ENFIELD/OTTAWA: Nova Scotians agree with Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the official opposition said regarding his message that the federal government needs to axe the Carbon Tax.
Poilievre was speaking about the carbon tax and his push to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau get rid of it, a message he brought to N.S. when he visited Truro and Halifax recently. He also stopped in to speak with the owners and employees of Ledwidge Lumber in Enfield.
He spoke to The Laker News about both of those topics during an interview. The team of Poilievre reached out to us to do the interview since we cover East Hants.
Poilievre was also asked about the housing issue that is rampant across Canada and the ban on hunting rifles.
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The leader of the “Common Sense Conservatives” as advertisements say on radio and TV, Poilievre said the carbon tax brought in by PM Trudeau and his government impacts motoring Nova Scotians—and Canadians—to the tune of roughly 14 to $0.20 a litre on gas and diesel. That’s driving up home heating bills, transportation costs and most importantly of all, food.
“Nova Scotians agree with Pierre Poilievre. It’s time to axe the carbon tax,” said Poilievre. “When Trudeau taxes the farmer who makes the food and the trucker who ships the food, he. Tax all who buy the food.
“Nova Scotians can’t afford to pay it. Already, too many Nova Scotians are skipping meals because food is too expensive. Many more going to food banks.
He said that seniors are choosing between eating and heating, and it can’t continue.
“This tax is a scam. It’s a cash grab,” he said. “Pierre Poilievre and the Common-Sense Conservatives will axe the tax to bring home low prices.”
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Poilievre was asked how his party could pressure the feds to get rid of the tax without there being an election.
“There’s only two ways that the carbon tax can be reversed,” said Poilievre. “One is if Liberal MPs from Nova Scotia actually represent their own constituents rather than representing Trudeau.
“They should stand up to him and fight back and demand that he backtrack on his tax.”
He mentioned one N.B. MP and one NL MP from the federal Liberal party and the Liberal government in NL who have spoken out against PM Trudeau over the tax.
“Now we need Nova Scotia Liberals just to get off their backside and stand up for once on behalf of Nova Scotians and tell Trudeau to axe the tax,” he said. “The only other way to get rid of it is to elect Pierre Poilievre as Prime Minister.”
He said if elected he will do just that.
Poilievre expects the push against the carbon tax to continue for a long time, even whenever an election call is made.
“It will be the election issue when the election is called,” said Poilievre.
He spoke of the great turnouts at his stops throughout Atlantic Canada, including an estimated 700 people in Truro at his meet and greet.
“Atlantic Canadians are standing up there fighting for their rights and they want to axe the tax,” said Poilievre. “I’m honored to have them along for my journey.”
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VISIT TO LEDWIDGE LUMBER
Poilievre was asked about the visit to Ledwidge Lumber in Enfield and what it was all about.
“It was amazing to meet with the local workers. It’s an incredible lumber mill. They practice the highest environmental standards. They pay good wages to their workers,” he said.
“I talked to them about the need to cut income taxes so that people bring home powerful paychecks, to remove the carbon tax, to lower the energy costs for the company and bring home more production and harvesting to our country.”
He said he also spoke to them about his plan to incentivize cities to speed up and lower the cost of building permits so millions of new homes can be built.
“Of course, that will create new demand for Ledwidge’s excellent lumber products that can go into those homes,” he said. “It will make homes more affordable for working class people to actually buy.”
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Following that question and answer, Poilievre was asked about the housing crisis Canadians are facing. He said the Conservatives would change that for the better.
“We have the fewest houses per capita of any country in the G7, even though we have the most land to build on, and that’s because government gatekeepers slow up construction,” said Poilievre. “We have the second slowest building permits in the OECD, and it takes sometimes seven years to get permits to build.
“This adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of each new home or costs for lawyers, consultants, fees, charges, delays, permits, zoning enough.
“My common-sense plan is to incentivize the cities to get out of the way, speed up permit and free up land to build, build, build. I’ll require every big city, increase the number of housing houses built and permitted by 15% per year. And if they don’t, they’ll lose infrastructure money.
“Those that exceed the 15% homebuilding target will get a building bonus.”
Poilievre said he will reverse the ban on hunting rifles.
“Trudeau has said he wants to ban all hunting rifles and attack the rural way of life. He passed Bill C-21 that targets the good people who are licensed, law-abiding trained and tested,” he said.
“I’ll reverse that approach. Instead of going after lawful people I’ll put the money into bolstering our border against gun smugglers and putting the repeat violent gun criminals behind bars.”
