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Good morning, iPolitics readers.
Welcome back to our daily election live blog.
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2:35 p.m.
After an early morning press conference that was, as usual, conducted exclusively in French, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet again went in front of the cameras in suburban Montreal on Thursday afternoon, though he was asked in English to detail his announcement, which was about improving Canada’s borders.
“We believe that the management of the borders has been left as if it was either not important or not relevant [enough] to be done properly,” said Blanchet. “We propose many measures which would benefit every Canadian province and Quebec because it would be dealt with in an orderly fashion, which is not the case presently.”
The separatist leader said border resources are in “short supply,” resulting in longer than necessary wait times for cross-border processing.
“This is, at the end of the day, not a nice way to treat people who come to our border because they fear for themselves,” said Blanchet. “Two things have to be done: deployment of necessary resources to treat everybody as they should according to the law… and also those who enter have to be treated well.”
“Every file has to be treated much more rapidly than it has been this far.”
The Bloc leader was also asked for his thoughts on reports that Liberal Leader Mark Carney is again temporarily leaving the campaign trail to address international trade issues following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday.
“I don’t believe him,” said Blanchet. “I believe he’s stepping away from the campaign because he wants to step away from the campaign.”
“[But,] at some point, April 16… being the latest [a debate] could come, he will have to be not so far from me [to] answer questions and make things clear for Quebecers because he seems to avoid that as much as he can. But I’m quite a hard person to avoid in the long-run.”
1:00 p.m.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made a campaign stop in Saskatoon, Sask., on Thursday, where he highlighted his party’s recent analysis claiming that Liberal Leader Mark Carney would need to cut $43 billion in public services in order to balance Canada’s operating budget, which Carney has vowed to do.
“He’s proposing all these cuts,” said Singh. “His plan is to cut all these things that you care about [and], at the same time, he wants to give bigger cuts to millionaires and billionaires.”
For his part, Carney categorically denied the NDP’s analysis during his own press conference earlier today and said he wouldn’t touch health care transfers to the provinces, which a reporter from the Canadian Press pointed out to Singh.
“One of the things [Carney has] talked about [is] maintaining, but what is banker speak for maintaining spending?” asked Singh. “Banker’s speak for maintaining spending is freezing, and freezing is a cut if you talk about healthcare.”
“If you freeze investments in healthcare with an aging population, a growing population, increased needs, and with inflation, if you freeze, that is a cut.”
Singh also faced questions about whether a New Democrat government would balance the budget, which he refused to answer, only stating that he would increase revenues and cut costs “associated with things we think are wasteful.”
Meanwhile, a journalist from Global’s local affiliate asked how Singh would address the homelessness and opioid crises, which he said were two of the most pressing issues in Saskatchewan.
“First of all, it’s heartbreaking,” said the NDP leader. “We’re in one of the world’s richest countries… and we’ve got people sleeping the streets and we have people losing their lives to this opioid crisis.”
Singh emphasized that housing people is “the first step,” but we also need to “get the toxic stuff off our streets.”
“Instead of punishing people after the fact, we want to stop this before it happens,” he said.
11:08 a.m.
Exactly 39 minutes after his press conference was scheduled to begin, Carney has arrived — and is greeted by polite applause, courtesy of the group assembled behind him — but the first to take the microphone is Nathalie Provost, the Ecole Polytechnique shooting survivor and outspoken gun control advocate currently running for the Liberals in Montreal, who gives a quick rundown of what motivated her to make the jump from activism to hitting the hustings under the Liberal banner before ceding the floor to local Liberal candidate Bill Blair, who is also Carney’s defence minister.
Today’s announcement, then, is about “doing everything possible to keep our communities safe” with more stringent gun laws, although he leaves it to Carney to unveil the specific details.
With that, Carney takes centre stage, although before moving to today’s policy reveal, he provides a quick update on Canada’s response to latest twists and turns in the global tariff war, and serves notice that he will be meeting with his cabinet leads to go over the latest developments soon.
And now, on to what he describes as “irresponsible, American-style gun laws” that he contends Poilievre and his party are aiming to bring to Canada.
