Conservatives promise to go after tax cheats, end offshore loopholes

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It’s time for Canada’s wealthy elite to pay their fair share.

That was the message coming from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on the campaign trail Tuesday morning, promising to go after tax cheats who hide their money in offshore bank accounts.

During a stop in Edmonton, Poilievre said a Conservative government in Ottawa will close offshore tax loopholes, steer Canada Revenue Agency resources towards cracking down on tax havens and away from auditing small business owners and charities, and expand the Offshore Tax Informant Program that will allow whistleblowers up to 20% of recovered funds from exposing tax cheats.

The Conservatives also say they would create a website to name multinational corporations caught dodging taxes.

Poilievre has been criticizing Mark Carney during the election campaign over the Liberal leader’s decision to stash Brookfield Asset Management profits in Bermuda while he was vice chairman at the firm.

Bermuda is a well-known tax haven that, according to accounting firm KPMG, has no capital gains tax, dividend tax, or withholding tax.

“In Carney’s Canada, there’s a two-tier tax code: one for the rich like him, and one for everyone else,” Poilievre said in a statement. “While you’re double-checking your tax return to avoid a penalty, Carney and his friends dodge theirs and then tax you more to make up the difference.”

The Conservatives said while Carney was advising then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since 2020 to hike taxes on working Canadians, the Liberal leader made sure his company’s profits stayed offshore and beyond the reach of the CRA.

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Poilievre said while Canadians were struggling to make ends meet, the Liberals also wrote off $5 billion in corporate taxes — including $1 billion for just five companies.

“After the lost Liberal decade, Canadians earn less, are taxed more, and pay higher prices for everything,” Poilievre said. “But well-connected Liberal insiders like Mark Carney have never had it so good.

“It’s time to flip the script,” Poilievre continued. “My new Conservative government will put hard-working Canadians first — for a change, letting them keep more of what they earn, while cracking down on offshore tax havens for rich insiders.”