As writ drops, party leaders kick off election campaigns

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OTTAWA — It’s time for Canadians to finally embrace change.

That was the message Sunday from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he kicked off the Tories’ 2025 election campaign,

“The Liberals are asking for a fourth term in power, after swapping Justin Trudeau for his economic advisor and handpicked successor,” Poilievre said during his campaign kickoff in Gatineau, QC. across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill.

“But after the lost Liberal decade, the question is whether Canadians can afford a fourth Liberal term after these out-of-touch Liberals inflated housing costs, drove up the cost of food, pushed two million people to food banks, unleashed crime on our streets, ruined our immigration system, blocked our resources, sent half a trillion dollars to the United States, and made our economy more reliant on the Americans than ever before.”

Poilievre promised a government that would thoroughly eliminate the carbon tax, provide housing security and stand up to U.S. president Donald Trump from what he described as a “position of strength” — assuring Canadians that he would never surrender Canada’s sovereignty to the Americans.

“We will stare down this unprovoked threat with steely resolve, because, be assured, we will never be part of the United States and we will never ever give up our sovereignty and our freedom,” he said.

Poilievre is running on a platform of knocking down interprovincial trade barriers, repealing Liberal catch-and-release laws feeding Canada’s ongoing violent crime epidemic, capping immigration, rebuilding Canada’s military and make life more affordable.

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At his own campaign launch at a downtown Ottawa hotel, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh promised to fight for all Canadians.

“That promise of a great future is slipping further and further away,” he said.

“The people who built this country are paying the greatest price, and that’s not fair.”

Singh, who until this past September propped up the minority Trudeau Liberals via a supply and confidence agreement, said Canada needs a radical change from previous governments.

“You deserve a prime minister you can trust to make decisions in your best interests, not to advance his personal wealth,” he said.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume