrolling the north. The Tories have said more details on their defence plan will be forthcoming.
Cultural Issues and Public Positions
The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport on May 10, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Poilievre has said in the past that he would end Canada’s “radical woke ideology.” After the election began, he said he would “end cancel culture and stop the war on our history” by increasing penalties for those who desecrate statues of historical figures, restore historical events such as Vimy Ridge and the Fathers of Confederation to passports, and bring back in-person Canadian citizenship oaths.
Prior to the campaign, Poilievre also said he was not in favour of hormone-blockers being given to minors, noting that they are “irreversible.” However, the issue has not been featured on the campaign trail by the Tories.
Some of the promises Poilievre made during the leadership campaign in 2022 seem to have been dropped or taken a backseat.
Poilievre had promised to fire Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem for implementing quantitative easing which then led to higher inflation. But when asked in March if he still planned to do this, he didn’t answer directly, saying, “I believe that government officials should be accountable for their decisions, and when they fail, government officials should be fired.”
Poilievre’s pledge to end funding the CBC has also seen less airtime since the election campaign began. Back in 2022, he said his government would “defund” the CBC, which receives $1.4 billion a year in federal funding, while keeping the French arm, Radio-Canada.
During an April 10 rally, Poilievre turned down an opportunity to talk about his pledge when an audience member yelled out “defund the CBC.”
On April 15, when asked point-blank if he would defund the broadcaster within 100 days of becoming prime minister, Poilievre said he doesn’t “have a time frame” but noted he has “already made my position clear” that he would defund it.
The Tory leader has been consistent about banning any Conservative MPs from attending the World Economic Forum, with the party saying the organization has a “radical woke agenda” and that its policies do not align with interests of Canadians.
He has also said he would repeal the legislation brought in under Bill C-11 and C-18 aimed at regulating online content.
