Photo: The Canadian Press
Pierre Poilievre
The likely next leader of the federal Conservative Party spent Friday in Okanagan.
Pierre Poilievre, who votes about 50 percent among Conservatives, met with party loyalists, local MPs and business leaders before leaving for Vancouver.
Poilievre took a few minutes on Friday to talk to Castanet News about some of the problems Okanagan residents and Canadians face.
HOUSING
Poilievre says inland communities are facing housing problems, in part because larger communities like Vancouver are doing a bad job building new homes, raising prices and people looking for greener pastures.
He said $ 650,000 of the cost of each housing unit in Vancouver will go to the government bureaucracy alone.
“I’m going to demand that large, overpriced metropolitan centers eliminate guardians, who build more housing as a condition of getting their entire infrastructure. The amount of dollars the city of Vancouver receives in money for infrastructure it will be related to the number of homes. the city council allows to build, “he said.
“I will also sell 15 percent of the 37,000 federal buildings we have in our inventory … many of them are almost empty. Then we also need to reduce taxes on workers and employers so we can encourage and stimulate. More investment.”
Poilievre says the federal government doesn’t need to inject billions into a federal housing program, but it needs to do so so that builders can get affordable permits to build more homes.
INFLATION
Poilievre believes the rampant inflation Canadians are feeling today is caused by the same factors that caused inflation in the 1970s: a government with monstrous deficits and rising taxes.
“Half a trillion dollars of liberal deficits have sent more money into raising the price of goods. Liberal taxes are increasing the cost of producing those goods. The more Trudeau spends, the more things cost. It’s Justin-flation. We have to go back .in common sense, “Poilievre said.
“I will pass a law that limits government spending so we can get rid of the inflation deficit. I will get rid of the federal carbon tax mandate so that British Colombians do not have to pay a 200% increase in the carbon tax.
“I will eliminate bureaucracy so that our businesses and farmers can produce more food, more energy and more homes.”
He has also pledged to fire the head of the Bank of Canada, saying that instead of acting independently, he has been printing money to pay for Trudeau’s deficits.
WIN THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS
Conservative leaders have long been seen moving to the right to win a leadership race and then returning to the center during an election campaign.
Poilievre says he will not fall into this mentality, but will remain true to his policies. He says he believes policies like CBC refinancing and pipeline construction will play out for all Canadians, not just the Conservative base.
“Canadians understand that our failure to build pipelines has not protected the environment, it only protects foreign dictators. This week, Trudeau agreed to send the turbines to Putin so he could pump gas through his pipeline to Germany. And Germany is paying for this gas, which it is using to finance its war, “he said.
“We could be selling Canadian natural gas to Germany if we could get approval for gas pipelines and export terminals, but that would take us seven to ten years. We could produce liquefied natural gas with the lowest environmental footprint on earth, because we have zero hydroelectric emissions in British Columbia, Quebec and Newfoundland and because we have the cold climate that facilitates gas liquefaction. “
MOVING THE PARTY MORE TO THE RIGHT
Poilievre opposes the characterization that the Conservative party is moving more to the right than ever.
“Balanced budgets, low taxes, resource development, freedom of speech are all core values of the Conservatives that our party has championed for decades. I would say they are core Canadian values that both Liberals and Conservatives used to adopt unanimously, ”he said.
“What has happened is that the Trudeau Liberals have radicalized. They have accepted money-printing deficits that have led to rampant inflation, they have tried to censor what people see and say on the Internet, they have introduced the Emergency Act. to confiscate people’s bank accounts have blocked the development of resources to make our people poorer.
“These are radical policies that are out of touch with moderate and dominant Canadians.”
The Conservatives will choose their new leader on September 10th.