Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced his second tax cut of the campaign targeted at investors Sunday, promising to exempt capital gains from taxes if the proceeds are reinvested in Canada.
“The current capital gains tax locks up investment in old assets, because selling them would force a big bill,” Poilievre said in a statement.
“Allowing reinvestments without tax will unlock billions to immediately begin building, hiring, investing and growing.”
The Conservatives say the tax cut, which would be available to investors from Canada Day until the end of 2026, will be made permanent if it’s proven successful at driving economic growth.
The party says any gains made on Canadian investments will still be taxable when the investor cashes out their investment for good or moves the proceeds of that investment out of Canada.
“This will be like economic rocket fuel for Canada,” Poilievre told an audience in Toronto on Sunday. “We will soar above the Americans. We will reverse the lost Liberal decade and make this country boom.”
The Conservatives say the change would cost $5 billion in 2025 and $5.5 billion in 2026. Poilievre also announced last week that his government would cut the lowest marginal rate of income tax by 2.25 percentage points, at a cost of $14 billion a year.
On Thursday, Poilievre announced a future Conservative government would allow investors to contribute $5,000 more a year to their tax-free savings accounts (TFSA) — as long as they invest that extra cash in Canadian companies.
The Conservatives did not provide a costing for the TFSA top up.
CBC News has reported that sources within the party are complaining about a “dysfunctional” campaign with too much centralized power and the belittling and aggressive treatment of staff.
At the heart of that reported dysfunction are concerns by some Conservatives that the campaign needs to pivot — and focus more on the threat posed by the U.S. President Donald Trump.
Asked about whether he intends to focus on Trump and tariffs, Poilievre insisted his campaign is already doing so.
“Today we are standing up to the Americans with a Canada first reinvestment tax cut,” he said. “President Trump has said he wants the Liberals back in power. We know why; he wants Canada weak.”
Speaking in Danville, Que., on Sunday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet announced a host of policies targeting seniors, including:
At the announcement, Blanchet told reporters that Liberal Leader Mark Carney is taking Quebec votes for granted by not holding news conferences this weekend.
Blanchet said Carney had an “orgy of skeletons” in his closet and accused him of hiding from the media.
On Saturday, Carney met with volunteers at his Nepean riding office. Sunday Carney met with an Ottawa family before flying to Toronto where he met with volunteers. The Liberal leader has not taken questions from the media over the two days.
