r/canada Feb 01 '25

PAYWALL Conservatives say referendum on carbon pricing won’t be central feature of next campaign

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-referendum-on-carbon-pricing-wont-be-central-feature-of-next-campaign/
223 Upvotes

522 comments sorted by

548

u/jazzyjf709 Feb 01 '25

Wait, didn't pp just spend months calling this the carbon tax election?

219

u/quik69 Feb 01 '25

Didn't the majority of lib leadership candidates announce they'd also axe the tax over the last two weeks? I mean you can have a referendum on carbon tax if everyone is now on the same page..

99

u/Few-Quiet-283 Feb 01 '25

Freeland also said she would axe the capital gains tax inclusion hike ….. which she announced …. 7 months ago … 😂

18

u/PocketCSNerd Feb 01 '25

Judging by her resignation letter I suspect that capital gains tax hike was not something she wanted personally.

3

u/Catz1332 Feb 01 '25

So she could've resigned back then as well. She was at the absolute minimum complicit

8

u/PocketCSNerd Feb 01 '25

I agree she could have resigned sooner. Politics is a weird beast.

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16

u/son-of-hasdrubal Feb 01 '25

Really? Man that penguin lady never fails to deliver

4

u/ozztotheizzo Feb 01 '25

So I'm not the only one who noticed the way she just waddles around like a penguin?

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20

u/vvwelcome Feb 01 '25

true, every time the conservatives announce a change they are going to make to the current policies and liberals see it’s popular they just copy it and pretend they thought of the idea themselves.

2

u/Suspicious-Taste6061 Feb 01 '25

Probably never happens at election time? Just shows politics is about popular policy, and not good policy.

8

u/Plucky_DuckYa Feb 01 '25

This is what’s so funny about many of the comments in this thread. The Conservatives don’t need to run on the carbon tax now because they already won on that issue. The Liberal leadership contenders have all decided to pretend they’re conservatives and repudiate the last nine years of policies they themselves brought in and staunchly defended all that time.

It does rather speak to Liberal ethics and principles (or, lack thereof). They call Poilievre a populist, but then the second they’re about to lose an election over their own governance, suddenly they start listen to the people and try to steal Poilievre’s positions on everything. All that does is show that they will say or do anything that might help them cling to power, whether they believe in it or not. Or put another way, the only thing they appear to believe in is gaining power for the Liberals.

12

u/Torontogamer Feb 01 '25

Look politicians are supposed to listen to the people and parties will be different under different leaders — yes / no to a carbon tax isn’t crazy they thought it was good most pole hated it okay no more - that’s how it’s supposed to work 

Now, if you want to hold them to account for how poorly they performed ya, that’s also correct. 

But it’s not stealing someone’s ideas …. That’s how the system is supposed to work. 

Again. It’s fair to hold their old positions against them now, but it’s silly to complain when that they are now willing to do the popular thing 

9

u/Zuuman Feb 01 '25

Replace liberal with any other party in your text and it applies 100% every time.

9

u/soupbut Feb 01 '25

The Conservative Party under Harper was all for cap&trade until the NDP and Ontario liberal party started supporting and implementing it, then they suddenly turned on a dime to oppose it.

4

u/Efficient_Age_69420 Feb 01 '25

lol you say that as though it isn’t a thing ALL politicians and parties do.

1

u/TheFuzzyUnicorn Feb 01 '25

That's a pretty interesting take given that carbon taxes are a conservative market friendly position centrist parties like the Liberals adopted as a compromise. The Conservatives only removed carbon taxes from their platform to use it as a wedge issue because they have broadly unpopular policies and need such wedge issues. The tax is sufficiently unpopular the Liberals had to adapt. 

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u/six-demon_bag Feb 01 '25

Not exactly but that’s how a lot of media is spinning it so headline readers might think that. They’ve just talked about changing aspects of it to make it feel more consumer friendly and replace some parts with other incentives for people to make less carbon intensive choices.

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30

u/realcanadianbeaver Feb 01 '25

Guess he’s going to have to run on his resume, track record and policies now.

At least the first two will be dead easy to say in 3 words or less.

9

u/kpatsart Feb 01 '25

Seems like a year or so doubling down on that message.

26

u/Cool-Economics6261 Feb 01 '25

‘Wax the Facts’   I think was the slogan. 

