Ottawa needs to ‘get out of the way’: Poilievre
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. / FACEBOOK PHOTO
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal Liberal government to scale back its spending and remove barriers to private-sector investment, arguing that years of deficit-driven policies have stalled economic growth.
In a National Post op-ed, Poilievre criticized what he described as the Liberals’ reliance on borrowing and government spending to drive the economy. “Today’s alchemist-in-chief, Mark Carney, promises to turn deficits into ‘investment,’” Poilievre wrote. “Sounds more sophisticated but it’s not that different from ‘the budget will balance itself.’”
He said that after a decade of Liberal budgets, “the debt doubled, investment dropped, growth halted, [and] the budget still hasn’t balanced itself.” Additionally, he wrote, “real investment per worker in Canada has dropped by over 10%, the steepest decline in the G7.”
Poilievre argued that government deficits crowd out private investment and warned that “today’s deficits are tomorrow’s taxes.” He called on Ottawa to “get out of the way” by speeding up permits, reducing capital gains taxes on reinvestments, and removing restrictions on resource development.
