MONDAY RECAP: No timeouts for campaigning despite NHL playoffs in full swing
Follow our updates throughout the day ahead of the April 28 election
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Follow the Toronto Sun’s live coverage of Canada’s 45th general election and tariff-related news, with contributions from Brian Lilley, Bryan Passifiume, Lorrie Goldstein and columnists Joe Warmington and Warren Kinsella, as well as contributions from the Sun’s editors and reporters covering the election ahead of the April 28 vote. Plus, you can find all of our election coverage here.
EDMONTON CANDIDATES FILLING THEIR TANK ON OILERS PRIDE
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“How about them Oilers?” During playoff time, it’s the ultimate icebreaker for Edmontonians who meet on the street, the Edmonton Journal reports. It’s also a great opening line for the political candidate who comes to a resident’s door.
As the Oilers begin their first-round Western Conference series against the Los Angeles Kings, candidates are fully aware that they need to use their Edmonton hockey acumen to their advantage.
Trisha Estabrooks, the NDP candidate in Edmonton Centre, will spend Monday night at the Crestwood Curling Club, watching Game 1 with community members. And she’s going door to door sporting a pair of blue and orange beaded Oilers earrings. She’s making sure to advertise just how much the Oilers mean to her.
But will Estabrooks knock on doors after the opening faceoff of an Oilers’ playoff game? Absolutely not.
POILIEVRE DOUBLES DOWN ON MANDATORY RETIREMENT VOW
The leader of Canada’s Conservatives doubled down on his promise to keep Canada’s mandatory retirement age at 65, Bryan Passifiume writes.
Speaking Monday to the Canadian Association of Retired Persons at ZoomerHall in Liberty Village, Pierre Poilievre highlighted how a Conservative government would maintain the age of receiving Old Age Security (OAS), Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payments.
“A Conservative government will honour and reward the hard work of seniors by keeping your first $34,000 of earnings completely tax free,” Poilievre continued.
“Seniors who work get clawed back on their benefits, then they pay payroll tax, and income tax — and at some income levels they actually end up worse off by earning their next dollar.”
That would increase current income thresholds by $10,000.
LIBERAL, TORY HOUSING PLANS FAR FROM REALISTIC: AGAR
No matter who wins the election, we’re promised a housing boom.
Mark Carney and the Liberals will build 500,000 modular homes per year, for a total of two million homes.
No to be outdone, Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives promise 2.3 million homes in five years.
Jerry Agar asks: How will they do it?
NO SUBSIDIZING CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM: POILIEVRE
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has thrown his weight behind withholding federal funding from Canadian universities who don’t do enough to fight antisemitism, the Montreal Gazette reports.
Speaking in French at a news conference in British Columbia on Sunday, Poilievre said public funds should not be used to support hate.
“We should never give our money to subsidize antisemitism,” he said. “There will not be a cent from my government to subsidize antisemitism, the extremism we see in the streets, the harassment of Canadian Jews, or the terrorist attacks against synagogues. It’s disgusting.”
Earlier in April, Neil Oberman, the Conservative candidate in Montreal’s Mount Royal riding, said in an interview with the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) that universities which fail to act on antisemitism “will not get a single penny from the federal government until they clean up.”
It comes as tensions have risen on Canadian campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza.
LILLEY: ‘SUITS’ AND ‘BOOTS’ BACKING CONSERVATIVE LEADER PIERRE POILIEVRE
Guy Fournier says he’s voting for Pierre Poilievre because the next Prime Minister of Canada should offer “hope for a better future, not fear and empty promises.” What makes Fournier’s statement of note is that he’s not just a union leader, he’s a Quebec union leader, a group of people not normally prone to voting Conservative.
Yet Fournier, the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 568, representing workers across Quebec has said he endorses Poilievre “with all of my heart and soul.”
You can add Fournier’s endorsement to that of Karl Lovett, of the IBEW 778, in the Windsor area and Tyler Holmen of IBEW, Local 2067, representing electricians across Saskatchewan. It’s not just electricians, it’s plumbers, pipefitters, steelworkers, carpenters — Poilievre’s campaign is basically being endorsed by people who build make things for a living.
Read the rest of Brian Lilley’s column here.
GOV’T REPORT PREDICTS 2040 DYSTOPIA: COLLAPSED ECONOMY
OTTAWA — It’s a dystopian future where wealth and property ownership is entirely generational, post-secondary education is no longer a key to success and hungry Canadians resort to poaching wildlife to feed their families.
While this is quickly becoming a reality for more and more Canadians, an internal government report from Policy Horizons Canada warns these horrors could become everyday life in Canada as early as 2040, returning society to one based on inter-generational wealth — with land barons and an aristocracy usually found only in history books.
Entitled “Future Lives: Social mobility in question,” the report paints a picture of what life in Canada could soon be like if current economic policy stays the course.
“Social mobility lies at the heart of the Canadian project. Many people in Canada assume that ‘following the rules’ and ‘doing the right things’ will lead to a better life,” said the report’s introduction.
Read more here
TORY COSTED PLATFORM COMING
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said at an event in Scarborough that his party would release its costed platform on Tuesday, a day after advance voting closes.
“Tomorrow we will have a platform for all eyes to see, which will bring change to Canada,” he said.
Poilievre on Monday promised to build 2.3 million homes over the next five years.
The Conservative platform would tie municipalities’ federal infrastructure funding to their pace of home construction approvals — cities that approve 15 per cent more housing each year would get full funding, while cities that approve fewer homes would collect less.
The party is also proposing to free up federal land for more homebuilding, cut the GST on new homes worth up to $1.3 million and encourage cities to cut development charges.
LIBERAL HEALTH PLAN
Liberal Leader Mark Carney was in Charlottetown talking about his health-care plan.
He said a Liberal government would commit $4 billion to provinces to build more hospitals and clinics. The Liberals also say they would work to train more family doctors and nurse practitioners in Canada and recognize foreign health-care credentials so physicians from outside of the country can practise here.
TRIBUTES TO POPE FRANCIS
The party leaders paid tribute to Pope Francis, who died Monday at age 88.
LAST DAY OF ADVANCE POLLING
Canadians hoping to vote early in the federal election have until the end of Monday to visit an advance polling station as the campaign enters its final week.
Today is the fourth and final day that advance polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. before the general election date of April 28.
And until 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Canadians can also either cast their ballot at an Elections Canada office in their riding or apply to vote by mail.
WHERE THE LEADERS ARE MONDAY
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will return to the Greater Toronto Area today to make an announcement following a weekend trip to British Columbia.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is still in B.C., making campaign stops in Nanaimo, Comox and Port Moody.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney will start the final week of the campaign in Prince Edward Island.
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