Poilievre promises to repeal bills C-69, C-48 in bid to encourage pipeline development

Conservative leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre is promising that he’d repeal two Liberal government bills if he becomes prime minister, in a bid to encourage Canadian pipeline development.

The Ottawa-area MP spoke to a crowd of around 40 people at Brandt Tractor Ltd. in Regina on Friday morning as part of his campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“I will replace these anti-energy laws with new laws that protect the environment, consult First Nations and provide them with pay cheques and give quick decisions on energy projects,” Poilievre said.

He said he would repeal bills C-69 and C-48 if chosen as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and elected as prime minster.

Bill C-69 enacted the Impact Assessment Act which oversees the assessment of the “environmental, health, social and economic effects of designated projects with a view to preventing certain adverse effects and fostering sustainability.”

Bill C-48 prohibits oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tonnes of crude oil or persistent oil as cargo from “stopping, or unloading crude oil or persistent oil, at ports or marine installations located along British Columbia’s north coast from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border.”

Poilievre also restated his promise to repeal the federal carbon tax, announced at a rally in Saskatoon Thursday.

“Scrapping the carbon tax will reduce the cost of living and will mean small businesses will have more money to hire workers and provide affordable goods for their people,” Poilievre said Thursday.

Poilievre’s leadership campaign is currently focusing on affordability for Canadians, with plans to attempt to lower the cost of living and curb inflation.

Inflation in Canada rose to 5.1 per cent in January, surpassing five per cent for the first time in more than 30 years, according to Statistics Canada.

“Under my leadership, taxes will only ever go down,” Poilievre said Friday.

“I believe $1 in the hands of the person who earned it will always be better than $1 in the hands of the politician who taxed it," he said.

Regina Conservative MPs Andrew Scheer and Michael Kram were at the event Friday to show their support for Poilievre.

The Ottawa-area MP announced his intention to enter the party’s leadership in a video posted to social media in early February.

The Conservative Party will elect a new leader on Sept. 10. Candidates have until April 19 to enter the race.

MORE SANCTIONS FOR RUSSIA

When asked about sanctions against the Russian stakeholders that own a majority of Evraz Steel, Poilievre could not comment on the ownership structure of that specific company, but said he supports further sanctions on Russian Oligarchs.

He said he also supports kicking Russia out of the SWIFT messaging system, in an attempt to curb the sources of money being used to fund the country’s military operations.

“One way to do it by the way is by exporting clean, responsible Canadian energy to Europe so that continent is no longer reliant on the dictator in Moscow to heat their homes and power their industries,” he said.

With files from CTV News Saskatoon and CTVNews.ca