Latest news with #Pierre Poilievre
National Post
9 minutes ago
- Politics
- National Post
Pierre Poilievre draws cheers and criticism at Alberta byelection debate
Pierre Poilievre was greeted with cheers and applause by the hundreds of Albertans who showed up to watch a two-and-a-half-hour political debate on a sunny Tuesday evening in July. Article content The Camrose and District Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidates' forum featuring 10 of the people who are vying to represent Battle River—Crowfoot in the Aug. 18 byelection. Article content Damien Kurek won more than 82 per cent of the vote in the April election. He resigned to allow Poilievre, who lost his own seat in the Ottawa riding of Carleton, the chance to return to the House of Commons in the fall. Article content Article content A crowd of Poilievre's supporters was outside the venue before things got underway, many carrying signs with his name. Inside, the signs had to be put away. Article content The moderator kept a tight schedule, cutting off the microphones of anyone who ran over their allotted time as the candidates answered a range of questions submitted by the public about the economy, health care privatization, electoral reform and immigration. Article content The candidates seated at a long table on a stage occasionally took aim at Poilievre, particularly for the fact that he does not live in the riding and is running to progress his political career. Article content Liberal candidate Darcy Spady introduced himself by saying, 'I'm from Three Hills, and I don't want to be prime minister' — a line that elicited chuckles from the crowd and from Poilievre when he repeated it. Article content Article content Spady said he wanted to bring local issues to the government caucus and give an electorate that has historically voted Conservative the option of voting in a centrist. Article content 'I'd like to grow the culture so the next generation can say, 'Oh, we can choose a Liberal, a Conservative, a moderate, a NDP,' he said in an interview after the debate. Article content 'The stigma of only voting to the right here, in my home, all my life… I don't like that.' Article content Poilievre argued that electing the leader of a political party is a trade-off — leaders are on the road much of the time, he said. 'The other side, though, is that leader can bring a very powerful megaphone to the local issues of the community,' he added.
CTV News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
‘Pierre's riding to lose': Candidates in Alberta byelection get together for debate
Pierre Poilievre was greeted with cheers and applause by the hundreds of Albertans who showed up to watch a two-and-a-half-hour political debate on a sunny Tuesday evening in July. The Camrose and District Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidates' forum featuring 10 of the people who are vying to represent Battle River—Crowfoot in the Aug. 18 byelection. 'My mission here is to give national leadership to the issues that are of local importance,' Poilievre told the sold-out crowd. The Conservative leader is widely expected to win the sprawling eastern Alberta riding, which is considered one of the safest Tory seats in the country. Damien Kurek won more than 82 per cent of the vote in the April election. He resigned to allow Poilievre, who lost his own seat in the Ottawa riding of Carleton, the chance to return to the House of Commons in the fall. A crowd of Poilievre's supporters was outside the venue before things got underway, many carrying signs with his name. Inside, the signs had to be put away. The moderator kept a tight schedule, cutting off the microphones of anyone who ran over their allotted time as the candidates answered a range of questions submitted by the public about the economy, health care privatization, electoral reform and immigration. The candidates seated at a long table on a stage occasionally took aim at Poilievre, particularly for the fact that he does not live in the riding and is running to progress his political career. Liberal candidate Darcy Spady introduced himself by saying, 'I'm from Three Hills, and I don't want to be prime minister' — a line that elicited chuckles from the crowd and from Poilievre when he repeated it. Spady said he wanted to bring local issues to the government caucus and give an electorate that has historically voted Conservative the option of voting in a centrist. 'I'd like to grow the culture so the next generation can say, 'Oh, we can choose a Liberal, a Conservative, a moderate, a NDP,' he said in an interview after the debate. 'The stigma of only voting to the right here, in my home, all my life... I don't like that.' Poilievre argued that electing the leader of a political party is a trade-off — leaders are on the road much of the time, he said. 'The other side, though, is that leader can bring a very powerful megaphone to the local issues of the community,' he added. Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley pointed out in her closing statement that several candidates, including Poilievre, won't be able to vote in the byelection because they don't live in the riding. 'I firmly believe that Mr. Poilievre is too busy with his personal ambitions to give a rat's backside about us,' Critchley said in her closing statement. She got loud cheers from the crowd earlier in the evening as she argued for local representation. 'If you want to run for an area, you need to live here. This longest ballot crap, that's got to stop,' she said. More than 200 candidates were signed up to run in the byelection as of Tuesday, most of whom were sponsored by the Longest Ballot Committee protest group. The group says it's trying to get attention for electoral reform, arguing that Canada needs to end the first-past-the-post system. As a result of the protest, Elections Canada has decided that voters will write in the name of their selected candidate on a modified ballot in the byelection, rather than selecting from a list of 200. The longest ballot group signed up 85 people to run in Carleton during the April election, and ran dozens of candidates in byelections last summer. Poilievre called the Longest Ballot Committee 'a total scam that must be stopped,' and pledged that if he's elected, he will put forward legislative changes to ensure it doesn't happen again. In opening and closing statements, a number of candidates said Ottawa takes advantage of Alberta and pledged to try to end equalization. One candidate expressed sympathy for Alberta's separatist movement. There was broad agreement from candidates that, while immigration has historically been important, Canada needs to pull back on the number of people it is letting in. 'We must have more people leaving than coming over the next several years as we bring down our population,' Poilievre said. Green Party candidate Ashley MacDonald and the NDP's Katherine Swampy called immigration one of the country's strengths. Critchley and fellow Independent candidate Sarah Spanier made pitches to voters that they would hold a powerful position as Independent MPs in a minority government, and would leverage that to help the riding. The forum also featured candidates from the People's Party of Canada, the Libertarian Party, the Christian Heritage Party and the United Party of Canada. 'I think we all know this is Pierre's riding to lose here; he's definitely going to win,' MacDonald said in his closing statement. 'So please, take a chance.' By Fakiha Baig in Camrose, Alta., and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.