More specifically, he pledges that a Liberal government would automatically revoke gun licences from those convicted of intimate partner violence, tighten the current yellow and red flag laws, invest in the RCMP, crack down on cross-border gun smuggling and “reinvigorating” the gun buyback program launched under his predecessor.
The full details:
First question goes to CBC News, and asks what Carney “needs to see to remove Canada’s countertariffs.” Carney reiterates that he was pleased by the pause on reciprocal tariffs announced yesterday, although he notes, again, that neither the Liberation Day wave or yesterday’s move affects Canada. He doesn’t offer any specific criteria, but says that Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc is in contact with his American counterpart, and again emphasizes that negotiations will begin after the election.
He also disputes the notion that Canada now has the ‘worst’ deal, and points out that the original “fentanyl tariffs” has carved out CUSMA-compliant exports, with more expected to be added to that list.
“The stakes have never been higher,” he stresses, not just as far as Canada’s trading relationship with the U.S., but in strengthening trading relationships with other countries.
Next question: Is Carney considering recognizing Palestine in the next few week? “No,” says Carney, who then goes over the details of Canada’s ongoing support for a two-state solution, and pointing out that the requirements for a “free and viable Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel” do not currently exist.”
He also refuses to “politicize” the question of whether what is ongoing in Gaza right now is a ‘genocide,’ which is before the international criminal court.
Another reporter asks Carney about the white paper on RCMP reform that his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, released in the final days of his term, which Carney says is really more of a ‘green paper’ — it promotes debate, but is more of a “discussion paper,” and says that he views the RCMP as “central to the security of Canadians.”
Carney is significantly more dismissive of the New Democrats’ newly released assessment of the “cost” of his “balanced budget,” and flatly rejects the claim that it would include massive cuts to health care and social programs.
He’s also quite categorical in dismissing some of the claims made in a Globe and Mail story alleging that he met with a pro-Beijing group that, he says, he’s never even heard of, although he acknowledges that, as a politician, sometimes he ends up having brief exchanges — and even photos taken — with people at events, and defends his party’s decision to appoint a former provincial Liberal cabinet who, as per the Globe story, may also have ties to pro-Beijing groups.
Midway through his response, there’s a brief interruption, which appears to have been due to one of the people on stage beside him passing out, which seems to happen at least once an election, and sometimes more often.
Once the media back-and-forth resumes, Carney is asked whether he believes the polls, and if he would respect the results, and his response is fairly decisive: Of course he does, and while he’s very pleased by the “engagement” during this campaign, the only poll that counts is … well, you know the rest.
He also reminds the room that this is Canada, not the United States, and “we always accept the results in this country.”
Finally, a question from iPolitics’ own Marco Vigliotti (!) about the rise in housing prices, and more specifically, whether the previous Liberal government “failed” these communities by not sufficiently encouraging construction. Carney reminds him that he’s only been prime minister for a little over four weeks, and reiterates his pledge to “more than double” home building, and “leverage the power of the federal government” with a newly created entity that will “focus on deeply affordable homes,” while providing incentive to the private sector.
10:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, in Brampton, Ont., Liberal leader Mark Carney has traded in his ‘BUILDING CANADA’ placard with one that reads ‘PROTECTING CANADA,’ which backs up his hint yesterday that today’s policy announcement will indeed be related to crime and justice.
10 a.m.
In a rare instance of a party rejigging its itinerary to bump an event to an earlier slot, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is now expected to go before the cameras 30 minutes ahead of schedule — and it looks like the party is once again using customized placards highlighting the policy reveal of the day:
Note: Those legs belong to a staffer, not the Conservative leader.
The event itself appears to be taking place inside a partially-built home on an active construction site — there’s heavy equipment in the background and a Canadian flag in the background, while a group of hardhat-sporting workers are lined up beside the lectern.
Judging from how intently the workers are now watching something going on outside the building, it’s safe to assume that Poilievre’s arrival is imminent — and yes, there he is. “Hey, guys, good to see you,” he says during a quick round of handshaking before Conservative candidate Parm Gill takes the microphone.
Gill notes that this is “one of the most important elections in our lifetime” before seguing to the standard introductory lines as have been delivered — word for word, in fact — by the Conservative candidates tasked with introducing him at previous events.
