Here are brief profiles of the Canadian political party leaders contesting the Sept 20 federal election.
Justin Trudeau (Liberals) – Trudeau, 49, has been prime minister since November 2015 after he became the first leader to take a Canadian party from third place to an election win. Trudeau, the son of former longtime Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has championed women’s rights, toughened environmental laws and spent heavily to support businesses and individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. But he lost his parliamentary majority in 2019 after old photos emerged of him dressed up in blackface and has twice been found in breach of federal ethics rules.
Erin O’Toole (Conservatives) – O’Toole, 48, was elected leader in August 2020 in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and aides admit he has had trouble introducing himself to voters. O’Toole, a former army helicopter navigator, favors lower spending and accuses Trudeau of political corruption. He also faces tension with social conservatives within his party over issues such as climate change and abortion.
Jagmeet Singh (New Democrats) – Singh, 42, made headlines in October 2017 when he became the first person from an ethnic minority to be elected leader of a major Canadian political party. Polls suggest that Singh, who favors even more public spending than Trudeau, is gaining in popularity after a slow start that saw the left-leaning party lose almost 40% of its seats in 2019.
Yves-Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) – Blanchet, 56, who started his political career in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, took over the separatist Bloc in January 2019 and more than trebled its seats in the federal election later that year. The Bloc only campaigns in Quebec and under Blanchet – who even rivals concede is a dynamic performer in English and French – looks set to hold onto its gains.
Annamie Paul (Greens) – Paul, 48, is the first Black person to head a mainstream Canadian federal party. The activist and lawyer was elected leader of the Greens last October but has recently become mired in a dispute over policy toward Israel that threatens to undermine the party.
Maxime Bernier (People’s Party of Canada) – Bernier, 58, a former Cabinet minister who was once forced to step down from the foreign affairs portfolio after mislaying secret documents, defected from the Conservatives to create the populist PPC in 2018. The party has performed poorly and Bernier lost his parliamentary seat in 2019. Bernier was arrested in June in Manitoba for attending a rally against COVID-19 restrictions.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney)
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
