OTTAWA — The main federal parties are campaigning in the Montreal area as their leaders get ready for the debates later this week — and the first face-to-face confrontation between Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Carney is in Saint-Eustache, Que., announcing a plan to create a new training benefit for mid-career workers, which the Liberals say will help people affected by tariffs.
The plan would give workers in key sectors like health care, manufacturing, construction and technology up to $15,000 for job training.
Poilievre is in Montreal with another policy announcement to address crime. He’s promising to put in place new rules for telecom companies and banks to protect seniors from sophisticated scammers.
His plan includes mandatory jail sentences for fraud convictions, stronger flagging of suspicious activity and a 24-hour delay on high-risk transactions in seniors’ accounts.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he would bring back the proposed increase to the capital gains tax that the Liberals introduced last year and then scrapped before the election.
Singh says the tax change would help to raise $19 billion in federal revenue that he would use to fund universal pharmacare, bring in national rent control and a grocery price cap, and build homes.
Carney’s personal popularity has risen over the course of the campaign. A new poll from Abacus Data suggests his favourability ratings among Canadians are higher than Poilievre’s.
The poll, which was conducted online and cannot be assigned a margin of error, found Carney has a rating of 48 per cent positive and 28 per cent negative, compared to Poilievre’s rating of 40 per cent positive and 45 per cent negative.
But Carney is also a political newcomer and his French-language skills will be under the microscope in Wednesday’s French-language debate.
Federal officials warned Monday that Canadians should be on the lookout for online disinformation tied to the debates. The English-language debate is scheduled for Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2024.
Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
