“Montreal has the potential to become an economic superpower”
The federal Conservatives may well achieve a “breakthrough” in Quebec when Quebecers go to the polls in the next election by the fall of 2025, leader Pierre Poilievre predicted on Thursday.
Riding in an RV on the way to Victoriaville during a weeklong tour of Quebec, Poilievre was hesitant to give any figures on the number of MPs who would be elected in the province. At present, the Conservative Party has nine Quebec MPs.
“I don’t want to be presumptuous, but my view is that if Quebecers have to choose between the costly coalition of (Justin) Trudeau and the NDP to tax their food, punish their work, double housing costs, and unleash crime and chaos in their communities, or a common sense Conservative government who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime, we have a chance for a breakthrough,” Poilievre said.
In an interview that sometimes veered toward heightened rhetoric, Poilievre suggested that voters may be growing tired of what he described as Housefather’s lack of consistency.
“He stands up for the Jewish community,” Poilievre added. “He fights against antisemitism in court, he’s tried to shut down the Hamas-inspired hate camp at McGill. He’s also fought for small businesses to have lower taxes and for entrepreneurs to be rewarded, not vilified.”
Poilievre, 45, doubled down on his criticism of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, whom he has previously denounced as “incompetent.” He accused Plante of exacerbating Montreal’s shortage of affordable housing.
“Valérie Plante has made it even worse,” he continued. “She has blocked, through her bureaucracy, she has blocked 25,000 homes from being built, according to the Montreal Economic Institute.”
Poilievre reiterated the Conservative pledge to boost home building by 15 per cent per year, but was unable to cite specific targets for Quebec, saying that will come later by his party.
Still, Poilievre sang Montreal’s praises despite his criticism of the Plante administration.
“Well, it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the entire world. It’s a great metropolis that is known in all four corners of the globe. It’s absolutely stunning. It has four centuries of history and beautiful unmatched architecture, an extremely well-educated population. These are enormous advantages.
“We need to unlock the potential of Montreal by bringing back free enterprise. Free enterprise means low taxes, fast permits, less red tape, and more competition,” he added. “Doing that will allow Montreal to blossom into an economic superpower.”
Asked about whether a Conservative government would support Quebec anglophones, Poilievre said:
“I want us to get past our divisions and unite people of all languages. Obviously, we need to protect the French language and we also need a federal government that is fully bilingual and respects both anglophones and francophones. And that’s the approach that I’m going to take.”
And on the subject of the emergency-room crisis plaguing the country, Poilievre vowed to speed up the certification of foreign-trained doctors and nurses, arguing that this would increase the ranks of medical professionals to help curb hospital crowding.
“What I’m going to do is leverage immigration and health-care dollars that we give the provinces to get them to agree on a national Blue Seal standard so that immigrant doctors and nurses can take a test, prove they’re qualified, and get to work within two months rather than being shut out and forced into low-wage work for the rest of their lives.”