‘He wants you to forget the problems he caused,’ Conservative leader says at Quebec campaign launch
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre got a head-start last week campaigning in Quebec for the October 2025 federal election, with a well-attended launch event at a Jewish community centre in Montreal.
Addressing a packed auditorium of ardent Tory supporters, Poilièvre said a Conservative government would prioritize the housing crisis.
And given Justin Trudeau’s drastic drop in popularity according to the most recent opinion polls, Poilièvre laced into the Liberal Prime Minister – much to the delight of the highly partisan crowd.
Alluding to hateful rhetoric and recent antisemitic incidents outside Montreal-area Jewish schools and synagogues, Poilièvre said, “It wasn’t like this before Justin Trudeau.”
Tears into Justin Trudeau
Alternating between French and English as he spoke, he said, “Justin Trudeau with an extreme and radical ideology aims to divide us over race and religion and other issues.
“He tries to divide people over their wealth, their religion and their language. And he is a prime minister who has tried to divide people for nearly a decade … And why is he trying to divide people? Because he wants you to forget the problems he caused.”
On the issue of housing, Poilièvre maintained that rents in the Montreal region have tripled over the last nine years from an average $700 per month to more than $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.
“Now people are lining up around the streets to go to food banks,” he continued, adding that “one in four Canadians live in poverty, and the danger on our streets is seen everywhere.
‘Everything is broken’
“Children need to have police escorts to go to a daycare. Violence targeting our Jewish community – a community that lived in peace and tranquility here literally for well over a century next to neighbors who are of totally different religious and ethnic backgrounds.”
According to Poilièvre, after nine years of Trudeau, “everything is broken” and “crime, chaos, drugs and disorder rage out of control on our streets. People can’t afford the basics of life. He promised to help the middle class, but nine years later the middle class no longer exists.”
Regarding the government’s financial management, Poilièvre promised that, if elected, he would counter the effects of the Liberals’ free-spending and deficits with a “dollar for dollar” approach which would oblige federal ministries to match every dollar of spending with equivalent savings.
Spending ‘within our means’
“Our approach will be to spend within our means,” he said, comparing the Conservative way to how responsible households are usually managed.
“Just like that, we will force them to look for waste and mismanagement to optimize each dollar to make the same deals or trade-offs that single moms, small businesses and seniors make every single day.”
Among other things, Poilièvre also took swipes at Montreal mayor Valérie Plante, blaming excessive bureaucracy at the municipal level for blocking the construction of homes and driving up prices, while calling her “incompetent.”
“When I am prime minister, we will no longer take your money and give it to incompetent mayors,” he said. He said a Conservative government would oblige municipalities to allow 15 per cent more housing units to be built as a condition for their being able to receive federal funding.
Laval-Les Îles candidate Merakos
Following last week’s rally, Newsfirst Multimedia had a chance to speak with one of the hopefuls currently vying to be nominated as the Conservative Party’s candidate in the Laval riding of Laval-Les Îles.
“Democracy is the most powerful tool that humans have ever created,” said Konstantinos Merakos, a Laval resident and staff lawyer with the Montreal-based Bergman & Associates law practice.
“When people are going through difficult moments, whether financial or over human rights, they turn out to vote,” he added. “So, I hope that when they are having difficulties and are seeing others suffering and the nation is divided, they will use their democratic right to voice their concerns and bring about change.”