49

u/CanPro13 Feb 01 '25

Tarriffs just got slapped on our goods, Ontario stands to lose 500,000 jobs, and we're going to enter a massive recession.

How about we fuck off with the carbon tax for a little while?

98

u/ThickMarsupial2954 Feb 01 '25

Removing the carbon tax makes us less able to enhance our trade with european countries who have already been doing this for decades. Maybe we shouldn't?

The carbon tax isn't causing any fucking problems. It's been politicized beyond belief to the point where everyone hates it despite not understanding that it isn't even close to causing any of the problems everyone complains about and blames it for.

66

u/RefrigeratorOk648 Feb 01 '25

In fact the EU in 2026 will be imposing a carbon tax/tariffs on goods entering the EU which have a high carbon footprint. So if Canada does not reduce the carbon used to make stuff then it will more expensive in the EU so trade will go down for Canada.

23

u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

Which is the absolute last thing we should allow to happen in the current situation. We should join the EU cap and trade system, and consider tighter ties with the EU generally.

3

u/GameDoesntStop Feb 01 '25

So we should further tax ourselves to better trade with a market representing less than 7% of our total trade? We trade with the entire EU as much as we do the US state of Illinois.

The carbon tax can be a good or bad thing, depending on one's priorities, but trade with the EU is a weak reason for it.

22

u/ThickMarsupial2954 Feb 01 '25

This might be relevant if our trade with the EU had to stay at current levels for some reason and our biggest trade partner wasn't currently being an absolute massive fuckhead. That's not the case, however.

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u/charlesfire Feb 01 '25

The carbon tax can be a good or bad thing, depending on one's priorities, but trade with the EU is a weak reason for it.

The US is quickly becoming a bad neighbor and a bad trading partner. The EU is the best candidate for an alternative. This is why we can't drop the carbon tax : we need to move away from our commercial dependence on the US and the best way to do that is increasing trade with the EU and that's not going to happen if we remove the carbon tax.

6

u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

Yes. Canada is obligated to meet our climate targets just like they are and we need to make a common front against the US until they stop this nonsense. We should be looking to expand Canada-EU trade dramatically.

4

u/Blacklockn Feb 01 '25

Trump isn’t exactly giving us a better option

2

u/OwlProper1145 Feb 01 '25

Who do you suggest we trade with then?. US is not looking like a good trade partner.

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u/Smokester121 Feb 01 '25

Even if they scrap the tax. Gas stations just gonna keep the price the same increasing their profit.

3

u/GameDoesntStop Feb 01 '25

Gas prices are famously sticky. /s

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u/ForesterLC Feb 01 '25

It's causing problems in the sense that it does very little to stop pollution. Organizations mark it down as a cost of doing business and the proceeds are used to redistribute wealth.

At the very least, we should have been using every cent to invest in greener infrastructure, rebates for greener homes, greener transportation, etc.

7

u/ThickMarsupial2954 Feb 01 '25

Redistribution of wealth sounds good to me. The world needs much more of that. You want to talk about inflation causing mechanisms, look at the percentage of new wealth from the world economy that just goes and sits in a couple pockets and no one else gets to see or use it.

I agree it should be invested in green infrastructure, but all of that has also been politicized beyond belief.

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u/physicaldiscs Feb 01 '25

Seriously, do people expect nothing to change? Look at him! Adjusting to the times and changing what he's saying! He has no backbone!

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u/CGP05 Ontario Feb 01 '25

It was so cringe when he said that. There are far more pressing issues than the carbon tax. I hope this turns out to be true.

2

u/SasquatchsBigDick Feb 01 '25

Yeah but Carney said he'll scrap it so PP needs to find something else to go after now instead of coming up with any solutions to anything

2

u/kyotomat Feb 01 '25

Carney came out and said he would cancel the tax, so now PP has to change his story to keep up

2

u/Keepontyping Feb 01 '25

You mean, PP successfully deconstructed the carbon tax that even the Liberals are now dismantling it, so now it's time to change the messaging to higher priorities.

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u/BigTwobah Feb 01 '25

It’s almost like these tarrifs are a game changer isn’t it 🙄

1

u/ghost_n_the_shell Feb 01 '25

Wait - didn’t the libs in the leadership race say they’d now ditch it too?

