With a background of steelworkers and rolls of the product they make, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre appeared at Ivaco Rolling Mills in 郭O娶勳眶紳硃梭 on Monday, March 17, and announced that if he is Prime Minister, the complete carbon tax law will be eliminated to discontinue the industrial carbon tax. A repeal of the carbon tax law would also include the requirement that provinces impose an industrial carbon tax. Such a decision would remove the tax off Canadian steel, aluminum, natural gas, food production, concrete and all other major industries.
A Conservative government will completely eliminate the carbon tax, Poilievre said.
On March 14, soon after being sworn in, Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an Order-in-Council removing the consumer carbon tax. Poilievre said Carney will re-introduce it, if the Liberals win the next election. He alleged the order signed by the Prime Minister only pauses the tax for 35 to 40 days and called it a fake executive order.
Hide the tax before the election, then bring it back bigger than ever, he remarked.
Poilievre said the full removal of the carbon tax will lower costs for working Canadians, boost the economy, and allow Canadian companies to become competitive again with the United States.
The Conservative Leader said technology, not taxes, is the right solution to protect the environment. He would expand eligibility of the Clean Technology and Clean Manufacturing Investment Tax Credits (ITCs). Heavy industries who make products with lower emissions than the world average will be rewarded, bringing jobs and production home and bringing global emissions down.
Poilievre alleged that the full carbon tax law, if maintained, would still raise the tax every year until it hits 61 cents a litre of emissions in 2030.
The Ivaco announcement was strong on nationalism and election campaign-style remarks. Poilievre said the industrial carbon tax, combined with the Trump tariffs, would drive steel, aluminum and many other heavy industries out of Canada altogether.
We will always be a sovereign, independent nation. We will never be the 51st state, he said.
Poilievre said that during the last Liberal decade, investment left Canada for the US.
He said fully and permanently removing the carbon tax would take back control of our economy from the Americans.
Poilievre insisted Canada can stand on its own without economic and political dependence on the US.
We will be a strong, self-reliant, sovereign nation, he asserted.
Poilievre also criticized how the carbon tax can damage industry in Canada, but allow it to move to other countries where such taxes do not exist. He said it is no good to allow a steel mill with low emissions to close in Canada but for one with higher pollution emissions to operate in China.
Cultural sovereignty
In response to a question from The Review, Poilievre said a Conservative government would complement economic sovereignty with measures to strengthen Canadian culture and local media.
We are strong supporters of local journalism and local media, he said.
When asked specifically about the future of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) program which funds journalists who cover politics and other civic issues at the community level, Poilievre said the Conservatives actually plan to implement an alternative which would give a better and stronger voice to community-based sources of news. He said further details will be revealed as the Conservative election platform is released.
Poilievre said a Conservative government would have a new commitment to Canadian history and heritage.
I believe we should celebrate our history, he said. That includes restoring monuments to Canadas first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Several monuments, landmarks, and institutions named after Macdonald have been removed or renamed in recent years due to his governments association with Indian Residential Schools.
Poilievre said Canada would not be a country without Macdonald, but did not explain how the government would moderate using him as a historical figure combined with the negative Residential School legacy.
A Conservative government would also give greater prominence to Canadas military history and promote other ways of bringing Canadians together, Poilievre said.
We have to celebrate our proud heritage, he remarked.
