(Ottawa) The Conservative leader on Sunday ridiculed the national summit on car thefts which are plaguing most major Canadian cities announced a week ago by the Liberal government.
“The good news is that Justin Trudeau is organizing a summit, a big summit. There’s going to be another meeting. Thank goodness: politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists will all get together and send you the bill for their hotel rooms. Don’t worry: a summit is underway,” he said during a speech to his caucus.
In fact, Mr. Poilievre said, Canadians don’t need another summit. “We need a common-sense plan to stop the stealing and stop the crime,” he said. And that’s what the conservatives will do.”
He had just told stories demonstrating how “insane” the car theft and the response from authorities had become. In one case, a businessman was fined for approaching the container where his stolen car was located, according to a tracking system. “So he lost his car and paid a fine for trying to get it back,” he summarized.
And in the other case, a man on the phone with 911 after having his car parked in front of his home stolen and noticing that thieves were trying to take his second car was told: “just let them to take the car “.
Car theft has become a growing problem across the country. According to industry data, the rate of auto thefts increased by 50% in Quebec and 48.3% in Ontario in 2022. The Greater Toronto Police Service says it has seen an increase of 104% in automobile hijackings from 2021 to 2022.
Priorities
In his speech, Mr. Poilievre also announced that he had four priorities for the next parliamentary session: “cut taxes, build housing, repair the budget and stop crime.”
In English, on the other hand, the first of its priorities is to “cut the ax to the tax” on carbon. This is a synonym for tax cuts, according to his team.
Mr. Poilievre, as he regularly does, rattled off a host of statistics to support his claims about the lives of Canadians “after eight years” of Justin Trudeau, a life where “everything costs more” and where “crime and chaos” reign in the streets.
Canadians “don’t have to live like this” and forgo “affordable food and housing in safe neighborhoods […] due to the incompetence and ego of one man.”
“We can do better,” he insisted to his troops.
Mr. Poilievre also attacked the Bloc Québécois, judging that it bears the odium of keeping the Liberals in power through a so-called “expensive coalition”.
In the English version of his speech, he instead attacked the “coalition” with the New Democratic Party, in reference to the agreement concluded almost two years ago which allows the Liberals to remain in power in exchange key elements including a national dental care program.
In recent days, Justin Trudeau was the one who focused his attacks on the Conservative leader. In a speech to his own caucus, he accused him of spreading conspiracy theories about climate change and voting against free trade with Ukraine to “appease” supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Pierre Poilievre and his team voted against the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Dental Benefit,” said Mr. Trudeau. They voted against $10-a-day daycare and programs for seniors. »
As parliamentary work resumes on Monday in the House of Commons, the Liberals are still well behind in voting intentions nationally. The Conservatives are ahead of them by 13 points and would be well placed to form a majority government, according to the most recent projections from the poll aggregator Canada338.