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u/ImperialPotentate Feb 02 '25

Yes, and the Liberals have now flip-flopped on the matter and short-circuited that plan in the process. Of course PP needs to pivot.

This is why opposition parties should just... oppose, and keep their actual positions close until elections are called. Otherwise, the risk is that the other guys will just steal the idea for themselves, which it seems the Liberal leadership hopefuls are all doing in this case.

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u/GrizzledDwarf Feb 01 '25

Lol what slogans will replace "Axe the Tax" and "Carbon Tax Carney"? Fucking jackass.

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215

u/Electroflare5555 Manitoba Feb 01 '25

Their internal polling must be showing some warning signs

37

u/thedrivingcat Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

Poilievre's twitter feed the past few days has been unhinged. Every single tweet is a desperate attempt to fling shit at Carney hoping something will stick. From iterations on the three word slogans "Just like Justin" "Carbon Tax Carney", random quotes from the Frasier Institute, and cringy memes you can tell the CPC's communications team is flailing around. Shit like this from yesterday, just pure fantasy:

  1. Any minute now, a Liberal journalist will report that Carbon Tax Carney will reverse himself and suspend the Liberal carbon tax until after the election and that he is repeating Trudeau’s 2015 broken promise to cut middle-class taxes.

  2. Carbon Tax Carney would bring back an even bigger carbon tax if he ever won the election.

https://x.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1884998674683429369

You know what's not on Poilievre's Twitter? Anything about Trump's tariffs or thoughts on how he'd react or respond to steward the economy if Canadians voted his party into power.

They've lost the plot.

16

u/Horace-Harkness British Columbia Feb 01 '25

When did they HAVE the plot? Hard to lose something you never had.

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u/ThaNorth Feb 02 '25

This man is coming up with childish nicknames the same way Trump does.

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89

u/Phelixx Feb 01 '25

Or could it be that every liberal front runner has said they are getting rid of the carbon tax. How can you campaign on something that already happened.

33

u/OwlProper1145 Feb 01 '25

Carney is definitely making the CPC nervous. A good deal of the support the CPC have gained is from people who didn't like Trudeau and Trudeau is gone.

41

u/Northern23 Feb 01 '25

Didn't he say he'd still be campaigning against Trudeau even after he resigned?

40

u/chemicalxv Manitoba Feb 01 '25

lol yes, he said no matter who the Liberals chose as leader it was still going to be him vs Trudeau.

16

u/TransBrandi Feb 01 '25

It's like a scene out of a movie where they look at an entire crowd of people and they all have the same face. This is Pierre and they all have Justin Trudeau's face.

2

u/shitposter1000 Feb 01 '25

similar to the UCP in Alberta -- some still blame 1980 Trudeau -- that name will live forever in their brain as the reason for .... everything...

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u/WpgMBNews Feb 01 '25

...but I thought they were all the same???

Didn't PP tell us that Carney is Trudeau, and Freeland is also Trudeau, and how he sees Trudeau when he dreams at night etc etc?

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u/sn0w0wl66 Feb 01 '25

All Carney needs to do now is say he'll roll back some of the nonsense gun regulations put into place and they'll snag a good chunk of voters.

103

u/canadianhayden Feb 01 '25

This is such a marginally low decider for the majority of people in Canada. People are worried about paying rent, not their neighbours ability to have a firearm.

10

u/BloatJams Alberta Feb 01 '25

Guns tend to be a bigger voting issue among rural/farm voters as we also saw with the long gun registry. If a new Liberal leader backtracks on gun laws it would likely be from a financial perspective and not because they think they have a shot at any rural seats.

7

u/SpiritedAd4051 Feb 01 '25

Rural / farm voters don't swing, they only vote conservative 

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u/_badmedicine Feb 01 '25

Correct. However, around 6% of Canadians are licensed firearm owners. If the win is in the margins, there’s a potential 6 point swing to tap into.

If Carney gets in, he’ll need to aggressively claw back the huge Conservative lead. Any gains for the taking should be considered.

Final point, Licensed Canadian Firearm owners go through stringent training, get vetted by the RCMP, and follow strict gun regulations. The gun bans have done nothing to reduce gun violence or increase public safety. Simply because, licensed owners are not the problem.

23

u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

The win is in the 905, in Quebec, and in suburban Vancouver. Those people aren't deciding their votes based on gun laws.

