Tax cuts, housing and U.S. relations highlighted the first full day of campaigning in the federal election.
Liberal leader Mark Carney used a stop in Gander to talk about Canada-U.S. relations.
He highlighted Gander’s response during the 9-11 terrorist attacks as an example of how Canada has helped the U.S. in time of need.
Carney says President Trump is putting a strain on those relations and promises to protect Canadians.
“President Trump wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen,” says Carney.
Carney also used the visit to warn voters against electing Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre as Prime Minister.
He says programs like child care, dental care and pharmacare would be eliminated.
“His view is it’s everyone for themselves. It’s the spirit of Donald Trump that he’s trying to apply to Canada,” says Carney.
Poilievre took shots at the Liberal leader during a stop in Toronto.
He says Carney played a role in government overspending as an advisor to former Prime Minister Just Trudeau.
He says voters can expect more of the same if the Liberals win again.
“Giving (the) Liberals a fourth term will only drive debt, taxes and the cost of living higher,” says Poilievre.
” What we need is a new Conservative government that will put Canada first for a change.”
Poilievre also announced a promise to reduce income taxes by 15 per cent.
“We will do it by reducing the lowest bracket from 15 to 12.75, which is a 2.25% reduction. That works out to a 15% reduction in the overall tax bill of everyone earning up to $57,000. That said, because we are cutting the lowest bracket, every single Canadian who pays income tax will pay less.”
In Montreal, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh promised to open federal land for the development of affordable housing projects.
“We want to see bill homes being built that are affordable,” says Singh.
“We want to hire and train a hundred thousand workers to build these homes. And we want to unleash the financing to make this happen.”
Singh says he would fast-track the approval for projects on federal lands to get homes built sooner.
He also proposes to create a Community Housing Bank to help finance projects built by non-profit developers, co-ops, and Indigenous communities.
