Poilievre “axe the tax” rally draws thousands to Edmonton

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Thousands of people showed up at the Edmonton Expo Centre on Wednesday night for a rally with the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Attendees at Pierre Poilievre’s “Spike the Hike — Axe the Tax” rally came decked out with signs that said “bring it home” and “Pierre 4 Prime Minister.” Some showed up in colourful T-shirts that read “enjoy capitalism,” others in shirts with a black-and-white photo of Poilievre biting into an apple with the tag line “W. T. F — where the funds.”

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During his 45-minute speech, Poilievre spoke about building homes, bringing back the pipeline, removing COVID-19 mandates, investing money into substance abuse recovery and public safety.

Poilievre ended his speech by painting a picture of “home.” He talked about a young couple who is able to afford their own home, children walking home safely at night and locally made food.

“Seniors who will leave the grocery store with groceries in their car and change in their pocket. Only to arrive at their kitchen table and cut into a deep sumptuous barley fed piece of Alberta beef,” he said.

Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs kicked off the rally with a colourful alliteration, calling the federal New Democratic Party and Liberal coalition a “cruel, colluding, corrupt and costly” government, a description that garnered cheers and whistles from the crowd.

In the crowd was Premier Danielle Smith and members of her caucus. Kerry Diotte, a former Edmonton city councillor and member of Parliament, attended the event wearing a blue shirt with his own name in bold white letters on the front and back.

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Jill Didow was among the attendees, wearing a hat that said “make Trudeau a drama teacher again.” This was her third time attending a Poilievre rally. She said she heavily believes in oil and gas and the level of inflation is making her concerned about the cost of living.

“I just look at the gas pumps and I die. I went to go buy something the other day and I thought it used to be 79 cents and it isn’t 79 cents, and every time I turn around it’s going up and up. We need something to end this madness,” Didow said.

In the corner of the room sat a large timer counting down “time left until Trudeau’s April 1st tax hike.” On April 1 Albertans will see an approximately seven- to eight-cent-per-litre increase to their fill-up due to increases to Alberta’s gas tax and the federal carbon price.

The premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador have all urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to forgo the planned increase, citing inflation and the rising cost of living. The carbon tax is set to increase by $15 a tonne, to $80 from $65. The increase is expected to add about three cents to the cost of a litre of gasoline.

Trudeau has defended the policy by pointing out that Canadians get quarterly rebates. In Alberta, a family of four will receive a total of $1,800 for carbon rebates, or $450 every quarter.

— With files from Matt Scace and The Canadian Press

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