Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday morning challenged Prime Minister Mark Carney to debate him for a fourth Liberal term — and the Tories will foot the bill.
While all federal leaders that have 4% or higher in the polls or a sitting MP will join the two official leadership debates in French and English on April 16 and 7, private French-language network TVA Nouvelle traditionally hosts a third, separate debate that is extremely popular among Quebecers, and has a buy-in of $75,000 a piece.
Carney on Monday was asked in French if he will participate, to which he replied, “Why not?” — the Liberals, however, later in the day issued a statement announcing Carney will not be participating in the private debate. It appears the prime minister misunderstood the question.
“I want to say that I want to challenge Mark Carney to show up for the debate,” said Poilievre at a press conference.
“He's running away and hiding because he believes that he's too weak to defend the Lost Liberal decade or explain why he thinks Liberals deserve a fourth term.”
“Let's have a debate in French where we put forward the choice: either a fourth Liberal term … or putting Canada first for a change.”
“I'll even pay Mr. Carney's fee so that he can show up. We will take that excuse away from him. Conservatives will even pay the fee.”
“He’s afraid. And by the way, if he is afraid to have the debate, how is he going to have the courage to stand up against Donald Trump?”
“I'm not afraid, and I'm ready to enjoy that debate with him.”
Poilievre at Tuesday’s stop in Vaughan, ON, announced GST on all new homes under $1.3 million, which the Tories say will save first-time homebuyers up to $65,000 and result in 36,000 new homes each year.
“The choice facing Canadians: do the Carney Liberals deserve a fourth term after they doubled housing costs and made Canada poorer and weaker, or is it time to elect a new Conservative government that will build homes and put Canada First – for a change,” said Poilievre.
"Under my plan, it will be easier for a young couple in Surrey, a single mom in Oshawa, and a tradesman in Regina to get on the housing ladder, just like their parents did."
The Conservatives plan to fund the homebuyers' tax cut by “eliminating $8 billion of the Liberals' bureaucratic housing schemes that have only driven up housing prices.”
“After the Lost Liberal Decade, the dream of a decent home on a safe street in a beautiful community has been broken. Housing costs have doubled, rising faster in Canada than in any other G7 country. It used to take 25 years to pay off a mortgage, but now it can take 25 years just to save up for a down payment on a home,” said Poilievre.
Poilievre mentioned the federal GST adds $50,000 in costs to a $1 million home and said the Carney-Trudeau Liberals “have only made it worse by pushing the benchmark price in Vancouver to $1.195 million and Toronto to $1.089 million.”
He added there are now many regions across Canada where $1 million is not enough to buy the average home.
"Nobody can afford this," Poilievre said.
"Mark Carney is out of touch and doesn’t understand that Canadians are being forced to move away from the towns and cities they grew up in. This ends when we elect a Conservative government. Only Conservatives will stop punishing the dream of home ownership and restore the Canadian promise by building more, taxing less and getting the government out of the way.”
