The leader of the federal Conservative party stopped in the Parksville area and spoke about his proposed policies around public safety, affordability and infrastructure.
Pierre Poilievre visited Macon Industries, a company which designs and fabricates exploration drilling products and gold mining machinery, during a stop on Jan. 14.
He criticized the Liberal Party for, among other things, the federal carbon tax, as well as the NDP for supporting the minority government.
“I think Vancouver Islanders are ready to have a common sense Conservative government that will crack down on crime, axe the taxes and incentivize more home building," Poilievre said. “We need to bring home Canada’s promise. We had a promise in this country that if you work hard, you get a powerful pay cheque and affordable food and homes and safety."
A federal Conservative government will repeal bills C-5, C-75 and C-83, he said, and pass a law called "Jail, not Bail", which would deny bail, parole, probation and house arrest to anyone with "a long rap sheet", Poilievre said.
“We’re gonna do away with the NDP/Liberal hug-a-thug, catch-and-release laws,” he added. “Laws that allow the same small group of offenders to be released again and again and again.”
He said he wants to see an election as soon as possible and believes the most important issue will be “change, we need a change.”
Poilievre promoted the idea of investment in Canadian infrastructure and drastically reducing the approval time for new mining operations. He said Canada has trade agreements with "almost two billion people in the world".
“What we need, by and large, is infrastructure to get our products to market," Poilievre said. "LNG plants, pipelines, better ports, that’s how we’re going to get our products to Asia.”
Poilievre's next stop on his pre-campaign tour will be a rally in Powell River.