Poilievre has also taken aim at his Carney’s record in business, noting how he has yet to disclose his assets and any potential conflict of interests
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Monday accused newly crowned Liberal Leader Mark Carney of trying to “distract” from how he spent his time before entering politics by focusing on U.S. President Donald Trump.
Poilievre appeared before reporters to tell Canadians they should see no difference between outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the former central banker who will replace him.
“It’s ironic,” Poilievre said. “Mr. Carney is trying to distract from his many scandals and conflicts of interest as well as his disastrous record as Justin Trudeau’s economic adviser by talking about Trump.”
Carney, who presented himself as a political outsider with deep economic experience, won the Liberal party leadership in a crushing first-ballot victory. He captured nearly 86 per cent of the vote.
With the party unified behind him, Carney is expected to trigger an election before Parliament is set to resume on March 24.
For weeks, public opinion polls have shown the year-and-a-half lead Poilievre has held over the Liberals to be narrowing as more Canadians are finding themselves increasingly consumed by Trump and his threat of tariffs and his repeated comments around annexation.
The changing political landscape and Liberal surge have forced Poilievre to shift his message from affordability to why his party is best suited to steer Canada at a time when the U.S. has become an unreliable partner.
“Canadians have a choice in the next election,” Poilievre said. Voters can choose to give Liberals a fourth term in power after they oversaw a historic rise in housing and food prices, Poilievre said.
“Or,” he said, “do they want ‘Canada First’ Conservatives who will axe taxes, build homes, unleash production of our resources and bring home paycheques, production and sovereignty to our country.”
Poilievre has taken aim at Carney’s record in business, noting how he has yet to disclose his assets and any potential conflicts of interest, which the new Liberal party leader said during the campaign that he would do as the rules require for public office holders.
Given that Carney does not have a seat in the House of Commons, the ethics and conflict of interest rules covering elected officials did not apply to him during the leadership campaign.
On Monday, Poilievre also pointed out that Carney has served as an adviser to Trudeau and in the past has endorsed climate change policies such as the consumer carbon tax.
Carney has promised to scrap the unpopular consumer carbon tax and replace the quarterly cheques consumers receive with incentives to reduce their use and force industrial polluters to pay more.
Even before Carney’s victory, the Conservatives launched ads calling him “sneaky” and attacked him over his decision as chairman at Brookfield Assessment Management to endorse moving its headquarters to New York from Toronto.
“The Conservatives are resorting to the kind of dirty, personal politics that Mr. Poilievre has been known for since he was in cabinet with (former Conservative prime minister) Stephen Harper,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Monday.
“That’s unfortunate, but I actually think Canadians are not in that mood. Canadians are in a mood to rally around the flag, to rally around somebody who actually can stand up to Donald Trump.”
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Poilievre’s tactics will only keep the party in opposition.
“Canadians are moving on from that,” he told reporters. “This is about our unity.”
During the leadership campaign, Carney told reporters he was not involved in Brookfield’s decision to move its headquarters to New York, but the Tories released a letter he sent to the company’s shareholders that showed him encouraging them to approve the move.
His campaign has also dismissed Poilievre’s criticisms as exaggerated, saying it was only technical in nature and did not impact the company’s Canadian operations.
The company has not yet responded to a request for comment.
National Post
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.