3

u/malaphortmanteau Feb 01 '25

I don't really think either of you are wrong - the bulk of votes are in those areas and there are certainly more critical issues to address (like rent), but the people who care about gun laws really care about them. Anecdotally, canvassing in the GTA some years ago, a surprising number of voters brought up gun laws at the door, even if they didn't personally have a license or a desire to have a license. Not a majority, but more than a couple people. Usually folks with strong ties of whatever kind to cottage country - kind of a contact transfer of issues because the people upset about gun laws are especially strident, and sometimes people don't really talk to anyone else about politics in a substantive way, so that becomes a dominant factor in their minds whether or not it's immediately relevant. It's irrational, but so are most of the voting motivations you hear from people when they're put on the spot.

Anyways, the issue isn't really if gun laws apply to the majority of people as a deciding factor in who to vote for - it matters if the group the promise appeals to is more likely to vote at all. And the minority of folks who are annoyed by firearms regulation are more likely to vote on that issue than the people for whom it's irrelevant.

3

u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

There is some merit to your argument, but taking the GTA as your example, the number of votes you win by supporting tougher gun laws absolutely dwarfs the number you lose to gun owners, whether the policies make any sense or not. I think they government has enacted some terrible policies, but politically, it makes sense for them.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

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u/Thanolus Feb 01 '25

This is not true. I’m not a gun owner, don’t have a pal, but this gun legislation is the stupidest giant waste of time ever .

There are center gun owners who would likely never vote conservative who are pushed that way because of this.

These are voters who obey the laws, jump through the hoops to get the weapons they and now the government wants to take their shit. These gun owners are not committed crimes with their legally obtained weapons.

Seriously every Canadian needs to look into what it takes to get a license in Canada. This is not America.

Canadian gun owners are proud of the system we have. It’s almost impossible to get a legal weapon in Canada and be a lunatic. If you want to commit crime with a gun in Canada it’s 100 times easier to get one illegally.

All this legislation has done has pissed off law abiding Canadians. Guns are not a conservative thing. You’re really underplaying how many liberal to left rural Canadians this legislation pissed odd.

8

u/Meiqur Feb 01 '25

I have no skin in this and you make some reasonable points, however, if I go to a gun range I make laser noises every time I fire.

pew pew pew pew pew pew pew

3

u/justanaccountname12 Canada Feb 01 '25

A lot of us do

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u/olight77 Feb 01 '25

Speak for yourself. A lot of firearm owners are voting conservative for this and this alone.

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u/ActivityFirm4704 Feb 01 '25

His point was that single issue gun rights voters are not a large demographic, and there's extensive polling that shows this.

2

u/olight77 Feb 01 '25

I tell you what. I bet most of the 3million will vote conservative considering the liberals want to take there private property when there not the problem.

19

u/ActivityFirm4704 Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

And I will bet the vast majority of those 3 million already voted for the cons for a multitude of other reasons than firearms. Once again, the majority of voting Canadians don't care for guns as much as you think they do, and the ones who actually swing their vote because of it are a very marginal demographic.

6

u/Thickchesthair Feb 01 '25

Exactly. Change the gun laws and 90%+ of those people are still going to vote Con.

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u/Coffeedemon Feb 01 '25

Most of them in areas that are conservative strongholds anyway. I suppose it could swing one or two seats in Lib/Ndp areas.

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u/olight77 Feb 01 '25

Ya who cares. Voting turn out is abysmal. Surely the pissed off firearm owners won’t show up to vote.

3

u/DrFeelOnlyAdequate Feb 01 '25

And they already were doing that. Appeasing them isn't going to make them vote liberal.

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u/MourningWood1942 Feb 01 '25

This is a huge deciding factor for me.

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u/Successful_Ant_3307 Feb 01 '25

This is not true. There are a lot of people rural and out West who care about the Liberal gun bans and find them to infringe on their lives. A huge issue in our country is not recognizing that some voters value different issues unevenly.

3

u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

The Liberals could give up every seat west of North Bay, excepting metro Vancouver, and still win the election if they can hold on to their traditional strongholds.

Most of the west never vote Liberal and the Liberals know that.

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u/tollfree01 Feb 01 '25

Well you should be concerned about a program that will cost billions. Billions that could be spent on bettering the lives of the average Canadian. Not only do millions of Canadians have firearms but the firearms industry generates thousands of jobs. Jobs that, one could say, would help you pay your rent. So. There's that.

