The man who wants to be Canada’s next Prime Minister was in Richmond on Thursday, making a series of bold promises, as is the wont of most politicians.
Pierre Poilievre, who’s at the forefront of the Conservative Party leadership race, made a brief visit to a Richmond Asian restaurant on Thursday afternoon.
Poilievre was greeted by former Richmond-Steveston MP Kenny Chiu and Richmond community members at the Continental Seafood Restaurant on Cambie Road.
Among his pledges was to put “Canadians back in charge of their lives by making Canada the freest country on earth” and his previously-mentioned promise to “defund CBC.”
Poilievre said people should be “free to work hard and achieve your dreams, start a business, hire more people to fulfill the Canadian dream that attracted so many immigrants to our country from all around the world.”
Defund CBC to tackle inflation: Poilievre
On the hot topic of the crippling inflation rates, Poilievre, when asked by the Richmond News, said that he would tackle the issue with “common sense,” before offering up his oft-spoken defunding of the CBC as one of the means to that end.
“We will save money for taxpayers by cutting and defunding CBC to save a billion dollars, getting rid of the failed infrastructure bank that only gives money to powerful corporations when they run over budget and eliminating handouts for large multinational corporations and using the money to cut taxes instead,” added Poilievre.
“For small businesses, I will lower the tax burden so that your paycheque is more powerful and that you keep more of what you are.”
As for the housing affordability crisis affecting much of the Lower Mainland, Poilievre promised to full some of that gaping void by repurposing 15 per cent of government buildings.
He also pledged to “get rid of the carbon tax to lower fuel prices,” “get rid of gatekeepers that are blocking business from producing more affordable food, energy and housing” and “stop printing money and start building more houses.”
Respect for Chinese-Canadian values
Poilievre gave a nod to Richmond’s Chinese-speaking population, saying that Chinese-Canadian values are “in common with conservative values, such as the value of families, hard work, self-reliance and lawfulness.”
However, when asked about his thoughts on the Chinese Communist Party, he said his Tories disagrees with the CCP, referring to the operations of Huawei 5G and the CCP’s record on human rights matters.
“As Conservatives, we intend to be clear, strong and respectful as we communicate our position in favour of freedom and in favour of Canadian interests with respect to all countries in this world.”
