Canada must retaliate against U.S. tariffs, and retaliatory tariffs should fund tax cuts, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said on Tuesday.
“I’d like to speak to the millions of Canadians who are anxious today,” Poilievre said, addressing media on Parliament Hill. “To the auto workers, the forestry workers, the steel and aluminum workers, the mining and energy workers, the truckers, the farmers. To all of you who get out of bed before the sun rises and do the labour of the nation: you’re afraid right now, and I understand.”
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“I want you to know I will fight for you. I will fight for your job. I will fight for your family.”
“First, we must retaliate,” Poilievre said, “targeting American goods in the following order: A, goods that we can make ourselves; B, goods we don’t need; and C, goods we can get from elsewhere.”
Funding tax cuts
“Second, counter-tariffs must not be a cash-cow for the government,” he continued. “Almost every penny of the tariffs collected should go to tax cuts, with a small sum set aside for targeted relief of workers hardest hit by the trade war.”
“Third, we must immediately pass a bring-it-home tax cut on work, investment, energy and home building.” He explained the idea of this plan is to offset the cost of tariffs with lower taxes and to incentivize building, including new housing developments.
Poilievre reiterated his intentions to, if elected in this year’s federal election, remove the carbon tax and capital gains tax and to slash the income tax.
He also said he would “get provinces together to knock down trade barriers so that we can lower prices and boost wages for our people.”
