Despite video showing them metres apart in Toronto, Doug Ford’s spokesperson says the Ontario Premier and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not meet over the weekend.
“I don’t believe they met at the event,” Ivana Yelich, Mr. Ford’s deputy chief of staff for media, stakeholder relations and forward planning, said in an e-mail on Tuesday.
The event in question was the Toronto Caribbean festival where a video posted on X, the former Twitter, shows the two men, among Canada’s most prominent conservatives, at the festival on Saturday. The video, from Global news journalist Ahmar Khan, is here.
Asked about the video, Ms. Yelich wrote in an e-mail on Tuesday, “There is no interaction in that video.”
She did not elaborate on whether the pair had a subsequent meeting or indeed whether they have ever had an official meeting.
Mr. Poilievre’s office did not respond, on Tuesday, to a Globe and Mail query about the encounter.
The situation comes amid questions about a possible rift between federal Conservatives and their provincial counterparts, the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario. Ontario, with its 120 seats, is seen as a key battleground for the next federal election, and Conservative political fortunes hinge on making gains there.
After the PCs were defeated in the Ottawa-area Kanata-Carleton by-election last month, an unnamed senior Conservative said the federal party ruled out sending volunteers to help the PCs because the provincial party wouldn’t help their federal counterparts in a June by-election in the Ontario riding of Oxford. The federal Conservatives eventually won the riding. Posting here.
Mr. Ford has been in sync with the federal Liberals on various issues, including support for electric vehicles technology. In July, the federal and Ontario governments reached a deal with Stellantis NV and LG Energy Solution for up to $15-billion in subsidies for their electric-vehicle battery factory in Windsor. The agreement ended a months-long saga in which the companies halted construction on the project while they pushed for greater financial backing. Story here.
Mr. Ford has also praised Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
Last year, Mr. Ford said neither he nor members of his PC caucus would get involved in the national Conservative leadership race that ended up electing Mr. Poilievre in a landslide. And, in 2021, the Ontario Premier’s office told his cabinet ministers not to campaign for Erin O’Toole, then the federal Conservative leader, and to refrain from posting about interactions with federal candidates on social media. Story here.
In May, eight months after he became leader, Mr. Poilievre met with Quebec Premier François Legault.
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.
