LILLEY: Poilievre brings the facts to mix it up with Trudeau

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As Parliament resumes, Justin Trudeau has said that he can’t wait to get into it with Pierre Poilievre. In an exclusive interview with The Toronto Sun, Poilievre said there is a simple way for the two of them to mix it up.

“Justin, if you want to mix it up, let’s call that carbon tax election, and let’s have a big choice for Canadians, a referendum, 61-cent-a-litre carbon tax under you, or axe the tax under Pierre Poilievre and the common-sense Conservatives,” Poilievre said.

The Conservative leader has now called on all major party leaders to send Canadians to the voting booth as soon as possible. Looking at the polls, it’s no wonder: Poilievre’s Conservatives lead Trudeau’s Liberals by between 19 and 21 points, according to the three latest polls from Abacus, Ipsos and Leger.

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All three polls were taken after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ripped up his coalition deal with Trudeau.

“He ripped up the coalition agreement, but then he taped it back together,” Poilievre said.

“It’s really sad to see someone who claims to be this socialist, to be himself so greedy, you know, to put his $2.2 million pension ahead of the people who can’t afford to eat.”

Singh qualifies for his pension after six years of service, which he passes on Feb. 25, 2025. While he won’t qualify for his pension until age 55, the lifetime value of it is estimated to be over $2 million once he does start to collect.

Poilievre is not alone in speculating that the NDP leader wants to wait to call an election until after his pension is vested.

Singh has refused to say if he will vote non-confidence against the Trudeau government. Instead, he’s tried to use his spotlight in the media since announce the split from Trudeau in painting the next election as a fight between himself and Poilievre.

Singh says he’s the only leader who can stop what he calls “Conservative cuts,” along with claims that Poilievre wants to dismantle Canada’s health-care system.

“Do you want to dismantle health care in this country?” I asked Poilievre directly.

“No,” he replied. “You don’t need to take my word for it, because I have a record. When I was part of the common-sense Conservative government of Stephen Harper, something for which I’m very proud of, we increased health spending every year by 6% which is more than it has increased under the NDP-Liberals.”

Trudeau’s increases have been closer to 3% annually since taking office, meaning the Conservatives increased health transfers to the provinces at a faster rate than the Liberals. Not that fact stopped the Liberals or NDP from claiming cuts while Harper was in office, nor will it stop them talking about cuts now.

Poilievre struck a balance on immigration during the interview by saying he wants to cap immigration numbers and tie them to housing supply until we no longer have a housing shortage. He also said immigrants already here should be able to use their skills to the best of their ability to help Canada.

“We’ve got 20,000 immigrant doctors and 32,000 immigrant nurses who can’t work simply because they can’t get licenses, even though they’ve had very successful careers in other countries with similar standards,” Poilievre said.

He’s promising a red seal program for professions to make accreditation easier for newcomers. It’s a plan that would help in easing the incredible shortage in health human resources being felt across the country.

On the carbon tax, he was clear. It is a disaster for the economy and must go.

“The finance department says that this year alone, with the 17-cent-a-litre tax, it deletes $25 billion of our GDP,” Poilievre said. “By 2030 will have deleted $40 billion of GDP, according to the government’s own estimates. I believe it will be far worse.”

Poilievre said the country needs a carbon tax election and while he wants one and the voters clearly want change, it’s not clear that an election will actually come this fall.

Stay tuned.