The Current - How each federal candidate is promising change this election

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

The federal election campaign is officially off to the races — and each of the leaders are positioning themselves as the candidate who can bring change for Canadians feeling pressed by tariff threats and the high cost of living. How are they making their cases? Stephanie Levitz of the Globe’s Ottawa bureau, host of CBC’s The House Catherine Cullen and La Presse columnist Michel C. Auger explain, and break down the race so far.

Here's a question for you. What's your email address saying about your Canadian business? First impressions matter, and your email says a lot. It's your customer's first look at your brand. A custom.ca email shows you're credible, professional, and proudly Canadian. It signals you do business in Canada. For Canadians, show you mean business from the get-go. Get your custom.ca email now at yourcustomemail.ca

and let your email do the talking. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Ready, set, and they're off. We need to put Canada first for a change with a new Conservative government to axe taxes, reward work, unleash entrepreneurs, harvest our resources, make things here. We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump's

unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty. Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada. We see what's happening in the US. Greed is tearing it apart and those same forces are banging at our door. We can and we must fight back. It's day two of the shortest federal election campaign possible under Canadian law. You heard conservative leader Pierre Poiliev, Liberal leader Mark Carney and It's day two of the shortest federal election campaign possible under Canadian law. You heard Conservative leader Pierre Poiliev, Liberal leader Mark Carney and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh all launching their campaigns yesterday asking for your vote.

With Canadians heading to the polls on April 28, six months ahead of the fixed election date and against the backdrop of a trade war with the US. To help us understand what the next five weeks may bring, I'm joined now by our national affairs panel. Michelle Sauget is a columnist for La Presse and a commentator with Radio Canada. Stephanie Levitz is a senior reporter for the Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau,

and Catherine Cullen is the host of The House on CBC Radio One and the new politics podcast, House Party, good morning to you all. Good morning. Catherine, let me start with you. I listened to Mark Carney's speech yesterday. I was listening to radio ads promoting him this weekend. Heavy on the word change, light on the word liberal.

Can Carney sell himself as an agent of change for a party that's trying to win its fourth consecutive mandate? That may be the one of the defining questions for this election, Mark. I mean, certainly it seems to me what struck me yesterday is there's really a kind of agreement between Pierre Poliev and Mark Carney about what this election is going to be about. It's going to be about strength in the face of Donald Trump and change. And certainly the change part of the equation is going to be harder for Mark Carney because Pierre Poliev, principally, but also the other political parties will be doing everything they can to hang Justin Trudeau's record around

Mark Carney's shoulders. It's clear that the two men are different, Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney, you know, Mark Carney with his focus on the economy. He's certainly putting more of an emphasis on getting resources to market, but he's working with the same group of MPs, and he has to sort of try to get out from this dissatisfaction that was really about the state of the country that has really been animating the political debate in this country. And if you talk to folks, I mean, they are still very worried about how much the price of groceries, are they going to be able to

afford housing? Mark Carney is going to try to attack a lot of that head on, but it is going to be a challenge for him to show that he represents something different to convince Canadians to give the Liberals another shot after almost nine and a half years in power. Yeah, Stephanie, we know, I mean, we know the narrative here that just a few months ago the polls show the Liberals were trailing the the conservatives by at least 20 points and now the polls showing a close race and this has got to be Poliev's tactic right now and based on what you heard yesterday he's calling it the lost liberal decade like this

millstone he wants to hang over their necks how successful do you think he can be in doing that? It depends right I mean Mark Carney is going to be running a look-forward campaign which is to say Mark Carney is going to be running a look forward campaign, which is to say he is not going to campaign actively on the liberal record. He's not going to talk about some of the greatest hits of the liberal decade as opposed to the greatest liberal losses. So greatest hits being, for example, the childcare benefit, dental care, pharmacare, these things that really drove voters, especially from the new Democrats to the liberals over time. He's not running on those things. And when he's not talking about them, can Mr. Poliev make people listen to attacks about

