(Ottawa) Does a lead of 15 to 20 points in the national polls for a year give you energy? Does it allow us to dream of the day when we will take power?
That means absolutely nothing, responds Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who says he takes nothing for granted despite the very favourable projections from polling firms. That is why he is taking to the road to deliver his “common sense” message directly to voters in a handful of ridings in Quebec.
Just a few hours after the end of the parliamentary session on Wednesday, Mr. Poilievre headed to Montreal to highlight the ambitions of a possible conservative government during a major rally in the riding of Mount Royal, held since 2015 by Liberal MP Anthony Housefather.
Thursday, the Conservative leader hit the road again with his little family aboard an RV to successively go to Victoriaville, Trois-Rivières, Rivière-du-Loup, the Charlevoix region, Saguenay and Quebec over the next few days.
“This is my first RV adventure. It’s a bit turbulent. All the stuff is moving inside. We have to be careful that something doesn’t fall on our heads. It’s different. You have to adjust,” Mr. Poilievre said on the line while his eldest daughter gave a little cry of approval.
“It’s like the House of Commons here! “, he added with a laugh.
Having led the polls for several months, Poilievre told La Presse that he is not being distracted by the many polls that he says are a snapshot of voters’ moods. A lot of water will flow under the bridge between now and the next election, scheduled for October 2025. And until Canadians are called to the polls, his game plan is to act as if the Conservative Party is lagging behind Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.
“I behave like we’re one vote behind. I don’t take anything for granted. Canadians owe me nothing. I must earn their trust to achieve victory. I must work hard, remain modest and continue to sell our message,” explained the Conservative leader.
His message has remained the same since his clear victory in the leadership race almost 18 months ago. If he wins the next election, he plans to reduce the size of the federal government, restore budget balance, stimulate housing construction and fight crime by imposing harsher penalties.
But at the start of his tour of the regions of Quebec, it is obvious that Mr. Poilievre will not wait for the election campaign to begin to throw down his gloves.
“Quebecers want to pocket a bigger paycheck and pension, which will allow them to buy food, gas and affordable homes in safe communities. And we are the only party that is capable of delivering that. Because voting for the Bloc means voting for Justin Trudeau,” he argued.
He adds that the Trudeau government, over the years, has become “morbidly obese” by spending lavishly, increasing the size of the public service excessively and shamelessly interfering in areas of provincial jurisdiction. .
Worse still, according to him, the Bloc Québécois is complicit in all of this.
“We are listening to Quebecers. I think that the centralizing government of Justin Trudeau is taking away money, autonomy and powers from Quebecers to concentrate them in Ottawa. But voting for the Bloc Québécois is not a solution because the Bloc supports all of Justin Trudeau’s policies. […] He voted in favor of the recent capital gains tax increase. A tax on Quebec farmers, Quebec entrepreneurs, Quebec doctors in the midst of a shortage of doctors,” he declined in an interview.
Mr. Poilievre noted that the Conservative Party has always advocated a small federal government and a decentralized federation. He asserted that the Trudeau government allowed itself to invade provincial areas of jurisdiction because the federal bureaucracy gained weight, far too much weight.
“The federal government swallows Quebecers’ money to feed a bureaucracy that is 50 times more expensive, which has 100,000 federal civil servants, which has doubled spending on external consultants. That exceeds $21 billion or $1,400 for each Quebec family. The Bloc voted for all of this because it voted for all the budgetary appropriations which finance the bureaucracy and the consultants,” he argued.
“So if you want a fat government in Ottawa that takes your money, and doubles the cost of housing, vote for the Liberal Bloc. If you want a smaller federal government to cut taxes, build housing, fix the budget and stop crime, vote for the Common Sense Conservative Party,” he added.
