Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Thursday announced his government will eliminate the federal sales tax on Canadian-made automobiles in response to US tariffs.
“Everyone who's looking to buy Canadian to support Canadian workers will be able to save money,” said Poilievre at a press conference.
He said cutting the GST on a $20,000 Canadian-made automobile will save buyers $2,500 — but it appears he meant to say a $50,000 vehicle, according to a media release sent after the press conference.
“We will increase demand for Canadian-made cars and keep more workers on the job,” promised Poilievre, calling on premiers to match the proposed policy and remove provincial sales tax too.
The tax cut, which will be in effect “as long as Donald Trump's tariffs remain in place,” will help solve the “Liberal inflation crisis that has made everything more expensive,” he said.
“Canadians [are showing] solidarity and are insisting on buying Canadian — that's why we want to make our cars more affordable by eliminating this tax,” said Poilievre.
The Tory leader acknowledged there have been some auto plants that are temporarily shut down or closed for retooling, but his government will “continue to monitor the list of vehicles made in Canada.”
“We're going to add and subtract automobiles from eligibility based on the Canadian content that they have,” said Poilievre.
He referenced his announcement made the day prior, that the Conservatives will set up a “temporary, targeted loan program to allow [manufacturers to] keep workers on the job until we get through this tariff madness.”
“We will start with a fund of $3 billion,” said Poilievre.
“These will be loans, not expenditures, and we will use the money to lend to companies who are desperate to keep employees on the payroll throughout this period of uncertainty and tariff obstacles so that those workers can keep working, keep paying taxes, keep supporting their families.”
Poilievre said while implementing these strategies here at home, he will go after President Donald Trump and “push hard to end the tariff madness.”
“I will also propose that, in the meantime, both sides suspend the tariffs.”
“To be clear, no counter tariffs from Canada will be removed unless and until the Americans do the same. But the argument to President Trump will be this: put aside the uncertainty.”
“Pause the tariffs until we can hammer out a deal.”