Justin Trudeau and Yves-Francois Blanchet are burning oil to fly around the world while telling us to live with less, Pierre Poilievre said.
Poilievre accused the Bloc Quebecois and Liberal leaders of climate hypocrisy in a speech to the Conservative caucus ahead of the party’s convention in Quebec City this weekend.
Over the next three days, Conservative members will gather at the Quebec City Convention Centre to, among other things, vote on policy resolutions that could help inspire the party’s next electoral platform.
Poilievre started off his speech in French and took jabs at the Bloc Quebecois.
“In Quebec City, people are worried about the cost of living, the cost of gas, groceries and housing. And what is Mr. Blanchet doing? He’s in Spain.”
The Bloc leader is in Spain to discuss independence in Catalonia.
“How did it get to Spain? Was it a canoe? No, he burned oil,” said Poilievre. “He’s burning oil to go to Spain, while at the same time he wants to impose a tax of 17 cents per litre on Quebecers.”
The Bloc Quebecois has called for carbon taxes of over $100 per tonne.
“The Bloc says it wants to radically increase the tax on the backs of Quebecers. ‘Radically increase’ are not my words. It’s their MPs in the House of Commons who have suggested that they want to radically increase taxes.” Poilievre claimed.
“The supposedly sovereignist party wants to take Quebecers’ money to Ottawa so that Justin Trudeau can spend it.”
Poilievre also called out the air travels of Prime Minister Trudeau and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“It’s not just (Blanchet) who’s going on trips… Justin Trudeau is in India and Steven Guilbeault is in China.”
“Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau and Mr. Blanchet want to punish people from the Saguenay for having a truck, at the same time as Mr. Guilbeault says he is not going to give lessons to the government in Beijing… where they burn the largest amount of coal.”
As previously reported by True North, Guilbeault, who sits on a Chinese government advisory body, was warned by China to not be “condescending” during his climate change visit.
Poilievre said he had “news for the Bloc and news for Justin Trudeau.”
“People in the regions of Quebec need their trucks and their vehicles,” he said. “They don’t need to pay another twenty cents a litre in taxes and they don’t need to take lessons from politicians.”
The Conservative leader also said his party is the only one that “works in the interests of Quebecers – especially Quebecers who feel forgotten.”
In English, Poilievre also discussed the current state of Canada under Justin Trudeau.
“Work doesn’t pay, interest rates are rising faster than ever in monetary history, housing costs have doubled, crime, chaos, drugs and disorder are common in our streets.
“You don’t bring it home. In fact, increasingly, Canadians do not have a home at all.”
He said that “the good news is, life was not like this in Canada before Justin Trudeau, and it won’t be like this after.”
Poilievre called his party’s upcoming meeting a “common sense convention.”
“This is the common sense of the common people united for our common home”
The Conservative Party of Canada convention takes place Sept. 7-9 at the Quebec City Convention Centre. True North’s Andrew Lawton and Elie Cantin-Nantel will be on the ground to bring you independent coverage.
