Given his political leanings, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that Poilievre has chosen to oppose the Liberal tax changes. Back in 2004, the Conservative leader seems to have been in favour of eliminating capital gains taxes entirely (the Conservative party platform that year called for a “reduction”).
It’s a hell of a thing to imagine housing flippers won’t have to pay any taxes on their profits.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Announcing the Liberal government’s proposed changes to capital gains taxes last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland repeated a thought experiment she first suggested in her budget speech back in the spring.
Days later, after announcing his party’s intention to vote against the changes, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released a 16-minute video on the topic that referenced Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
To this debate, Poilievre has now added not only odd historical references but also an element of mystery — a promise to pursue some unspecified tax reform if he forms government.
Seizing on Freeland’s own comments, Poilievre challenged the finance minister to promise that not a single welder, plumber, carpenter, electrician or farmer would be affected.
More substantively, the Conservatives have echoed the Canadian Medical Association’s claim that changes to capital gains taxes will make it harder to recruit and retain doctors.
And by trying to make the debate about plumbers and carpenters, Poilievre presumably is hoping also to undercut any suggestion that his position on capital gains contradicts his claim to be a champion of “common” people and an enemy of the “elites.”
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