them and the arguments that he has for steps the liberals took that he views negatively and the impact on the economy? Let's also not forget there's going to be a number of key milestones along this campaign, but there's going to be two things that might alter the calculus a little bit. One is that with Mr. Carney setting the price of the consumer fuel charge to zero, gas prices are going to drop in a couple of weeks. Will people reward the liberals for that or won't they? The second thing, of course, is the April 2nd deadline looming for US President Donald Trump and what he decides to do with the next phase of this tariff war and how that will

play out on the campaign could shift the messaging for all parties. Michel, I was reading your column in La Presse where you feel it's essentially down now to a two-horse race between Carney and Poiliev. So given that, in your opinion, who stands to gain the most in vote-rich Quebec? Right now, I don't think you can call it a Carney mania yet, but I meet and I talk to people and people I know who are sovereignists, who have always voted either for the block or the PQ or both, were saying, nah, this year it's too dangerous. I'm voting for Carney.

He has had an effect on the electorate here because basically on the strength of his CV, of his resume. But if the ballot question is, who do you want to send to represent Canada vis-a-vis Donald Trump? It's obvious that he's got the best shot at this. Ironically, we've seen Mr. Blanchet, who's having a real problem if that is the ballot question, say, oh, ballot questions are not important. What is important is values. Yeah, but maybe people want to answer that ballot question this year.

So it's bitterly in the campaign to say what people will actually go to the polls thinking of. But the overwhelming personality of Mr. Trump is all over this election, all over this campaign. And it's obvious that the question of who do you want to send to negotiate with him will be very important. And personality, that's an interesting point. And I guess for a lot of Canadians, we don't really know a lot about the personality of Mark Carney. And you know, he's been criticized for not doing enough media interviews and

scolding reporters, including you, Stephanie. And that was in an exchange last week when you asked about his blind trust in disclosing his assets. Let's just take a listen to a bit of that. The rules say that those assets should be publicly disclosed within 120 days, which means you'll campaign in a coming federal election, most likely within the next 120 days, and are serving as Prime Minister now, with Canadians not being aware of what potential conflicts of interest you've sought to avoid. What possible conflict would you have? Stephanie, I'm complying with the rules.

I'm complying with the rules in advance. Point of finality. Point of finality. Stephanie, was that point of finality for you? What did you make of that response to your question? I mean, a week later, and I'm still cringing. When I hear it played back to me. Why does that make you cringe?

There are lots of ways to, Mr. Carney could have answered that question. It was confusing perhaps that Mr. Carney did not seem prepared to have a better answer to that question than the answer he's been giving all along, which is to say he just assumed it was going to go away. And to be sort of dismissive of the idea that he could possibly be in any conflicts when we know that, you know, part of the record he is campaigning on that he is putting before Canadians right now is his private sector business experience. It's not just about his time at the Bank of Canada or the Bank of England.

It's about everything he did since. To suggest that as the prime minister, he could not possibly have any conflicts of interest when he sat as the chair of a major Canadian investment firm, when he sat on the boards of other companies actively soliciting the government for money and support. It doesn't make any sense that there could be zero conflicts there but how are Canadians to know? The fact that he won't be transparent about that raises a lot of questions and it'll be interesting to see how Mr. Carney functions on the campaign when now the expectation

is that he takes these questions every single day, not just as one-offs. Yeah, Catherine, what's your feeling about that? Because the guy's never done retail politics. Pierre Poiliev is a pro when it comes to retail politics. And what do you think the stakes are for Mark Carney heading into this, even though it's the shortest campaign possible, is still so divisive for him? I mean, I think it was a sign of his political inexperience. And after that question from Steph, our colleague Rosemary Barton got up there,

and Mr. Carney became even more agitated. This is the look inside yourself, Rosemary moment, where again, he suggested that the very premise of the question was sort of flawed and unacceptable. It actually makes me think of something one of his supporters said to me about the carbon tax, that Mr. Carney was a bit surprised that once he had said he was going to get rid of the consumer carbon tax, that the Conservatives would continue to attack him on this, because he's just not used to the way that the sort of political game is played. And it's clear, Pierre Poliev is going to continue to hammer this point about carbon taxes throughout the election campaign. So

