Carney's cabinet picks suggest strong ties to Trudeau-era policies: Poilievre

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OTTAWA — The Tories are warning that Canadians should expect more of the same, as the official Opposition gears up to take on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government.

Reacting to Carney’s unveiling of his new cabinet, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the makeup of the PM’s inner circle, insisting there are too many reminders from the Justin Trudeau era.

“In his first press conference, Mr. Carney talked a good game about reversing Liberal policies in these areas, but now we have to find out if he was serious — and so far, it’s not a promising start,” he said.

“He appointed Trudeau’s old team, and Trudeau’s old advisors.”

In all, 14 Trudeau-era ministers found roles in Carney’s cabinet.

While no longer in charge of the environment portfolio, Steven Guilbeault’s continued presence in the cabinet suggests Carney isn’t as different from Trudeau as he claims, Poilievre said.

“Sean Fraser was the immigration minister who caused the immigration crisis, the housing minister who gave us the housing crisis, and now he’s the minister responsible for addressing the Liberal crime crisis,” he said.

“It seems like he is the master at failing upward.”

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Chrystia Freeland’s presence in the cabinet is also problematic, he said — noting Canada’s ballooning debt and the stiffening of the carbon tax during her time as finance minister. Poilievre claimed new Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree sees little wrong with Canada’s broken bail system.

“And then there’s (new Finance Minister) François-Philippe Champagne — Trudeau’s minister of everything, who never really managed to do anything,” he said.

“He’s a nice guy, but he was the minister of industry during which we had the worst economic growth of any country in the G7, and now he’s in charge of the budget.”

Moving forward, Poilievre — who will be heading his party from the sidelines after losing his seat on election night — said his party will hit the ground running once the House resumes later this month.

“Let’s see what the government does — the previous government, to be frank, was a disaster, so we had every reason to oppose basically everything they did,” he said.

“When we put forward good ideas and the government accepts them, then we’re going to be celebrating. If the government acts against the interests of the country, then we will fight tooth and nail to stop them.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume