Charest pledges lower taxes, spending cuts

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This article was published 09/05/2022 (1368 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Jean Charest says he would lower taxes, cut spending and restore Canada’s standing on the international stage should he win the leadership race and subsequent federal election.

“I see a country whose economic performance is way below what it should be,” he said. “We’re not dealing with the issues of cleaning up our books and a country that on the international scene, isn’t what it was, is a shadow of its former self in terms of influence. I’m a person I know can unite the party and win and form a national government.”

The former federal Progressive Conservative leader and premier of Quebec was in Brandon Sunday to meet supporters and sat down for an interview with the Brandon Sun.

His vision for Canada’s economic future includes a greater emphasis on oil and gas pipelines, mining and a move away from “Olympic category” spending by the Liberals.

With western alienation an important topic for the party’s western base, Charest said he wants to make sure people out west know that he will fight for what they believe in, including resource extraction.

Last week, Charest’s economic record was lambasted by rival Pierre Poilievre during a leadership debate in Ottawa, repeatedly referring to the fact that his rival led Quebec as a member of that province’s Liberal party. Charest dismissed the criticism.

“Quebec during the financial economic crisis [of 2018] did extremely well,” he said.

“We had a better economic growth than the rest of the country, than the United States or even Europe with lower unemployment because we reduced income taxes. I think that’s one thing we have to look at. If inflation is out of control, if revenues are not keeping pace, then we need to find a way for Canadians to catch up in another way. I’m a believer in reducing income taxes because that allows people to have more breathing room and actually have more money in your pocket.”

On Sunday, he also reinforced his Tory bona fides.

“I believe in fiscal conservatism,” he said. “The coalition government I led [in Quebec] was in power for nine years. There was a short hiatus of separatist government of 18 months and then my successor Mr. Couillard followed for a total of about 15 years. When the Legault government was elected, the present government, they were left with an $8-billion surplus. You are not going to see that in your lifetime again.”

That result, he said, was the result of 15 years of hard discipline and work under the principles of fiscal conservatism.

While Charest has said on the campaign trail that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policies have been divisive, internal divisiveness was on display at last week’s debate when Charest was booed when he called the border blockades connected to the trucking protests illegal.

The former premier said he isn’t intimidated by people booing, and he was standing up for what he believes.

An illegal blockade that resulted in economic losses of hundreds of millions of dollars and prompted the American president to ask if help was needed to clean up the situation is an embarrassment, he believes.

“I believe in the rule of law, which is the foundation of our society,” he said. “We have freedoms because we have rule of law. On that, Mr. Poilievre and I disagree. He supported the blockade. I think that’s a failure of leadership from someone who has the privilege of making laws or changing laws.”

As a response to the events earlier this year, he said he would introduce legislation to protect critical infrastructure from blockades and allow police to respond quickly to threats to that infrastructure.

When a draft opinion from the United States Supreme Court was leaked last week signalling the end of legal access to abortions in that country, it immediately became a talking point in the Conservative leadership race.

Charest’s response was to affirm that he is pro-choice, and a government led by him wouldn’t pass a law restricting abortion rights.

Describing some of his opponents’ views on the issue, he said Leslyn Lewis’ pro-life stance presents another point of view and criticized Poilievre for not giving a definite answer on the situation.

“Women in the country, whether they are pro-choice or pro-life, deserve to know. It’s the very minimum.”

The current leadership race has shown that decades after the party first fractured in the 1990s, there are still divisions within the Conservatives’ big tent. Charest pitched himself as a unifier, saying social conservatives would always be welcome under his leadership.

On Wednesday night, Canadians will have a chance to see the leadership candidates go head-to-head in Edmonton.

— with files from Joseph Bernacki

cslark@brandonsun.com

Twitter: @ColinSlark