OTTAWA–For Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the ballot box question in this campaign is still about his slogans — but it’s also about U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We need a change with a ‘Canada First’ government that will axe taxes, build homes, approve resources, bring home the hundreds of billions of dollars the Liberals have pushed out of the economy, so that we can stand up to the president from a position of strength,” Poilievre told reporters Sunday during a news conference at a plastics manufacturer in North York.
“That is what this election is about.”
Poilievre had just been asked about recent calls for his team to respond more forcefully to Trump’s tariff war.
Last week, Kory Teneycke, Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager and veteran Conservative strategist, openly aired his concerns about Poilievre’s preoccupation with issues like tax cuts and his “globalist” smears against Liberal Leader Mark Carney in the face of the Trump administration’s war on Canadian goods.
Teneycke also shared internal polling with the Star from Ford’s Progressive Conservatives that found that in Ontario, Carney’s Liberals had 48 per cent public support compared to Poilievre’s 33 per cent.
After Teneycke rang those alarm bells at an Empire Club of Canada panel last Wednesday, media reports alleged that there were tensions within Poilievre’s campaign team, in part because of beliefs that the leader and his top adviser, Jenni Byrne, have not heeded appeals to more robustly address the Trump threat. Poilievre’s office has rejected that framing.
Poilievre announced on Sunday that a Conservative-led government would ensure that any person or business selling an asset would pay no capital gains tax as long as they reinvest the proceeds in Canada.
“Today we are standing up to the Americans with a ‘Canada First’ reinvestment tax cut that will bring tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into our economy to create an economic fortress against the unjustified and unfair threats of Donald Trump,” Poilievre said.
A Conservative news release says companies that reinvest their proceeds in Canadian businesses will also be able to defer taxes on any capital gains reinvested between July 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2026.
“But, if it causes a major economic boom, as expected, Conservatives will make it permanent,” the news release notes.
Canadians will only pay capital gains tax when they cash out or move the money abroad.
Party costing indicates the policy would cost $5 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year, and $5.5 billion in the following fiscal year.
Poilievre argued the measure would serve as “economic rocket fuel” for Canada, spurring investments in the country that would build more resource infrastructure and homes.
The Liberals, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, pledged last year to hike the inclusion rate — the amount of capital gains subject to income tax — to two-thirds for businesses, and for capital gains over $250,000 for individuals.
Carney — who on Sunday met with an Ottawa family away from the cameras and later planned to meet with volunteers in Etobicoke — cancelled the proposed rate hike prior to the election call.
The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh meanwhile, hit up British Columbia on Sunday, where he is attempting to fend off a strong challenge from the Conservatives.
“For folks out there in British Columbia, remember, it’s New Democrats that beat Conservatives. On Vancouver Island it’s New Democrats who beat Conservatives. Here in the Lower Mainland, it’s New Democrats who beat Conservatives,” Singh said at a news conference in Port Moody, B.C.
At dissolution, the New Democrats (who are losing three incumbents in the province) held 13 of B.C.‘s federal seats, while the Liberals and Conservatives held 15 and 14 respectively.
Singh’s visit, which also included an event in Burnaby and a planned stop in Vancouver on Sunday, came two days after the Conservatives’ Poilievre blew through the greater Vancouver area and Nanaimo.
The NDP leader unveiled a plan to help some first-time homebuyers by allowing the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to offer them lower-interest, fixed-term loans.
“It’s never been done before, but if we can give loans to large wealthy developers to buy buildings, to buy homes, why can’t we give everyday families a break?” Singh said.
An NDP news release said that offering long-term, public-backed mortgages would “directly reduce monthly costs and cut tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a mortgage.”
Singh said he had not spoken to banks or credit unions about the impact the move might have on Canada’s mortgage market.
“I’m not too worried about what banks think. This is about helping out people,” the NDP leader said.
Singh also took aim at Poilievre and the recent reports suggesting dysfunction within his ranks.
“They’re fighting each other,” Singh said, arguing that the alleged infighting is distracting the Conservatives from “standing up for Canadians.”
