Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for burning as much fuel in a month from air travel as about 20 families use to heat their homes in a year.
Posted yesterday at 10:00 p.m.
Justin Trudeau has pointed out in broad strokes that Canadians would have lost their shirts if they had taken his Conservative opponent’s advice – given during the leadership race – to invest their savings in cryptocurrencies to escape the devastating effects of inflation .
The first duel between the Prime Minister and the Conservative leader in the House of Commons gave rise to heated exchanges and scathing replies. The battle to win the hearts of voters, at a time when the rising cost of living is becoming an unavoidable issue, has just begun.
“It’s good to see the Prime Minister here, visiting Canada, to bail out his private jet,” Mr. Poilievre said at the outset, alluding to Mr. Trudeau’s trips abroad which led to London, where he attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, and to New York on Tuesday and Wednesday, where the United Nations General Assembly began.
The Tory leader then challenged the prime minister on inflation – his hobbyhorse for months – and urged him not to raise payroll taxes on 1er January and the carbon “tax” on 1er April 2023.
Congratulations, then full-bodied attacks
In his first appearance in the Commons since he has to face a new leader of the official opposition, Mr. Trudeau made a point of congratulating Mr. Poilievre. He promptly invited him to support the various measures his government is proposing to support Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet, including the bill to double the GST tax credit for a six-month period. .
The exchanges of good wishes quickly gave way to strong attacks.
“The leader of the Liberal Party has the opportunity to demonstrate that he understands that heating his house in January and February in Canada is not a luxury and that does not make Canadians polluters. They are just trying to survive. It comes from a Prime Minister who burned more jet fuel in a month than 20 average Canadians in a year. Will the Prime Minister ground his jet, put away his hypocrisy and reverse the tax hikes? “, thundered the conservative leader.
“We will continue to focus on the real needs of Canadians, by proposing concrete measures that will help millions of middle-class Canadians,” the Prime Minister first replied.
Then he resorted to a scathing attack that will often recur in Liberal rhetoric: they would have lost half of their savings. »