SASKATOON — Pierre Poilievre looks to unleash the full economic might of Canada through the oil and gas industry if given the chance to lead the Conservative Party heading into the 2025 federal election.
Poilievre spoke to a crowd of more than 2,000 Tuesday night at Hall A inside Prairieland’s World Trade Centre, hoping to convince party members to cast their vote for him and encourage more people to join the Tories, bolstering his bid to become the party’s leader.
He said it’s insane that Canada is importing 130,000 barrels of overseas oil every day, despite being the world’s third-biggest supplier, which is why he sees the need to remove the gatekeepers in the country’s energy sector.
“The reason is the Trudeau government is blocking energy projects and pipelines. That is why I will repeal the [No More Pipelines] law and we will build Canadian pipelines. I will support the Northern Gateway to ship our crude oil over to the Port of Churchill so that we can ship it out northward,” said Poilievre.
“I will support [meetings] with the White House to get talks going to get the Keystone Pipeline going. Why do the Americans import oil from Venezuela? I will support Newfoundland’s plans to increase its [oil] production to 400,000 barrels a day to fully replace all the oil we’re bringing in from overseas.”
He added that, if given the chance to become Canada’s next Prime Minister, in five years his government will ban dictator oil from Canada that comes from oil-producing nations led by tyrants as the country possesses 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Canada is also geographically near Asia in the west and Europe in the east aside from having the United States as its closest southern neighbour.
“We have the shortest distance from North America to Asia, British Columbia. The shortest distance from North America to Europe is Newfoundland. We have a shipping advantage over the gulf coast,” said Poilievre, who added that Canada’s natural gas industry that can be shipped to Europe can break the continent’s dependency on Russian oil.
He said that heating homes and driving a car in a cold country like Canada are not luxuries but the Justin Trudeau-led federal government is increasing the carbon tax by $10 starting on April 1 of this year.
“That is why a Pierre Poilievre government will axe the carbon tax,” said Poilievre, who was adopted by schoolteachers Donald and Marlene Poilievre of Saskatoon, whipping up the crowd to a frenzy of thunderous applause and loud cheers.
“We need to bring more on what cash can buy. Build more homes, grow more food and deliver more Canadian energy to Canadian consumers. We have fewer houses per capita than any other country in the G7, even though we have the most land to build on.”
Poilievre said government gatekeepers are standing in the way of housing construction in the country, citing Toronto and Vancouver as examples of cost increases due to government regulations and taxes.
“In Toronto, the cost of government regulations and taxes adds $250,000 to every single house. In Vancouver, it’s over $600,000 that’s all picked up by the home buyer. And that’s one of the reasons why our young people can’t find a place to live. We don’t have enough houses in which they can live,” he added.
Poilievre was raised in Calgary but now resides in Ottawa where he represents the riding of Nepean-Carleton. He has been a member of the House of Commons after being elected as a young 24 year old during the 2004 federal election.