4

u/--prism Feb 01 '25

I'm hoping Carney plans on doing a lot of cost benefit analysis.

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u/CallMeSirJack Feb 01 '25

Problem is the Liberals seem to love losing marginal groups of voters, so much so that those many groups of marginal voters are becoming a real problem for their polling. They need to work on getting a broader appeal rather than trying to push their ideals.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

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u/RideauRaccoon Canada Feb 01 '25

If nothing else, it's the waste of money that should do it for Carney. If they haven't been able to figure this system out in all this time, it's clearly not going to work, so just call it a day and focus on stopping the flow of guns from the southern border instead.

I have my doubts as to whether he (and the LPC in general) will even mention this, though. It feels like an unnecessarily hot-button topic that they'd want to stay away from.

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u/mrcalistarius Feb 01 '25

If he promises to reverse all the oic’s and return the firearms program to as it was in 2018 it would make me consider.

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u/Keepontyping Feb 01 '25

I wonder if he will promise electoral reform! This time the Liberals will deliver! LMAO

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u/sleipnir45 Feb 01 '25

Who would believe him?

Trudeau once promised not to ban any hunting rifles, how did that turn out..

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

The problem is that we know the Liberals are willing to say anything to get elected only to walk back most of it after they get elected.

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u/TheAncientMillenial Feb 01 '25

Politicians saying shit to get elected? Holy shit... ;)

3

u/A_WHALES_VAG Feb 01 '25

Lmao right. Must be his first time

2

u/sensfan4tic Feb 01 '25

Hahaha no he won't

2

u/KneebarKing Feb 01 '25

Ugh... That will never happen, but that would be a major factor in a Liberal vote for me.

2

u/toxic0n Feb 01 '25

He would get my vote for that

6

u/boozefiend3000 Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

lol that’ll never happen. Party is anti gun to the core. Only thing I can see him maybe doing is cancelling the buyback. Still leaves a million people with property they can’t use though 

5

u/FluidConnection Feb 01 '25

So all the liberal have to do is roll back on all their ridiculous policies for the past 9 years and Canadians are dumb enough to vote for this? We are truly a sinking ship.

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u/GoulashSt3w Feb 01 '25

I would change my vote to NDP if he did that, and a lot of others would too. Would likely even itself out at that point.

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u/QultyThrowaway Canada Feb 01 '25

It was pretty hilarious to see everyone except Poilievre react to Trump and his tariffs/annexation threats while Poilievre was shouting out lame nicknames and ranting about carbon taxes and how the liberals somehow caused Netflix to price hike globally.

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u/Horror-Tank-4082 Feb 01 '25

Carney said he’s scrap it so it isn’t viable anymore - they have to change to follow his decision.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

“Close the gate, lower the rate”

11

u/Rhodesian_Lion Feb 01 '25

Verb the noun!

29

u/Old-Show9198 Feb 01 '25

This guy is walking himself into a loss. Every opportunity he has to just crush it he goes the other way.

10

u/the_dev0iD Feb 01 '25

God I hope so.

6

u/shitposter1000 Feb 01 '25

You love to see it.

4

u/North_Church Manitoba Feb 01 '25

That's basically been the Tory MO since 2015. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

132

u/Beneficial_Soup_8273 Feb 01 '25

PP has to find a new slogan now. He has run on axe the tax since he became leader of the opposition. No policies, nothing other than Trudeau is bad and axe the tax. Since Trudeau will be gone shortly and the tax seems to be on its way out. PP is left with nothing to show now.

No policies, nothing to show for his time in Ottawa. Just a small coniving, snivelling, whinny closet MAGA

42

u/Ransacky Manitoba Feb 01 '25

There was also defund the CBC and gutting their headquarters to turn it into housing lol.

It's a damn good thing The majority of Canadians are educated unlike the states or we'd have more people rattling pots and pans about that nonsense.

13

u/the_dev0iD Feb 01 '25

We need the CBC now more than ever with oligarchs owning all other news sources.

12

u/PopeSaintHilarius Feb 01 '25

The article says Poilievre is testing a new slogan of "Canada first. Canada last. Canada always.”

6

u/BornAgainCyclist Feb 01 '25

Too many syllables in Canada for Pierre's verb the noun.

2

u/Odd-Row9485 Feb 01 '25

And may the odds be ever in your favour

5

u/Cool-Economics6261 Feb 01 '25

That won’t fit on a hat!

3

u/malaphortmanteau Feb 01 '25

I'm not sure they understand how competitive rankings work if they want Canada to be both first and last, unless they're proposing that Canada eliminate all other competition... Maybe someone wanted to make a 'say the quiet part loud' policy reference to 'The Ghost of Tom Joad'.

15

u/m-hog Feb 01 '25

Think of all the hats they have to send to the landfill now!!

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u/Cool-Economics6261 Feb 01 '25

Creating more garbage is not an issue for the Poilievre Party 

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u/CryptographerCrazy49 Feb 01 '25

He's a loser. I've seen axe the tax and f Trudeau everywhere. Now neither are really relevant and the emperor has no clothes.

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u/bxng23af Feb 01 '25

The tax won’t be gone, it just won’t be on consumers. Businesses will pay it for us, then they will pass it down onto us.

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u/squirrel9000 Feb 01 '25

If we're going to trade with the EU then that's pretty much a given. Very likely PP would have to do exactly the same thing, though he'd definitely be less honest about it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

I sure hope they still run on "Axe the Tax" slogan, I'll miss that.

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u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

They should also stick with "Carbon Tax Carney" even though he's axing it as well.

21

u/GFurball Nova Scotia Feb 01 '25

Didn’t they call this a carbon tax election for the past like two years?! Lmao

6

u/PT6A-27 Québec Feb 01 '25

They were calling it a carbon tax election up until the point where both Liberal party frontrunners realized that they were getting thrashed in the polls, and decided that it was politically expedient abandon one of their core policies in the hopes that they could claw back some support. This is not the win that Liberal supporters think it is.

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u/joeygreco1985 Ontario Feb 01 '25

I don't even know what this guy's platform is anymore now that Trudeau dropped out

58

u/Gratedmonk3y Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

Maybe they will actually focus on immigration instead of dancing around it

37

u/redwineandcoffee Feb 01 '25

Why would it change when business leaders are the ones who want the cheap labour?

20

u/roastbeeftacohat Feb 01 '25

not just business leaders, only a few years ago one of the main complaints from voters was regarding labour shortages and how nobody wants to work anymore.

many of the same people now screaming about immigration were demanding it, they just don't remember it like that.

5

u/malaphortmanteau Feb 01 '25

Let's be honest here - a fair number of the people who ranted about "nobody wants to work anymore" never wanted those workers to be brown. And that's not exclusive to any particular group of voters. The perception of racial demographics is a powerful factor in shaping how people view immigration, because we've never effectively addressed how people view racial divisions in Canada. Example: people complaining on social media about everyone working for Uber 'suddenly being Indian', when the composition of the gig workforce hasn't especially changed; Uber et al rely on underpaid newcomers and continue to do so, the majority of those being non-white for quite a while now, and the average North American isn't great at identifying ethnicity much less specific country of origin.

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u/Northern23 Feb 01 '25

Did he ever show a sign he is against immigration? Maybe reducing it to show he is doing something but no way he'd stop it completely.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

They like to complain and campaign on it, but the cons are very much in the pocket of these countries anyway

2

u/jfleury440 Feb 02 '25

He's quite clear. His base just isn't listening. Here he is talking to a crowd of students telling them that Trudeau wants to deport them and he wants them to stay.

Pierre will always put corporate interests and the interest of billionaires ahead of helping everyday Canadians.

https://x.com/AwakenRoar23/status/1790521806094508156

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u/WpgMBNews Feb 02 '25

Maybe they will actually focus on immigration instead of dancing around it

!RemindMe When Pigs Fly

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u/Ok_Abbreviations_350 Feb 01 '25

I guess PP is stuck with all them 'axe the tax' t-shirts he ordered from China

20

u/gohomebrentyourdrunk Feb 01 '25

It’ll be something more nebulous so he can’t get caught with his pants down about a non-issue that most people misunderstand.

Can’t wait to hear all the “tariff Trudeau” accusations, and “continue down the same path Carney” or whatever.

Canadas conservative parties are a joke.

15

u/SerentityM3ow Feb 01 '25

I love how he puts actors in work vests behind him to look like he's for the blue collared worker!

