‘The place of work is not important to me; it’s about the result,’ Poilievre said when asked if he would order federal workers back to the office five days a week
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will shrink the federal public service and wants to find ways to monitor bureaucrats’ productivity, because “work isn’t getting done”.
“We… need fewer bureaucrats. There are way too many bureaucrats in the federal public service,” he said in French, Tuesday. “I’m going to reduce the size of the bureaucracy and the state.”
When asked if he would sign an order like U.S. President Donald Trump did ordering federal workers back to the office five days a week Poilievre did not say yes.
“The place of work is not important to me; it’s about the result. I believe there needs to be proof that the work is done,” Poilievre told interviewer Marie-Claude Julien.
Asked how a Conservative government would measure whether work was being done, Poilievre mentioned “clear tasks” for the public service and monitoring to ensure work is completed.
“Right now, I see that the work isn’t getting done in the federal government. We must put in place methods to ensure the work is done,” he said.
Poilievre’s spokespeople did not respond to National Post questions Tuesday asking for more detail about the methods.
Poilievre also said during the interview that he is the only party leader who can deal with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, and effectively and argued for a “Canada first” strategy.
“Obviously, you have to be ready for everything because the signals change from one minute to the next” from a Trump government, he said.
He added that a Conservative government would not pull out of the World Health Organization, as Trump has ordered the U.S. to do.
Poilievre took a swipe at Liberal leadership hopefuls Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney, saying they couldn’t stand up to Trump. He said Freeland was “very, very weak” when she was foreign affairs minister negotiating with the Trump administration during its first mandate. Poilievre said Carney is “even weaker.”
During her leadership campaign launch on Sunday, Freeland accused Poilievre of being “weak” and ready to bow down and sell Canada out to the U.S.
“He will never stand up to Donald Trump,” Freeland said about Poilievre. “He can’t even stand up to (Alberta Premier) Danielle Smith,” who has been arguing that oil export taxes and other retaliatory measures are not the right approach to tariff threats from Trump.
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.