Liberals and Conservatives campaign in Quebec, NDP proposes tax measures
OTTAWA — Federal leaders pushed policies for seniors, low-income voters and autoworkers as their campaigns focus on Ontario and Quebec on Wednesday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre kicked off the day with a pledge to allow working seniors to earn up to $34,000 tax-free, an increase of $10,000.
He also promised to raise the age for using RRSPs by two years, so seniors can keep growing their savings until age 73, and to keep the retirement age at 65 for old age security, the guaranteed income supplement and the Canada Pension Plan.
Poilievre was travelling to the Quebec City area to discuss the policy later midday Wednesday.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney is pledging a $2 billion Strategic Response Fund to protect manufacturing jobs and announced in Windsor, Ont. a plan to build more auto parts in Canada.
He's also proposing that Ottawa prioritize Canadian-built products when purchasing government vehicles.
Carny's announcement comes as the Canadian auto sector is holding its breath to see what U.S. President Donald Trump decides to do with tariffs that could target their industry directly.
In Toronto NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh rolled out his tax plan, which would raise the tax exemption for the lowest incomes by a fifth.
At a seniors recreation centre in Hamilton, Ont., Singh said anyone making less than $177,882 would not pay taxes on the first $19,500 they earn, saving them about $505 annually. He is expected to end the day with a campaign event in London.
Carney, who spent the first few days of the campaign in Atlantic Canada, will spend the rest of today at a facility tour in London and a rally in Kitchener. The Liberal leader said Tuesday he expected to be in Quebec by Thursday.
Poilievre is headed to Quebec on the campaign plane he unveiled this morning in Hamilton, Ont. — though the Conservatives chose to depart from past practice by not allowing political reporters to travel with the leader.
He will hold a press conference in Montmagny, east of Quebec City, before an event in the provincial capital.
Quebec is a seat-rich province with 78 federal ridings, and recent polls suggest the Liberals have reversed a lead previously held there by the Bloc.
The parties' plans to visit Quebec come as Carney faces criticism for choosing not to take part in a French-language leaders debate proposed by Quebec broadcaster TVA that has since been scrapped.
Other party leaders, including Poilievre, Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, have needled Carney over his decision.
"The Liberals want to be re-elected for a fourth term, but their leader is too afraid to debate me in French," Poilievre said on social media Monday. "If Mark Carney is too fragile to debate other leaders, how can he stand up to Donald Trump?"
Singh was in Montreal earlier this week.
A new Leger poll, released this week, suggests that 44 per cent of decided voters will vote Liberal in the upcoming election, ahead of the Conservatives at 38 per cent. The poll had the NDP at just six per cent.
-with files from Kyle Duggan in Windsor, Ont., David Baxter in Toronto and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
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