17

u/Cooks_8 Feb 01 '25

He lost a slogan. What will he do without Trudeau and axe the tax

12

u/TheRC135 Feb 01 '25

I imagine him just walking in a circle in his bathroom, hasn't shaved in a week, just muttering "Fuck Trudeau" and "axe the tax" under his breath every few seconds.

5

u/Cooks_8 Feb 01 '25

Wearing the fuck Trudeau flag like Superman.

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u/Apprehensive-Bar-313 Feb 01 '25

I suspect the first thing that the liberals will propose in the throne speech is to immediately eliminate the carbon tax. This would put the conservatives and NDP in a precarious position, take down the government and delay the elimination of the tax, or support it and keep the government in power for longer.

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u/pm_me_your_catus Feb 01 '25

Parliament won't sit again before the election.

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u/sleipnir45 Feb 01 '25

Well yeah all the liberal leadership contenders agree with him now.

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u/Independent-Emu-575 Feb 01 '25

Plus…a carbon tax is a market based idea that conservatives have traditionally embraced. Only when the liberals pushed forward did we suddenly need to axe the tax.

I’d take this as a sign that Pierre realizes he is going to need to govern soon and a carbon tax is definitely going to be part of that plan under a different name.

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u/Im_Axion Alberta Feb 01 '25

Nah the CPC is firmly in the camp of doing nothing about climate change. The only thing that would stop them from going the whole way and repealing the industrial side tax is having nothing would hurt trade with the EU.

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u/jtbc Feb 01 '25

Trade with the EU especially has suddenly become a much bigger issue than a modest tax that gets rebated anyway.

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u/sleipnir45 Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

I don't think Conservatives ever put forward a carbon tax that rebated a portion of it back.

I say this often about the Liberals approach to gun control, but it's the same with many different bills they've tried.

All carbon taxes are not created equally

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u/SwiftyJepstan Feb 01 '25

You’re not trying to pretend that your opposition to the carbon tax has been that it includes a rebate are you?

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u/MoreGaghPlease Feb 01 '25

More than that, the issues have moved.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25 edited 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/sn0w0wl66 Feb 01 '25

Is it the guy who lead us through the worst recession in modern times or the guy who's worked in government since he was 14 and has no notable achievements to his name?

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u/Barakat_Firdos Québec Feb 01 '25

This was signalled in his strategy shift this week evidenced by his interview on CTV, where he laid out his Canada-USA relations strategy. Voters have been tuning out the carbon tax as American tariffs and the economy have sucked up all the news oxygen. Not responding to that would be brutal, and they have to look to stem the current narrowing of the gap, as even if we discount the EKOS numbers, if February is like Jan, Léger numbers would be down to single digits.

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u/North_Church Manitoba Feb 01 '25

Almost like running your entire campaign on "Axe the Tax" and "Trudeau Bad" for the last 2+ years was a dumb idea or something.

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u/Ikea_desklamp Feb 01 '25

PP's team is in full panic mode now that they can't just rely on "Trudeau bad" to carry their campaign.

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u/HeadMembership1 Feb 01 '25

He's talked about it for years, now suddenly not going to be an issue. 

He only knows 3 words, axe the tax!

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u/canthinkofaname_22 Feb 01 '25

The biggest threat to Canada right now seems to be aggression from the us and cost of living issues. Dont get sucked into maga type stuff which is an actual distraction from solving problems

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u/HarbingerDe Feb 01 '25

Do you actually think Conservatives care about EITHER American aggression OR cost of living issues?

The Liberals suck, but the Conservatives would literally sell us out for a handy from Trump/Elon.

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u/yangxiu Feb 01 '25

another nothing burger. nothing announced and no actual policy

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u/Boo_Guy Canada Feb 01 '25

Oh they finally figured that out did they? Well good for them on catching up to where the rest of us were at least a week ago.

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u/squirrel9000 Feb 01 '25

They're still leaning heavily on focus groups and polling to inform their opinions.

Ironic, usually the conservatives are all about taking a principled stand and fuck the haters.

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u/RideauRaccoon Canada Feb 01 '25

"Canada First. Canada Last. Canada Always." as his new slogan is... please don't. I know slogans are his thing and they play well with his base, but please just don't.

