BREAK WEEK OFFENSIVE — Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE kicked off a week away from Ottawa with a spirited press conference in Vancouver. He mixed his anti-Trudeau greatest hits with a few new tracks that could set the tone for the parliamentary sprint to Christmas. Four takeaways from a West Coast presser: — He wants the union vote: Poilievre refused to take a position on Bill C-58, Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN's legislative attempt to ban replacement workers. "We're going to study the legislation," he said. "I never take a position before I have had a chance to actually look at what's written down on paper." The smooth-talking Conservative pivoted hard to talking points, blaming a spate of high-profile strikes on inflation caused by federal spending. "I don't blame the workers who are voting for strikes right now because after eight years of Trudeau, inflation is raging out of control," Poilievre said. "Whenever you have raging inflation you have strikes. Why? Because workers have to fight tooth and nail to recover the lost purchasing power on their paychecks." Poilievre didn't distinguish between organized labor and the rest of the workforce. "Conservatives are 100 percent on-side with workers, union and non-union, who are fighting for pay hikes," he told reporters. The labor leaders who surrounded O'Regan at Thursday's C-58 press conference, and fêted the bill at an evening reception in the minister's office, might welcome that support — but they'd be doing backflips if the CPC supported the replacement worker ban. — He'll go to war for C-234: Poilievre is continuing to ramp up pressure on the Liberal government to pass Bill C-234, which would create another carbon tax carve-out. Conservative Senators blamed the upper chamber for shutting down debate last week in the final stages for the private member’s bill before royal assent. “We now know that JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s top ministers had been frantically calling senators begging them to block this bill,” Poilievre asserted Monday. Playbook has confirmed that unnamed Cabinet ministers were lobbying senators — a campaign that backfired, failing to turn the tide on a key procedural vote. It's unclear if Poilievre's "full-on campaign" meant to sway senators will have more success. C-234 exempts natural gas and propane used on farms for grain-drying, as well as heating of barns, from the federal carbon price. But opponents argue it incentivizes climate inaction. “The drama’s now building,” Poilievre said, pointing to the fact that Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT has vowed no further carbon tax carve-outs after the Liberals exempted home heating oil — a measure that benefits Atlantic Canadians in greater proportions than other parts of Canada. — He doesn't have zero climate policy: The Liberal knock against Poilievre's standard anti-carbon tax screed is that he has no plan to reduce emissions — and that Conservatives don't believe in the science behind human-caused climate change. Poilievre has largely limited his emissions-reduction pitch to "Technology not taxes," a principle also adopted by the Australian government in 2021 as part of a plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. (That plan has its critics down under.) The Tory leader pitched a few examples Monday. Liberals, New Democrats, Bloquistes and Greens who support carbon pricing and additional regulatory solutions will surely groan. Poilievre would speed up approvals for hydroelectric, tidal and nuclear power — including small modular reactors "in strategic locations where they maximize emissions reduction and minimize costs." Say, the oilsands, where SMRs — which have yet to be deployed in Canada — could "decarbonize the steam production and the electricity generation for the energy sector." A reporter asked: What about expanding wind and solar energy? "We should allow the market to determine the most reliable and cost-effective emissions-free energy that comes onto the grid," Poilievre replied, promising not to get in the way of provincially approved projects. "The role of the federal government is to incentivize and quickly approve projects that are environmentally responsible." — Fraser is leading a 'traveling circus': Conservatives have accused Housing Minister SEAN FRASER of swiping Poilievre's carrot-and-stick approach to housing incentives. Fraser has inked deals with a growing list of major cities that guarantee millions in federal funding in exchange for zoning amendments that allow developers to build denser homes more quickly. Poilievre's housing plan would, in part, boost funding to cities that beat homebuilding targets and withhold it from those that fall short. Similar, right? Not according to Poilievre. "Sean Fraser and Justin Trudeau have been paying off mayors to give federal Liberals credit for housing that was already going to be built," the Tory leader said, dismissing the deals as cash-fueled photo-ops the mayors would be crazy to turn down. It's true photo-ops are part of the package, and every press release lavishes praise on local Liberal MPs who will definitely campaign on helping to hammer out a deal. But it's not all about repackaging pre-existing plans. Cities are rewriting zoning rules to allow — "legalize" is the minister's preferred word — more units on a single lot. — Speaking of which: Fraser is in Calgary today to unveil the city's share of the C$4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund.
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