both the inexperience and this sort of sensitivity, I think in those moments, the ability to, you know, it had been a very long day, but guess what? Election campaigns are a lot of very long days. Jesse, wait, it had been a very long day, but guess what? Election campaigns are a lot of very long days in a row. Jesse, wait. It's just starting. I will say, though, Mark, it was interesting. I was also talking to a member of his team who, you know, they don't necessarily

hate moments like that, a little bit of punchiness. I don't think that they're entirely convinced that it's a bad thing that he sort of pushed back a little bit. But I think that that's kind of a dangerous game, especially in this time. Part of what Mark Kearney, I think, is trying to offer is a cool-headedness in the face

of the unpredictability of Donald Trump. So, you know, a little bit not sounding quite so cool-headed, I think he has to be very careful. Here's a question for you. What's your email address saying about your Canadian business? I think he has to be very careful. business in Canada. For Canadians, show you mean business from the get-go. Get your custom.ca email now at yourcustomemail.ca and let your email do the talking. You're an entrepreneur. Growth is essential for your business. At BDC, we get that, and we're here to help you stay two steps ahead. With our flexible financing and advisory services, we help you adapt, growing your business in

the face of today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities. Stepping up for entrepreneurs, we're on it. BDC, financing, advising, know-how. Hanging over this election, of course, is US President Donald Trump, who's been making his own preferences known. Let's listen to what he said last week in an interview on Fox News. I love Canada. I love...

But now the liberal guy... I love his wife. The liberal party is going to win now in the next election, most likely. And they were down and out. Isn't that going to make them more hostile to us and possibly open the door for China closer to Canada? And that would really put us in a bind. The conservative that's running is stupidly no friend of mine.

I don't know him, but he said negative things. So when he says negative things, I couldn't care less. I think it's easier to deal actually with a liberal. Michelle, what do you think? If we can decode that tangled comment. That's dangerous with Mr. Trump. Yeah. Well, who does this hurt?

Does this hurt one of them, benefit one of them, Carney, Paulyev? What's your feeling on that? I still don't know. There are two possibilities. Either he does that, in fact, to try to help Mr. Puelev by saying, oh, and giving him the opportunity to say, you see, Mr. Trump would rather deal with Mr. Carney, so I'm not so bad. I will be able to defend the Canadian interests. Or on the other hand, he also said he was stupid. So, you know, it's, I don't know which one Donald Trump wanted to put forward, but I

don't think it makes a hell of a difference for Mr. Carney, but it could make a hell of a difference for Mr. Poliev. Mr. Carney yesterday referred to Mr. Poliev as an American Trump. Stephanie, do you think this can stick for the campaign? I mean, that's one of those million dollar questions. Canadian Trump, I should say. Right. Yeah, it's one of those million dollar questions. I mean, Mr. Poliev has been developing piece by piece a response to that. You know, he's sort of trying to land on what is the

way to break through to Canadians who see this negative parallel between him and Mr. Trump, and by which I mean, you know, they're both, as Mr. Carney, for example, laid out, they're both planning to cut the foreign aid budget. They both want to overhaul the civil service. They're, you know, this idea of ending quote unquote woke culture, that those parallels, those are things that make some Canadians uneasy. They're also, those are things that make some Canadians uneasy. There are also those are things that make some Canadians look up and say, why can't we do that? We should do that. So setting aside the trade war, and this is where it gets dicey with Mr. Poliev and Mr. Trump, because Canadians, I would submit, are broadly united on this

question of you shalt not annex us. We will not be the 51st state. Take your tariff war and stuff it. But on the other stuff, what is Mr. Poliev's response to those ideas coming out of the Trump administration that there are some Canadians who are saying, you know what, yeah, we do need to tear down the civil service and rebuild it. And what about our foreign aid budget? Can we have those conversations in this election or is that all third rail politics because it all just becomes an echo of Donald Trump Elections are often built on aspirations

