Six candidates are officially on the ballot for the next Conservative leader. During rallies, appearances in media interviews and preparations for the upcoming party debate, each contender began to reveal details about their platforms. Here is a snapshot of the candidates’ position on economics, housing, climate, defense and social affairs.
Want to know more about Conservative candidates and their political past? Read our bios.
Economy and inflation
Scott Aichison: Calling inflation a real problem and campaigning for the position that “the last thing Canadians need is higher taxes”, Aichison promised to end supply management to help reduce food bills. families. He also said that Canada needs a federal government that “cuts taxes, expands Canada’s full economic power and puts our budget back on track.”
Roman Baber: Although Baber did not present specific commitments related to the economy, he spoke at length about the negative economic effects of the pandemic blockade on small businesses and workers.
Patrick Brown: Brown calls himself a “strong” fiscal conservative, citing his experience as mayor of a big city that cuts taxes and provides balanced budgets. He says “reckless” federal spending should end, but did not provide details on what programs he would cut. Brown also highlighted the steps he took during the pandemic to ensure an end to public health restrictions affecting small businesses.
Jean Charest: Charest is committed to balancing the budget, controlling federal spending and providing tax breaks to Canadians so that wage growth is more closely matched by rising inflation. He did not provide details on what programs he would reduce to achieve these goals. Charest says tax policy needs to be more flexible to respond to unforeseen circumstances, such as the war in Ukraine.
Leslin Lewis: Promising to “gradually eliminate” the deficit and balance the budget, Lewis is campaigning to support small and medium-sized businesses as the main employer of Canadians. She accused the government of selfishly “bankrupting” future generations and said that as a leader she had cut red tape and would maintain supply management to protect Canadian producers.
Pierre Poilievre: Poilievre made tackling inflation one of the focuses of his campaign. By expressing concern about rising living costs, what he sees as government overspending, and calling on the Bank of Canada for its monetary policy, Poilievre has promised to phase out “inflation deficits” by cutting costs and reversing liberal policies and programs. He also supports the cryptocurrency, promising to make Canada the “Blockchain World Capital”.
Housing
Scott Aichison: Aichison’s housing platform was one of the first political plans he unveiled in the leadership race. Taking a “yes to my backyard” approach, Aichison says he will end zoning exclusion in major cities by linking federal funding to building new homes. Promising to shovel faster into the ground and recruit more immigrants into skilled crafts, his approach focuses on building more homes. Aitchison wants to tackle money laundering, as it is also linked to the housing market.
Roman Baber: Baber has committed to presenting a stable housing plan, but has not yet provided details on what it looks like.
Patrick Brown: As a former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and later mayor of Brampton, Brown has long called for a reduction in bureaucracy that hinders municipal construction projects in order to increase supply. During the last federal election, he and seventeen other mayors wrote a letter to the candidates asking for a more stable housing and homelessness plan. Their proposal called for a tightening of the rental housing market, a strategy for local housing and the construction of affordable, co-operative and non-profit housing.
Jean Charest: Charest’s housing plan, called Building the Canadian Dream Plan, includes a proposal to convene an immediate National Housing Summit with prime ministers, rural and urban municipal leaders and indigenous leaders to tackle the housing crisis. He says existing policies are unfairly blocking families from owning housing, and to deal with this, the Charest government would link infrastructure funding to compaction near new transit; compare federal affordable housing grants with municipalities; allows investors to defer capital gains if profits from rental housing are invested in additional rental housing; resumption of the program for stimulating the tax on buildings for rent in several blocks; and providing surplus state land to home builders.
Leslin Lewis: Lewis had less to say about housing at this point in the race. Like some of its competitors, Lewis is committed to making housing affordable for all Canadians. Her position is that instead of spending billions on federal programs to tackle the problem, the crisis can best be resolved “by cutting red tape, which slows development and raises prices.” She also suggested that building more homes would help reduce the skyrocketing housing process.
Pierre Poilievre: Affordability is an issue that Poalievre has given priority to in his campaign. He took the position that Canadians should be able to afford a place to live, denying that there were “too many 30-year-olds living in Mom and Dad’s basement.” He called on housing “guardians” such as municipal authorities to speed up the process of issuing building permits and reduce the administrative costs associated with building or renovating homes, with a view to building more houses as a way out of the housing crisis.
The climate
Scott Aichison: Aichison took the position that while the price of carbon may be the “most effective” policy to reduce emissions, it will eliminate the carbon tax. Promising to have a “real plan to combat climate change”, he believes Canada’s emissions must be reduced. Aichison talks about finding ways for the government to help Canadians reduce their own carbon footprint instead of “punishing” them.
Roman Baber: Baber said that he believes that climate change is real and that “man contributes to climate change.” However, he disagrees with the price of carbon as a means of reducing emissions. Baber said Canada must continue to develop clean energy.
Patrick Brown: Brown says he cares about protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and will hold a consultation for the entire membership on climate policy if elected leader. Brown noted that this must be balanced with a policy that makes life more accessible to Canadians. He was one of many candidates calling on the Liberals to abolish the automatic increase in the carbon tax on April 1st. He also promised to propose legislation to clarify that setting greenhouse gas emission ceilings from specific industries is within the province’s sole jurisdiction.
Jean Charest: Charest’s Environment and Clean Growth Plan is committed to balancing the interests of Canada’s energy sector, resource-producing provinces and the economy with those of the environment. It promises to stimulate investment in areas such as carbon sequestration and carbon capture; elimination of HST on products that reduce carbon use; promoting pathways to clean energy solutions and introducing “right to repair” legislation for appliances such as agricultural equipment, electronic devices and vehicles. In particular, it will abolish the liberal carbon tax by replacing it with an industrial carbon price. He believes the Conservative Party will be “dead in the water” if it approaches the next federal election with only a climate slogan and no policies to support it.
Leslin Lewis: On climate change, Lewis said he was one of the conservatives who supported the abolition of the carbon tax, and instead suggested that policies implement policies that reduce emissions, boost business and “encourage people to recycle.” It wants to turn Canada into an independent energy “superpower” by supplying Canadian oil to tidal water and energy in foreign markets. She takes the position that climate solutions such as electric cars are impractical and unaffordable, which suggests that “waiting for an electric revolution” is the wrong approach.
Pierre Poilievre: Poilievre promises to get rid of the carbon tax, the liberal policy that sets the price of emissions. Although he did not talk about committing to or sustaining any climate change goals, Poalievre says his environmental plan will be about “results, not revenue; He also promised to stop importing overseas oil into Canada within five years of taking office and to repeal liberal energy regulations and environmental assessment bills, C-69 and C-48.
Defense and foreign policy
Scott Aichison: The Canadian Armed Forces have been under-equipped for too long, Aichison said. He wants to see Canada meet NATO’s commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defense. He promises to adjust the process of military procurement and, in general, to restore Canada’s reliability at home and on the world stage.
Roman Baber: Baber has not dealt with defense spending so far in the race.
Patrick Brown: Brown is committed to increasing defense spending to achieve NATO’s recommended target of two percent or more of gross domestic product.
Jean Charest: Charest is committed to increasing defense spending to meet NATO’s recommended target of two percent or more of gross domestic product and increase the force to 100,000. In this sense, he will expand the training system of the Canadian Armed Forces to achieve this goal. Charest has promised to open military bases in northern Canada to improve security in the Arctic amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He calls the goal “urgent” in the new …
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