Our newsroom spoke to Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, on Friday after he did a campaign-style tour of a Halifax brewery.
Here’s two major takeaways from that interview:
Cancelled Energy East pipeline
Pierre Poilievre says the canceled Energy East pipeline would benefit the whole country.
The pipeline would have moved oil from western provinces to be refined in New Brunswick and Quebec.
He says government shouldn’t run the project, because they would “screw it up.” He says a private company should do it.
“What they need are permits. We need to create the fastest permitting anywhere in the developed world,” he says.
Poilievre previously said the pipeline would make Canada more independent as they wrestle with tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Energy East Pipeline was canceled in 2017 by the TransCanada company. They cited regulatory issues, environmental hurdles, and changes in the economy.
Trump and tariffs
Poilievre says open trade between Canada and America would be better for both countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to hit Canadian exports with 25 per cent tariffs.
He says unbridled trade between the two would make America stronger, richer and safer.
“That’ll mean more revenue for us to spend on our military, our borders, and on our continental strength.”
He adds that working together would make America rely less on China, Iran and Venezuela.
Poilievre also says removing trade barriers between provinces would make Canada more independent.
Check out the full interview below:
