Despite the snowy weather, thousands of supporters gathered in a Region of Waterloo Airport hangar for a “Canada First” rally on April 10 held by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. 

Cars lined the shoulder of Fountain Street in Breslau leading up to the rally that evening for kilometres, and the room was packed. Members of the crowd stood on ladders and bleachers for a better view of the stage. 

Poilievre was joined by Conservative candidates, including Connie Cody of Cambridge and Matthew Strauss of Kitchener South-Hespeler, who both spoke on stage, and Waseem Botros of Waterloo. 

Strauss introduced the wife of the Conservative leader, Anaida Poliviere. She spoke of her experience as an immigrant, coming to Canada from Venezuela in 1995, as well as Pierre’s upbringing as an adoptee in Calgary, Alberta. 

Anaida described working full-time while attending the University of Ottawa. At age 25, while working at Senate, Anaida said she saved about $25,000 to put a down payment on a two-bedroom townhouse for $230,000 in the east end of Ottawa. She noted this was in 2012, three years before Trudeau’s Liberals took office. 

After this, Anaida introduced Pierre to the stage. In his speech, Poilievre covered many topics, including tax rates, house prices, cost-of-living, immigration system, crime, gun control, and addiction. 

Poilievre promised numerous tax cuts, including the removal of GST from Canadian-made automobiles, a 15 per cent income tax cut, and a Canada First Reinvestment Tax Cut – any person or business selling an asset would pay no capital gains if the proceeds are reinvested in Canada.

“The high income tax often drives our young graduates from Waterloo to leave our country for the States,” he said. “So we get all the cost and the Americans get all the benefit.”

He described providing more support to skilled trades, which generated applause and cheers from the audience. One example is providing secondary school principals with a module for every licensed trade to allow them to teach their students about the trades before they enter the workforce.

“Right now, we’re putting everything – all of our eggs in the university and white collars basket,” Poilievre said. “I’ve got nothing wrong with the university, I loved my time there, I benefited greatly from it, and I encourage everyone who wants to go to go. But we have to give equal support to the trades.”

Poilievre said he often meets grieving family members or Canadians personally victimized by crime, and that the perpetrator is, in most cases, out on early bail or parole. “A small group of criminals do almost all the crime, because they’re released almost the same day they’re arrested,” he said. “Police officers will tell you they often arrest the same person three times in one day.” 

He blamed several Liberal laws for this, including C-75, which requires judges to release criminals at the earliest reasonable opportunity on the least onerous grounds. He further criticized law C-5, which allows for house arrest, and C-83, which allows convicted murderers out of maximum security penitentiary. 

To address this, Poilievre promised a crackdown on crime, including repealing these “catch and release” laws, mandatory jail time for human traffickers, and passing a “three strikes” law, where anyone convicted of three serious offences will be ineligible for bail, parole, probation or house arrest, and serve a minimum of 10 years and a maximum life sentence. 

Poilievre criticized the current immigration system, and promised his government would cap immigration. He would reject the Century Initiative (co-founded by former UW chancellor Dominic Barton), a lobby group that aims to increase Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100.

“If you want an idea of what that kind of massive out of control increase to population looks like, look at the chaos that is happening in Kitchener-Waterloo region as the result of the massive fraud Liberals have encouraged in the international student program,” Poilievre said, adding that uncontrolled immigration leads to strain for homes, jobs, and healthcare. 

Poilievre wrapped up by encouraging everyone to get out and vote. “You’re going to vote to bring back the Canadian promise, you’re going to vote for the hope of a better life for your kids, you’re going to vote for the future to be brighter than the past, to turn the page on a dark, lost Liberal decade so that we can once again be a self-reliant, sovereign people that stands on its own two feet.”