Pierre Poilievre, who is the new leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, launched a huge housing program with a mixed bag of talking points. You can say “mixed”: talking points that will start arguments and cheerleading-with wide eyes-all at the same time. So guess what-2.3 million new builds for five years. Yup, that many roofs over heads. But the how? He has really made law on himself with a one-line tweet-a much-snapped policy-mic drop.
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Mention the sales tax exemption for new homes. Out goes GST for new homes, which ought to create a cheaper route for construction. Next is using carrots and sticks with cities-lower taxes for going fast in construction but rewarding cities that exceed their housing uptakes beyond 15 percent. Oh, and he’s mentioning the federal land, too, saying they would dispose of it to developers for housing construction. The other ingredient of his pitch closes like one famous political line: “Vote for change. Vote for homes you can afford. Vote Conservative.”
Now let’s look at the replies because, wow, people are really all over the place on this one. Some were just plain old pessimistic. User Not John F countered, saying: “Canada is screwed no matter who wins this race.” And yes, harsh, but hey, when it all comes down to it, politics do bring out the cynics. Next was Robert Craigen, who went ahead and compared Poilievre to some other Liberal candidate Mark Carney and said: “Only Poilievre’s plan- not ‘government housing’- really sounds much like home ownership.” Ouch. Very subtle shade at the Liberals there.
But not everyone is falling for it. Parag Panchal threw Poilievre a straight curveball, asking him what he was going to do to enhance Canadian manufacturing. Because you know, housing is great, but jobs? On the other hand, Catherine Janicki Moe launched a full-blown culture war, stating Poilievre’s judgment is “unreliable” if he supports abortion. Goes from housing to hot-button issues, classic Twitter pivot.
They’ve got their hype squad too. User Hurrdeep is rallying: “On APRIL 28 – please encourage all your friends and family to join you in going to the polls and Elect Pierre Poilievre.” All caps, hashtags, the whole nine. Motty Grossman was all like, “Oh my gosh vote 😱” and a link. No other context, just vibes.
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What else do we gather? The plan is bold from Poilievre. There is no one to question it. Bold, however, does not make it credible, making the reaction actual. Some see the savior. Others the spin. A few merely hear more political noise. The question begs-as to whether this would matter to voters? The upside is everyone is talking, and in politics, that’s half the battle. Let’s see now if the opposing parties retaliate with promises of their own on housing. Game on.
You can view the original article HERE.