Pierre Poilievre promises a common sense’ approach to undo the harm done by federal Liberals
By UMENDRA SINGH
Federal Opposition and Conservative Party Leader, Pierre Poilievre, blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberal government for ruining the lives of Canadians over the past nine years. He promised to axe the carbon tax, lower income tax, reduce crime and stop criminals and extortionists by ringing in mandatory jail terms, stop bail for repeat violent offenders, making housing affordable in all of Canada, quick approvals to work in Canada for foreign trained professionals and secure the border to stop fake and illegal refugees and criminals from entering Canada.
Poilievre, in Surrey for a meeting with the South Asian media, listed the problems brought down on Canadians by Trudeau and his Liberal government:
• It takes an average Vancouver family 28 years to collect enough money for a down payment for a home.
• Before Trudeau, Canadians could pay off their mortgages in 25 years, not any anymore.
• 2 million people go to food banks on a regular basis – before Trudeau there was a very small number.
• 25 percent of Canadians now live in poverty according to Food Bank Association of Canada
• One in four Canadian children go to school hungry – before Trudeau almost every child went to school with a full stomach
• Housing costs have doubled after 9 years of Vancouver
• Vancouver has become the most expensive city in North America to live and buy a home and third most expensive I the world – it is more expensive to buy a home in Vancouver than in New York, Chicago and London, (England) or even a small island like Singapore with 2,000 times more people per kilometer than Vancouver yet they have more affordable housing, and we don’t,
• Crime, chaos, drug, disorder and extortion in the streets after Trudeau’s “wacko” liberalization of drugs and guns.
“But the good news is that life was not like this before Trudeau and it will not be like this after he is gone,” Poilievre promised.
He promised a “common sense way” plan of dealing with the problems brought about by the federal Liberal government.
“We will axe the carbon tax and bring down income tax,” Poilievre promised.
Crime will be brought under control and repeated offenders will not get a free pass to get out of custody or jail. His government will once again make the neighborhoods safe for the citizens of Canada, he promised.
Talking of housing affordability. The Conservative leader said he will ask municipalities to lower costs of building homes and free up land for more housing. He said every large municipality in Canada will be required to build at least 15 percent more homes each year as a condition of getting federal funding.
” If they don’t meet that annual 15 percent housing target, they will not get federal funds – simple as that,” he said.
He also said that municipalities should look at their administrative costs and streamline them. Giving an example, he said if a house costs $1.5 million in Vancouver, only $300,000 of that goes to the builders, trades people and other workers. By far the largest amount – an average of $1.2 million on an average $1,5 million home – goes to building persist and bureaucracy put up by the municipalities. Poilievre will sell 6,000 federal buildings and thousands of acres of federal land to build, build and build more houses.
He promised to bring down inflation and fix the budget with common sense concept dollar for dollar rule that will require politicians to find savings of one dollar for every dollar they vote to spend.
“This will bring down debt, inflation and interest rates,” Poilievre said.
“We will ensure our streets ae safe again by stopping the crime. We will stop crime by jail and not bail for repeat violent offenders,” he said.
“A new mandatory jail term for extortion will be put in place by adopting a bill for mandatory jail time for extortionists. We brought this bill for mandatory jail for extortionists after Trudeau refused to impose penalties on extortionists and allowed extortionists to work free on bail and parole,” he said. He complained that not a single Liberal MP from Surrey supported this measure which would deter extortionists.
Conservatives will secure our borders by ensuring criminals, drugs and guns don’t get in he said,” he said.
“The NDP and Liberals have decriminalized crack and cocaine. If you walk down the street with a beer, Police stop you but if you work down the street smoking crack or cocaine, no one will stop you” he said.
He said due to the legalization of hard drugs by the NDP-Liberal alliance, more than 40,000 people have died of overdosing.
Poilievre promised to install a direct Vancouver to Amritsar (Punjab) flight so people will save at least 20 hours of travel time. This will allow more tourists to travel form Punjab to Canada and vice versa. He also promised a “blue seal” system for foreign trained and educated professionals – such as doctors, nurses, engineers, etc., so that these foreign professionals will only be required to take and pass an exam to prove their proficiency in their profession and be allowed to work here. Taking this blue seal exam/test should only take a few weeks or months after arriving in Canadas, he promised.
The Conservative leader also promised to stop “fake” refugees by instituting policies that their cases for asylum in Canada be heard and dealt with in a couple of months, and not take seven to eight years to deal with. “If they are found not eligible, they should be removed within months of arrival – not a decade later. Similarly, criminals and gangsters seeking refuge in Canada will be promptly removed from Canada, he said.