Gill also works in a reference to being “under America’s thumb,” and also calls Poilievre “Canada’s next prime minister” before ceding the floor to his leader, who notes that the workers — who aren’t in the frame — are wearing ‘Axe the Tax’ stickers. He also mentions being “under America’s thumb,” in both English and French, bringing the running total to three.
Poilievre also “condemns” Trump for “keeping the tariffs on Canada” while offering “dozens of other far away countries who are not America’s best friend” a 90-day pause — this, he notes, after Carney claimed to have “made progress” in his call with the president.
Although Poilievre emphasizes that he’s not blaming Carney for the tariffs, the way he’s framing the events of the last few days definitely make it sound like he’s raising that question.
The first two questions are about the three-strikes law that Poilievre has repeatedly pledged to bring in, which gives him the opportunity to elaborate at length on how a Conservative government would ensure repeat offenders “will only ever be released if they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt” that they have been rehabilitated, and repeats his promise to bring in “the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history.”
A CTV News reporter highlights the “don’t believe the polls” messaging now circulating amongst some Conservative supporters, including at last night’s rally in Brampton, Ont., where there were a dozen or so supporters wearing shirts emblazoned with that slogan, and asks Poilievre whether he will respect the results of the eventual election. Poilievre says he will before going on to outline, once again, how this election is about the lost Liberal decade. (He did not, however, address the argument itself.)
After a final question via phone on his support for protecting the French language in Quebec, that’s it for today’s media back-and-forth.
7:55 a.m.
Hot off the virtual presses: A preview of what Pierre Poilievre will be announcing in Milton, Ont. this morning, courtesy of the teaser roll on the leader’s X account:
BREAKING: Save $100,000 on new homes.
On top of axing the sales tax on new homes, Conservatives will incentivize municipalities to cut building taxes for a total savings of $100k on an average home in Canada’s big cities.
Let’s build the homes you can afford — For a Change:… pic.twitter.com/Sf0rwL9yJQ
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 10, 2025
More details from the party-issued release:
7 a.m.
After clocking in a few days on the Western Canadian campaign trail, Liberal leader Mark Carney is set to begin another lap on the hustings in southwestern Ontario, beginning with a mid-morning policy reveal in Brampton, Ont., that, as per his comments in Calgary yesterday, may offer more details on how a newly elected Liberal government would respond to crime and justice issues. (10:30 a.m.)
Later this afternoon, he’ll “meet with supporters and volunteers” in Hamilton, Ont. (3 p.m.)
As for his Conservative rival, Pierre Poilievre, his daily on-camera campaign event — and back-and-forth with the press — will be in Milton, Ont., according to his office (10:30 a.m.), while tonight’s ‘Canada First’ rally will take place at an industrial park in Woolwich, Ont. (6 p.m.)
For his part, New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh will start the day with an announcement in Saskatoon, Sask. (9:30 a.m. CST) before joining members of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations for a closed-door meeting later this morning. (11 a.m. CST)
Although Singh himself is not expected to make an appearance, his party will also hold a “virtual technical briefing for media on the cost of Mark Carney’s balanced budget,” during which unnamed “experts will present their work and answer questions from journalists on background,” although the advisory emphasizes that the event “is NOT for broadcast.” (10 a.m.)
Rounding out the campaign circuit, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault will outline the party’s position on “key foreign affairs challenges facing Canada and the international community in this time of global uncertainty” during a mid-morning press conference at his campaign office in Outremont, Que. (10:30 a.m.)
Meanwhile, the party’s other co-leader, Elizabeth May, wraps up her two-day “Whistle Stop Tour” in Moncton, N.B., where her train is expected to pull into the station this afternoon, and is expected to be greeted by “supporters” who will “welcome her to the Maritimes,” according to the advisory. (1:30 p.m. AT)
Later this afternoon, she’ll head to Fredericton for a quick round of “canvassing and sign-waving” (4:30 p.m. AT) before joining local Green hopeful Pam Allen-LeBlanc and provincial Green leader David Coon for a “rally and fundraising event” to mark the “official” launch of Allen-LeBlanc’s campaign. (7 p.m. AT)
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