Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a campaign stop at an under-construction building in Toronto on April 1. Mr. Poilievre said his party will release its full platform on April 22.Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will release his party’s full platform on Tuesday, making his the last major party to unveil the details of its overall plan should it form government on April 28.
The Conservatives’ platform release will also come the day after advance voting for the election ends.
Mr. Poilievre told reporters at a housing announcement in Scarborough, Ont., on Monday that his policy offerings – and the price tag – will serve up a contrast with Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s plan.
“We cannot afford a fourth Liberal term of rising taxes and inflation and crime. We need a change with a new Conservative government that has a truly costed platform that will cut waste, axe taxes, unleash home building, lock up criminals and bring home the country that we love,” Mr. Poilievre said.
Mr. Carney released his party’s full agenda on Saturday, laying out nearly $130-billion in new spending over four years, as well as $28-billion in unspecified cuts. It also projects a deficit of $62.3-billion this fiscal year, followed by $59.9-billion the next year.
The Liberals have claimed that their own costing of Mr. Poilievre’s promises to date adds up to $140-billion in spending, and have accused Mr. Poilievre of therefore being prepared to make $140-billion worth of cuts, as he has promised to find a dollar of savings for every new dollar he spends.
But on Monday, Mr. Poilievre said that figure was incorrect.
“Whenever Liberals present you with numbers, you should be afraid, and very afraid, because their numbers are always wrong,” he said.
Mr. Poilievre said Sunday that he’d pay for some of his promises by cutting $10-billion annually from government spending on consultants. He has not specified where he is finding those funds. The $21-billion figure he often uses as the amount spent on outsourcing includes the services of professionals such as lawyers or architects.
He has also pledged to cut foreign aid. In 2023-24, the federal government spent about $12-billion on international assistance, a figure that also includes help for refugees within Canada and loans to Ukraine.
Other areas Mr. Poilievre has said he’d cut are the bureaucracy and size of government, which so far he’s said he would do through attrition.
He has also claimed that his plans to speed up natural-resource development could result in $70-billion in revenue for the federal government.
Mr. Poilievre discussed his platform release plans while standing at a condominium construction site, as a sharp spring wind whipped through the unfinished building.
Eventually, 202 condos are expected to be built on the site, with studio units listed ahead of construction for $479,990 and three-bedroom units with a starting price of $779,990.
With construction workers and his area candidates looking on, Mr. Poilievre said that, adding together previously announced policies to spur housing construction, his government would build 2.3 million homes in five years.
He said his promise to remove the GST on new homes under $1.3-million would add 36,000 houses a year.
He also said his plans to encourage municipalities to lower development charges would add 25,000 more homes.
Those two initiatives, on top of the existing 245,000 built in 2024, would add up to 306,000 new houses in the first year of a Poilievre government, he said.
The Conservative Leader did not explain in detail how he calculated how many homes his policies could build.
His housing plan also involves selling off federal land to the private sector so it can be turned into housing. An analysis by The Globe and Mail last year found enough government-owned land to house 750,000 people.
The previous Liberal government had promised to use that land for affordable housing, but Mr. Poilievre criticized that approach Monday.
“They don’t want anybody to own a home,” he said.
“They think everybody should live in a government dwelling. We will be selling the land so that Canadians can buy homes that belong to them and that give them the pride of home ownership and the home equity.”