THUNDER BAY – The leader of the official opposition of Canada made a stop in Thunder Bay Friday evening.
The Honourable Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, made an appearance at the site of his new billboard.
It is located just outside of the constituency office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.
The new billboard criticized the Liberal's carbon tax, with Poilievre once again promising to eliminate the carbon tax implemented by the Liberal government.
"I’m here today to redouble my campaign to axe the tax and there, you see the sign right over there. That’s the choice, that’s the choice in the carbon tax election,” he said.
“Either it will be Pierre Poilievre and the common-sense Conservatives who will axe the tax or Justin Trudeau, Patty Hajdu and (Marcus) Powlowski who will hike the tax on your heat, your gas and your groceries.”
Hajdu stood by her party's commitment to the carbon tax, saying that she believes it to be a crucial part of supporting generations to come.
“The billboard is patently dishonest. First of all, I mean, actually Monday, the quarterly instalment of the climate rebate will be deposited to people’s bank accounts, $244 for the average household,” she said.
“The billboard also doesn’t at all address what the leader of the opposition would propose to do about climate change.
Hajdu also criticized the federal Conservatives for both the historical and current ways the party dealt with hot-button issues like reconciliation.
“I think the Conservative Party is bankrupt in the area of reconciliation - and I’ll tell you a few reasons why,” she said.
“First of all, when we took office in 2015, Stephen Harper, of which Pierre Poilievre, as you know, served as a cabinet minister, refused to meet with national Indigenous leaders, not even one time to talk about what their priorities were and how we could move forward on reconciliation.”
She added that the issues around reconciliation are not something that can be airbrushed away and that these are long-standing relationships with long-standing challenges and it requires an ongoing commitment.
Poilievre contradicted the Indigenous Services Minister, stating that his party is going to ensure that First Nations communities have the opportunity to earn powerful paycheques that fund local infrastructure, schools, and other necessities.
“One of the ways we’re going to do that is to give First Nations communities more control over their money, their decisions, and their lands,” he said.
“We’ll allow First Nations to collect some of their own corporate tax so that businesses will not have to send it all to Ottawa. They’ll be able to pay it to the local First Nation that will generate their own source of revenue and more financial autonomy."
Poilievre stressed his confidence that Thunder Bay's ridings will elect a Conservative in the next election, something that hasn't happened in nearly 90 years.
