Poilievre says he’s a fan of Kinew

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This article was published 28/03/2024 (612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They are worlds apart on a raft of issues, but Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday he and Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew share many of the same goals.

The two leaders had just held an hour-long meeting at the Manitoba legislature.

“I enjoyed spending time with him,” Poilievre told reporters after the meeting, which ran twice as long as scheduled.

“I’m obviously a Conservative and he’s obviously a New Democrat — that doesn’t mean we can’t share priorities and have good conversations together. I think it was a good meeting,” Poilievre said before attending his party’s “Axe the tax” rally at the Winnipeg convention centre.

“We’ll meet with any provincial leaders of any party who share our common-sense goals in axing the tax, building homes, fixing the budget, and stopping the crimes.”

Poilievre said Kinew is focused on making energy more affordable, and that he appreciates Manitoba’s provincial 14-cent per litre fuel-tax holiday that took effect Jan. 1.

Kinew has refused to sign a letter written by seven premiers urging the federal government to pause the April 1 carbon tax increase. Kinew has said he believes Manitoba has a strong case for the federal government to remove its federal carbon levy here and that efforts to get to net-zero will be unveiled in the provincial budget April 2.

“I think he’s said he wants to exempt Manitoba from the carbon tax and I agree with that,” the federal Conservative leader said.

“The fact is that Manitoba produces a phenomenal amount of green energy through its hydroelectricity,” Poilievre said. “Let’s make clean green hydro electricity even more affordable rather than make traditional energy we still need more expensive.”

He said they both want to build more roads and see more economic development.

“I shared my agreement with him on that as well. We need to reduce the obstacles so that we can dig more mines, harvest more forestry, launch our ships from more ports and bring home more paycheques for our people,” the federal leader said.

“He’s a very impressive person,” Poilievre said of Manitoba’s premier.

“He’s very knowledgeable and he has a very ambitious set of goals and I share a lot of them.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca