On the day the Liberal Party of Canada announced its new leader, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre held a rally in London, Ont.
Thousands of supporters packed the RBC Place to hear Poilievre take aim at Mark Carney and hammer home his own platform, which included messaging of “Putting Canada First”, “Axe the Tax”, “Build the Homes”, and “Stop the Crime.”
He started the event by accusing the Liberals of “pulling a sneaky trick” in an attempt to get elected for a fourth term.
“Replacing Justin Trudeau with his economic advisor, Mark Carney,” Poilievre told the crowd.
“Carney’s advice drove up taxes, housing costs, and food prices while he personally profited from moving billions of dollars and thousands of jobs out of Canada to the U.S.”
He accused the Liberals of opening the door to allow U.S. President Donald Trump to take advantage of Canadians.
Throughout the event, cheers came from the crowd.
“I believe in him, I believe in ‘Axe the Tax’, and I believe in what he talks about,” said Nancy McKay, who held up a sign in support.
“There’s so many people that are here and I just believe in everything he stands for and everything he says, and I think we’re just going to be a very lucky country when he wins.”
David Benson of London, Ont. lived in Poilievre’s riding when he was living in Ottawa.
“I think Pierre has the smarts and he’s taking the correct political stance with respect to a lot of the issues that are causing huge amounts of inflation,” said Benson.
“This guy is at the right age, and he’s got a lot of vigor and passion. He’s a great speaker, and while he might not please us in every area, I think he’s going to do the best he can within a political system that is highly restrictive.”
Poilievre hit all the points the crowd wanted to hear.
When addressing crime, he said he will repeal laws C75, C5 and C83.
“We will reverse all the liberalization of drugs and guns the Liberals have done,” said Poilievre.
“We will bring in tough new laws that make it so that repeat offenders are ineligible for bail, probation, parole, or house arrest. Jail, not bail.”
While massive crowds poured in and out of the centre, they were greeted by protesters who held signs and banged drums.
Signs calling Poilievre a “traitor” and “puppet” and compared him to Trump.
However, it was Poilievre who claims he can stop Trump from taking advantage of Canada.
“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer,” said Poilievre.
“Working for himself, Carney made the U.S. richer and stronger... Our economy is so weak that Donald Trump now unjustifiably and wrongly threatens us with tariffs… Make no mistake, Donald Trump will have a big smile on his face as he exploits all of Carney’s many conflicts to attack Canadian workers and Canadian jobs. But we Conservatives won’t let either of them do it.”
