Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, left, and Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney shake hands after the English Federal Leaders Debate broadcast at CBC-Radio-Canada, in Montreal, on April 17.CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV/AFP/Getty Images
John Ibbitson is a media fellow at the Fraser Institute and a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
There can be no greater endorsement of how Pierre Poilievre proposes to govern Canada than Mark Carney’s promise to do the same.
With the release of the Liberals’ costed platform over the weekend, we have further confirmation that both the Liberal Leader and the Conservative Leader would govern Canada in the same way, largely because Mr. Carney has pilfered the best parts of the Conservative playbook.
It began the day Mr. Carney was sworn in as Prime Minister, when he announced he was effectively abolishing the consumer portion of the carbon tax. That was swiftly followed by his cancellation of the increases to the capital gains tax that were announced in the 2024 budget. These were core Conservative commitments.
Since then, the Liberals have aped the Conservatives repeatedly.
Both parties agree on the need for tax relief to help young people hoping to purchase a home. The Conservatives would eliminate the GST on new homes costing less than $1.3-million. The Liberals would cancel the GST for first-time home buyers on homes under $1-million. Both parties promise to cajole or coerce local governments into reducing development charges and zoning restrictions.
Both want to accelerate the process for approving major resource projects, while developing east-west infrastructure corridors and promoting trade with European and Pacific countries.
For Mr. Poilievre, that means “fast-track approvals for transmission lines, railways, pipelines, and other critical infrastructure across Canada in a pre-approved transport corridor entirely within Canada.”
Mr. Carney speaks, more vaguely, of making Canada “the world’s leading energy superpower” – a claim very similar to what former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper promoted as far back as 2006 – by fast-tracking projects that promote energy security, trade diversity and competitiveness.
Both also agree that the previous Liberal government broke Canada’s immigration system, and that to fix it Ottawa must reduce the number of permanent and temporary residents admitted to the country over the next few years.
Mr. Carney would cap the admission of new residents and temporary workers; Mr. Poilievre wants to match permanent resident intake with housing starts, which would bring the number down farther.
Both also take essentially the same approach to the greatest crisis facing Canada in decades: the conversion of the United States under President Donald Trump from ally to potential adversary.
They agree that any American tariff measures must be met with counter-tariffs, and that revenues raised through those counter-tariffs should be used to help affected workers and businesses. Both would seek to renegotiate the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement.
Both Mr. Carney and Mr. Poilievre agree that Canada faces a dangerous world with inadequate defences. Both are committed to increasing Canada’s defence expenditures to the NATO floor of 2 per cent of GDP by 2030, with a special emphasis on protecting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.
Law-and-order has traditionally been a wedge issue, with the Conservatives emphasizing stricter penalties for lawbreakers, and the Liberals offering greater compassion. But Mr. Carney is emulating the Conservatives by promising stricter bail conditions for serious offenders and tougher sentences for some violent crimes, while hiring thousands of additional RCMP and border-control officers.
Mr. Poilievre would go further, by invoking the constitution’s notwithstanding clause to immunize certain penalties, such as serial convictions for mass murder, from judicial review.
Both promise an income-tax cut. Mr. Carney’s is modest; Mr. Poilievre’s, more ambitious. Mr. Carney’s plan comes with substantial increases in annual deficits, which should alarm any fiscally responsible voter.
Mr. Poilievre still hasn’t told us how he would finance his platform, which should alarm any fiscally responsible voter.
The Conservatives said Monday they will release their costed platform Tuesday, after early voting is completed. Both parties have waited far too long to give us the details on what they would spend and cut, and how much debt they would incur.
Canada is hardly united. The sovereigntist Parti Québécois leads in the polls in Quebec. Premier Danielle Smith vows to assert greater sovereignty for Alberta. Many younger voters resent the prospect of never achieving home ownership or pension security. These are deep, dangerous divisions.
But it’s worth noting that the two national governing parties would take much the same approach in responding to the challenges we face. For better or worse, the Grits and the Tories truly have become Tweedledum and Tweedledee.