Over 1000 Conservative supporters pooled into a warehouse in northern Saskatoon Thursday night to hear the party’s federal leader highlight some items from his platform, released on Tuesday.
Pierre Poilievre urged Canadians to ‘vote for change’ by promising a $50 billion cut to foreign aid and “other waste” that would aim to bring down the current deficit. He also reannounced a series of full or partial cuts to the income tax, federal sales tax on new homes, capital gains tax, and carbon tax.
To follow, he vowed to introduce harsher penalties for criminals, eliminate several ‘soft-on-crime Liberal policies’, and use the notwithstanding clause to lock up certain murderers.
“Catch and release, C75, gone! House arrest, C5, gone! Paul Bernardo, he’s going back to a max pen, and he won’t come out until he leaves in a box.”
He also made a note of enhancing the voice of the West, should he be voted in.
“We are going to ensure that the days of Liberal arrogance that tell western-Canadians to pay up and shut up, those days are over. The West is going to have a strong voice in a new Conservative government.”
Met with cheers, he vowed to protect oil and gas by repealing C69, the bill that requires numerous assessments before a major resource or infrastructure project can be set in motion.
To bolster the skilled trades, Poilievre added that he will revive the $4000 Apprenticeship Grant, pass the Tax Fairness for Traveling Trades Workers Act, and allow youth to start a pre-apprenticeship program as early as 14 years old.
Poilievre shared his plan for tackling the overdose crisis.
The Conservative leader stated that his government would fund treatment spots for 50,000Canadians, as well as give anyone caught with 40 grams or more of fentanyl a life sentence.
“We will have mandatory drug treatment in prison for people whose offences are linked to drug addiction, and we will pay for this by cutting off the outrageous subsidy of opioids, and we will sue the corrupt pharmaceutical companies that caused this crisis in the first place.”
Large scale gun smugglers will also be dealt life sentences.
Poilievre says he will cancel the Liberal Party’s firearms confiscation program, using the saved money to pay for enhanced border security.
He concluded the rally by highlighting his support for veterans, who will benefit from “Helmets to Hardhats”, a program that assists young veterans in getting back into the workforce using the skills they’ve developed in the military.
Poilievre hopes to also launch the build of the first permanent Arctic Canadian base since the Cold War, called CFB Iqaluit.
He was interrupted twice by protesters. The first duo, the same two teenage boys that disrupted Mark Carney’s Liberal rally on April 9th, and the second, a man holding the flag of Palestine.
He will be making an appearance Friday morning in Saskatoon, as well.
