Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Thursday said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney are cut from the same cloth, and the Conservatives have a better economic plan.
“The only difference between Carney and Trudeau is that Carney is now making a promise to cook the books,” said Poilievre.
The unelected Carney has served as head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and for the last five years as Trudeau’s economic advisor. He told American media he’s an “outsider” — though his signature is on Canadian currency.
The Tory leader on Wednesday after Carney made an “investment” announcement, released a statement exposing Carney’s “sneaky accounting trick to take billions of dollars of new Liberal spending off the budget records.”
“Yesterday [Carney] announced that he was going to repeat the exact same promise that Justin Trudeau made in the 2015 budget,” said Poilievre at a press conference on Thursday.
He recalled Trudeau’s comments on the 2015 budget, where he told Canadians he would “run three small deficits, tiny deficits that would fund the largest infrastructure investment in Canadian history to help the middle class and grow the economy.”
“What has been the result?” said Poilievre.
“Well, those three deficits turned into nine deficits; $25 billion of new debt turned into $700 billion of new debt.
“The debt, in fact, doubled in that time, and as a middle class, 80% are paying more, and we've had the worst economic growth in the G7."
“And now Mark Carney is promising three small deficits, which he says will somehow cause economic growth and help the middle class.”
“This is deja vu all over again.”
"Carney has the same advisers, the same MPs, the same ministers, and he’s making the same Liberal promises that Trudeau made a decade ago — but he expects Canadians to be duped for a fourth time.”
“What Mr. Carney is talking about is taking tens of billions of dollars of new spending off the books, hiding it from Canadians, so that he can artificially lower the deficits that people see reported.”
“Every single dollar the government spends is paid for by Canadian taxpayers.”
Poilievre said the Conservatives are committed to fixing the federal budget and introduced a “new dollar for dollar law that runs the finances of the country like small businesses, seniors and single moms run their budgets.”
“Very simple — $1 of spending would have to be matched with $1 of savings,” said Poilievre.
“You want to spend more over here, you have to spend less over there, and that will be passed into a law, the dollar over dollar law.”
Poilievre further promised his government would pass “a big, beautiful, Bring It Home tax cut on work, investment saving, home building and making stuff in Canada.”
“The purpose will be to bring home the half trillion dollars of investment that the Carney-Trudeau Liberals have driven out of our country to the United States of America. I want that money in our country for our people.”
He added the Tories would cut bureaucracy, consultants, “foreign aid and other wasted money,” income taxes and the carbon tax and bring down deficits and inflation.
“My friends, you cannot get a change from the Liberal government by electing a Liberal government — a fourth liberal term in office will be just like the previous three,” said Poilievre.