Poilievre promises TFSA top up to help combat Trump’s tariffs

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre made his first B.C. campaign stop in Coquitlam Thursday morning.

Poilievre appeared in a local sheet metal manufacturer, addressing what he called “another attack by [U.S.] President Trump” on the Canadian economy.

“My message to President Trump is, ‘Knock it off.’ Stop attacking America’s friends. Start trading so that we can once again become richer, stronger and more secure on both sides of the border,” said Poilievre.

“That is how we will have the money for stronger military and stronger borders to secure our continent against real threats and real enemies. We will never be the 51st state, but we will, we can once again be friends with the United States if the president reverses course on these disastrous tariff threats.”

He promised, if elected, that if Trump doesn’t back down, a Conservative government would work to make Canada self-reliant by building pipelines and LNG plants and “aggressively” promoting mines and resource infrastructure he claims have been “blocked” in the years of the Liberal government.

“The world needs our resources and our expertise. If you Mr. Trump, don’t want them, the rest of the world does,” said Poilievre.

In a release, the party announced that a new Conservative government will let Canadians put an extra $5,000 a year into TFSA’s for investments in Canada, for a total contribution of $12,000 per year.

Poilievre branded the announcement as a ‘Canada First TFSA Top Up,’ claiming the expansion of untaxed savings will bring billions of dollars to Canadian companies, who “will then spend it on factories, equipment, tools, wages and making our economy self reliant and strong.”

Before Poilievre’s appearance, Alex Rivard, assistant professor at the school of public policy at Simon Fraser University, said he expects a strong reception from some of those already planning on voting for him, but it’s not necessarily a sign that the Conservative Party is in as strong of a shape in B.C. as they were prior to Justin Trudeau’s resignation.

Rivard says the goal for Poilievre is to gain back some of the undecided vote.

“He says he needs to keep standing up to Trump. He has to, in my mind, try to distance himself from [Alberta Premier] Danielle Smith. Poilievre is, in my mind, in the toughest situation of the federal leaders because he has to not only convince people to vote for the Conservatives but also convince people not to vote for the liberals,” he said.

Rivard adds that Thursday’s visit to B.C. presents an opportunity for Poilievre to address some of the concerns voters have around what a Conservative Party would do to health care and whether there would be cuts to services.

“These kinds of support for social programs are pretty high even among Conservative voters. So, I think he could have the opportunity to come out and stake a claim to this, allowing himself to become the candidate, to move past the Trump-sphere and try and bring it back to more domestic politics,” he explained.

Later Thursday, Poilievre is set to host a “Canada First” rally in Surrey at 6 p.m.

The federal election is on April 28.