CBC
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Upcoming Alberta byelection set to break record for most candidates on single ballot
Next month's byelection in Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot will break the record for the most candidates on a federal ballot in Canadian history. As of Friday, 102 candidates — mostly associated with a group of electoral reform advocates known as the Long Ballot Committee — have registered to run for the seat. The byelection was called after its recently re-elected MP, Damien Kurek, resigned to allow Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to run for a new seat in the House of Commons. Poilievre lost in his longtime riding of Carleton in April. The Longest Ballot Committee has been organizing dozens of candidates to run in byelections in recent years, resulting in metre-long ballots that have caused delays in vote counting and confounded some voters. The group wants to put a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform and says political parties are too reluctant to make the government more representative of the electorate. The previous record of 91 candidates occurred twice in the past year: during a byelection in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun last September and Carleton during the general election this past spring. The Longest Ballot Committee says it is aiming to sign up 200 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot. The deadline to register as a candidate is July 28.
National Post
18-07-2025
- Business
- National Post
Michael Taube: Poilievre's right — Canada needs a hard cap on immigration
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has long recognized what the Liberals have only started to acknowledge: immigration levels in Canada are too high and unsustainable. He has a plan to get things back under control, and it's a sensible political strategy to take. Article content Poilievre suggested a new immigration policy for the Conservatives in June. 'We want severe limits on population growth to reverse the damage the Liberals did to our system,' he said at a press conference last month. 'The population has been growing out of control, our border has been left wide open. This has caused the free flow of drugs, illegal migration, human trafficking and much worse.' Article content Article content Global News asked him to elaborate on his remarks at a press conference in Ottawa this week. 'In order to fix the problem,' he replied, 'we've got to put very hard caps on immigration levels. We need more people leaving than coming for the next couple of years … so our country can actually catch up.' Article content Article content In addition, Poilievre pointed out that, 'We've had population growth of roughly a million a year under the Liberals, while we barely build 200,000 homes. Our job market is stalled and yet we are adding more people to the workforce. Our young people are facing generational highs in unemployment because … multinational corporations are giving jobs to low-wage temporary foreign workers.' Article content He's right. Conservatives recognize the importance of immigration on everything from promoting diversity to achieving economic success, but they also recognize that Canada simply can't handle the financial burden that the annual influx of immigration has caused over the past decade of Liberal rule. Article content Article content It wasn't always this way. Statistics Canada's 2016 paper, ' 150 years of immigration in Canada,' noted that the number of landed immigrants since the 1990s had 'remained relatively high, with an average of approximately 235,000 new immigrants per year.' The highest tally ever recorded to that point was in 1913, when 'more than 400,000 immigrants arrived in the country.' Article content Article content Canada experienced a steady level of population growth through immigration for more than a century. Until Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister, that is. Article content Trudeau's early years actually didn't witness a significant spike in immigration. A total of 296,350 immigrants arrived on our shores in 2016, while the number decreased slightly to 286,480 in 2017. Nothing out of the ordinary, all things considered. Article content But in 2016, the federal government's advisory council on economic growth suggested that immigration targets could be increased by 150,000 annually over the next five years. It specifically recommended Ottawa take a 'gradual approach to scaling annual immigration to the recommended 450,000 level over the next 5 years.'
CBC
18-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Does Mark Carney really have 574 conflicts of interest?
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he followed all the rules about disclosing his financial assets — now held in a blind trust — but Pierre Poilievre and Opposition MPs say his holdings are rife with conflicts of interest. Andrew Chang explains why Carney's connections to companies like Brookfield Asset Management and Westinghouse may or may not pose a problem, and how much of what Carney and the opposition claim is actually true. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.