You know this idea of hope and unity and this one is built around fear anger and uncertainty And Katherine I'm wondering what do you think voters need to hear in this campaign to reassure them? I mean, I think it you see it reflected in the messages of the two principal parties. So Canada first, and now the Conservatives have changed it to Canada first for a change or Canada strong from the Liberals. Certainly, there's no question this is a time of fear and uncertainty. But I will submit, Stephanie has just submitted her point of view, I will submit there is reason to be enthusiastic

about this election campaign because in the two principal front runners, you have two people who have spent a lot of time, years, thinking about what they want this country to look like. Canadians are very engaged right now and they have a real choice at a pivotal moment for our country. They get to weigh in, they get to look at a series of visions, but as I say, in terms of the frontrunners too, and say which best reflects the country that I want to see going forward at this moment while we are being challenged. And I think that there is a reason to feel good about that, but it calls upon all of us to really be engaged. Stephanie, of course, the Liberals and the Conservatives aren't the only parties in this election. Let's remind everyone who will take, you know, you've got the Bloc Québécois, the NDP,

the Greens. What's it going to take for them to be more of a factor in this election? The New Democrats are an interesting, let's say, player in this campaign. I mean, they have not done exceptionally well in the last two elections since the orange wave of the Jack Leighton years. They've really seen their fortunes fumble. It seems though that Mr. Carney has potentially given them a gift and that is in trying to reset the liberal brand to a centrist agenda. I mean, take a look at his cabinet. He dropped ministers for gender and equality, diversity, people

with disabilities. He reframed the labor ministry into jobs and families. These are all touch stones where perhaps NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh can say, hey, progressives, hey, remember that you went to go vote for the liberals because you liked that? Well, they've abandoned you. Come home to the new Democrats. And this could be a real test of Jagmeet Singh's ability to remain on as leader of the party. He's going to have to convince progressive voters in particular that the NDP, that the liberals rather do not deserve their vote and ought not to get it. The challenge, of course, conversely, is in such a tight election the potential for people to say, well, I'm trying to stop party X. I don't

want the liberals, so I'll vote conservative because there are NDP voters who do vote conservative and the conservatives made a lot of play for that support. Or there are, you know, NDP voters who say, I really need to stop the conservatives, so therefore I'm going to vote liberal. So in the arc of political history, what happens to the new Democrats in this election will be very interesting. Or we can look at it another way.

I mean, it's tight according to the polls right now, but of course it's day two, so we're not making any predictions at this point. But Michelle, if it is that tight race between the liberals and the conservatives, that could mean that the Bloc Quebecois holds the balance of power there. And which way do you think that they would throw their support? It could mean that the Bloc having the balance of power.

It also could mean that the Bloc would have some difficulty at the polls this year. They are in a way in the same mind as the New Democrats. That is, if this is a referendum on who do you want to talk to Donald Trump, neither Mr. Singh or Mr. Blanchet will be that person. And the bloc is very much aware of this situation. Where would they go? I think that in the end, he will find a way to weasel out of this one and wait until the first confidence vote to decide based on the moment this vote is called. But he is trying very hard to say, he's not talking balance of power. He's not talking we'll be the final arbiter of this, he's just basically saying the Quebec values, we will represent Quebec values.

We'll see if that strategy works, but there's no real big buzz around the Bloc Québécois this time. It's very much diffused. Catherine, in 15 seconds, because I know you're a pro, what would you describe this campaign's going to be like, like the tone of it? I think it's going to get really punchy, but I think it is going to be incredibly important. I think Canadians are going to be engaged and they should continue to stay engaged. It's going to be a significant campaign and certainly one to watch.

It's going to be a whirlwind and it's going to be fascinating to cover I think. Yeah I think there's some elections where Canadians say, oh why are we going back to the polls this time or whether there's provincial or federal? I don't think any Canadians asking that question right now. Yeah people want to have a say and they get to. Yep indeed. Okay thank you all. Michel Sauget is a columnist for La Presse and a commentator with Radio Canada. Stephanie Levitz is a senior reporter for the Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau, and Catherine Cullen is the host of The House on CBC Radio 1

and the new politics podcast, House Party. Stay with The Current through the campaign for our special series, Crossroads Coast to Coast with Canadian Voters. Matt Galloway is travelling across the country, starting in BC. He's in the Lower Mainland this week talking to truckers at the border about tariffs, construction workers about jobs and high costs, and he's visiting NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's riding to get a sense of that party's current state. Hear what your fellow Canadians are thinking about as they prepare to vote? That's coming up on The Current on Wednesday.