Pierre Poilievre made an appearance at a local freight company in Milton today (May 10), making scathing criticism on the federal government’s policies — including the carbon tax — and sharing his “common sense” plans to address the housing crisis and soaring cost of living.
The Conservative leader, joined by former Ontario PC MPP Parm Gill, said the carbon tax “punishes” people and impacts not only gas prices, but also groceries and businesses.
“The taxes on these things here are passed on exactly to people, the consumers who buy the products that come in these trucks and the workers who deliver the products,” said Poilievre.
When asked later about what his climate policy would be, Poilievre emphasized a strategy focused on lowering the costs of carbon-free alternatives rather than increasing traditional energy expenses.
He shared plans to accelerate the approval process for hydroelectric dams, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, as well as tidal power generation to generate significant green energy capacity to power the grid without emissions.
The goal, he stated, is to reduce both pollution and energy expenses for Canadians.
While the federal carbon levy is a contributing factor in driving up costs, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem stated in September that tax is responsible for a 0.15 percentage point increase in inflation annually.
On the housing crunch, Poilievre said Canada has the fewest homes per capita of any country in the G7, despite having the most land to build on.
“We need millions of new homes,” he said, adding that the country has the “worst” bureaucracy — “the second slowest building permits” in the OECD — that, according to him, adds $350,000 to the cost of every newly-built home.
He outlined the strategy to build more homes.
This involves requiring cities to “speed up permits, free up land, and cut taxes and charges to build.” Under the plan, they are required to build 15 per cent more housing each year in order to qualify for federal funding, as well as building high-rises around federally funded transit stations.
“We will sell off 6,000 federal buildings and thousands of acres of federal land to build, build, build,” he told MiltonToday, adding that he’d also support the trades, “so we have more boots on the ground to build the homes.”
