The NDP and Conservatives kicked off the first full weekend of the election campaign by promising more financial relief for Canadians, particularly around food costs.
Meanwhile, the Liberals had a quieter Saturday as leader Mark Carney met with volunteers in Nepean, the riding where he’s a candidate.
Standing inside the Parkdale Food Centre in Ottawa on Saturday morning, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced his party would implement emergency price caps on essential grocery items to guard against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“Folks are putting back items on the shelf because it’s just too expensive,” Singh said. “And it wasn’t that way before.”
The NDP is also promising to enforce a mandatory “grocery code of conduct” that would regulate pricing practices, fully empower the Competition Bureau to act as a grocery price watchdog and tax the windfall profits of major retailers like Loblaws, Walmart, Costco and Empire Foods.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, speaking on Day 7 of the election campaign, announced that if elected his party would impose an emergency cap on grocery prices. Singh says he would follow price control models implemented in Greece and France.
“Corporate grocery stories are ripping you off and driving up the cost of food,” Singh said. “We want to fight back and defend Canadians.”
Since the beginning of January, the NDP has steadily fallen in the polls as the Liberals under Carney continue to rise. CBC’s Poll Tracker has NDP support at just under nine per cent.
Singh told reporters at the food centre he’s “absolutely” still running to be prime minister and that Canadians should know “they’ve got a real choice in this election.”
The NDP leader also said he doesn’t want to assume the outcome of the election, but he drew a red line on working with one particular candidate.
“I can tell you one thing very clearly: New Democrats [and] myself as leader will never support Pierre Poilievre as prime minister,” Singh said. “That will never happen.”
Poilievre pitches ‘tax fairness’ for trades workers
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced Saturday morning in Winnipeg that his party would change the Income Tax Act to allow travelling trades workers to write off the full cost of food, transportation and accommodation.
“We have a very simple principle in our income tax system. You get to write off the costs you incur to earn the income that’s being taxed,” Poilievre said.
The Conservatives are also promising to end tax write-offs of luxury corporate jets, though people will be able to write off the equivalent cost of a commercial flight.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says his government would introduce new tax breaks for travelling trades workers, reducing requirements they need to write off the full cost of transportation and food expenses. Poilievre also says he will scrap tax subsidies for corporate jets.
“We as Conservatives want to unleash the strength of our mighty workers, unleash our economy and put our country first for a change by delivering tax fairness for everyone,” Poilievre said.
Neither the NDP nor Conservatives said how much the measures they’re proposing today would cost the federal government.
Poilievre and his Conservatives are heading into the second week of the campaign still looking for an answer to Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s surging popularity.
They trail the Liberals by about four points in the polls, according to CBC’s Poll Tracker.
More than half a dozen Conservatives — who spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be named for fear of retribution — have described a campaign that is “highly disorganized” and “a mess.” The sources include individuals both inside and outside the campaign.
At issue is how the campaign is handling Trump’s tariff threats.
Kory Teneycke, one of Canada’s top Conservative strategists, told CBC News on Thursday that Poilievre needs to start talking more about the U.S. threat or he risks losing the race.
Asked about his sinking poll numbers on Thursday, Poilievre said the party would “wait for Canadians to make the choice on election day.”
Responding to a question about how some public opinion polls show the Conservatives losing their lead over the Liberals, leader Pierre Poilievre said Canadians will make their decision on voting day.
Carney meets with volunteers in Nepean
Carney did not make any campaign promises on Saturday, but instead spent time meeting with campaign volunteers and supporters in the suburban Ottawa riding where he’s a candidate.
He stopped by his candidate’s office and was greeted by a small but enthusiastic group of campaign workers and volunteers.
“Who is ready to stand up?” he started out asking, before teasing someone who had accidentally knocked over a campaign sign.
“Who is ready to put back the Carney signs?” he then joked, drawing laughter.
Carney has faced questions about his decision to run in that seat, which became vacant only after the Liberal party ousted MP Chandra Arya as its candidate three days before the election was called.
The Liberal party has not clearly laid out exactly what Arya did that prevented him from being a candidate, though Carney says it was a decision that was up to the green-light committee that screens candidates.
Carney has said that he has been a “resident in the Ottawa area for almost 20 years,” with the exception of when he lived overseas in London, and that he knows Nepean well.
Poilievre’s Carleton riding shares a boundary with Nepean.