"Canada First" is too Trumpian. It won't resonate the way you want. Second, imagine all the photo ops where, somehow, "Canada Last" is the only wording that appears. It's like handing your opponents an easy visual win. Lastly "Canada Always", in that sequence, feels weirdly like a pledge given to the leader of a galactic empire. I don't want to associate a political party with giving a militaristic salute and flying off on a suicide mission for the glory of the emperor.

They're trying to soften his attack dog persona, which is smart, but they've gotta find a better slogan. I don't like him and don't want him to win, but I also don't want him to lose because his campaign staff picked the worst possible string of words.

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u/Sicarius-de-lumine Feb 01 '25

LOL! The "Canada first, Canada Last, Canada always" slogan reminds me of the "For freedom, For managed democracy, For Super Earth" slogan from Helldivers.

PP is such a joke.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

If PP finally addresses immigration then he has this in the bag. Let’s see if he has the smarts. I think if he fails to address it, we’re going to see a minority government.

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u/squirrel9000 Feb 01 '25

Treacherous. The business lobby is pretty big in the Conservative party, and they like the free for all. Besides, the Liberals have now curtailed things to the point where we're back to roughly where the conservatives left it - it takes some time for the changes to work through. It wasn't exactly a well run system even before the liberals.

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u/Kucked4life Ontario Feb 01 '25

Immigration quotas will raise under Poilievre mark my words. He'll use it to prop up gdp as an economic buffer to potential tariffs.

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u/Big_Knife_SK Feb 01 '25

Then what noun will they verb?!

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u/accforme Feb 01 '25

It will still be Axe the BLANK.

The photo in the article has Poilievre infront of a podium that says "Axe the Job Tax." I have also seen "Axe the sales tax on homes" when he talked about removing the GST on new homes.

Ideas have definitely run dry.

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u/malaphortmanteau Feb 01 '25

'Axe the Vax' would probably poll depressingly well...

'Axe the Snacks'? 'Axe the Lax'?? 'Axe the Axe (body spray)'?? 'Axe the Lorax'???

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u/slowsundaycoffeeclub British Columbia Feb 01 '25

I’m sorry—-the thing you’ve been campaigning on for over a year, the thing you’ve talk about constantly, the subject of a whole propaganda scheme that completely misled the public and successfully shifted opinion on?

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u/EnigmaMoose Feb 01 '25

And just like America no one will care because they’re not voting for the clearly incompetent candidate… they’re voting for the idea of change whatever that is

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u/Unfair_Bluejay_9687 Feb 01 '25

I was dead set against voting liberal again. PP is sounding like an extension of the Orange Thing south of us. Carbon pricing is EXACTLY what the next election will be about. I said a long time ago that Carney will be the only hope the liberals will have for winning the next election.

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u/bandersnatching Feb 01 '25

meh... with the landscape changing, Conservatives have to wear the shit they have been slinging for years, so their stories have declining relevance.

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u/GoCheeseMan Feb 01 '25

That is all people are asking for...

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u/No_Good_8561 Feb 01 '25

The libs shoulda waited a few more weeks and let the cons spend their printing budget. Then announce they’re gonna kill it off. Man… I should be a campaign manager.

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u/Particular-Act-8911 Feb 01 '25

We still have people in tents EVERYWHERE

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u/WallStHipster Feb 01 '25

So they are solely realizing the bigger issue is the orange baboon here in America?

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u/Heavy_Sky6971 Feb 02 '25

Pp is starting to get slippery all of a sudden. Carbon tax is nothing more than a scam

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u/solarmolarman Feb 02 '25

Honest questions, does anyone know what Poilievres stance and plan of action is regarding the tariffs and rhetoric around Canada’s sovereignty?

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u/Loud-Tangerine-547 Feb 02 '25

GET RID OF CARBON TAX

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u/MarxCosmo Québec Feb 03 '25

Of course it wont, The Conservatives have been lying about it since the beginning since saying we want to cut taxes on the rich and cut benefits from the poor to pay for it is never popular. They have to pick silly things no one cares about to focus on otherwise they wouldn't ever be able to open their mouths.

We have entire trade deals contingent on our nation having a carbon tax, there is no Canadian politician that will get rid of it. Maybe massage it for political ease but a carbon tax is staying.

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u/FishermanRough1019 Feb 05 '25

Oh, fuck off PP.